Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan sent a message to the Komînal newspaper. The message was published in the newspaper’s July issue. 

 

Abdullah Öcalan’s message to Komînal reads: "I saw your newly launched newspaper with hope and excitement. So, you have chosen the name Komînal. It could actually have been Komünar as well, but I like this name too. It is meaningful and historically significant that it has assumed the role once played by Serxwebûn in this new period. Firstly, I wish you every success.

 

It is clear that you are striving to establish a strong theoretical framework. However, what the new era requires is not only theoretical discussion but also a publishing line that finds expression in everyday life, organizes society, and develops practical methods and approaches. For this reason, I believe you should place greater emphasis on practical forms of organization. Because, from our perspective, this new era will be the era of the rise of communality.

 

As is well known, the Kurds are an ancient reality as a people. Perhaps they date back to the very emergence of modern humanity. Being among the defining peoples of ancient history has enabled them to preserve their characteristics to the present day, allowing them to survive as a unique people. Yet these very characteristics also made them the target of oppression, persecution and attack throughout history, turning the geography of Kurdistan into a place where denial, annihilation and genocide have been systematically practiced. The entire history of Kurdish anthropology and ontology, as well as its cultural development, has therefore been subjected to betrayal. As a result of this contradiction, Kurdishness has ceased to be itself, becoming wounded and battered like a lifeless body.

 

Of course, the Kurds have not been the only people to face genocide. Yet they neither disappeared like peoples wiped out by genocide, nor embodied their existence in the modern form of a nation-state. On the contrary, in every era they managed to develop their own distinctive forms of resistance against campaigns of destruction, rooted in themselves and in their ancient traditions. That is precisely why they are unique. Nevertheless, this people, whose history is as old as humanity itself and whose attachment to its ancient values is equally deep, were brought to the brink of destruction in the twentieth century under the grip of nation-states, the representatives of systematic annihilation.

 

WE EMERGED AS THE HOPE OF A PEOPLE

 

It was in such a harsh climate of denial that we emerged as the hope of a people who had been stripped of themselves, whose not only bodies but even dreams had been buried, and who faced the very question of existence. When the first issue of Serxwebûn was published in the autumn of 1978, we declared that "we were ashamed of the condition into which the Kurds had been forced, and that this shame would become the true source of strength in fulfilling our tasks." On this basis, with a two-word slogan passed from mouth-to-mouth, we sought to make history and create a new reality. Through 52 years of great struggle, we reversed the practice of self-denial that had developed among the Kurds under conditions of denial, annihilation and assimilation, opening a new historical era. We struck powerful blows against the cultivated mentality of voluntary slavery and voluntary denial.

 

As a result, the PKK fulfilled its historic mission by both proving and securing recognition of what we call the "existence of the Kurds." What we refer to as Kurdish existence, or national existence, thus came to light. At this stage, the Kurdish people have become an undeniable historical reality. They have completed the stage of establishing their existence and entered the stage of achieving freedom. This is the PKK's victorious achievement. It is its anthropological achievement; it is its ontological achievement.

 

THE NAME, LANGUAGE AND SPIRIT OF AN ERA

 

The PKK owes this success above all to the awakening and enlightenment it created in people's minds, replacing the shame of being Kurdish with a reality in which people took pride in who they were, sought to be themselves, and embraced their own values. Serxwebûn, one of the driving forces behind this Kurdish awakening, became the voice of the PKK from its very first step. It carried the cry of rebellion and freedom that grew in the mountains, prisons and streets to every section of society, young and old, women and children alike, and thus became one of the greatest companions of this difficult journey. Beginning in 1978 with a typewriter hidden away in secret, it endured every hardship of the struggle and became an important milestone in the development of what we can now confidently call the Kurdish intellectual consciousness. In this sense, Serxwebûn made the party's emergence its central mission during its own era and played a historic role. It served as a major publication that shaped the consciousness, organization and line of struggle of an entire period. It embodied within itself all the meanings that found expression in the PKK. That is why Serxwebûn became much more than a publication. It became the name, the language and the spirit of an era.

 

The reality of the Kurdish people is now recognized by everyone. Yet proving the existence of a people does not mean that a free life has been fully achieved. Yes, the Kurds exist—but how will they live? What form will that existence take in everyday life? How will they shape themselves? These questions and problems still remain. In other words, the PKK secured existence, but freedom has yet to be realized. However, the socialist, state-centered paradigm upon which the PKK was founded is not sufficient to answer these questions. The collapse of nation-state socialism demonstrated that the foundation on which the PKK rested was not a correct socialist principle. The PKK, taking that course, made the problem visible through its great resistance, defined it, and revealed the means of liberation. But it could not move beyond the paradigm of real socialism and therefore required transformation. Having fulfilled its historical role, it completed its lifespan and has now given way, in pursuit of the social gains before us, to a model of communal organization based on the paradigm of the democratic society. This necessity arises both from the reality of the collapse of real socialism and from the need to overcome the systems of denial and destruction imposed on Kurdistan.

 

Seeing this situation, we changed the power- and state-oriented paradigm by developing a democratic, ecological and women's liberation paradigm, thereby paving the way for a radical transformation within the PKK. With the "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" issued on 27 February 2025, we also deemed it appropriate to bring to an end the party based on the real-socialist programme and the national liberation war strategy upon which it was founded. At its 12th Congress, held on 5-7 May, the PKK also dissolved its organisational structure, thus closing the PKK era. This signifies a transition to a new stage of history, an entirely new beginning. The nation-state-based real-socialist theory and programme, together with the national liberation war strategy, will be transcended and replaced by the theory of democratic modernity, the programme of democratic society, and the strategy of democratic politics.

 

This is the theoretical, programmatic and strategic character of the new period. The changing paradigm and the dissolution of the PKK do not signify an ending but rather a new beginning. In this sense, there is a need for a new voice that will define this new beginning and carry it to society. Accordingly, there arose a need for Serxwebûn, which had been the voice of the PKK, to take its honourable place in history and for the creation of a voice for this new beginning. Komînal has emerged precisely from this need and has begun publication with the aim of serving as a guiding source in the tasks of social reconstruction that lie before us. Undoubtedly, this is highly meaningful and represents a historic development.

 

Communality, rooted in the words kom and kombûn, is the fundamental characteristic of sociality. Since sociality and becoming human have developed together, the basic principle of being human is, in essence, to be communal, that is, to organise life together with the society to which one belongs. There is no such thing as an isolated human being; even in physical solitude, a person can preserve the virtue of being human only by holding on to the meanings and memories created by social life. Yet paradigms of liberation based on class and the state have obscured the fundamental point that should have been addressed. Many thinkers, scientists and philosophers striving to find solutions to the dead ends created by the system only grasped this truth towards the end of their lives, or expressed it hesitantly. Nevertheless, practical experience has always shown that truth cannot be avoided and that sociality ultimately depends upon organising society on the right foundations.

 

It is said that the great philosopher Bacon remarked from his sickbed: "If I overcome this illness, from now on I will rely on communality." These words express how individualism and fragmented life drive people into a dead end, while meaning is found in solidarity and sociality. Similarly, it is known that in the final years of his life Lenin was engaged in an intense search to move beyond statism, reflecting on more democratic and participatory forms of social organisation. All of these are examples of humanity's enduring search throughout history to return to sociality, collective life and communal values.

 

This is precisely the task before us today: to weave democratic society, to rebuild social life on the basis of communal values, and to strengthen the people's own self-organisation. Defending society through communality against the devastating destructive force of capitalism, a system of plunder and exploitation, is an existential necessity of the new era. In this sense, insisting on democratic communality means insisting, more than ever, on being human. At such a historic turning point, as it begins publication, Komînal has declared that it embraces these responsibilities and has expressed its commitment through the very name it has chosen. Therefore, this new publication should not be seen merely as a journal. It should also become the voice and guiding force of the ideological, political and social reconstruction of the new era.

 

Striving to establish a strong theoretical framework is, of course, important. However, the needs of the new period require placing greater emphasis on practical forms of organisation and opening new paths for the work of social reconstruction. Because from now on, this will be the era of the rise of communality. Consequently, this also requires participating in and contributing to reconstruction efforts that develop through a communalist understanding. Only in this way can people participate in these efforts with the same spirit. A publishing line that prioritises people's own self-organisation, communes, assemblies, cooperatives, women's and youth organisations, and cultural and moral reconstruction will embody the spirit of the new era. Democratic society can only grow and become permanent through organised relationships established in everyday life. Therefore, while preserving theoretical depth, the publication must also give strong attention to the experiences, methods and pathways of practical organisation.

 

HISTORIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES LIE BEFORE KOMÎNAL

 

As Komînal begins publication at this historic threshold, historic duties and responsibilities lie before it. If you fulfil this responsibility properly, you will not merely have produced a publication; you will also have provided the democratic society and communality movement of the new era with a powerful foundation of consciousness and struggle.

 

Believing that you have embarked upon this path with such a sense of responsibility, I once again wish every success to all those working at Komînal.

 

In the face of all the attacks of a system that seeks to fragment, divide and individualise people, thereby destroying both society and humanity, I wish Komînal, which has emerged like a star with the declaration that "to insist on socialism is to insist on being human; to insist on communality is to insist on being human", every success, and I hope it brings benefit to all peoples and women, to all young people, and to all democratic socialists."