Kurdish Leader Ocalan’s Book Published in Armenian

· March 14, 2024

The first volume of Abdullah Öcalan’s “Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization -Civilization – The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings” – was recently published in Armenia. The book launch took place at the Union of Writers of Armenia.

The work, translated into Armenian by Zabel Martikian and proofread by Poghos Poghosyan, was published by the Yerevan Lusakn Publishing House. On the occasion of the book’s publication, the Kurdistan Committee invited people to the launching and reading at the premises of the Union of Writers of Armenia.

In just over three years (2007-2010), Abdullah Öcalan wrote the Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization, a 5-volume work in which he brings together his experiences and insights from 35 years of radical theory and revolutionary practice. In the first volume, Öcalan not only criticizes capitalist modernity as the self-declared end of history, but also expands his view of the underlying structures of civilization. For him there is no question that capitalist modernity represents only one form of civilization among many possible ones. Without understanding the essential strands of civilizational development, without examining its respective revolutionary and reactionary phases (e.g. Christianity or Islam), capitalist modernity can neither be explained nor overcome. By questioning the methods of understanding society, knowledge and power, relating seemingly different historical developments in the world and bringing them together into a main stream of civilization, Öcalan prepares the ground for a sociology of freedom.

Important personalities from the Armenian literary and intellectual scene were present at the book launch.

Seyran Celad from the Association of Kurdish Literary Artists, who moderated the panel, said that the “Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization represents a new general political theory and that Öcalan, as a source of ideas, initiates a perspective for a free life. In his writings, which he wrote in the form of a petition to the European Court of Human Rights, he develops theoretical and practical concepts that he applies to Kurdistan and the Middle East region. However, his ideas and methods are not limited to a specific geography, as he makes suggestions for forms of organization and administration worldwide. He asks questions and offers solutions – in total isolation in an island prison and in the face of all those who want to destroy him and his thoughts.”

The Armenian historian Gevorg Xudinyan spoke of Öcalan’s “courage” and said: “He leads a large and extremely significant resistance on the prison island of Imrali and stands up to everyone who sees him as a threat to maintaining the status quo in the Middle East. Therefore, it is first necessary to understand this resistance and make sense of it. The current capitalist-imperialist system is on the verge of collapse. In place of this system, a new world order is emerging. Undoubtedly, the oppressed and exploited peoples will take the lead in creating this new world order. The fact that Öcalan’s writings and thus the concepts of the Kurdish liberation movement are now also made accessible to Armenian society is an important basis so that we can also create change.”

The Kurdologist Karen Hovhannisyan has been studying Abdullah Öcalan and his writings for years. “His ideas are methods, not mere dogma, and offer a way out of the world’s current crises,” he said, adding: “Öcalan is an important theorist who not only laid the foundation for the Kurdish liberation struggle. He also managed the reorganization of a society that had been alienated from its identity by the Turkish state’s assimilation attempts and by feudal and petty-bourgeois structures, and helped his people to develop a democratic national consciousness that attracted worldwide attention and solidarity. As a result, Armenia also exists in solidarity with the liberation struggle in Kurdistan. There is a lot of interest in the theoretical and practical concepts behind it. That’s why I’m even more pleased that Öcalan’s writings are also available in Armenian.”

Hovhannisyan urged the various actors in the four parts of Kurdistan to put their personal interests aside if they wanted a fair solution to the Kurdish question. He said: “Öcalan is the only political leader who addresses the Kurdish question and the transformation of the Middle East around Kurdistan at the same time. They all have to rally around him if they are to succeed in liberating their homeland.”