News Center – Leader Abdullah Öcalan sent a message to the fourth conference of the Anatolian Association for the Support and Solidarity of Prisoners’ and Missing Persons’ Families, which was held in the Turkish capital, Istanbul, with wide public participation.

The conference, organized by the Anatolian Association on Sunday, December 21, was attended by a number of political and social figures and organizations, including Meral Danış Beştaş, spokesperson for the Democratic Peoples’ Congress; Arife Çınar and Cenar Altan, co-chairs of the Istanbul branch of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party; representatives of the Democratic Regions Party; the Peace Mothers; the Marmara Association for the Support of Prisoners’ and Detainees’ Families; and the Free Women’s Movement.

Text of Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s Message:

“Our connection to commemorating the martyrs of our struggle lies in building a democratic society within a framework of peace. I respectfully and gratefully commemorate all the martyrs of the struggle who sacrificed their lives on this land for freedom, dignity, and the equal life of peoples.

Their sacrifices remain present in this people’s march toward freedom—as consciousness, will, and historical record. The conscience of our struggle and historical truths have left indelible marks on our people’s memory. However, it must be clearly understood that the struggle for freedom at this stage is not an increase in death, but rather the art of organizing life.

Remembering our martyrs does not arise from new losses, but from building the equal, democratic, and dignified life for which they struggled. Every loss, no matter how much it motivates struggle, is a deep pain that I carry in my heart. I want to prevent even the martyrdom of a single young person, and I do not want another mother to grieve for her child.

True loyalty is not opening the path to further losses; on the contrary, it is building a courageous political and social ground for peaceful struggle. The legacy they left us is not the continuation of war, but the demonstration of the will for the possibility of a democratic solution. They struggled because they believed in the possibility of a future in which people live together in freedom.

The task before us today is to crown this historic struggle with peace and open the door to a new phase based on democratic consensus. True respect is preventing further losses, and true remembrance is elevating the struggle to a more advanced, conscious level that is more protective of life.

Loyalty to the martyrs means showing the courage to build a more democratic, free, and humane society, drawing inspiration from what they left us. With this feeling and this sense of responsibility, I bow respectfully to the memory of all the martyrs of the struggle and extend my respect and love to their families.