Ali Haydar Kaytan

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Ali Haydar Kaytan
Born(1952-03-26)March 26, 1952
Nazımiye, Tunceli, Turkey
DiedNovember 18, 2021 (age 69)
Flag of Kurdistan.svg Kurdistan Region
Cause of deathKilled during a cross-border airstrike by theTurkish Armed Forces targeting the PKK in the Kurdistan Region
Nationality Flag of Turkey.svg Turkish, Flag of Kurdistan.svg Kurdish
Other namesFuad
Occupation(s)Politician, Revolutionary
Organizations
Known forCo-founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Member of the Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union
Political party Flag of Kurdistan Workers' Party.svg Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
MovementKurdish Nationalism, PKK Insurgency

Ali Haydar Kaytan (born 26 March 1952 - 18 November 2021), also known as Fuad, [1] is a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a member of the executive council of the Kurdistan Communities Union.

Contents

Life

Ali Haydar Kaytan was born on 26 March 1952 in Nazımiye, Tunceli. [2] He belonged to a Kurdish family that was settled in place of the Zaza Kurds who were exiled after the Dersim rebellion. [3]

He was among the early members of a group along with Abdullah Öcalan, Haki Karer, Mazlum Doğan and Cemîl Bayik which held regular ideological meetings from 1973 onwards and which would later become known as the "Kurdistan Revolutionaries". [4] In December 1974 he was shortly detained together with Öcalan and Kalkan, before the ADYÖD  [ tr ] was closed down. [4] He was among the co-founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party which was established in November 1978. [5] At the second party congress, which took place in Lebanon, the PKK sent him to Europe in order to raise support. [1] On 22 July 1984, he took part in a decisive meeting in a PKK camp in the Lolan valley in Iraq where the decision was to begin with the insurgency. [6] Cemil Bayik and Duran Kalkan also took part in the meeting. [6] He returned to Germany, where he was arrested in 1988 [7] and during the Kurdish Trial in Düsseldorf, he was accused of being a member of a so-called revolutionary court in Barelias, Lebanon, which sentenced two people to death. [8] While he was in prison he entered into a hunger strike several times in protest of the pre-trial detention conditions. [7] [9] He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment on 7 March 1994 for being a member of a terrorist organisation, but the murders were not taken into account. The judges ruled that the murders fell under a Lebanese amnesty which covered crimes which occurred during the Lebanese civil war. [10] He was released immediately due to his years in pre-trial detention together with Duran Kalkan, who was also charged with being a member of a terrorist organization. [11] He then returned to Kurdistan and became a member of the co-presidency council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). [12]

Death

Ali Haydar Kaytan was killed on 18 November 2021, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, under unclear circumstances. His death was initially shrouded in mystery, with many people unaware of it at the time. His death was later confirmed, though conflicting reports emerged regarding the exact cause. Some reports suggested he was killed by a Turkish airstrike in 2019, while other sources reported his death in November 2021 under different circumstances.

Reports indicated that senior PKK figures sought to keep his death secret, fearing it could create panic within their ranks. [13] [14]

Earlier reports from 2019 claimed he had died in a Turkish airstrike in the Qandil Mountains. These conflicting reports have fueled ongoing discussions and investigations regarding the true circumstances of his death. [15]

Kaytan was considered a potential successor to Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, making his death a significant event within the organization. [16] His passing has led to further scrutiny of the PKK's internal leadership and the operations conducted by Turkish forces in the region.

The circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear and are the subject of continued investigation and debate. [17]

Views

He was close to Abdullah Öcalan, Kaytan is reported to have called Öcalan "the crowned personality of the Eastern thought" and presented him like a natural leader for the Kurds, while Öcalan stated that Haydar Kaytan had a "strong ideological side and interpretation capability" during the interrogation following his arrest in February 1999. [18]

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References

  1. 1 2 Cigerli, Sabri; Saout, Didier Le (2005), pp.68–69
  2. ↑ Törne, Annika (5 November 2019). Dersim – Geographie der Erinnerungen: Eine Untersuchung von Narrativen über Verfolgung und Gewalt (in German). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 127. ISBN   978-3-11-062771-8.
  3. ↑ Cetin, Umit; Jenkins, Celia; Aydin, Suavi (May 2020). Kurdish Studies, Special Issue: Alevi Kurds: History, Politics and Identity. Vol. 8. Transnational Press London. p. 83. ISBN   978-1-912997-48-0.
  4. 1 2 Jongerden, Joost; Akkaya, Ahmet Hamdi (1 June 2012). "The Kurdistan Workers Party and a New Left in Turkey: Analysis of the revolutionary movement in Turkey through the PKK's memorial text on Haki Karer". European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey (14). doi: 10.4000/ejts.4613 . hdl: 1854/LU-3101207 . ISSN   1773-0546.
  5. ↑ Cigerli, Sabri; Saout, Didier Le (2005). Ocalan et le PKK: Les mutations de la question kurde en Turquie et au moyen-orient (in French). Maisonneuve et Larose. pp. 47–48. ISBN   978-2-7068-1885-1.
  6. 1 2 Cigerli, Sabri; Saout, Didier Le (2005), pp.72–73
  7. 1 2 "Ali Haydar im Hungerstreik". docplayer. Politische Berichte. June 1989. p. 3.
  8. ↑ "Kurde angeklagt". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). 25 January 1989. p. 5. ISSN   0931-9085 . Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  9. ↑ "Diese Anklage kann nicht zugelassen werden!" (PDF). docplayer. Politische Berichte. April 1989. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  10. ↑ Stein, Gottfried (1994). Endkampf um Kurdistan?: die PKK, die Türkei und Deutschland (in German). Aktuell. p. 137. ISBN   3-87959-510-0.
  11. ↑ Jakobs, Walter (9 March 1994). "Ein solcher Prozeß darf sich nicht wiederholen". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). p. 5. ISSN   0931-9085 . Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Kandil bids farewell to Journalist Deniz Fırat". www.diclehaber.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Ali Haydar Kaytan Killed in Kurdistan Region of Iraq". Kurdistan 24. 18 November 2021.
  14. ↑ "Ali Haydar Kaytan's Death Remains a Mystery" . Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "PKK Leader Ali Haydar Kaytan Killed in Turkish Airstrike" . Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  16. ↑ "Senior PKK Figure and Öcalan's Mentor Killed in Operation" . Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  17. ↑ "Ali Haydar Kaytan's Death: The Mystery Unfolds" . Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  18. ↑ Çandar, Cengiz. Leaving the mountain': How may the PKK lay down arms? Freeing the Kurdish Question from violence (PDF). Tesev. p. 44. ISBN   978-605-5832-02-5 . Retrieved 12 October 2020.{{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
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