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New Book by Abdullah Öcalan: Prison
Writings-Thee Roots of Civilization
15.2.2007
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February 15, 2007
Book: Prison
Writings -Thee Roots of Civilization by Abdullah Öcalan, translated by Klaus Happel
Publication Date: January 2007
Description
First publication of the prison writings of one of
the world's most famous revolutionaries
'Very readable. It is a tour-de-force.' Ghada
Talhami, D.K. Pearsons Professor of Politics, Lake
Forest College, Illinois
'We would expect Abdullah Ocalan to write a
political treatise. Instead, he has penned a
monumental history of the ancient Near East that
offers a grand vision. ... This is the first truly
postcolonial history of Mesopotamia.' Randall H.
McGuire, Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton
University
Abdullah Ocalan was the most wanted man in Turkey
for almost two decades until his kidnapping and
arrest in 1999. He has been in prison ever since. He
is the founder of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
From 1984, under his leadership, the PKK fought for
an independent Kurdish state in the south east of
Turkey. In a sustained popular uprising, tens of
thousands of PKK guerrillas took on the second
largest army in NATO.
Since his imprisonment, Ocalan has written
extensively on Kurdish history. This book brings
together his writings for the first time.
Breathtaking in scope, it provides a broad Marxist
perspective on ancient Middle Eastern history,
incorporating the rise of the major religions
(Islam, Christianity and Judaism), and defining the
Kurdish position within this, from the ancient
Sumerian civilization through the feudal age, the
birth of captalism and beyond.
Author Details
Abdullah Ocalan is in prison in Turkey on a
life-long sentence. He was the leader of the Kurdish
revolutionary party, the PKK. He was eventually
kidnapped while abroad in 1999, and has been in
prison in Turkey ever since.
Preface
Translator's introduction
SECTION 1: SLAVE-OWNING SOCIETY AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILISATION
Introduction
1 The birth of civilisation on the banks of Tigris
and Euphrates
2 The historical role of Sumerian civilisation
3 Permanent effects of Sumerian civilisation
4 Some methodological problems concerning historical
development and expansion |
Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan
Jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan Now, The only
prisoner on the Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of
Marmara. photo from ROJ TV
To obtain a copy of the book from Amazon |
5 The expansion and maturity of slavery
6 Tribal confederations, local and territorial
states
7 Resistance to slaveholder civilisation and its
reform
9 Medes, Persians and the making of the East
SECTION 2: THE AGE OF FEUDAL CIVILISATION
1 The ideological identity of the feudal age
2 Islam as a revolutionary force of the feudal age
3 Institutionalisation and expansion of feudal
civilisation
4 Climax and decay of feudal civilisation
5 Some conclusive remarks on Sections 1 and 2
SECTION 3: THE CIVILISATION OF THE AGE OF
CAPITALISM
1 The birth of capitalism and its new ideological
identity
2 The development and institutionalisation of
capitalist civilisation
3 Capitalist expansion and the climax of capitalist
civilisation
4 The overall crisis of civilisation and the age of
democratic civilisation
SECTION 4: IDEOLOGICAL IDENTITY AND TIMESPACE
CONDITIONS OF THE NEW DEVELOPMENT IN CIVILISATION
1: Ideological identity in the third millennium
2: A new programme for the Kurdish movement
3: Reflections on strategic and tactical approaches
4: Time as a creative element
5: Global aspects and perspectives
SECTION 5: CAN A NEW SYNTHESIS OF
CIVILISATIONS ARISE FROM THE CULTURAL TRADITIONS OF
THE MIDDLE EAST?
1 The renewal of ideological identity is a task of
historic priority
2 The preconditions of a new synthesis
3 Theory and practice of Middle Eastern civil
society
plutobooks com
Author Details
Öcalan was born in Ömerli, a village in Halfeti,
Şanliurfa Province, in the Kurdish southeast of
Turkey. After leaving his village after secondary
school he studied Political Sciences at the
University of Ankara, but dropped out and entered
the civil service in Diyarbakir.[citation needed]
Influenced by the situation of the Kurdish people,
Abdullah Öcalan became an active member of the
Democratic Cultural Associations of the East, an
association promoting the rights of the Kurdish
people. In 1978, two years before the military coup
in 1980, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was
founded with Abdullah Öcalan as its leader.
In 1984 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) initiated
a campaign of armed conflict comprising of militant
attacks against government forces in Turkey in order
to create an independent Kurdish state. More than
30,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK guerrillas
have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up
arms for a Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly
Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
PKK has been labelled a terrorist organisation by
several states and international organizations such
as Turkey, the United States, the European Union,
Syria, Canada, Iran and Australia.
Until 1998 Öcalan was harboured by Syria. As the
situation deteriorated in Turkey, the Turkish
government openly threatened Syria over its support
for the PKK. As a result of this, the Syrian
government forced Öcalan to leave the country, but
did not hand him to the Turkish authorities.
Öcalan went to Russia first and from there he moved
to various countries, including Italy and Greece. In
1998 the Turkish government requested the
extradition of Öcalan from Italy where he was at the
time. He was at that time defended by the
high-profile German attorney, Britta Böhler who
argued that he fought a legitimate struggle against
the oppression of his people. He was captured in
Kenya on February 15, 1999, whilst being transferred
from the Greek embassy to the Nairobi international
airport, in an operation by the Turkish National
Intelligence Agency (MIT). He was then flown back to
Turkey for trial. His capture led thousands of
protesting Kurds to seize Greek embassies around the
world.
Since his capture Öcalan has been held under
solitary confinement as the only prisoner on the
Imrali Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara. Despite
the fact that all other prisoners formerly at Imrali
were transferred to other prisons, there are still
over 1000 Turkish military personnel stationed there
guarding him. He was sentenced to death, but this
sentence was commuted to life-long aggravated
imprisonment when the death penalty was abolished in
Turkey in August 2002.
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Others estimate as many as 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan but
unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag is
banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it is
a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey) wikipedia
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