Two opposing classes ... two ideologies... two politics... two wars, which are the concentrated expression of advancing politics by other means and two strategies that direct them. One of these strategies represents the just, the progressive and the new class, People's War Strategy and the other represents the unjust, reactionary and the old class, "Low Intensity War" Strategy.

The leader of the Communist Party of China, Mao Tse-tung through developing the People's War Strategy and putting it into practice founded the People's Democratic Republic in China in 1949 and thus started a new era. The imperialists, having seen that this strategy of revolution for semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries not only succeeded in China but also was spreading to the Asian, African and Latin American countries, began to analyse and study this strategy.

This desire to study this strategy that had become so dangerous to the system, arose from the urge of wanting to destroy the class and national liberation struggles under the proletarian leadership in the era of proletarian revolutions and also wanting to become the sole ruler of the world market. They began to study and research the theory and the practice of people’s war.

Their study and research covered tactics, equipment, and organisation in the countries where people’s war was being waged. Imperialists evaluate the experiences of the past and the present efficiently and seriously study and practice in the war academies. They apply the results of their studies to the countries where there is People's War or where the first stage of people’s war, the guerrilla war is being waged.

Imperialists generally concentrate on the following three types of war strategy:

Today, the guerrilla war, which is a specific form of the first stage of People's War, the unbeatable strategy of the national liberation and class wars of the peoples of the world, is the biggest threat to the imperialist powers. They are right in worrying and fearing these forms of struggle. They have faced and are still facing the defeat of the well-organised army, equipped with latest technology, by guerrilla war.

The fact that MLM parties are leading guerrilla wars is the cause for further fear and worry for the imperialists. The boss of imperialists Kennedy expressed this fear, in a speech that he gave in the war academies in 1962. "Our world enters a new period that seems to last for a long time. This period will be the period of wars like the partisan wars in Indo-China.

"This situation forces us to develop a completely new type of strategy and posses new kinds of armed forces. The new armed forces that this period forced upon us require special education, special weapons and instruments." (Turkish Gladio)

Subsequently, the strategy of the unjust wars that imperialists were to wage in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries is the strategy of "Low Intensity Warfare." Today the concept of the Low Intensity War which is being waged in about 40 countries, is applied to semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries through the elements which are specially trained (theoretically and practically) in the schools and camps based in the imperialist countries. Also some individuals and the armies of the subservient regimes are trained in counter-guerrilla warfare.

One of the countries in which the concepts of "Low Intensity War" are brutally applied is our country. As guerrilla war led by national and class liberation movements is spreading and assuming ever wider dimensions, the Turkish Republic is naturally further intensifying its "Low Intensity War" strategy. In the past this strategy was applied in Vietnam and was defeated against People’s movement. That proved the ineffectiveness of this strategy in practice. Foreign Affairs Minister of the USA, who had to confess this truth, stated:

"Low Intensity War doctrine is a strategy of weakness because in essence it is only a response. It is an attempt by a super power to imitate the revolutionary strategies and turning it inside out to apply them against the revolutionaries."

Marxist-Leninist-Maoists must know themselves, their own strategies, their enemy and the strategy of their enemy very well in order to defeat and destroy the enemy. Otherwise they will not be able to achieve victory. There are rich experiences gained through the wars that are waged by various Communist Parties and revolutionary patriotic movements. The TKP/ML has rich experiences itself. Marxist-Leninist-Maoists must not act without deriving lessons from these experiences.

People's War Strategy means to mobilise peasants against local and central authority and the feudal system under the leadership of a MLM party of the working class; to build the people's army and the people's revolutionary united front in the midst of the struggle; to develop these from the basic to the complicated, from small to big and from the weak to the strong in the countryside.

People's War is a strategy of defeating an enemy that is superior in number and weaponry, by unarmed, oppressed, exploited and unorganised peoples in colonial, semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries. It is an art of "defeating the big number with a small number." It is an art that destroys the enemy piece by piece, and forces the enemy to withdraw step by step.

People's War is the struggle to build the people's democratic dictatorship, which adopts armed struggle as the main form of struggle from the beginning. It is waged by the people's army that is mobilised and organised by a MLM party and by all organisations in political, economic and cultural areas.

How is this "Low Intensity War", which is developed against People's War defined and how many stages is it divided into and how is it organised?

"Low Intensity War" is a military, political, economical, cultural and psychological war. Comparatively, its intensity is higher than the normal rivalries, which continue in peaceful times. And its intensity is lower compared with classical wars between states. It can occur between states or groups. In protracted conflicts it manifests itself in ideological struggle.

"Low Intensity War" starts with activities such as sabotage and goes as far as using the armed forces. It uses political, economic, cultural, military and informational means through a wide range of activities.

As People’s War is not only limited to guerrilla war, "Low Intensity War" also can be seen as a war strategy for destroying guerrillas in rural areas. The strategy and tactics of "Low Intensity War"are applied all over the country. It mainly targets to disperse and to destroy guerrilla struggle, to intimidate the people that support and act under the vanguard of the guerrilla.

People’s War strategy is made because it is a complete art of struggle by the forces that are organised in various types, apply different movements and tactics, wage sudden and hard offensive actions in different areas and with varying rates; "Low Intensity War" is organised to match this and is divided into stages too.

The enemy bases itself too on this and determines the type of movement where the guerrilla war survives by copying the guerrilla and by learning from his way of operating. Three stages of "Low Intensity War" are stated in counter-guerrilla guide as below:

Especially while conducting the psychological war, various media channels are used in order to get the masses to take sides with the enemy. They aim to control people’s minds. To do that they reorganise their institutions accordingly. They aim to demoralise revolutionaries and the masses and boost the morale of their own forces by running down the revolutionaries. Although psychological war is defined as the third stage, it is used in all stages with different forms and dimensions.

It is important for the Marxist-Leninist-Maoists to tell and convince people of the necessity of struggle, the need to get organised and to fight continuously and patiently. Because people who have a high consciousness, morale, courage and stability, are an endless source of energy for the party and the army that leads the People's War. It is the only source that can destroy the strongest, the most capable, the most experienced armies of the enemy. It is only such a source that can meet the requirements of the revolutionary struggle.

Exploiting classes and imperialism trust their well-equipped armies against the exploited classes and oppressed peoples. They depend on the unconsciousness of masses not on consciousness and they do everything to deceive and to make the masses sleep. Because, they can only rule over the people by using force, repression and dirty methods.

The fascist Turkish Republic applies "Low Intensity War" strategy according to how well it suits its needs. As well as organising all the institutions from top to the bottom according to the requirements of this strategy, they have also institutionalised this strategy politically, militarily and culturally with the help of the new organisations and legislation.

The introduction of extra-ordinary and emergency rules, special units in army, commandos and gendarme corps, Intelligence Service of Gendarme, interrogation teams, intelligence organisation, National Intelligence Organisation and related special units, special army (special team), political police anti-terror, paramilitary forces such as the Nationalist Movement Party and village guards constitute the military organisation of the "Low Intensity War."

As the parliament and the political parties serve in the political arena, the propaganda branch (3rd department within National Intelligence Organisation and psychological war department within Special War Department (SWD)) creates organisations in the press and television channels, and commissions many propaganda organisations, specifically to further advance their policies.

The State Security Courts and special laws complete the legal dimension of the "Low Intensity War." The issue here is not some people belonging to the establishment but the whole system and the state that serves to maintain and defend it.

The dimension that the "Low Intensity War" has taken in Turkish Kurdistan is the result of "land sovereignty" policy, which is part of the second stage. With this policy, step by step villages have been evacuated and inhuman policies have been applied vigorously. The policy of evacuating villages where the guerrillas are active, forcing villagers to leave, is defined as follows in the order titled "Interior Development Operation" proclaimed by lieutenant general Bayri Ondul, the Commander of 7'th Corp, dated September 17 ^th , 1985.

This is nothing but the transformation of the "indispensable" law of people's war, defined by Chairman Mao as "being a fish among the people" by the imperialists according to their own interests. As it is clear that the imperialists and their local servants can not be "fish among the people," their task is to isolate the guerrillas from the people.

The policies of "controlled zones" and "evacuation" has been put on the agenda under various names in the past. Of course, the idea was the same in all of them. During 1986-87, where the guerrilla activities were intensive, the people were moved to "strategic central villages" (concentration camps) in pre-determined areas under the name of "forest law."

Hundreds of villages were evacuated under the guise of turning these areas into "national parks." And during the time when Tansu Ciller was prime minister, it was applied under the name of "farm projects," but it did not succeed. It was promised that with this project more suitable and better conditions will be provided, that credits and fields aimed to develop conditions in farming and stockbreeding will be given etc.

The real aim was apparent... To build concentration camps. Today, this project has once again been put on the agenda with a new name. It has been especially brought on to the agenda by Bulent Ecevit, who is a keen supporter of this project. After the excessive increasing of the population in the cities as a result of forced deportation, some of these are settled down in pre-determined locations on the condition that they accept becoming village guards under the "village-town" project.

At the same time they want to end the reactions which have developed against the forced evacuation. This project was not successful when it was applied. It can't be applied today, either. The project of "Village-town" contains 23 villages, 174 families, and 9124 people in Sirnak, Diyarbakir, Bingol, and Hakkari. It is said that 57 billion Turkish Lira is required for this project.

Four thousand villages are emptied; more than four million people are exiled from their settlements in this unjust war in which more than twenty thousand people have lost their lives since 1984. The counter guerrilla forces have used and are using numerous methods in the villages, which are being vacated by force. Villagers are being forced to become village guards.

The soldiers who come to villages give certain time to the villagers to think and the houses of those who do not accept joining the village guards, are burnt down; villagers are randomly tortured, killed and arrested.

One of the methods which is used most, is that the village guards from other villages are used to kill, kidnap, burn down the houses or gardens of those targeted villagers. These guards also lay mines and rape the daughters and women of those targeted. (Today there are 92,015 volunteer village guards).

There is an embargo applied in many places in Extraordinary Situation Regions. The food is distributed with a ration card and even worse, people have to pay for these ration cards which they can use to get food and medicine.

It is not possible to get adequate information about the ones that are moved by force and the situation of burnt villages. Especially democratic people and establishments and human right organisations are forbidden from entering into these regions.

The fascist dictatorship that is the carrying out the unjust war does not recognise any rule or law. In the declaration of the Pentagon which was presented to the Conference of The National Security University in 1984, is stated as below:

Imperialists and their servants do not recognise any rule or law. Some times, they do not even recognise the war rules, which they set themselves. One of the best examples of these, is the Geneva Accord, which is signed by Turkey.

The 1949 Geneva Accord is in essence about international wars but interior wars are dealt with in detail in the second protocol, which was adopted in 1977. Turkey refused to sign the second protocol thinking that this will limit its ability to move against the guerrillas and will give legality to the revolutionary forces and the people.

The third article of Geneva Accord, the 2444 ^th decision which was adopted unanimously in 1996 by the General Assembly of United Nations, requires differentiation of the civilians from fighters, banning the use of torture, inhumane treatment and attacks against the civilian population. Although Turkey rejects the signing of the second protocol, it has signed the Geneva Agreement. Therefore this agreement is valid in the war that it wages against the guerrilla.

The second protocol protects the civilians and forbids the burning/destroying of property. According to the rule, "...Even if the fighting sides felt the need to move civilians because of military reasons, they have a duty to return these civilians back after the fighting ends in the region. The siege of the region must be as short as possible.

The authorities that are responsible for the evacuation during the siege, must provide suitable settlement, food, healthy conditions for the civilians." Again according to the second protocol, the civilians must be protected from random attacks and the second protocol also brought the principle of proportionality.

"The attacks including those towards military targets, are only legal if they are done with suitable equipment and in accordance with the proportionality principle and prevents totally or reduces the harms to the civilians to the minimum. In many cases, using mortars and artilleries against guerrillas when they are in a village is not legal. The mortars and artilleries generally are not accurate enough to reduce civilian loss to the minimum.

"In these cases, the attacking side must use land units and must apply methods like house to house searches with rifles." ("Transfers of Weapons and The Laws and Violence of War" - Human Rights Watch, Arms-Civilian Society Organisation)

Although there are so many laws of war and violations of human rights in Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan, bourgeois jurists and supporters of human rights pretend not to see or hear these.

"Low Intensity War" strategy is applied firstly and extensively in areas where there is guerrilla activity. The scope and the magnitude of "low intensity war" reached in Turkish Kurdistan is obvious. Its application began when the guerrilla struggles started to spread all over the country. Apart from Turkish Kurdistan it has been applied in some places of the East, the Central Black Sea and Central Anatolia region.

The TKP/ML is extending its roots among the masses in the Black Sea region, carrying the consciousness to the masses that it is the vanguard of hope and the future. The masses are increasingly discontented with the system and they are breaking away from it and are heading towards the struggle. Along with all the above mentioned, the facts that the guerrillas led by TKP/ML are targeting the enemies of the people in the Black Sea Region, and waging effective armed actions, is alarming the state.

Up until yesterday there were no reasons for the enemy to apply counter-guerrilla methods, in especially Tokat and then Ordu, Giresun and Artvin. Today the existence of guerrillas in the vanguard party of the proletariat, the fact that it is carrying out actions, and is striking at the enemy heavily, has turned the region into a place where it attracts "special interest."

This "special interest" has brought and will always bring with it step by step the application of the "Low Intensity War" strategy. The fact that people like Veli Kucuk, Mustafa Malay, Ayhan Cevik who are experts in the counter-guerrilla war, have been assigned to the region is the most apparent indication of this. And also the reinforcement of 5,700 special team, in the words of Meral Aksener, can be explained by this "special interest."

In the spring of 1997, threats, tortures, attempts to make people to become agents, massacres and arrests were widespread in rural regions of the Black Sea Region (Ordu, Tokat etc.). Creating Alevi-Sunni contradictions which are particularly used in dividing the people, driving the people away from the guerrillas fighting in the vanguard party of the proletariat (TKP/ML) by spreading all kinds of lies, trying to spread Turkish chauvinism by presenting the actions of the guerrillas fighting in the vanguard of TKP/ML as Kurdistan Labour Party (PKK)s and using the funeral ceremony of soldiers born in the Black Sea Region but who died while fighting in Turkish Kurdistan to turn them into provocative actions are all parts of the war.

They are applying "Low Intensity War" strategy step by step by presenting the actions of civilian fascists or special team as that of the guerrillas'. They wage the first stage of counter-guerrilla war, resistance movement, and psychological war at the same time.

As the dimensions of the war increase, they will also increase their violence. As the guerrillas enter new areas (the Mediterranean, Aegean region), they will apply counter-guerrilla tactics in these areas too.

We have mentioned that the state was in practice very experienced in Turkish Kurdistan. So, the state will try to act "more skillfully" in the Black Sea Region. This must be understood carefully. For example, Human Rights Watch which is known as a civilian rights organisation, declared that the army have begun to understand that it must exert efforts to draw the masses to its side in the Kurdish regions. According to this organisation

This shows that the policy of "gaining the people's hearts and minds" was not applied sufficiently before. However this does not mean that violence or the other rules of "Low Intensity War" will not be applied. The application of violence is fundamental.

But the state will be cautious about its use in the first stage in a new region like the Black Sea. It must be seen that the necessity of having authority over the people and attracting them to side with it is essential for the state here.

The strikes of guerrillas in the Black Sea Region seriously disturb the state. But thinking ahead, instead of pursuing the guerrilla directly – this is also done--the state concentrates on building an authority over the people and attracting them to side with it. Because it knows that although the guerrillas may be destroyed physically, the activity of the guerrillas can not be prevented.

Vacating the villages, forced migration etc. in Turkish Kurdistan ruins the life in our country. Especially, farming and stockbreeding which are common for this region and which also have an important role in the country’s economy, is affected here.

For example, there were 100.000 farm animals in Hakkari in 1980s. The villages have been wiped off the map or some villagers are financially supported with a village guard salary. Fruit gardens, vegetable gardening, bee keeping etc. are finished in vacated villages. This situation seriously affects the economy.

The existing unemployment that is caused by the social-economic structure of the country has reached new heights as a result of forced migration. Kurdish villagers have to work in the worst conditions. They are regarded as cheap labour for the ready-made clothing industry in the suburbs of cities because this work does not require skilled labourers. Especially the labour of women and children is used.

For this reason, the wages can be reduced even more and workers do not have any social security rights. Increasing unemployment and the cheap labour means decreasing the level of struggle to the level of struggle to gain rights. This also means more people are made to leave the unions and the increase in the number of subcontractors.

Health hazards are caused by two or three families' sharing one house, psychological disturbances as a result of violence, malnutrition, lack of proper heating and cleaning conditions, insufficiency of and unclean tap water, insufficiency of sewer system etc. Even when these people who live in the suburbs of the cities face health problems, they can not get medical treatment because of their poverty.

Children and women suffer worst. Protective health care (innoculation, care of babies and pregnant women) is not applied. Because of malnutrition children’s height and weight growth does not follow normal patterns.

As a result of these, contagious illnesses like parasites, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, dysentery etc. are seen more especially in Diyarbakir than other areas. The forced deportation of the villagers, increases the long queues of working classes and the poor in front of the hospitals, and decreases the level of health care per person and its quality dramatically.

Students, who had limited but still some sort of education in their villages, can not benefit from the education facilities where they are settled. This is because of both the cultural, and language difficulties and also the financial reasons forcing the children to work. For a person who does not have opportunities and the finances to study, education becomes a "luxury." When people struggle to survive then naturally education becomes a "luxury." Low level of education is becoming worse with the increase of the population.

The 57 ^th article of the Turkish Republic constitution declares: "The State takes measures to provide the required housing in a frame of planning which considers the environment and particularity of the cities. And it supports attempts of collective housing." Being in the constitution means only being on paper.

The state seizes the funds allocated for housing let alone support workers, and labourers to have accommodation. The warped urbanising that reflects an image of a big village is getting worse with the forced moves. The inefficient infrastructure, growth of shanty towns, lack of controlling system etc. all get worse with the increase of the population. As the problem of housing is getting worse, renting is increasing rapidly.

The ruling classes have spread cafes, bars, and Atari halls in the places where the majority of inhabitants are working people, in order to de-politicise and alienate young people from themselves and from the society. In such places, forcing people to collaborate with the police, drinking, gambling, using drugs, prostitution, stealing etc. are forced upon the people.

The aim is to especially stupefy the young people’s minds so that they will not ask any questions, take part in organisations, and the struggle. They prepare suitable bases for this. And they are using many different methods.

These people who have been forced to move have difficulties as they are faced with new environmental conditions, language, and new social relations. They also have difficulties to continue with their own culture, own way of living, and own traditions. The campaign against the blockade-embargo and forced migration is continuing.

But when the importance of the problem, and its dimension is considered, it can be seen that the problem can not be solved by a campaign. As long as the class struggle continues, and develops ever wider, these problems will also continue. The important thing is to organise, enlighten and encourage labourers to fight.

Disclosing the politics of ruling classes, and the developing and organising of the working people’s consciousness to fight and struggle for their rights can bring about important gains for the revolution. The problems that we mentioned above, stem out of the system, and so, they can only be solved by the development of the struggle for political power and the realisation of the People's Democratic Revolution.

The problems relating to the advance of the People's War, which is the undefeated strategy of taking political power, can only be resolved by adopting correct tactics, and their application in practice; we must not forget this.

As the Communists are principled and believe in the ability of the masses to overcome their enemies, the victory of People's War is absolute. Let us finish with a quotation on this subject from Gonzalo, "Communists never lost a war when they apply their principles. They lost the wars only when they didn't apply their principles."