Hi Delal,
I think it was me that made a comment comparing one of your statement to one that an Apoci would make.
Delal:
For example, I as an American citizen my elected leader is George Bush. While I do not agree or support with his actions I must respect them because he speaks for the country in which I live.
In the case of Apo, he is not an elected leader and does not speak for all Kurds, or for all of the Kurds within the borders of Turkey. If he is not a chosen leader from the many, do I still have to respect his actions? My answer would be no because I don't feel that he has any legitmacy in the public diplomatic arena. Whereas as Barzani and Talabani seem to have more legitmacy to me because they have a stronger history of leadership...
Dilsad:
1. mhm, what is the difference between you and the apoci in my mind?
left me think for a while...really there is no difference!!!
I mean, you are telling me that because a leader is selected ouch sorry ..."elected" then you should support him even though you don't like him or didn't vote for him?
You sound like someone that would put a sticker on their car and say something like:
"Another Democrat for Bush!"
the comparasion I was trying to make, and realized did not get to you, is that your "support/respect" for your "s"elected president even though he doesn't speak for you is at the root of the definition of what the term apoci has become.
=> Following a leader "blindly" regardless of his/her actions.
To answer you main question:
At the begining of the PKK, its supporter were know as , (and may be this is going to surpprise/shock some of you),:
TELEBE (which has nothing to do with the more recent taliban).
They were called in that way becasue the early founders and the supporters of the PKK were all students , Telebe means students.
After a few years, once apo clearly was brought at the forefront of the party, they were known as apoci, or follower/supporter of apo.
Their naming changed as the pkk spread accross countries and diversified, they became Gerila for the fighters and Kadro (or Cadre, ie manager/supervisor) for the political branch.
The term really was removed from the vocabulary until recent years when apo was arrested. The pkk supporter re-invented/re-use that term in order to state their respect/follow of the leader.
Now, that term was used throughout the years by people who disliked the pkk and smply called the pkk's followers by this "pseudo derogatory" term as apoci...ah you know those apoci...they don't know anything else than follow their leader....
Anyways,
here it is....hope it helped
D....
In our days, the term has