In an exclusive interview with MedyaNews, Franziska Stier talks about the influence of Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas and highlights the importance of the immediate release of Abdullah Öcalan from the prison on İmralı island, where he has been imprisoned since 1999, and held in total isolation since March 2021. In light of the rise of fascism in many European countries, she explains how the socialist paradigm developed by Abdullah Öcalan can provide a basis for the fight against the rise of fascism and how the paradigm based on women’s freedom, ecology and grassroots democracy can provide an alternative for European societies.
Franziska Stier was born in Germany and emigrated to Switzerland, where she works as the general secretary for the Swiss party BastA! (Basel’s Strong Alternative). She is also active in the women’s and international solidarity movement, was involved in observing the local elections in Turkey in Van (Wan), Ağrı (Agirî) and Iğdır (Îdir) earlier this year, and followed the process of the Suruç trial.
The full interview:
Medya News: In today’s interview, we want to talk a bit more about the Kurdish movement and its representative, Abdullah Öcalan, who has been in solitary confinement on the prison island of İmralı in Turkey for over 25 years. Can you tell us what significance Abdullah Öcalan has for you personally?
For me personally as a feminist socialist, Abdullah Öcalan’s paradigm is a great enrichment because it brings together the ecological question, the feminist question, the question of democracy and the social question. Although there has always been a connection between ecology, gender equality and the socialist movement, for a long time it only played a subordinate role in party politics. That has only changed in the last 20 years and today it is actually the socialist parties that are fighting for climate justice and doing so on an international level.
But this is relatively recent. At the same time, democratic confederalism offers an incredible opportunity. It was created as a socialist counterpart for multi-ethnic communities, and for a very long time no one in Europe thought about that. But wars, poverty and ecocide are increasingly turning Europe into a multi-ethnic and multi-religious community and we absolutely have to think about how we can include the people who are looking for a new home in Europe in political work and in the communities, and democratic confederalism has some answers that I think are very important.
Medya News: You have already started to talk about how Abdullah Öcalan’s paradigm can also offer a solution, an alternative for European societies and European countries. So why is it that many European countries, many European institutions, remain silent in the face of Abdullah Öcalan’s more than 25 years of solitary confinement?
Well, one of the most important players within the European Union is Germany, and Germany has a long history of maintaining very good relations with the Turkish state for many decades. This begins as early as the Third Reich with the Wehrmacht, which trained Turkish soldiers, among others, and extends to the prisons, for example the F-Type prisons, which were modelled on German prisons. So you can certainly speak of dependencies and also of policies guided by interests.
Another example of this is the refugee deal between Turkey and Europe. Europe as a whole shows at its borders, but also in negotiations with new raw material suppliers, that human rights are not the core of the European Community values. And the increasing crises and wars are causing countries to focus much more on their own interests, and the international context to fade much more into the background – at least everything that would bring actual solutions to the capitalist, imperialist crisis.
In short, the ruling classes have no interest in Abdullah Öcalan being released. We can’t expect any support from those in power, but there are more than 1.5 million Kurds living in Europe, probably considerably more. Many of them are organising and fighting for the release of Abdullah Öcalan, among other things.
So it is now very, very important that all these people also organise themselves in the left-wing, progressive parties in Europe and are serious and strong contact persons, so that the left-wing parties can also come out of a defensive position and stand up much more strongly for human rights again. We are experiencing a total shift to the right everywhere in Europe and the entire political discussion is taking place on a level in which socialist ideas or ideas of liberation are not included at all. On the one hand we have protectionist to radical right-wing forces, on the other liberal and economically liberal forces, but the perspective of the people, the perspective of women’s liberation and ecology is not included. And of course we have nothing to expect from the liberals and we have to fight the right at all costs, but we can only do that together.
Medya News: As you’ve just said, a shift to the right is taking place in Europe, is now noticeable everywhere, was very clear only recently in the EU elections, in the European Parliament elections, and has now become very, very clear again in the elections in France at the weekend. How can the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan perhaps offer an answer, a perspective against this shift to the right?
I think there are various levels on which we are discussing this. One is that Abdullah Öcalan’s ideas influence the political left in Europe to varying degrees. But of course, Abdullah Öcalan has also read the socialist and communist classics and used them to develop his paradigm, that works wonderfully for Kurdistan, precisely for these multi-ethnic, multi-religious communities. And what I find particularly interesting is that he is trying to develop grassroots participatory decision-making in this paradigm.
And I believe that this is incredibly important, as is the inclusion of all ethnic and religious communities and, of course, women. We want people to be able to shape their own lives. And this is totally feasible at a communal level. Not only Rojava has shown this, but also the HDP mayors and the people in the Kurdish cities, who started from nothing, so to speak, to shape their cities with incredibly little money after the first big election success, to rebuild their cities according to their needs, according to the needs of the children, the youth, the women.
And the exciting thing is that people are starting to take responsibility for themselves and for the community at the same time. So we have created a situation in which self-change and social change coincide. And that is a revolutionary idea, so to speak. And I believe that we can build on this and that we can also develop socialist perspectives in our countries in Europe, namely with the people, not as an abstract theory, but very concretely. And we as BastA! have actually included some elements in our election program, precisely because participatory decision-making at the neighbourhood level is incredibly important to us for the entire population. And that goes beyond the civil right to vote, which migrants in Switzerland don’t have either. It’s about being able to determine your own life.
MedyaNews: As I said earlier, Abdullah Öcalan has been incarcerated on the prison island of İmralı in Turkey for over 25 years. There has been no information from him for over three years and no contact with lawyers or family. What impact would the release of Abdullah Öcalan have on the political situation in Turkey?
One thing, of course, is that there are thousands, tens of thousands of political prisoners in Turkey. Starting with the HDP [Peoples’ Democratic Party] members who were sentenced in the Kobanê trial, although they actually wanted nothing more than to prevent an ISIS massacre in Kobanê. But it is also about thousands of others who protested for justice, for peace, for democracy. And we must also fight for all of them.
However, the release of Abdullah Öcalan would be a step that goes much further. On the one hand, it would relieve a great many people, including in Europe, because the concern is really great. But it would also be a serious signal for a change of direction and a big step towards serious peace negotiations. And the people of Turkey deserve nothing less than peace.
