As the initiative, ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan – Democratic Solution to the Kurdish Question’, moves towards celebrating its first anniversary, protests are taking place around the world demanding the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict. While PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held in Imrali Prison in absolute isolation for nearly 4 years, without even contact with family members or lawyers, activists and organisations in many major cities across Europe are stressing the urgent need for his release and the importance of his political ideas for global peace and justice.
Information tents were set up in Hamburg as part of the campaign’s outreach efforts. Attendees learned about the goals of the initiative and received leaflets detailing the demands for Öcalan’s freedom and political status for Kurdistan. The tents also included German editions of Öcalan’s Manifesto for a Democratic Civilisation series, which introduced visitors to Öcalan’s political ideas.
Meanwhile, a seminar in Edinburgh was attended by members of the Kurdish community, local activists and city councillors. During the event, participants drew attention to the continued isolation imposed on Öcalan and emphasised the global importance of his release to the Kurdish people. Speakers stressed that lifting the isolation of Öcalan is an important step towards peace in the Middle East.
La Revolteria Social Centre in Coruna, Spain, hosted a seminar examining the historical context of the Kurdish freedom movement and the structural alternatives presented by Öcalan’s Democratic Confederalism paradigm. Participants discussed the importance of the global campaign for Öcalan’s freedom and the meaning of the Rojava revolution, and expressed solidarity with Kurdish fighters resisting repression.
Youth organisations and trade unions joined forces in a seminar in Barcelona, focusing on self-determination and the protection of minority languages. Speakers from various ethnic groups, including Amazigh, Roma, Catalan and Kurdish, emphasised the links between cultural oppression and the wider political struggle for autonomy. The event highlighted Öcalan’s contribution to the concept of the ‘democratic nation’ and condemned the cultural genocide faced by minority communities in Turkey and beyond.
Further north, a presentation was organised in Sheffield, UK, to launch the comic book Freedom Will Win – The Comic Life of Abdullah Öcalan. The event included a discussion led by Reimar Heider, project editor of the International Initiative for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan. Heider emphasised the importance of this new work in introducing Öcalan’s life and ideas to younger generations and exposing the complicity of European states in the conspiracy that led to Öcalan’s imprisonment.
The Kurdish Community Centre in Liverpool set up stalls in the busiest streets of the city, distributing leaflets and discussing the importance of freedom for Öcalan with passers-by. The campaign placed an emphasis on Öcalan’s model of Democratic Confederalism, which proposes an alternative system of governance based on direct democracy, ecology and gender equality.
Activists from the Jineoloji Network and local choir La Lutte Enchentée organised a demonstration at St-Charles station in Marseille. The activists drew attention to Öcalan’s continued incommunicado detention and condemned the international silence on his inhuman treatment.
The global campaign for freedom for Öcalan shows no sign of slowing down, with demonstrations from France to Catalonia and beyond. These events not only strengthen calls for Öcalan’s release, but also place Öcalan’s ideas of democratic autonomy, feminism and ecological sustainability at the forefront of the international struggle for justice and peace.
