Representatives from various groups discussed the connection between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom and a possible solution to the Kurdish conflict in Turkey and to world peace, in a two-day conference that started on Tuesday in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Kurdish Human Rights Working Group and the Syria Freedom for Öcalan Initiative organised the conference on 28 February and 1 March 2023, and representatives from various groups joined the discussions.
On the first day of the conference, entitled ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Peace and Stability for the World’, the message was clear that it is the “democratic nation model” that will be the salvation of the peoples in the Middle East. Day two of the conference started with a panel entitled “Women’s Quest for Freedom”, followed by panels on “Democratic Nation” and “The Need for Revolution in the Middle East and the World”.
The conference concluded with a final declaration and a memorial event for Essa Moossa, a South African friend of the Kurds, founder of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) and jurist, who died on 26 February 2016.