This weekend saw events across the world to draw attention to the continued detention of Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan, often known as the ‘Mandela of the Middle East’, who has now been held in prison for 25 years, with much of that period spent in total isolation and conditions amounting to torture widely criticised by international monitors and observers.
International supporters joined events including a conference in Brussels organised by the European Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), and a major march culminating in Cologne. Benny Gustafsson, who leads a Kurdish solidarity campaign in Sweden’s Söderhamn and is a prominent advocate for Kurdish rights in the Nordic country, which has found itself at the centre of geopolitical tensions over the Kurds due to Turkey’s veto over its NATO accession, attended both eveînts. He spoke to Medya News to share his perspective on the role the Kurdish leader’s freedom could play in addressing the contemporary crisis in the Middle East.
With the Middle East in crisis, what’s the significance of demanding freedom for Öcalan?
Öcalan is the main player in the coming peace negotiations about the Middle East, and Turkish repression in Iraq and Rojava. They tried it before – they had peace negotiations from 2012 to 2014, and Öcalan said, “give me a week and I will create peace in the Middle East.” That might sound tough! But he is a main player in this situation. I think Turkey is very well aware of that. That’s why they broke off the negotiations in 2014, because then the Kurdish movement in Turkey got a lot of support, and made a very good election [result] in 2015.
Could his freedom and ideas play a role beyond Turkey?
The Kurds play an important role in the whole situation, mostly because of their political skills. You can see with the building of Rojava, in North and East Syria, it’s made the paradigm and the politics of Abdullah Öcalan to spread south all by themselves. I mean, people in small villages outside Rojava have come to the conclusion that ‘we have to something about this situation – we have no bakery, we have no school.’ And it’s mostly women who pick up on these questions, so they start building democratic confederalism. But not connected directly to Rojava. And then I think the Kurds’ way of taking the third road in these negotiations between Turkey and Rojava, Iraq and also the USA and Russia have done a very good job in the diplomatic field.
What about in Europe – can these ideas make an impact beyond the Middle East?
We should deal with the smallest problems people have. In that way, we can make them understand what Abdullah Öcalan is talking about. In our small village, we’re 800 people – and we are working like that. We have a democratic, grassroots movement. Instead of going backwards, as most rural parts in Sweden do, we have developed our little village. We own our own fire department, grocery store, a lot of houses; we have a hostel, and apartments to rent.
But in Sweden, the Kurdish political movement also faces heavy repression due to Turkey’s veto over the country’s NATO accession. Are the local Kurds suffering?
Yes, they are. A lot of our [Kurdish] friends are worried about the situation, and staying in Sweden, because Sweden has already started to expel Kurds from Sweden, and send them to Turkey. Only from my little hometown, I know they have sent two, who are already in Turkey, under surveillance.
Why should Erdoğan want to hold up this whole process in order to demand concessions over Kurds living in Europe?
Erdoğan had quite a strong hand of cards. We saw the Swedish Prime Minister crawl for Erdoğan, and even our foreign minister didn’t stand up for human rights, or international laws. They bend their knees for Erdoğan. They also started to sell weapons again to Turkey. We had an embargo before, but now, it’s alright to sell weapons to Mr Erdoğan.
