The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E) has called for a mass mobilisation towards a demonstration for the freedom of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in Cologne, Germany on 16 November.
In the statement, the KCDK-E invited the Kurdish diaspora and the general public to partake in a central demonstration in Cologne on 16 November, with other demonstrations taking place on the same day in different Scandinavian countries.
In February, tens of thousands of Kurdish and international people from many countries marched for the freedom of Öcalan. The date of the march, 17 February 2024, marked the 25th anniversary of the ‘international conspiracy’ – Öcalan’s capture in Kenya on 15 February 1999, involving agencies like the CIA, MI5 and Mossad, and his subsequent transfer to Turkey, with many arguing it breached Kenyan and international laws.
Since his arrest in 1999, Mr. Öcalan has been held in isolation on the prison island of İmralı in Turkey. For more than 44 months, neither his family nor his lawyers have been allowed to visit him, and there is no information about his current health.
“There is a lot of anger and worries about the health and security of Abdullah Öcalan and we don’t accept this situation”, the KCDK-E statement emphasised, calling on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to exert pressure onto Turkish authorities to end his isolation.
The KCDK-E also made it clear that Abdullah Öcalan is “the only representative and vanguard of the Kurdish people’s struggle for democracy and freedom” and gave the example of the Rojava Revolution in North and East Syria, where millions of Arab, Turkmen, Armenian and Kurdish people are building up a democratic system of peaceful co-existence.
Actions as part of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign will be held in different countries in Europe from 1 to 16 November and will have their grand finale with the demonstration in Cologne on 16 November.
