Rajai Fayed, an Egyptian author, intellectual and President of the Egyptian Centre for Kurdish Studies, stated that the Egyptian intellectuals’ campaign to collect signatures calling for Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom would continue. He stated that campaign initiatives to keep collecting signatures would continue until the anniversary of the arrest of Öcalan.
A number of Egyptian intellectuals had launched this signature campaign and had formed the Egyptian Committee for ‘Freedom for Öcalan’. Fayed added: “A statement will be made on behalf of the Committee of Signatures and it will reach out to the various political factions concerned. Among these will be the Arab League, the United Nations office in Cairo and the Asia-Africa Cooperation organization”.
Fayed pointed out that it is important that Egyptians take part in leading such a campaign, because Öcalan does not only belong to the Kurdish people. He emphasized the historical link between the Kurdish people and the Egyptian people: “This makes us the first people that should participate in the campaign. I hope this step will succeed in Egypt, in the Arab world and in the international arena”.
The Egyptian Committee for ‘Freedom for Öcalan’ launched an international campaign for the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan on 1 November. Anyone can sign it online and it demands the release of Öcalan.
According to the Rojnews, the campaign states that: “We, as a number of intellectuals and all the peoples of the region – Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, and other peoples – declare that, for us, Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom is the ground for peace and fraternity in the region. As the Committee for leader Öcalan’s freedom, we call for the support of human rights organizations, the rule of law, democrats, all countries, and especially international organizations, to protect the living and work towards the fraternity of peoples”.
