A solidarity concert in support of Abdullah Öcalan and all Kurdish political prisoners will take place on 19 October in Montreuil, Paris. The event will include music, speeches, radical literature and food.
Öcalan, who is the co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999. He has spent the last three and a half years without any contact with his family or lawyers. The global ‘Freedom for Öcalan – A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign is currently stepping up its efforts to secure his freedom.
The organisers hope that the event will be a “moment of collective reflection, sharing of ideas and strengthening of links between the different struggles.”
The headliner for the night is internationally acclaimed Tunisian performer Emel Mathlouthi, who sings in Arabic and Kurdish. She played to a million-strong crowd in Diyarbakır (Amed) this year at the annual Newroz celebrations, despite police repression. At her show in Diyarbakır, she performed a song for Gaza while wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. The Turkish state banned her from playing in Istanbul, just days before.
🔴Emel Mathlouthi (@MathlouthiEmel ) enchanted a huge audience of over a million people during the #Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır, despite Turkish authorities’ obstruction of her earlier performance in #Istanbul (https://t.co/QffZDmMX4a) pic.twitter.com/vJJZCq6rKc
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) March 22, 2024
#NewrozPîrozBe 🔥| Tunisian-American musician Emel Mathlouthi (@MathlouthiEmel ) sings the well-known Kurdish lament Ahmedo Ronî at the Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakır (Amed).#Newroz2024 | #Amed | #Kurdistan pic.twitter.com/wSb9FWp1p6
— MedyaNews (@1MedyaNews) March 21, 2024
In September, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) forces prevented Mathlouthi from entering northern Syria through the Pesh Habur crossing from northern Iraq. She was scheduled to play at the Şehit Berçem Festival in Kobanê (Kobani) alongside fellow performer Shadi Gholami from Iran, who was also banned. The KDP is currently allied with Turkey in its fight against Kurdistan Workers’ Party guerillas in northern Iraq.
Mathlouthi will be supported by brother-duo Mouss and Hakim. The musicians from Toulouse are formally from the band Zebda. There will also be performances by Hozan Comert, Rodolphe Burger, Sophiane Saidi and Mehdi Haddab.
The concert is being organised by the Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) in collaboration with the Kurdish Women’s Movement in France, the Cultural Association of Kurdistan, France-Kurdistan, Solidaires, the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation, Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP), the Peace Movement, SOS Racisme, and the House of Tamil Elam.
Tickets for the concert can be booked here.
Redonnons l’espoir aux prisonniers politiques kurdes!
Rejoignez-nous le 19 octobre à Montreuil pour un grand moment de solidarité!
Au programme: Concert de musique, prises de parole, stands associatifs et restauration kurde.
Réservez vos places ici
👇👇👇https://t.co/Q5du4jxb2y pic.twitter.com/oidGPe1lgz— Conseil Démocratique Kurde en France (@Le_CDKF) September 24, 2024
