Friends of the Kurdish people have launched a new move for the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is held in absolute isolation in İmralı Type F High Security Prison and has not been heard from for 31 months, and for the solution of the Kurdish issue. Statements about the move were made in 74 centers around the world, especially in Strasbourg, France, where the Council of Europe, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are located. The selection of 74 centers represents Abdullah Öcalan's age. In addition to European countries, simultaneous statements were made in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tokyo, India, Kenya, South Africa and Latin America.

 

Academicians, journalists, non-governmental organizations, political parties, parliamentarians, activists fighting for rights, philosophers, Nobel peace prize winners and women's organizations from all over the world also supported the statements.

 

JOINT STATEMENT

 

The statement made simultaneously in 74 centers is as follows: “The international 'Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish issue' campaign unites social movements, political parties, municipalities, unions, activists, intellectuals and millions of Kurds and their friends around the world around a common goal. This aim is to bring a fair and democratic political solution to Turkey's century-old Kurdish issue by ensuring the participation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in a renewed dialogue process.

 

Abdullah Öcalan is a Kurdish political leader who is seen by millions of Kurds around the world as their political representative. He was kidnapped in an international intelligence operation in February 1999 and sent to Turkey. He has been in prison ever since and was banned from all contact with the outside world for years. He was subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment.

 

Despite this, the movement built by Öcalan and the people inspired by him are at the forefront of Kurdish struggles for self-determination and multi-ethnic, multi-religious democracy movements in the Middle East. Her theories inspire those fighting for self-determination, the liberation of women, and an end to all forms of inequality and exploitation around the world.

 

Turkey's unresolved 'Kurdish issue' - conflict and political instability resulting from the Republic of Turkey's violent denial of basic civil and political rights to its 20 million Kurdish citizens - has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and empowered hardline nationalists, fundamentalists and autocrats around the world . It is linked to the most serious regional and global problems that affect the lives of millions of people - occupation, racism, oppression of women, religious intolerance, economic exploitation and destruction of the environment.

 

The campaign is partly international because the Kurdish issue is an international problem. Kurdistan is divided between four states: Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It was European powers, including Britain and France, that created these divisions a century ago. Turkey's ability to wage war on the Kurds in the Middle East is a result of decades of unconditional support from the United States and other NATO members, and Turkey's new strategy of using these forces against other states such as Russia and Iran to extract anti-Kurdish concessions from all sides.

 

 

ISOLATION HAS BEEN APPLIED FOR 3 YEARS

 

It is international because Abdullah Öcalan's solutions are international. The political solution framework that Abdullah Öcalan brought to the Kurdish issue can end a century of war and oppression in Turkey and neighboring countries. The universal theories that frame his solutions can serve as a model for people everywhere seeking alternatives to the great crises of our time, from rising inequality to climate change to the rise of far-right autocrats who take advantage of growing disillusionment with the system.

 

When Abdullah Öcalan has the freedom to participate in a political process for the solution of the Kurdish question and continue to develop his ideas, the result will be more freedom and more peace for all of us. Unfortunately, the authoritarian leadership in Turkey knows this and has great fear of this scenario - and therefore, with the support of the international community, has held Abdullah Öcalan in isolation for nearly three years to preserve his power and prolong their endless war.

 

THIS SITUATION CANNOT BE SUSTAINED

 

In his last meeting with his lawyers in 2019, Abdullah Öcalan said that he could solve the Kurdish issue within a week if given the opportunity, and that he had further developed his ideas for a political solution to the Kurdish issue since the Turkish government ended the peace talks. As Turkey expands its occupation of Iraqi Kurdistan and Northern and Eastern Syria and increases its pressure on opposition at home and abroad, the Kurdish people and other peoples in Turkey, the peoples of the Middle East and the world need a political solution more than ever.

 

We are also more concerned than ever about the safety and health of Abdullah Öcalan. Isolation is internationally recognized as a form of torture. It is extremely dangerous for this form of torture to continue for three years. We know nothing about the fate of Abdullah Öcalan, other than the recent allegations that 'disciplinary penalties' have been imposed to prevent meetings under false pretenses and that he has received death threats.

 

This situation cannot be sustained. We therefore make the following request:

 

"Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan should immediately be allowed to meet with his lawyers and family, and ultimately be released under conditions that will allow Turkey to play a role in finding a fair and democratic political solution to the decades-old Kurdish issue."