Director Ali Bedirxan, one of the pillars of Egyptian cinema, spoke about Kurdish national unity, and the "End to isolation, fascism, occupation; Time to ensure freedom" initiative, launched to secure freedom of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Speaking about his Kurdish origins, film director Ali Bedirxan said: "My name is Ali Bedirxan. Originally from Botan. I am from the Kurdistan laying within the Turkish borders.”

Referring to the causes of the Kurdish issue, Bedirxan said: "Kurds have faced many persecutions. There are many reasons why the Kurdish issue has not been resolved until now. Many reasons for these persecutions may be due to external pressure, but the main reason is also the lack of unity of the Kurds and the parties engaged in politics on behalf of the Kurds."

Emphasizing that the Kurds aim at ensuring their national and social rights, Bedirxan said: "Our goal is one and that is the rights of the Kurdish people, to live with their mother tongue, culture, traditions and history on their own land. This is our cause. To achieve this, we need the unity of all Kurdish parties, their forces and parts. The Kurdish parties, organizations and forces must unite and get the rights of the Kurds and march towards freedom."

Stating that all Kurdistan parties and organizations should leave aside the problems among themselves and focus on the issue of freedom, Bedirxan referred to the Latin and then British motto 'Divide and rule’ and added: "All Kurdish forces must ensure national unity in order not to be fooled or divided."

Bedirxan also spoke about Kurdish people's leader Öcalan and the 21 years of his imprisonment. "Mr Öcalan is not a terrorist. This man is fighting for his people. Öcalan needs to be liberated for the unity and freedom of the people, because he is fighting for the Kurdish people."

Calling for the freedom of Öcalan, Bedirxan said: "Our call to international human rights institutions and organizations is that they should do everything in their power so that Öcalan can achieve physical freedom as soon as possible."