Global Days for Öcalan from 1 to 10 October

New Global Days for Öcalan to be held from 1 to 10 October.

The campaign Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan: A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question, called for a new edition of the Global Days for Öcalan from 1 to 10 October.

The campaign underlined that it was on 10 October 2023, that the international action was launched in Strasbourg, and added: "That location was chosen deliberately, since it is home to the Council of Europe (CoE) and Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the two institutions which hold the key to ensuring Mr. Öcalan receives his human rights under international law. 

In the past year we have had a range of accomplishments that are worth mentioning. On the organizational front, we have created a wide range of international networks involving lawyers, trade unions, politicians, activists, artists, musicians, women’s organizations, youth groups, and geographical regions. As a result, we have held many press conferences, rallies, protests, sit-in demonstrations, informational tables, and seminars, to get awareness out about our cause."

The campaign organizers said that "alongside this we held international global books days, musical concerts, and dialogue meetings all across Europe and Kurdistan, to discuss how Mr. Öcalan’s ideas can act as a blueprint to transform our world towards peace and democracy. Furthermore, we saw thousands of people around the world mail postcards to Imrali Island, in a symbolic attempt to break through his inhumane isolation. We have also sent letters to the CPT President, and inspired others intellectual groups to do the same, including 69 Nobel Prize laureates, who signed a recent letter calling for Abdullah Öcalan’s release and a political solution to the Kurdish question.

Our efforts reached such a level that CPT themselves took the unprecedented step of responding to our letters and meeting with us. And also, the international press published several articles on the Kurdish question and the inhuman situation towards prisoners in Turkey and globally. However, despite all of these efforts, we unfortunately have yet to end the isolation against Kurdistan’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, who remains illegally hidden by the Turkish state for the past 3 and a half years. Therefore, as we approach the one-year anniversary between October 1-10, 2024, we would like to send out a clarion call for all of us to do even more, as we believe we are close to finally breaking through the international conspiracy that has lined up to deny Mr. Öcalan his philosophical voice and the Middle East his message of reconciliation."

The campaign organizers "called on everyone to accelerate efforts, publish more editorials and essays, conduct more diplomacy, organize more festivals and seminars, hold more reading days of Öcalan’s works, contact your parliaments and representatives, and carry out more demonstrations and protests to finally break the isolation. This is an intellectual battle of ideas, and we trust that all of us can succeed if we refuse to give up. Abdullah Öcalan has not abandoned the Kurdish people or humanity despite a quarter-century locked away on a deserted island, so we will not abandon him."