A two-day vigil has been launched in Kirkuk under the lead of Tevgera Azadi, Kurdistan Free Women's Movement and Kurdistan Patriotic Youth Movement to draw attention to the isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Reading a press statement on the vigil which was launched with the motto “Freedom For Öcalan”, Tevgera Azadi Executive Council Member Komal Sermet said they would never accept the captivity of Öcalan who is held in isolation in İmralı Prison for 18 years and denied meeting with his lawyers for years.

Stressing that the whole world and international human rights organisations turned a blind eye to Öcalan's isolation, Sermet said this also meant turning a blind eye to the Kurdish people.

Sermet pointed out the Turkish state is subjecting the Kurdish people to isolation and attack by imposing isolation on the Kurdish leader, saying the followings: “The fascist Turkish state seeks to isolate all the Kurdish people in the person of Leader Apo. As a result, the Turkish state continues its cowardly attacks against the Kurdish people. Most recent examples in this sense were experienced in Shengal and Qereçox where a group of peshmergas and fighters were martyred. With these attacks, they aim to isolate and suppress all the peoples because they know that Öcalan's freedom is the freedom of all peoples, and guarantee of peace.”

The two-day vigil is held at in tent set up at Castle Garden where several activities including a seminar, musical performance and cinevision projection will be held.