Institutions in the self-governed Yazidi town of Shengal (Sinjar) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq expressed their support for the international campaign “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question”. The campaign, which was launched simultaneously in over a hundred places all around the world on 10 October, unites social movements, political parties, municipalities, trade unions, activists, intellectuals and millions of Kurds and people in solidarity with the Kurdish liberation struggle worldwide around a common goal: the participation of Abdullah Öcalan in a dialogue for a just and democratic political solution to the Kurdistan question in Turkey, which has remained unresolved for more than a century.

A joint statement by the institutions affiliated to the Democratic Autonomous Administration of Shengal condemned the aggravated isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan who was forced to leave Syria on 9 October 1998 and handed over to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy on 15 February 1999.

“Subjected to strict isolation on Imralı for the past 24 years, Leader Öcalan defined himself as a fighter of truth and proved that nothing is ever more powerful than truth and justice. Öcalan, who is considered the leader of the peoples, attains the power of truth by waging a struggle for freedom,” said the statement.

The statement also recalled the genocide of Yazidis at the hands of ISIS on 3 August 2014, which had been foreseen by Öcalan. “On the orders of the Barzani family, thousands of peshmergas fled from Shengal. while everyone turned their backs on Shengal and fled, the fighters of Leader Öcalan rushed to Shengal. The Yazidi people responded to the genocide by building their autonomous administration.”

According to the statement, all the constituents in Shengal, and the Yazidi and Arab peoples, have joined the international campaign for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan. “It is time Leader Öcalan is freed. We believe that the isolation imposed Öcalan is executed against all oppressed peoples, cultures and beliefs. It is obvious that hegemonic powers base on the policy of war for the Middle East and the world and seek to pit peoples against one another. The policy of war means genocide to all the peoples living in our country, especially the Yazidis. Leader Öcalan is the one who shall pave the way to freedom for the peoples by frustrating the policy of war. The freedom of Leader Öcalan will start a new process in Kurdistan, Shengal and the Middle East. This is the reason why hegemonic powers aggravate the isolation of Leader Öcalan, seeking to silence him.”