A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the 'Dem dema azadiye' [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.

Today’s vigil began with a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs who fell fighting for the freedom of the Kurdish people and Kurdistan, paying tribute to guerrilla fighters Dîcle Omer (Raperîn Botan), Rêvan Suruç (Peyam Demir) and Botan Êrîş (Mahmut Tekin), who fell as martyrs in clashes with the Turkish army in the region of Cilo in North Kurdistan on March 29.

Speaking here, Mehmet Latif Çelebi, co-chair of the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland (CDK-S), stated that the Imrali torture system has turned into torture and spread to prisons and the Kurdish territories. He noted that the chemical weapons used against the PKK guerrillas and the lands of Kurdistan were procured from Europe, and criticized the international community’s silence in the face of the isolation imposed on Öcalan and the crimes committed against the Kurds.

Çelebi called for participation in the demonstration to be staged in Düsseldorf on Saturday to denounce the Imrali isolation.

Speaking after, CDK-S co-chair Tuba Yılmaz pointed to the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, and announced that events and actions will be organised on this occasion. “We will remain in action everywhere until the freedom of our leader is secured and the status of Kurdistan is recognized,” she said.

Following the speeches, the activists turned their backs on the UN headquarters in protest at its silence on Öcalan’s isolation and massacres in Kurdistan.