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 paying tribute to the martyrs of the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle and saluted the 39th anniversary of the breakthrough of 15 August, when the Kurdish freedom movement fired the first bullet at the Turkish army in Eruh, Siirt in 1984. A 36-strong guerrilla force led by the legendary commander Mahsum Korkmaz - also known by his nom de Guerre Egîd ("the Brave") - carried out the first attack against the Turkish occupying forces that day, which is considered the beginning of the armed struggle of the Kurdish liberation movement. 

Speaking here, Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Center (CDK) co-chair Mehmet Latif Çelebi stated that the struggle launched by the Kurdish Freedom Movement raised the hope of freedom in the Middle East.

Denouncing the aggravated isolation imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, Çelebi said: “We are faced with a mindset that imposes isolation to avenge the bullet fired 29 years ago. The role of the European institutions, mainly the Council of Europe, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the United Nations, in the isolation of Öcalan has been exposed once again. Opposing the isolation imposed on the Kurds and other peoples in the person of Leader Öcalan is demanding the freedom of Öcalan, the Kurdish people and all other peoples in the Middle East.”

Following the speech by Çelebi, activists turned their backs on the UN headquarters and staged a sit-in.