Since 25 June 2012, groups from all over Europe have been taking turns to hold a weekly vigil in front of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in Strasbourg for the physical freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. There has been no contact with Abdullah Öcalan and his three fellow prisoners, Hamili Yıldırım, Ömer Hayri Konar and Veysi Aktaş on Imrali Prison Island in the Turkish Sea of Marmara since March 2021.

Activists Halise Tüzer, Naile Gümüştaş, Saadet Doymaz and Fehime Öztürk from the Arjîn Garzan Commune in Switzerland have taken over the vigil on its 593rd week.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Halise Tüzer said she wanted to make their voice heard by the European institutions and demanded an end to the isolation of Öcalan, which, she said, is directed against the entire Kurdish people.

Demanding freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Tüzer said: “The freedom of the leader is the freedom of women and the Kurdish people.”