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.

This week's demonstration, which is held at a tent set up in Nation Square where the UN Office is located, started with a minute of silence in memory of the Kurdistan Freedom Martyrs in the person of Savaş Pîran (Aydın Al), who was martyred on 1 August 2016.

Speaking on behalf of the Action Committee, Veysel Dalgıç stated that there has been no news from Abdullah Öcalan, who has been kept for more than 3 years in the isolation and genocide system in İmralı, which has entered its 26th year.

Dalgıç pointed to the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign launched globally in October 2023 and remarked that the campaign has been embraced by the peoples of the world thanks to the Democratic Confederalism paradigm, the foundations of which Öcalan has drawn.

Dalgıç said, "We reiterate our call upon the CPT (European Committee for the Prevention of Torture), the UN (United Nations) and other authorised institutions to fulfil their responsibilities to eliminate the torture of isolation in İmralı. We will continue our struggle until Leader Öcalan is freed."

After the speech, the sit-in continued.