Allies of the Kurdish people will organize a part of the Long March to Strasbourg this year. The Preparation Committee announced that the Long March will begin in Luxembourg on February 1 and finish in Strasbourg on February 11.

In a written statement, the Preparation Committee stated that participants of the Long March will condemn the International Conspiracy against Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan during the rally to take place after the march ends in Strasbourg on February 11.

Allies of Kurdish people from countries such as Spain, Portugal, Germany, England, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, France, Finland, Switzerland and Argentina will be joining this year's Long March.

A small group of Kurdish diplomatic workers and internationalist youth will also participate in the march. Tens of people have already applied to join the march that was organized upon the call of KCDK-Europa.

The Preparation Committee said "Around 70 allies that will participate in the Long March say that the paradigm of Kurdish People’s Leader Öcalan and the status of Kurdistan are very important for them as well. They emphasize that with its resolution perspective to the main problems of the world (women, youth, ecology, human rights, science, sociology etc.), the democratic confederalism paradigm of Öcalan, who has been held in isolation and torture over the past 18 years, is the source of their struggle as well. These allies state that the struggle of Kurdish people against ISIS and other oppressive regimes and the system based on society’s democratic values that they have put into practice is the main reason for their participation in the march."

The committee noted that the allies of Kurdish people will meet with representatives from municipalities, unions, the press, civil society and political parties, and discuss the philosophy of Öcalan during the course of the march.

The march of the allies will begin after a press briefing in front of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, where the case on the removal of the PKK from the ‘list of terrorism’ continues. Here, Kurds’ allies will denounce the list and call upon civil society organizations, the press, human rights defenders, democrats, the EU, the CoE, the UN and other organizations to end their silence on Turkey’s policies of massacre and destruction, to take action in order to end the unlawful treatment of Öcalan, and demand the recognition of Kurdish people’s status and political rights.

MARCH ROUTES

The committee shared the following course of the Long March which will continue for 10 days:

February 1: Luxembourg / Audun-le-Tiche

February 2: Audun-le-Tiche / Thionville

February 3: Thionville / Talange

February 4: Talange / Landremont

February 5: Landremont / Saint-Avold

February 6: Saint-Avold / Puttelange-aux-Lacs

February 7: Puttelange / Sarre-Union

February 8: Sarre-Union / Phalsbourg

February 9: Phalsbourg / Wasselonne

February 10: Wasselonne / Strasbourg