Italian capital Rome will host a demonstration in protest at the 15 February international conspiracy against Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan at its 21st anniversary.

In Rome, mobile billboards are used to call for participation in the demonstration which will demand freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and all political prisoners. The demonstration will take place at 2 p.m on 15 February, in Piazza della Repubblica.

Abdullah Öcalan stayed in Rome for a few weeks 21 years ago after leaving Syria on 9 October 1998. From Syria, Öcalan flew via Cyprus to Greece and Moscow. On 12 November he travelled on to Italy, accompanied by an Italian Member of Parliament, where he was arrested on the basis of a German arrest warrant. Italy placed Öcalan under house arrest, which he spent in a villa near Rome. During this period, numerous Kurds living in Europe travelled to the Italian capital.

After the German government waived an extradition request on 23 November, Öcalan was released from house arrest in December 1998 and left Rome in January. On 15 February 1999, after leaving the Greek embassy in Nairobi (Kenya), he was abducted to Turkey in an international secret service coup.