Concerns over the situation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan increased after the Executive Council Member of the Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (KCK), Sabri Ok said in an interview on the Kurdish TV Channel Sterk TV on July 8 that threatening letters had recently been sent to Abdullah Öcalan anonymously via the Imrali prison administration.

Lawyers are requesting to meet with Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan twice a week. However, applications for visits are systematically left unanswered. In some cases, months later, lawyers are informed that disciplinary action has been taken against the Kurdish people's leader and therefore no visit can be granted.

In its annual report about rights violations in Turkish prisons, the Human Rights Association (IHD) stated that Öcalan has not been heard from for 29 months.

Members of the Kurdish Revolutionary Youth Movement (TCŞ) staged a demonstration in Toronto, Canada to demand freedom for Öcalan. The action on Sunday evening was organized as part of the ’Cenga Azadiyê Serbixin’’ [Win the Freedom War] campaign launched by the youth movement Komalên Ciwan.

During the demonstration on Dundas Square, activists denounced the incommunicado detention of the Kurdish leader, chanting the slogans ‘’Bijî Serok Apo’’ [Long Live Leader Öcalan] and “Bê Serok Jiyan Nabe” [No Life Without the Leader].

A statement by the activists recalled that there has been no news from Öcalan since 25 March 2021 when a telephone conversation with his brother was interrupted and could not be continued.

“The applications filed by Öcalan’s lawyers and family members remain unanswered. The Turkish state seeks to take revenge by aggravating the torture system it executes against Leader Öcalan in Imrali in response to the heavy defeat it has suffered in the Medya Defense Zones (guerrilla areas in northern Iraq). We will turn everywhere into a scene of resistance for Leader Öcalan. We call on all revolutionary youths to unite around Leader Öcalan as part of the ‘Cenga Azadiyê Serbixin’ campaign.”

Following the press statement, the group marched to Philips Square.