Dozens of personalities and organisations in France published an appeal in the Humanité newspaper for a political solution in Kurdistan. The declaration points out that the only person who can solve the Kurdish question is Abdullah Öcalan.

The declaration, signed by more than 50 personalities and 17 collectives, including MPs, lawyers, singers, award-winning writers, renowned philosophers, well-known actresses/actors, honorary senators, directors, sociologists, historians and political scientists, makes a series of demands for a solution to the Kurdish question, including an end to military cooperation with the Turkish state and the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations.

Published in the French communist newspaper Humanité, the appeal titled "Kurdistan: The solution is political" reads as follows:

“A new year begins. And it's starting in a bad way in Kurdistan: while the Turkish state continues to bomb Syrian Kurdistan in total international silence, Turkish Kurdistan is crying out for justice from the depths of its prisons. Since 27 November 2023, a collective hunger strike has mobilised thousands of captives in around a hundred prisons.

Öcalan is the only person who can put an end to the "Kurdish question"

They are once again calling for the release of Abdullah Öcalan, co-founder of the PKK, who has been imprisoned since 1999 in total isolation. This is because Öcalan, like Nelson Mandela in his time - who was also branded a "terrorist" by the apartheid regime - is the only person who can put an end to the "Kurdish question" in Turkey.

For decades, the autonomist leader has been calling for a negotiated, just and peaceful solution. The weapons, he repeats, will then be surrendered through international mediation. Peace talks were launched in 2013, only to be trampled underfoot by Erdogan two years later, a false defender of the Palestinians and a true oppressor of the minorities living under his control.

The voice of Kurdish prisoners must be heard everywhere

The Kurdish prisoners are calling for international solidarity. Their voice must be heard everywhere; their voice must be relayed everywhere. Western countries maintain economic and military relations with Turkey, a leading member of NATO. Every citizen has a say in their own government's foreign policy. Every word is binding. Every silence too.

Since December 2023, Selahattin Demirtas, co-founder of Turkey's main left-wing democratic party, the HDP, has been pleading his case before judges. Arrested in 2016, he faces up to 142 years in prison. Demirtas now says: "We are calling for an honourable peace, a peaceful environment where Turks, Kurds, Alevis and Sunnis can live freely. (...) The Turkish state is prosecuting us for racist and nationalist reasons, simply because we are Kurds. We are on trial because we do not submit to Turkish ideology and racist theses. Kurdistan is our homeland and we are on trial for saying: "You cannot occupy Kurdistan, you cannot destroy it". In this room, they want to condemn the Kurdish reality in our person."

Former HDP MP Sebahat Tuncel, who has also been detained since 2016, says: "There is the option of brotherhood, friendship and coexistence through the promotion of life." But this option is systematically rejected by the Turkish government, which is allied to the openly fascist MHP movement.

Repression, discrimination, massacres and imprisonment never last forever

As we all know, conflicts can only be resolved politically. Repression, discrimination, massacres and imprisonment never last forever. As soon as a people is subjugated, it resists: history swears by this. The oppressed resisted in India, Vietnam, Algeria and South Africa, eventually regaining their freedom. One day, the Kurdish people will be free. For now, they are promoting democracy in the face of autocracy and warlike nationalism. Let us support them from our soil. Let us not leave the prisoners in the shadows.

Let us listen to Abdullah Öcalan

Let us listen to Abdullah Öcalan. Let us listen to Selahattin Demirtas. Let us listen to Sebahat Tuncel. Let us listen to the former mayor and feminist activist Ayse Gökkan, arrested on some 80 occasions and detained since 2021. Let us listen to former HDP co-chair Figen Yüksekdag, imprisoned in 2016. Let us listen to former mayor Gültan Kisanak, tortured in the 1980s and imprisoned in 2016.

Let us listen to the singer Nûdem Durak, sentenced to nineteen years in prison for defending the rights and culture of her people through her art. Let us listen to singer Erkan Beli, tortured and sentenced to life imprisonment. Let us listen to journalist Dicle Müftüoglu, co-president of the journalists' association Dicle Firat Gazeteciler Dernegi (DFG), imprisoned since May 2023.

Let us listen to the journalist Ziya Ataman, from the Dicle Haber Ajansi (Diha) agency, who wants "their situation in prison to be known by the public". Let us listen to Nedime Yaklav, who, despite having served her 30-year sentence, remains in prison. Let us listen to Mustafa Murat Perisan, who has also been a hostage for over thirty years and is still being held in detention because he refuses to sign a statement of "remorse". Let us listen to Selver Yildirim and Abdulalim Kaya, who are being kept in detention despite suffering from serious illnesses.

Demands

The list is endless. Let us listen. And, as French citizens, let us demand: an end to trade partnerships and military collaboration with the Turkish state; the removal of the PKK from the list of "terrorist organisations"; an end to police and judicial cooperation, via Interpol, with the Turkish state; and the lifting of defence secrecy in the case of the triple Kurdish feminicide in Paris in January 2013."

Signatories

Nadège Abomangoli, MP

Arié Alimi, lawyer, writer and member of the League for Human Rights (LDH)

Hakim Amokrane, singer, co-founder of Zebda

Mustapha Amokrane, singer, co-founder of Zebda

Joseph Andras, writer (Goncourt Prize winner)

Ludivine Bantigny, historian

Miguel Benasayag, philosopher and psychoanalyst

Olivier Besancenot, former presidential candidate

Rachida Brakni, actress and film producer

Rony Brauman, doctor and essayist

Éric Cantona, actor, singer and former footballer

Carmen Castillo, film producer

Patrick Chamoiseau, writer

Laurence Cohen, honorary senator

Éric Coquerel, MP

Leila Dakhli, historian

Hendrik Davi, MP

Alice Diop, film producer

Sébastien Delogu, MP

Rokhaya Diallo, writer and film producer

Éric Fassin, sociologist

Elsa Faucillon, MP

Robert Guédiguian, film producer (European Film Awards)

Nadia Yala Kisukidi, philosopher

Anouche Kunth, historian

Adèle Haenel, actress (winner of the César Award for Best Actress)

Kaoutar Harchi, writer and sociologist

Andy Kerbrat, MP

Pierre Laurent, honorary senator and former vice-president of the Senate

Jean-Paul Lecoq, MP and local councillor

Frédéric Lordon, philosopher and economist

Michael Löwy, sociologist

Maryam Madjidi, writer (Goncourt Prize winner)

Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist and film-maker

Carlos Martens Bilongo, MP

Edgar Morin, sociologist and philosopher (Unesco gold medallist)

Aline Pailler, journalist

Ernest Pignon-Ernest, visual artist

Philippe Poutou, former presidential candidate

Anne Querrien, sociologist and urban planner

Rocé, rapper

Pınar Selek, sociologist and author

Danielle Simonnet, MP

Pierre Tevanian, philosopher

Ana Tijoux, rapper and singer

Laetitia Tura, film director

Françoise Vergès, political scientist and essayist

Gisèle Vienne, director and choreographer

Abdourahman Waberi, writer

Malik Zidi, actor and writer

Collectives

Transnational Feminist Assembly

France-Kurdistan Association

Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F)

Revolutionary Feminists Paris

Ecosocialist Left

Lesbians against patriarchy

Populist and Social Ecology

Serhildan Internationalist Network

Libertarian Communist League (UCL)

Solidaires Syndicate

West Asia-North Africa (WANA)