A new group of activists from the Essen took over the Freedom for Öcalan Vigil, which has been carried out by the Kurdish people and their friends in Strasbourg since 25 June 2012.
The Freedom for Öcalan Vigil started in Strasbourg on 25 June 2012 and this week has reached its 464th action. Kurds demand freedom for Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and the end of the isolation imposed on him.
A new group of activists from Essen took over the vigil this week.
Ibrahim Polat, Mazlum Hasan and Feteh Cirit are among the activists in the new group. The vigil is held where the Council of Europe, European Parliament, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) are located.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Ibrahim Polat pointed out that the massacres against the Kurdish people and the invasion attacks against Kurdistan are carried out in parallel with the captivity and isolation imposed on Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan. "Leader Öcalan 's freedom is the key to the solution."
Polat added: "The Kurdish people find sense of their freedom in the freedom of Leader Öcalan" and called on Europe not to be a partner in the crimes committed by the Turkish state against the Kurds and its leadership. “This is also the meaning of this historical vigil for freedom.”
Polat continued: "Europe, which claims to be the defender of democracy and freedom, follows a completely opposite policy when it comes to Kurds and our Leader. As Kurdish people, we say that our struggle will continue until we achieve our freedom."
Ibrahim Polat ended his remarks by saying that the Kurds did not have any demands from Europe, except that of giving up its economic, political and military support.
