The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E) released a statement calling for participation in the demonstrations for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan to take place in several European cities on 15 April.

KCDK-E noted that the traditional demonstration in Strasbourg on the anniversary of the deportation of Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey on 15 February 1999 has been cancelled this year due to the earthquake disaster in the Turkish-Syrian border region on 6 February. The event was actually planned for 11 February and was also supposed to mark the end of the long marches of internationalists through Switzerland and the Kurdish youth movement through Germany. After the earthquake with its epicentre in Kurdistan and tens of thousands of deaths, the KCDK-E postponed the demonstration until April in order to channel all its energy into earthquake relief.

"We reject the strategy with which Turkish fascism and the powers of the international conspiracy want to accustom us to a life without Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan. His freedom is at the centre of our work and our life." Öcalan is being isolated from the public because the ruling powers fear the influence of his ideas. With his person, the paradigm of a society based on democracy, ecology and women's liberation is sought to be isolated. This paradigm is attracting attention in the Middle East and throughout the world. Rêber Apo's freedom can initiate a new beginning based on the values of a democratic civilisation with regard to the chaos and crisis caused by capitalist modernity. This would lead to an equal and free coexistence of all oppressed and disregarded identities. Friend and foe should know that we will no longer tolerate the isolation of Rêber Apo. After more than 24 years of imprisonment, his freedom, and with it the freedom of the collective democratic values of humanity, is our fundamental goal in life. On this basis, we call for participation in the central actions for the freedom of Rêber Apo and a status for Kurdistan in order to smash Turkish colonialism and AKP/MHP fascism a hundred years after the Treaty of Lausanne," said the KCDK-E statement.

KCDK-E said that actions will take place on 15 April in Düsseldorf, Marseille, Stockholm and Gothenburg, as well as in Canada, Austria, Cyprus, England, Australia, Italy and Greece.