A public meeting was held in Halle within the scope of the "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a political solution to the Kurdish question" initiative.

The meeting was attended by KON-MED co-chair Ruken Akça and former MP Faysal Sarıyıldız.

In her speech, co-chair Ruken Akça said that the Kurds should play a leading role in the initiative and added: "We must make efforts to ensure the physical freedom of Leader Öcalan, build popular assemblies, defend our democratic rights and protect our institutions."

Akça said: "Let's speed up our work for the march to be held in Berlin on 18 November and ensure that tens of thousands of people participate."

Politician and former MP Faysal Sarıyıldız, on the other hand, talked about the consequences of the ban on the PKK, and said that the ban formed like a wall against the rightful struggle of the Kurdish people, and criminalized them.

Sarıyıldız said: “We have reached a stage where the ban on the PKK has made the Kurds unable to exercise their democratic rights. Their right to speak has been taken away. The Minister of Internal Affairs of the time explained that the introduction of the ban was a political decision, as it had no legal basis. The statement ‘the PKK's activities harm our relations with Turkey’ is clear evidence of this. We can also see that these prohibitions are associated with isolation. As a matter of fact, no steps are being taken internationally against systematic torture."