The ‘Platform of Democratic Institutions’ called for the release of Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question in Ankara. The alliance of political parties and civil society organisations set out on Monday in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) for a ‘march for a democratic solution and freedom’ on their route in Urfa, Antep, Adana and Mersin, where they once again demanded a solution to the Kurdish question through dialogue and the inclusion of the imprisoned PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan in the talks.

Hundreds of people, including several MPs from the DBP and DEM Party, took part in the action in front of the Turkish parliament on Friday.

On behalf of the platform, DBP co-chair Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar stated that Öcalan had been isolated since the government unilaterally ended efforts to find a democratic solution. At the same time, she said, Turkey developed into an increasingly authoritarian state. The social polarisation also has its origins in the isolation on the prison island of Imrali, said the Kurdish politician and pointed out that the Parliament is faced with the historic task of ending the isolation and taking responsibility for a negotiated solution to the Kurdish issue and democratisation of Turkey.

“Remaining silent against absolute isolation means endorsing unlawfulness, war and the move away from democracy. Today, to oppose isolation is to oppose unlawfulness and to defend peace and democracy. No one should forget that social reconciliation and peace are based on ensuring fundamental rights and freedoms. Intellectuals, writers and scientists face a historic responsibility for the democratic coexistence of the peoples of Turkey. Regardless of one's opinion, it is our common denominator to demand the application of the law. Against the absolute isolation in which this common denominator is openly and flagrantly violated, everyone should use their pen and speak out,” Uçar stated.

Speaking after, Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) co-chair Tuncer Bakırhan condemned the deadly Turkish attack that claimed the lives of Kurdish journalists Nazım Daştan and Cihan Bilgin in northern Syria.

“Following the declaration and campaign for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question initiated by Turkish intellectuals in Istanbul, politicians, labour organisations, prisoners' families and our peoples in the region started a march from Amed and arrived in Ankara today. I congratulate my fellow marchers who set out on the road for a democratic solution. They are determinedly defending peace in Turkey and a democratic solution. I hope that the peoples and labourers of Turkey will see this as a responsibility in the coming days. I am sure that they will join the struggle to create a country where peace, democracy and freedoms prevail,” Bakırhan said.

The DEM Party co-chair pointed out that: “In the last century, the state and the government tried many ways and methods, but failed. At the stage we have reached, 25-30 million Kurds want to use their democratic rights and laws arising from being Kurdish. Together, we can open the door to a process that accepts Kurds and enables them to live as equal citizens on a democratic basis instead of the policies of ignoring and denial that have been going on for a century. More recently, the statements made by MP Ömer Öcalan after visiting Mr Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı really excited us like the intellectuals and the marchers of democracy and freedom from the region. Mr Öcalan said ‘I am here for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question if a political ground is formed. I have the will’. Here we appeal to the government, which has been implementing policies of denial for a hundred years. The isolation must end.”

Bakırhan said that the isolation must end and added, “We would like to ask the government. Mr Öcalan says ‘I am ready’. What are you doing? This issue cannot be solved with UCAVs and drones in Rojava. This problem cannot be solved by ignoring the status that Rojava peoples have won with their hard work and lives. This issue can be solved through dialogue and negotiation. In the world, these problems have been solved in similar ways and methods. This is best known by this government and those who govern the state. Now is the time to solve this problem. Unlock İmralı. Let the peoples of Turkey hear, talk and discuss the democratic words and road map of İmralı. Do not waste the energy, economy and youth of this country on this endless and fruitless conflict, tension and war. There are Kurds in this country. They do not disappear by saying they do not exist, they do not disappear by putting them in prisons, they do not disappear with UAVs and UCAVs. Kurds do not end with saying ‘there are no Kurds’. It is necessary to finally accept this truth.”

HDK (Peoples’ Democratic Congress) Co-Spokesperson Meral Danış Beştaş started her speech by commemorating Nazım Taştan and Cihan Bilgin who were murdered in a Turkish aerial attack in Rojava. “They were two very valuable journalists who, just like the press members here, served the public, pursued the truth and followed the news moment by moment, and UCAVs killed them. We are faced with a reality that kills journalists intentionally and deliberately. In the person of Cihan and Nazım, I commemorate with respect and gratitude all the journalists who have lost their lives in the years of journalism, who have paid a great price for this cause and who are not with us now. Journalists are not people to be killed. On the contrary, paving the way for them and bringing the peoples and society together with the truth is the biggest task in front of them and us. The mainstream media continues to manipulate and mislead the public day and night, creating perceptions. They do not objectively present the reality of war, the Kurdish issue, the isolation issue, or the events in Rojava.”

Meral Danış Beştaş said that the ‘March for Democratic Solution and Freedom’ should be heard by 85 million people and added: “It is the demands of this march that will bring Turkey to the light, that will make Turkey breathe a sigh of relief. Mr Öcalan is a political actor who defends the peoples of Turkey and he is being kept under absolute isolation. He defends the peoples, he defends a democratic solution for the peoples. For this cause, he is waging a great struggle to find a solution with great patience, resistance and faith despite absolute isolation.”

Beştaş concluded: “The gates of Imrali Island prison must be opened wide. Abdullah Öcalan must regain his freedom. He must be free, the time has already come. In the current conjuncture, the discussions about the lifting of the absolute isolation in Turkey and the collapse of the Baath regime in Syria, the attacks launched against Rojava and the evaluations here are directly intertwined. The peoples living in Rojava have implemented their own solution model. The only solution model of the peoples in today's world is the Rojava example. Those who set their eyes on Rojava are also those who maintain this absolute isolation and prevent a democratic solution. Every UCAV attacking Rojava, every bullet fired and every bomb dropped there directly prevents the solution and democratisation in Turkey, and is a barrier.”