A large group of Kurdish people and their political friends held a march in Cologne on 21 February to protest the ban on the PKK. The protest came before a special session of the German Bundestag on the ban to be held on 26 February. The march took place from Rudolfplatz to the historical Dom Church. Leftist organisations in Germany also supported the march.

The main banner opened on the march read: “Remove the ban on the PKK,” while the crowd frequently chanted the slogans: “Long Live the PKK”, “Long Live Leader Apo”, and “Martyrs are Immortal” in protest at the execution of the Kurdish activists Saman Nesim, Ali Efshari and  Habibullah Efshari by the Iranian regime.

The crowd carried the pictures of the three executed activists as well as Özgecan Aslan who was brutally killed in Mersin by three men, chanting also the slogans “Iran the murderer”, “Turkish state, the murderer”.

Die Linke (The Left Party) deputy Andrej Hunko and NAV-DEM co-chair Yüksel Koç made speeches in the rally held following the march. Die Linke deputy, Andrej Hunko drew attention to the recognition of the Kurdish struggle in the world through the resistance in Kobanê and added that they are therefore hopeful regarding the session of the Federal Parliament on the PKK ban.

Hunko said the Kobanê resistance was widely covered in the international media, giving legitimacy to the Kurdish liberation struggle and stressing that this opportunity must be used to put pressure on the Federal Parliament for the removal of the ban on the PKK.

Hunko called on the German government to remove the ban and to stop criminalising Kurdish people living in Europe, adding that the law of Manfred Kanther should be abrogated.

NAV-DEM co-chair Yüksel Koç drew attention to the words of Angela Merkel in her talks with the Turkish authorities, saying that Germany supports the peace talks in Turkey, and added that the PKK ban in Germany must be removed if Merkel is sincere in what she says.

Koç said: “You have to stop the criminalisation of Kurdish people on the basis of the ban and to remove the PKK from the list of terror organisations if you want peace in Turkey”.