"After 22 years of isolation in İmralı: the time has come - Freedom for Öcalan!" - Civaka Azad and the International Initiative ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan’ invites to the online event on February 15.
The Kurdish Center for Public Relations - Civaka Azad e.V. and the International Initiative ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan’ invite on February 15, the anniversary of the abduction and imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan, to talk with representatives of campaigns that have long been working for his release. The invitation to the event states the following:
When, on February 15, 1999, PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was abducted to Turkey through the cooperation of international secret services, many thought that the Kurds’ struggle for freedom and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party were at an end. But Öcalan managed to carry the Kurdish freedom movement forward from his cell despite this bitter setback. He used his submissions to the European Court of Human Rights to outline a new grassroots democratic, gender-free and ecological paradigm. His ideas not only represent hope for a democratic Middle East, they are currently being implemented in northeastern Syria and other areas.
But Abdullah Öcalan is more than one of the most important political social theorists of our time. He continues to be the central political representative of the Kurdish population in Northern Kurdistan and thus probably the most important dialogue partner for possible negotiations with the Turkish state on the solution of the Kurdish question. His influence on the PKK is as unbroken as his support among the Kurdish population. His current isolation on the prison island of İmralı is an expression of the current anti- Kurdish war policy of the Turkish state.
On the anniversary of Öcalan’s abduction and imprisonment, we want to talk to people and campaigns who have long been working for his release."
The speakers are:
– Reimar Heider, translator and spokesman for the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan – Peace in Kurdistan”.
– Dr. Federico Venturini, geographer teaching at the University of Udine in Italy and member of the Italian Committee “Freedom for Ocalan”.
– Clare Baker, representative of the “Freedom for Öcalan” campaign of British trade unions
The event will be livestreamed on Youtube. The video link will be published promptly on this page.
The event will be held in English. German subtitles will be uploaded after the event.
Monday, February 15 from 20:00 (CET – Berlin) resp. 19:00 (GMT – London)
