The sit-in in front of the CPT and CoE for Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan’s health and safety continues in its 20th day.

Yesterday’s programme for the activists started with the Çerxa Şoreşe anthem sung along with Hozan Farqin and later on they chanted slogans in French demanding Abdullah Öcalan’s freedom.

The preparation committee had issued a statement on the programme and said activists continued to come in from different cities and the daily programme of the sit-in had been implemented fully.

The activists marched to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) next door to the demonstration grounds at 14.00 and held a sit-in at the building’s entrance. Activists stayed there for half an hour and called the CPT to action with slogans.

A committee from the Kurdish Women’s Movement met with CPT and CoE officials the other day, and yesterday another committee met with the CPT again.

CERTIFICATE FOR 10 MILLION SIGNATURES COLLECTED IN INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN

A notary certificate for the authenticity of the over 10 million 250 thousand signatures collected in the international campaign for Öcalan’s freedom between 2012 and 2015 was put up in the tent as part of the sit-in.

Havin Güneşer spoke in the name of the International Freedom for Öcalan Initiative and said the campaign was held with support from individuals, but also from mass organizations and institutions with hundreds of thousands of members. Güneşer said Sinn Fein from Ireland, Bildu Bask (Euskal Herria Bildu) from the Basque Country and institutions from Latin America and South America are among these organizations.

Güneşer pointed out that the huge scale petition was chosen because there could be no referendum held under the current circumstances, and stressed that Öcalan’s books being translated into various languages has been effective in reaching wide audiences.