Activists holding a vigil in Geneva stated that Kurds will continue to exercise their democratic rights and persistently disrupt all concerned authorities as long as concerns for the life of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish question remain unresolved.
Since January 2021, a sit-in for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan has been held every Wednesday in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. The Democratic Kurdish Council in Switzerland (CDK-S) is using the action to demand the attention of the international community and discuss current developments in Kurdistan every week. The protest event was initiated as part of the Kurdish freedom movement's campaign "Time for Freedom" (ku. Dema dema azadiyê ye).
A minute's silence was held at the beginning of today's vigil. On the occasion of World Kobanê Day on 1 November, the commemoration was dedicated to those who died in the resistance against ISIS in Rojava/Northern Syria in autumn 2014.
Tuba Yilmaz, co-chair of the Democratic Kurdish Community Center in Geneva, said in a speech that Abdullah Öcalan has been completely isolated on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since March 2021 and that not even his lawyers or relatives have contact with him. Yilmaz referred to the worldwide campaign launched in October for the freedom of Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question and called for participation in the demonstrations of the Kurdish youth movement planned for the weekend.
Kasim Erik from the organising committee of the vigil in Geneva, called on the international community to take action and noted that Abdullah Öcalan was abducted to Turkey almost 25 years ago in an international intelligence coup seeking to break the will of the Kurdish people and stifle the resistance for good. “This conspiracy continues to this day and is the reason for Öcalan's isolation since the unilateral cancellation of talks on a solution to the Kurdish question by the Turkish state in 2015. The isolation is therefore a continuation of the 1999 policy aimed at breaking our will," said the Kurdish activist, emphasising that these efforts are still unsuccessful today.
"The CPT defines itself as an institution for the prevention of torture. Whenever it comes to Abdullah Öcalan and war crimes against the Kurdish people, the institutions that are supposedly committed to human rights remain silent. As long as the Kurds' concerns about the health, life and safety of Leader Öcalan are not addressed and the relevant institutions such as the CPT and the UN do not fulfil their responsibilities, we as a people and as Kurdish youths and women will use our democratic rights and continue to disturb them."
