The march for “Kurdish Rights and Freedom for Öcalan”
The march for “Kurdish Rights and Freedom for Öcalan”
Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (KON-KURD) has released a statement to announce a general march to be staged in Europe for Kurdish Rights and Freedom for Öcalan. The march with the slogan “We are on the Road for Our Existence and Freedom!” will begin on 31st January 2012 from UN-Geneva and end in Strasbourg where protestors will highlight the living conditions of the Kurdish Leader Mr Abdullah Öcalan, emphasise the fact that the freedom of the Kurdish people is also dependent on the freedom of Mr Öcalan and call upon the EC and CPT to fulfill their duties.
The KON-KURD statement expressed the purpose of the march as follows; “We demand the international powers such as the UN, European Union, NATO, US and Russia use their relationships and influence on the states that occupy Kurdistan and initiate the dialogues in order to secure a status for the Kurdish people and maintain their national existence and rights in every part at national and international levels for the purpose of ensuring the culmination of the question in a permanent solution.”
Remarking that the Kurdish people demanded an official status and their democratic rights, KON-KURD called on institutions and individuals, who uphold the universal values of democracy, freedom, justice, peace, and human rights, to participate in the march and to send messages of support.
Pointing out to the fact that the rights of the Kurdish people have been denied since the Treaty of Lausanne, 24th July 1923 over which Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Western states divided Kurdistan, the KON-KURD statement said that; “It has only been thanks to the total resistance undertaken by the Kurds since the Treaty of Lausanne against the state terror imposed on them, that Kurds were able to avoid total annihilation.”
The statement summarized the consequences of genocidal and systematic oppression policies against Kurds in the last two years as follows;
• Over 8000 people including MPs, mayors, lawyers. journalists, local officials, representatives of women’s movements, professors and intellectuals have been detained, 5000 of whom are still in prisons due to the draconian ‘anti-terror’ law since 2009.
• Around 200 children have been killed by the ‘security’ forces during the AKP term in office.
• Chemical weapons have been deployed against the Kurds on various occasions.
• Cross-border operations have continued without a break in violation of international laws.
• 35 Kurdish civilians, many of whom were children, have been massacred by the Turkish fighter aircraft in Uludere on 28th December 2011.
Underlining that the treatment of Abdullah Öcalan determined the approach to the Kurdish question, the KON-KURD statement remarked that Mr Öcalan who played a determinate role in the control of conflicts and in bringing a political solution to the Kurdish question was today the most important representative of the struggle of Kurds for their rights and democracy as well as being the symbol of Kurdish liberation.
“Therefore, the solitary confinement of such an actor will and already is jeopardizing the solution and search for peace. There is no doubt that for this reason Mr Öcalan is the person with whom a dialogue should be established for the stability and social peace in Turkey and thereby in all the Middle East.” added the statement.
The KON-KURD statement expressed the purpose of the march as follows; “We demand the international powers such as the UN, European Union, NATO, US and Russia use their relationships and influence on the states that occupy Kurdistan and initiate the dialogues in order to secure a status for the Kurdish people and maintain their national existence and rights in every part at national and international levels for the purpose of ensuring the culmination of the question in a permanent solution.”
Remarking that the Kurdish people demanded an official status and their democratic rights, KON-KURD called on institutions and individuals, who uphold the universal values of democracy, freedom, justice, peace, and human rights, to participate in the march and to send messages of support.
Pointing out to the fact that the rights of the Kurdish people have been denied since the Treaty of Lausanne, 24th July 1923 over which Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Western states divided Kurdistan, the KON-KURD statement said that; “It has only been thanks to the total resistance undertaken by the Kurds since the Treaty of Lausanne against the state terror imposed on them, that Kurds were able to avoid total annihilation.”
The statement summarized the consequences of genocidal and systematic oppression policies against Kurds in the last two years as follows;
• Over 8000 people including MPs, mayors, lawyers. journalists, local officials, representatives of women’s movements, professors and intellectuals have been detained, 5000 of whom are still in prisons due to the draconian ‘anti-terror’ law since 2009.
• Around 200 children have been killed by the ‘security’ forces during the AKP term in office.
• Chemical weapons have been deployed against the Kurds on various occasions.
• Cross-border operations have continued without a break in violation of international laws.
• 35 Kurdish civilians, many of whom were children, have been massacred by the Turkish fighter aircraft in Uludere on 28th December 2011.
Underlining that the treatment of Abdullah Öcalan determined the approach to the Kurdish question, the KON-KURD statement remarked that Mr Öcalan who played a determinate role in the control of conflicts and in bringing a political solution to the Kurdish question was today the most important representative of the struggle of Kurds for their rights and democracy as well as being the symbol of Kurdish liberation.
“Therefore, the solitary confinement of such an actor will and already is jeopardizing the solution and search for peace. There is no doubt that for this reason Mr Öcalan is the person with whom a dialogue should be established for the stability and social peace in Turkey and thereby in all the Middle East.” added the statement.
