Eight trade unions from the Spanish state were present at the march in Cologne demanding freedom for Öcalan.

The trade unions read a joint statement at the rally. The text reads as follows:

"We bring you the solidarity of the trade union organizations OSTA, from Aragón, IAC e Intersindical, from Catalonia, Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG), from Galicia, ELA y LAB from the Basque Country, Intersindical Valenciana, from Valencian country, I Confederación Intersindical from the Spanish state.

We know the effects of a centralist and authoritarian political regime that denies the recognition of the cultural and political diversity existing in the Spanish State. This experience has led us to follow with attention and sympathy the struggles of the labor movement in Turkey and, especially, the mobilization of the Kurdish people to achieve full recognition of their rights, denied until today.

Since the nineties of the last century, we have tried to be present in all types of mobilizations, exposing the repression promoted by the different governments against the Kurdish people. We have participated in different international delegations coinciding with the celebration of Newroz or accompanying electoral processes, which have allowed us to know first-hand the reality that exists in your territory.

We accompany from afar your struggles so that the decisions of the city councils governed by popular Kurdish organizations are respected. We denounce the continued illegalization of Kurdish political parties. We stand in solidarity with the political prisoners of Turkey and Kurdistan. We demand freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned since 1999 under conditions that seriously violate respect for his rights as a person.

We understand the importance of fighting for the full recognition of the right to receive an education in the Kurdish language, because we also suffer these struggles in our own social reality.

We follow with interest the development of political experiences linked to the proposals for democratic confederalism, because we believe in the need for a participatory political model of an assembly nature. We admire the struggle of Kurdish women to promote their own liberation process, personal, social and national. These experiences are hope and encouragement for our own struggles.

We want to expose the hypocrisy of the Erdogan regime, which on the one hand condemns the Zionist bombings on Gaza but, on the other, does the same by destroying the social advances that are built every day in Rojava. All this with the complicit silence of the international community and the strategic interests of NATO.

As we shout in our demonstrations:

From north to south, from east to west, the fight goes on…. Whatever the cost!!!

For a democratic and fair solution for the Kurdish people!!!

Freedom for Öcalan!!!