A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the 'Dem dema azadiye' [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.

Today’s vigil began with a minute of silence paying tribute to Peace Mothers Adalet Safalı and Perişan Akçelik, and the latter’s son, Cihan Akçelik, who died in a traffic accident while traveling from Van to Hakkâri after giving their statements to the Prosecutor's Office after a detention operation in the centre of Hakkari and its districts on August 15.

Speaking here, Tuba Yılmaz, Co-Chair of the Democratic Kurdish Community Center in Geneva, denounced the genocidal policies directed against the Kurds.

Yılmaz remarked that Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is held in incommunicado detention on the prison island of Imrali in Turkey, has not been heard from for two and a half years. She stated that actions to break the isolation of Öcalan remain insufficient, saying: “All the gains made so far have been achieved thanks to the leader and his relentless resistance. The isolation imposed on Öcalan to eliminate the gains made during 40 years of struggle is aggravated further in line with the increasingly ongoing attacks against the Kurdish people and Kurdistan. This is why we must strengthen and enhance our actions.”

Yılmaz also denounced the deliberately started forest fires in Turkey’s Kurdish region and never-ending femicides, which, she said, are directly linked to the policies of isolation and genocide.

Mehmet Latif Çelebi, the Co-Chair of the Democratic Kurdish Community Center in Geneva, called for strong participation in the central demonstration to take place in Strasbourg on September 2 under the motto “Free Leader is Free People.”