It has been 24 years since Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya by international imperialist powers and handed over to the Turkish state on 15 February 1999.

Over the years, the Imrali prison where Öcalan has been held since, has been turned into a torture centre. Öcalan said that the Turkish state is given a "guardian role" at Imrali, where the Gladio regime and law are implemented.

An aggravated isolation has been imposed on Öcalan since the AKP-MHP fascist alliance came to power. The Isolation has been turned into a persistent policy.

The isolation in defiance of the European Convention on Human Rights has also been recognized by European institutions.

In the meantime, actions of the Kurdish people and their friends have continued against the international conspiracy directed against the future of the peoples of the Middle East, especially the Kurdish people.

In Turkey and Kurdistan, as well as in Europe, the Kurds and their friends have organized many actions, rallies and marches to end the isolation of Öcalan and secure his freedom.

One of these actions was launched 2 in Strasbourg, France on June 25, 201. The Freedom Vigil, launched by the Kurdish people and their friends at the common point where European institutions are located, continues in the form of a weekly vigil in its 11th year.

The vigil, which is carried out every day of the week between 07:30 and 16:30, exposes the hypocritical policies of the European states and reveals the will of the Kurdish people and their friends insisting that they will not renounce their struggle.

Zülfü Bingöl from the Freedom Vigil Organizing Committee emphasized that the main reason why this Gladio law is implemented on Öcalan is his ideology based on Democratic Confederalism, which offers a solution for women and the oppressed, especially the peoples of the Middle East.

“The international sovereign powers want to eliminate this ideology” Bingöl said and pointed out that capitalism continues to be a huge trouble for humanity. “People, women, the oppressed, ecologists and the internationalist struggle are coming together around our leader's solution proposal. This makes the international sovereign powers uneasy.”

Bingöl added: “It is possible to see the will and discipline in our leader's struggle in this action. This vigil demonstrates that a life without our leader is unthinkable for us.

Our struggle will not end until our leader is liberated. The freedom of our peoples is related to the freedom of our leader,” Bingöl said and concluded that the Organizing Committee saluted everyone who has joined the protest so far and called for continued and growing support to it.