Members of the Yazidi institutions in Europe have taken over the Freedom for Öcalan Vigil this week.

The action has been continuing for more than 8 years in front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

The Yazidi group took over the vigil from a group of Kurds from Pforzheim, Germany.

This week’s group consists of Xebat Ağırman, Cahit Zerdeşti, Hasan Çakmak and Miho Atan.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Xebat Ağırman underlined that the conditions of captivity in which the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan is being held for 21 years cannot be accepted. Criticizing the silence of the international institutions, especially the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), Ağırman added: “It is the CPT that must solve the problems of torture and isolation in prisons”.

Calling on the Kurdish people, Xebat Ağırman said that Abdullah Öcalan should be defended everywhere.

Stating that the Turkish state opened a war against the Kurdish people as a whole in Shengal, Rojava, South and North Kurdistan, Xebat Ağırman added that the Kurdish people will resist and underlined that defending Öcalan, as well as the Kurdish lands and gains, would be the most important answer.

The Yazidi institutions in Europe had taken over the Freedom for Öcalan Vigil many times in the 8 years of action. In August 2016, the Yazidi and Shengal Diaspora Council went on hunger strikes in Strasbourg. The hunger strike ended after a call by Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan.