Political parties and non-governmental organisations operation in the northern Syrian cantons of Afrin and Shehba have declared their participation in the campaign "Freedom for Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question".
The international campaign "Freedom for Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question" was launched on 10 October with a central rally in Strasbourg and declarations of solidarity in over a hundred places worldwide. It demands immediate access for the lawyers and family members to PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held hostage on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since 1999, and finally his release under conditions that allow him to play a role in finding a political solution to the Kurdish question.
The campaign includes academics, journalists, NGOs, political parties, parliamentarians, activists, philosophers, Nobel laureates, women's organisations and representatives of indigenous peoples from all continents.
Representatives of dozens of institutions, unions, political parties, councilors, religious scholars, IDPs from Afrin and residents of Shehba held a press conference in the village of Maratê in the Ehdas district of Shehba on Tuesday and announced their participation in the campaign.
Melek Hisên, co-chair of the Afrin and Shehba Canton Assembly, read a statement which commended the international initiative taken for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, defining it as a humanitarian reaction of free and democratic public opinion against the international conspiracy against the Kurdish leader.
Stressing that a political solution could only be achieved through the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, the statement called on the Kurds, Arabs, peoples of the Middle East and the peoples of Turkey and Europe to enhance the struggle to break the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and achieve his physical freedom.
