With a torch march in Sherawa, a district in the northern Syrian canton of Efrîn not completely occupied by Turkey and its Islamist militias, activists of the Kurdish youth movement of Rojava protested against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. The mastermind of the Kurdish liberation movement has been on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since his abduction from the Greek embassy in Kenya's capital Nairobi in February 1999 in violation of international law. For four months now, he has again been subjected to complete solitary confinement.

The march of the youth activists was staged under the motto "Break the isolation in the spirit of resistance of the youth of Afrin" and under a sea of flags through the village of Ziyara. The action ended with a final rally at the central square.

Fatima Mihemed of the "Revolutionary Youth Movement" declared in an address that the isolation of Öcalan is directed against the Kurdish society. "With torture methods like isolation, an attempt is being made to silence the demands of an entire people for freedom, peace and democracy. We as the youth of Afrin are unwaveringly pursuing our goal to follow the path paved for us by the martyrs, which leads to the freedom of our homeland and to breaking the isolation of Ocalan.”

After loud slogans like "Bijî Serok Apo" the demonstration ended.

Turkey back on total isolation

The total isolation of Abdullah Ocalan was briefly broken through by a hunger strike that lasted for months and was started by HDP MP Leyla Güven on 7 November 2018 in a prison in Amed (Diyarbakir). Between May and August, after eight years of refusal, five visits by lawyers and family members to Öcalan were allowed by the Chief Prosecutor's Office in Bursa. Before that, the 70-year-old Kurdish leader was last allowed to receive lawyer visits at Imrali on 27 July 2011.