SMJÊ activists take over Freedom for Öcalan Vigil in its 479th week

Activists from the Yazidi Women’s Assemblies Umbrella Organization (SMJÊ) took over the Freedom for Öcalan Vigil on its 479th week. The vigil was launched on 25 June 2012 in Strasbourg to demand the end of the isolation imposed on Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan and his freedom.

Bedia Emin, Zübeyde Xebat, Binevş Şengal and Xezne Xalit are the SMJÊ activists that took over the longest action carried out by the Kurdish people in Europe.

Speaking to ANF on behalf of the group, Bedia Emin said that they condemned the invading Turkish state’s air strikes on Shengal on 16 and 17 August.

Bedia Emin said that the memories and struggles of those killed in the attack will lead Shengal to victory by crowning them with democratic confederal status, and added that the Turkish state and its collaborators cannot hinder the Yazidi community’s demand for a free life.

Adding that the Turkish state is trying to occupy Shengal with the collaboration of the KDP, Bedia Emin said that the Kurdish question can only be resolved through peaceful means, not war. Bedia Emin pointed out that the key person for a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem is Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Emin said that the Kurdish people have been in action for 10 years with the slogan “Our leader is our will”, but that Europe has kept silence about the crimes against humanity committed by the Turkish state against the Kurdish people and its leadership.

Emphasizing that the Kurdish people cannot give up their struggle, Bedia Emin said, “Our struggle will not end until we liberate our leadership and our people.”