Kurdish activists’ vigil in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva enters its tenth month

A sit-in protest against the isolation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan continues in front of the United Nations (UN) building in Geneva, Switzerland.

Kurdish activists have been protesting every Wednesday since January 15, gathering around the tent of resistance they have set up in front of the UN.

The vigil, which has entered its tenth month, is held in a tent set up in front of the UN headquarters as part of the ‘Stop Isolation, Fascism, Occupation, Time to Realize Freedom’ campaign.

This week’s vigil began with a minute’s silence in memory of martyrs of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement in the person of Şilan Goyi (Taybet Bilen), who fell as a martyr in an airstrike while on her way to Maxmur for medical treatment on October 8.

Speaking here, Salih Sağlam, co-chair of the Democratic Society Center in Geneva, emphasized the importance of loyalty to martyrs in the person of Şilan Goyi, saying:

“Today, our sit-in protest, which we have been holding since January 25 for the freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan who has been under aggravated isolation conditions for 22 years, entered its 10th month. Under any circumstances, no matter where we are, we will never give up the struggle for the freedom of Leader Öcalan. Basing on the paradigm of the leader and the struggle of the guerrilla, we will crown the campaign ‘Time for Freedom’ with victory.”

Sağlam called for participation in the actions to be held in multiple locations at the weekend in protest at the Turkish state’s attacks with chemical weapons and poison gas, which have been ongoing for months, against the guerrillas in Media Defense Zones. He continued:

“Although international laws ban the use of chemical weapons and poison gas, the Turkish state has been carrying out attacks with chemical weapons before the eyes of the entire world. We call upon the European states and particularly the European Union, as well as all democratic circles that defend nature and human life, especially the Kurdish people, to support and participate in the actions to be held in protest at Turkey’s attacks.”

Following the speeches, the activists turned to the UN headquarters and protested the silence of the UN against the isolation and inhumane attacks of the Turkish state.

Details of the actions to be held in Switzerland are as follows:

October 29

Zürich, in front of the Turkish Consulate Office, at 14.00,

Luzern, Vögeligarte, at 18.00,

Geneva, in front of Montblanc Post Office, at 18.00,

October 30

Solothurn, Kreuzackerplatz, at 14.00,

St Gallen, Kornhausplatz, at 15.00.