KCDK-E calls on activists to join vigil for Abdullah Öcalan in front of Council of Europe

For three days the action group Freedom for Öcalan has been holding a vigil in front of the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg with the slogan ‘Freedom will win, act for Öcalan’. The action is part of the ‘Time for Freedom’ campaign and has been going on since 1 December and is scheduled to run until 17 December.

The largest Kurdish European umbrella organization, KCDK-E, has issued a written statement calling for “everyone who wants freedom and equality” to take part in the vigil.

The statement said: “It is not known whether Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] and the other prisoners are actually alive in Imrali or how their health conditions are. Disciplinary sanctions mean they cannot be visited by their families and lawyers: the prisoners are in total isolation. The silence of the international institutions on this violation of the law makes the Turkish torture system in Imrali even more brutal. The fascist Turkish state is doing all it can to stop the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom. Against every international law, every morality and rule, massacres with chemical weapons are carried out in Kurdistan and a system of isolation torture is practiced against the Kurdish representative Abdullah Öcalan on Imrali.”

The statement added: “Although scores of documents, applications and petitions have been submitted to European and international institutions proving the crimes of the Turkish state, no sanctions have been imposed. The fascist Turkish state continues to commit crimes and actually draw courage from the silence of international powers.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which put the human rights situation in Turkey on the agenda due to international pressure exercised by both the resistance of Rêber Apo and the Kurdish people, will speak about Kurdistan, Turkey and the torture system on Imrali.”

The statement continued: “The action group ‘Freedom for Öcalan’ is holding a vigil from 1 to 17 December and is calling for the implementation of the decisions made by the Council of Europe and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in 2020. It urges the institutions not to fail their responsibility.

As part of the ‘Time for Freedom’ campaign, a 17-day vigil takes place in front of the Council of Europe and CPT building in Strasbourg every day between 10 am and 3 pm.

Every day representatives of our democratic community centers, women’s and youth movements, co-chair of the various organizations, Kurdish religious institutions, politicians, internationalist friends and the Alliance of Democratic Forces (DGB) are protesting against the silence of the European institutions.

As KCDK-E we want to call on our people, our friends, all those who want freedom and equality to join the action for Öcalan’s freedom in Strasbourg.”