Justice for the Kurds campaign kicks off in Kirkuk

Intellectuals, politicians, activists and lawyers in Kirkuk launched the “Justice for the Kurds” campaign at a press conference held at the Dialogue Center in the city.

The people of Kirkuk called on everyone to join the campaign to remove the PKK from the EU list of terrorist organisations and to support the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan’ campaign.

Speaking at the press conference, political observer Letif Fatih Ferec said: “An international campaign called ‘Justice for the Kurds’ has been launched by many philosophers, writers and intellectuals from all over the world. The aim of the campaign is to secure the removal of the PKK from the EU list of terrorist organisations. The PKK is not a terrorist organisation, but a freedom movement whose name was added to that list during the unjust international process of the 1980s. The real terrorist is not the PKK, but the Turkish state.”

A growing number of parliamentarians and senators around the world are demanding the delisting of the PKK and the release of Abdullah Öcalan, who has been held in isolation in the island of Imrali security prison since 1999.

Calling on the Kurds to play a greater role in the campaign, Ferec said that ” world-renowned philosophers and intellectuals as well as Nobel laureates have raised their voices demanding the release of Öcalan and the delist of the PKK. The Kurds, especially the Kurds of Kirkuk, who have been persecuted throughout history, should not remain silent about this situation. That’s why we need to play a bigger role in this campaign.”

International law expert Hejar Kakeyî said: “We are here today to express our support for the launch of the ‘Justice for the Kurds’ campaign. The worldwide work done by this campaign is an important step for the Kurds. We do not see Mr. Öcalan just as a party leader, we see him as much more than that. Mr. Öcalan is a Kurdish leader. He is the leader of those who defended the Middle East with their blood against the Islamic State in 2014. It has been proven by documents to the whole world that the states that talk about democracy are in fact allies of ISIS.

Today we are announcing the ‘Justice for the Kurds’ campaign in Kirkuk and we hope that the people will participate more in this campaign in the coming days. We ask our citizens to sign the petition to delist the PKK and demand Öcalan’s freedom.”

Kirkuk politician Mela Ferman Mihemed said: “Removing the PKK’s name from the EU list of terrorist organisations will be in the interests of Turkey as well as the PKK. Turkey needed to have learned a lesson from the Iraqi government’s experience. The Iraqi government could not achieve anything by eliminating the Kurdish revolutionaries. Turkey is now doing the same. Turkey’s fate will not be better than that of the Baathist regime in Iraq.”