Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is held on İmralı Island, had a family visit on October 31. In addition to Ömer Öcalan, a member of parliament of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) for the Urfa province, the meeting at the high-security prison in the Sea of Marmara was attended by Fatma Öcalan, Berfin Öcalan, and Ali Öcalan.
Ömer Öcalan attended the founding congress of the Association for Solidarity with Families of Detainees and Convicts (TUHAY-DER) in Urfa province on Sunday. The congress was held at the Tahir Elçi Conference Hall of the Urfa Bar Association.
Speaking here, Ömer Öcalan conveyed his uncle’s greetings, saying, “We had a meeting with the President a short while ago. At every meeting, the president says, ‘Whenever you go to a meeting, convey my greetings to our people.’”
The DEM Party deputy stated the following: “During our last meeting, the President said, ‘I am working here day and night. You have many opportunities, you have institutions, you need to organize the society. You need to fulfill your duty.’ In the last meeting, he put these things before us and our people. Nothing can be achieved without effort. The President’s Kurdish is very strong. The majority of the meeting was in Kurdish; we reserved the last half hour for discussing some politically sensitive issues in Turkish only. The state must take concrete steps. The Kurds have paid a heavy price. We will defend our values everywhere.”
MED TUHAD-FED Co-Chair Pınar Sakık Tekin stated, “We are determined to carry the struggle forward into the future in the footsteps of Kurdish leader Mr. Abdullah Öcalan.”
Sakık Tekin added, “We call out to Ankara, to the commission: Peace comes through freedom and democracy. We will continue our work in Kurdistan, and our struggle will continue until the door to a democratic society is opened.”