A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the ‘Dem dema azadiye’ [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.
This week’s demonstration, which is held at a tent set up in Nations Square where the UN Office is located, began with a moment of silence in memory of Delal Amed (Hülya Eroğlu), a Commander of the YJA Star Central Headquarters, Azê Malazgirt (Aslı Özkaya), Apollo Academies Commander Koçero Urfa (Metin Arslan), and Çekdar Amed (Serhat Çoşkun), who fell as martyrs in the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle.
Yekbûn Güneş, a member of the Kurdish Women’s Union in Switzerland (YJK-S) drew attention to the democratic, ecological, and women’s libertarian paradigm created by Abdullah Öcalan. She said that the Kurdish leader has now taken this paradigm to a higher level with the Manifesto for Peace and a Democratic Society he announced on February 27.
“This paradigm will offer the peoples of the Middle East, particularly Turkey and Kurdistan, a model for lasting peace and democratic life. Implementing this paradigm is an instruction that Leader Öcalan has given to us. We hereby pledge once again that we will fulfill this instruction,” Güneş said.
The Kurdish activist called on all Kurds and their friends to take part in the central Cologne march in Cologne on November 8 as part of the campaign “Freedom for Öcalan, a democratic solution to the Kurdish question.”
The Democratic Kurdish Council in Switzerland (CDK-S) and YJK-S announced that buses and private vehicles will depart from almost all cities in Switzerland for the Great Cologne march.
In Geneva, a bus will depart for Cologne at 11:00 p.m. on November 7 from the Democratic Kurdish Community Center (Rue du Vieux-Billard 25 1205).