Tomorrow, wherever there are Kurdish communities, the Kurdish Freedom Movement will take part in Mayday marches. As a movement of struggle against oppression, it is an integral part of the international worker’s movement; and both through ideas and through example, Kurds and others under Abdullah Öcalan’s leadership have provided a source of strength and hope for oppressed people everywhere.
As the Democratic Society Movement in Rojava (North and East Syria) puts it in their May Day message (which refers to Öcalan by his honorific nickname, “Apo” or uncle): “Today’s global solidarity campaigns for Apo’s physical freedom and the resolution of the Kurdish issue stem from the legacy of Apo’s modern resistance, which revived the spirit of the power of the workers and labourers of the region and the world through the democratic nation-building project.”
What Öcalan calls the democratic nation is the antithesis of the nation state and focuses on power from below.
Every day the people who work in the office of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) see the vigil for Öcalan on the path outside. And many times a year the road becomes full of noisy demonstrators with yellow flags bearing Öcalan’s image. Often the Committee is visited by Kurdish politicians and lawyers to put Öcalan’s case – as last week when Faik Özgür Erol of Asrin Law Office visited Strasbourg. All of this together ensures that the CPT cannot be unaware of the importance of Ôcalan’s case – for the Kurds, for peace in the region, and for the wider world.
But still, the CPT says nothing about their last visit to İmralı island prison, over a year and a half ago, and they have not taken the opportunity to visit the prison again, even though there has been no other contact with Öcalan for over three years now. And so, the Kurdish Freedom Movement is ensuring that the CPT receives further reminders of Öcalan’s significance, and of their duty to do what they were created to do and prevent his torture – torture by denial of hope through the denial of the possibility of parole, and torture by isolation and denial of communication with his family and lawyers and anyone outside the prison.
A week ago, the Internationalist Solidarity Network behind the ‘Freedom for Öcalan: A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ Campaign delivered a letter to the president of the CPT asking them to send a delegation to İmralı immediately, and to compel Turkey to allow Öcalan to receive visits from his lawyers and family.
And, beginning last Friday, the Kurdish Women’s Movement in Europe (TJK-E) has started a campaign to send the CPT daily reminders. In their campaign announcement they state, ‘Through the letters to be sent from different cities every day, we will remind the CPT of its duties and responsibilities with our demands for the restoration of the legal rights of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan, the lifting of absolute isolation, and the paving of the way for his freedom by ending 25 years of isolation policies, and we will ensure that it takes a stand in favour of human rights.’
In neglecting the torture of Öcalan, the CPT is neglecting the torture of the Kurdish people, and they won’t let the European institutions forget that.
The following motion was passed by the STUC at their Annual Congress in Dundee on 17 April
Free Ocalan
‘‘That this Congress notes that the Kurdish question in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey is one of the major unresolved problems of the Middle East. The conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish freedom movement has cost tens of thousands of lives while millions of Kurds have become refugees across the world.
‘‘Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has endured 26 years in prison after being illegally kidnapped from Kenya and handed over to Turkey. He has had no contact with the outside world, in violation of both Turkish and international law, for 3 years. His last meeting with his lawyers was in August 2019 and his last communication with anyone outside prison, a phone call with his brother, was in March 2021.
‘‘Meanwhile, Turkey, as a NATO country, continues to bomb Kurdish settlements in North and East Syria and in Iraq as well as oppressing and imprisoning Kurdish politicians and citizens at home.
‘‘Congress reiterates its view that his release is essential to starting a political dialogue to resolve the ongoing issue of Kurdish self determination. Ocalan’s principle of Democratic Confederalism, put into practice in Rojava and inspiring many, including the CUB Trade Union in Italy, offers solutions to many of the problems of the Middle East and beyond, with its methodology of women’s liberation and democratic, autonomous organising.
‘‘Congress regrets the invitation offered to Turkey’s President Erdogan to visit Scotland by the First Minister. President Erdogan’s government has continued the war on the Kurds, refused to hold peace talks, sanctioned the use of violence and legal action against political opposition and attacked independent media/journalists.
‘‘Congress demands that;
The UK Government
stops its arms sales to Turkey;
through diplomatic and NATO channels, pressurises Turkey to stop the bombing of Kurds in North and East Syria and Iraq;
pressurises Turkey to release Abdullah Ocalan;
The Turkish Government
releases Abdullah Ocalan;
ends its oppression and imprisonment of Kurdish political and cultural organisations and individuals; and
enters into negotiations to resolve its conflict with the Kurdish freedom movement.’’
Mover: Dundee Trades Union Council
Seconder: East Kilbride & South Lanarkshire Trades Union Council
There is a prison in Turkey. Since March 2020, no one from outside has been allowed to enter. It is an island prison in the middle of a sea – Marmara – 30 kilometres from the land. It is a prison similar to Robben Island in some ways, but the conditions of isolation are much more severe. We are talking about İmralı prison.
There are four political prisoners held in İmralı. One of them is Mr Abdullah Öcalan. The others are Mr Veysi Aktaş, Mr Hamili Yildirim and Mr Ömer Hayrı Konar.
İmralı’s communication with the outside world has always been problematic, but for many years, this problematic situation has turned into a state of total incommunicado. I have been Mr Öcalan’s lawyer for seventeen years. We have applications and cases at the European Court of Human Rights and dozens of cases at the Constitutional Court in Turkey on behalf of Mr Öcalan. But, despite this, we have not been allowed to meet with him since 2011.
This situation has been going on for about thirteen years. In 2019, after the hunger strike protests by political prisoners, five lawyer meetings were allowed in İmralı. However, this did not continue, and meetings were banned again the same year. This means that İmralı continues to be a prison where lawyers have not been allowed for thirteen years.
Families are also not allowed to meet the prisoners in İmralı. The last time their families were able to go to İmralı was in March 2020. For four years, they have not been allowed to meet with any family member. In April 2021, they were able to make a short phone call with their families, and this was the last contact with İmralı. Since April 2021, they have been kept in a state of total isolation with no communication.
As lawyers for Öcalan and the other prisoners in İmralı, we know well that this absolute isolation has no legal basis. We are well aware that the isolation is based on a political and administrative decision. We know that the isolation of Öcalan is an attempt to prevent a solution to the Kurdish question through peaceful and democratic dialogue.
The starting point for Turkey’s current practice of not recognising and not implementing the judgments of the European court of Human Rights is İmralı. First, in 2014, the European Court categorised the decision to keep Öcalan in prison until his death as an inhumane treatment, and called for the establishment of a conditional release mechanism. Since 2014, Turkey has not implemented this judgement and has refused to implement it for anyone sentenced to imprisonment until death.
We must recognise and reject this fact: Turkey, and the Council of Europe of which it is a member, has not allowed any family member or lawyer to enter a prison within its borders – İmralı prison – for many years. No news can be received. In this situation, İmralı Prison is, in real terms, a legal black hole. The attitude of the human rights supervisory and judicial bodies of the Council of Europe, which ignore the existence of a legal black hole, paves the way, or encourages, the spread of similar places and practices in Turkey.
In 2011, we turned the ban on lawyers in İmralı into a case at the European Court of Human Rights. Today, we have reached 2024, and still the European Court has not issued any judgement in this case. How can we explain thirteen years of protracted delay in this application? If you turn a blind eye to the existence of a legal black hole for such a long period of time, for political or diplomatic reasons, you will also witness it multiplying and spreading itself. And this will be the responsibility of Council of Europe.
Therefore, this unprecedented practice, the İmralı ill-treatment regime, must be rejected before it is too late, and effective legal controls and decisions must be developed.
French MP Emmanuel Fernandes with Kurdish demonstrators after his speech
This week is one of the quarterly sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Abdullah Öcalan may be locked away on İmralı island, but he is also very much here in Strasbourg.
On Monday, the opposite side of the boulevard from the Council was yellow with Öcalan flags, and the sound of speeches and music came up the broad concrete steps to assail everyone going in and out of the Council Building. Two of the speakers were members of the Assembly who came out at the lunchbreak to show their support.
Thomas Pringle, an independent member of parliament from Ireland brought a message of support from the Irish people and promised to do what he could in the Council of Europe and the Irish parliament for Kurdish freedom and Öcalan’s freedom. He stressed that what Turkey is doing to Öcalan shows their fear of what the Kurds could achieve with freedom.
Independent Irish MP, Thomas Pringle, a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, addresses the demonstration for Öcalan's freedom outside the Council of Europe pic.twitter.com/wfYe9A82QR
— FREEDOM FOR ÖCALAN WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN (@Vigil4Ocalan) April 15, 2024
Member of parliament for Strasbourg, Emmanuel Fernandes of La France Insoumise, described Öcalan’s situation as condemnable and inhumane and contrary to the Council of Europe conventions, which Turkey has signed. And he saluted Kurdish courage and resistance that has inspired the Left. He noted that he would be raising the issue of the freedom of imprisoned MP Selahattin Demirtaş when speaking in a debate in the Parliamentary Assembly that afternoon; he praised the heroic resistance and courage that succeeded in getting the election result accepted in Van; and he spoke about Sehat Gültekin, the Kurdish activist deported from France to Turkey the previous week, an action that he described as a shame for France.
Member of parliament for Strasbourg and delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Emmanuel Fernandes of La France Insoumise, addresses the demonstration for Öcalan's freedom outside the Council of Europe 🧵 1/5 pic.twitter.com/Q6VOZ7eo5W
— FREEDOM FOR ÖCALAN WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN (@Vigil4Ocalan) April 15, 2024
Today, Wednesday, Öcalan’s situation and that of other political prisoners in Turkey was the subject of a press conference in the Council building, sponsored by DEM Party MP, and member of the Parliamentary Assembly, Berdan Öztürk. Öcalan’s lawyer, Faik Özgür Erol, explained the reality and significance of Öcalan’s isolation (we have published his speech as a separate article). Ömer Öcalan spoke both as a DEM Party MP and as Öcalan’s nephew. He observed that the people defending human rights were those at the vigil outside the building, and called for the Council of Europe to fulfil the role it was set up to do. Constantinos Efstathiou, MP from Cyprus and another member of the Parliamentary Assembly and Rapporteur on political prisoners in Europe observed that Turkey is one of the leading culprits for imprisoning political prisoners. He condemned the silence of Europe in front of the isolation in İmralı, and of the huge numbers of people who are tortured in Turkey’s prisons and police stations.
These events follow last week’s conference in the European parliament in Brussels, which was attended by human rights lawyers from many different countries. Speakers stressed the uniquely unbearable isolation being imposed on Abdullah Öcalan, and also looked at the more general “judicialisation of politics”, and the spread of exceptional and illegal treatment of political prisoners, including in places that are thought of as democracies. They noted how every violation of human rights opens the door to further violations, and how İmralı prison, where Öcalan is incarcerated, is used as a model for restrictions in other prisons in Turkey and also beyond.
A call from the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Campaign Committee
Abdullah Öcalan has been in solitary confinement in Turkey for over 25 years and has been cut off from the outside world. The last time he was able to meet his lawyers was in August 2019. Since March 2021, all contact has been prevented and there are serious concerns about his well-being. It is impossible to rely on the established institutions such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights. Despite numerous requests and available information, they did not intervene against the unlawful practice of isolation, which is considered torture.
Öcalan’s writings are inspiring intellectuals, free thinkers, scientists, workers, activists, artists, trade unionists, social movements, politicians and entire societies. Öcalan left Syria 25 years ago as a Kurdish leader in the wake of an international conspiracy and returned years later as a pioneer of a free, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and grassroots democratic society. Since the so-called Arab Spring, an autonomous, self-governing social system based on Öcalan’s ideas of women liberation, ecology and radical democracy has been emerging in northern and eastern Syria. With the philosophy developed by Öcalan, we are regaining hope in the possibility of a democratic social system. In his prison cell he formulated the words “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî”: the slogan of the women’s liberation struggle in the 21st century and a compass for all women who rebel and fight.
Öcalan helped the Kurdish freedom movement’s renewal by providing a path forward with the farthest reaching definition of democracy that the world has ever seen. His writings are a breath-taking research into life without the state and a vision of a democratic-ecological society offering a fresh perspective on the quest for a new socialism. Öcalan’s calls for democratic forms of social organization deserve the careful attention of anyone interested in constructive social thought or rebuilding society along feminist and ecological lines.
As the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Campaign Committee we extend the call to join the ‘Dialogue with Öcalan’ global days of events against the isolation in Imrali and to spread his ideas. We call intellectuals, free thinkers, scientists, workers, activists, artists, trade unionists, social movements, politicians to carry out original forms of actions. Organize your events in dialogue with Öcalan’s ideas!
On this day three quarters of a century ago, in a simple house in Amara, a small village in the province of Urfa, Abdullah Öcalan was born. Today, Kurds are Tweeting #RojbûnaMePîrozBe – birthday greetings not just to Öcalan, but birthday greetings to us. That is because Öcalan, and the movement he created, are seen as inspiring the rebirth of the Kurdish people: and now not only of the Kurdish people, but the rebirth of hope for a better society for people across the world.
Öcalan has spent just over 25 years – a third of his life – in a Turkish prison, where he has always faced severe levels of isolation, and where, for the last three years, his isolation from the outside world has been complete. We cannot communicate with him, but we can give him – and ourselves – the only present that counts – a commitment to campaign harder for an end to his isolation and for his ultimate release.
Amnesty International’s mission is “to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of … the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.” This should mean that they are at the forefront of the campaign to end Abdullah Öcalan’s isolation, but although Öcalan has had no communication with the world outside his prison for over three years, Amnesty has remained quiet.
That is why South African activists have set up a petition calling on Amnesty to take action. They recall that Amnesty campaigned against Öcalan being given the death penalty when he was captured 25 years ago, but also remind Amnesty that when Turkey abolished the death penalty, the Turkish State declared that they would ‘kill him piecemeal’ instead.
Please sign and share the petition, which you can find HERE.
Today it is three years since Abdullah Öcalan was last able to communicate with anyone from outside his prison. The only exception to this was the delegation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) that visited İmralı in September 2022, which, despite the unique and illegal situation and the millions of people waiting for news of his health and well-being, has refused to say anything at all about what they found.
Isolation is a form of torture. It is not only against basic human morality, it is also against international law, and against Turkish law too. But the bodies set up to defend international law are all ineffective or absent.
The unfathomable cruelty towards Öcalan himself extends, as it is intended to do, to the whole of the Kurdish people, for whom Öcalan embodies hopes of a better future that respects their rights and allows them to live in dignity. Öcalan is the undisputed leader of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, recognised as such by millions of Kurds, and this, together with his ideas and experience and his readiness to talk and negotiate, makes him key to any peace process.
Through Öcalan’s isolation, the Turkish state denies the possibility of peace to the Kurds, and also to the Turkish people. If, instead of fomenting prejudice and hate, and sending the army to crush Kurdish hopes inside and outside Turkey’s borders, the Turkish government were to opt for peace and respect and invest in the lives of their citizens, Turkey would be a very different and much better place for everyone. As the Kurdistan National Congress puts it,
Turkey finds itself on the brink of collapse, suffering in a state of economic, social, and political bankruptcy. Ironically, the regime in Ankara possesses the solution to their own problem. As the only solution to the Kurdish question and repairing the Turkish state lies in ending Mr. Öcalan’s isolation and restoring the dialogue with him for a lasting peace agreement.
Öcalan’s isolation is also a direct attack on human culture and progress. The Turkish state is preventing all communication with a hugely important philosopher, whose ideas have the potential to move human society away from the current trajectory of self-destruction and onto a better path.
For all these reasons we will continue to grow the campaign to end Öcalan’s isolation and demand his freedom. We share again, here, the background booklet produced for the current phase of the campaign that was launched in October. Our next major action will be a sit-down protest outside the Council of Europe and the CPT in Strasbourg from 15-19 April. Please join us if you can – and also let us know about your own protests where you are.
Meanwhile, please join today’s hashtag campaign by tweeting #3YearsNoNews
Celebrations of the spring equinox herald a new year across much of the Middle East, but for the Kurds this is also the festival of Kurdish resistance. Abdullah Öcalan has enabled millions of Kurds to be proud of their culture, and even while physically locked away in prison, he is present at every Newroz celebration of the Kurdish Freedom Movement.
Below, we publish the statement put out for Newroz 2024 by the Kurdistan Communities Union:
With the Spirit of Newroz, Freedom Will Prevail
The annual Newroz celebration represents the yearning for independence, freedom and victory against enslavement by the Dehaks. We celebrate the Newroz of the ancient Mesopotamian peoples, the peoples of the Middle East and the rest of the world – of women, youth, laborers, and all the oppressed, as we believe that freedom will be achieved through resistance. We salute all those who feel the warmth of the fire of Newroz in their hearts.
We also celebrate the Newroz of our internationalists friends who have joined the Kurdish revolution, fought for freedom across the world, and contributed significantly to the internationalization of the Democratic Modernity revolution. Our commitment to common, universal values are strengthened by the solidarity of our international friends with Rêber Apo.
In ancient Mesopotamian history, Blacksmith Kawa initiated the first resistance against the evil, oppressive Dehak, by lighting the fire of Newroz. Ever since, Newroz has become the hope of better days to come, of the tradition of popular struggle against oppression, enslavement, and exploitation. This meaningful tradition lives on through the resistance of the Kurdish people, with the leadership of the PKK.
The first step of the Kurdish freedom struggle, which has now evolved into the universal struggle for the freedom of humanity, was taken by Rêber Apo at the Çubuk dam in Ankara during a meeting on the Newroz of 1973(1). The fire of Newroz was later re-lit by Mazlum Dogan, the brave child of the Kurdish people, in the prison of Amed in 1982. Protesting the brutal torture and inhumane practices of the Turkish state against the Kurdish people, Mazlum Dogan set his body ablaze on the eve of Newroz. This spark became a beam of hope in the bleakness of the dungeons, reviving the Newroz tradition in its true meaning.
Despite the harshest circumstances, political prisoners unwaveringly continued the resistance initiated by Mazlum Dogan, denouncing and ultimately doing away with submission and betrayal within Turkish prisons. The fire of Newroz reached Zekiye(2), Rahşan(3), Ronahî, and Bêrîvan(4) and was carried to peaks of the mountains in Kurdistan by the guerrilla, who spread this tradition of resistance across plains, villages and cities. With each passing Newroz, the people of Kurdistan gained strength against the invading, brutal, and colonialist enemy. It became an enlightenment for humanity and shaped the global freedom movement.
Rêber Apo is, beyond doubt, the driving force behind these important, historical achievements. Initiating a new historical phase in Kurdistan by launching the freedom struggle, he became the target of the wicked Dehaks of our day. He was imprisoned through the international conspiracy and placed in the Imrali system of aggravated isolation and torture. Rêber Apo continues the resist against this system of torture and solitary confinement which has been continuing for more than 25 years.
Spearheaded by of our international friends, a global campaign named “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question” was launched on October 10, 2023. Significant work has already been done thus far, though, we must intensify and expand our efforts to be able to achieve our goal. The peak of this ought to be the Newroz celebrations. Exhibiting their spirit of resistance and independence, our people must take this occasion to march everywhere, demanding the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. With millions of people participating, the 2024 Newroz should be an effective occasion with this objective. We as the Kurdish people, as the Kurdish Freedom Movement can no longer tolerate this repressive, fascist, denialist, racist, lying, and anti-Kurdish AKP-MHP regime’s isolation and torture tactics, occupation, and genocidal attacks. It is completely unacceptable that Rêber Apo is being kept in complete isolation.
The fascist AKP-MHP regime continues to expand its occupation and conduct acts of genocide against the Kurdish people. Their assaults against Kurdistan, particularly on Rojava, fall under the category of war crimes. It is currently in new preparations to carry out another genocide against the Kurds. In order to make 2024 the year of victory, we need to strengthen our opposition against Tayyip Erdoğan, the brutal Dehak of our time, and his reign of terror.
The oppressive rule of the Dehaks is doomed to be destroyed by the peoples’ resistance, and freedom will prevail.
Co-Presidency
KCK Executive Council
notes:
1 First meeting of the group from which the Kurdish freedom movement and the PKK would later emerge.
2. In reference to Zekiye Alkan, who burned herself alive in protest against the banning of the Newroz festival in Amed in 1990.
3. In reference to Rahşan Demirel. She protested against the ban by Turkey’s Minister of the Interior that Newroz could not be celebrated in 1992 and burned herself to death in Kadifekale.
4. Bedriye Taş (Ronahî) and Nilgün Yıldırım (Bêrîvan) burned themselves to death in Mannheim on March 21, 1994 in protest against the ban on Newroz celebrations in the Federal Republic of Germany and its participation in the war in Kurdistan.
