Kurdish societies, movements, and political actors have played a leading role in advancing democratic governance, coexistence among peoples, and women’s rights in the Middle East, while also standing at the forefront of the fight against authoritarianism and ISIS. Inspired by the political philosophy of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, these efforts have produced some of the most transformative democratic and women-led initiatives of the past decade, including: the Rojava Revolution and the establishment of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) since 2011, the Jin Jiyan Azadi uprisings in Iran in 2023, and the ongoing pursuit of peace through a political resolution of the Kurdish Question in Turkey following Öcalan’s call for “Peace and Democratic Society” in February 2025.
Today, we stand at a critical turning point, where the future of Kurdish societies—and of the Middle East as a whole—hangs in the balance. On one path lies regional stability, democratic self-governance, and peaceful coexistence: on the other, the expansion of regional conflict and violent extremism, with consequences extending far beyond the Middle East. The Kurds, whose homeland lies at the heart of the region and is divided among Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, play a pivotal role in determining this future. After more than a century of denial, forced assimilation, and genocide, resolving the Kurdish Question is central to any democratic solution for the broader region. Abdullah Öcalan’s theories of democracy and freedom, which have shaped Kurdish struggles for self-determination, closely align with the core principles underpinning international human rights institutions: democratic governance, the rule of law, peace, solidarity, and self-determination.
In this context, we advocate for the freedom of the Kurdish people’s leader, Abdullah Öcalan, who—despite decades (27 years) of imprisonment under a harsh regime of isolation—remains the key interlocutor and legitimate representative of Kurdish aspirations for peace and democracy.
We call for constitutional guarantees for Kurdish identity, language, education, self-defense, and democratic self-governance, as well as for the rights of all peoples of Syria, as essential safeguards against the emergence of new authoritarian regimes rooted in jihadist politics—in short, a status for Rojava-Kurdistan. Finally, we urge the international community to recognize the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) as a necessary step to protect democratic values and uphold the rights of peoples across the region.