🌍 WORLDWIDE CAMPAIGN for imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan launched on 10 October 2023 to support the daily Council of Europe vigil since 25 June 2012.
Jody Williams + 68 other Nobel Prize Laureates have written the Council of Europe, European Court of Human Rights, Committee for the Prevention of Torture, & UN Human Rights Committee, asking them to “fulfill their obligations regarding protecting the rights of Abdullah Öcalan.”
“Abdullah Öcalan can play a decisive role in the plan for a solution for Kurdistan. He is the great liberation figure for the Kurds. His release will be the basic condition for a peaceful future, ultimately also for Turkey.”
― Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian Nobel Prize winner (2004)
Thousands gather in Calcutta, India 🇮🇳 around the Kurdish slogan “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî” 💜 (Women, Life, Freedom) following a young doctor’s rape and murder. This phrase is rooted in Abdullah Öcalan’s philosophy and ignited the recent revolution in Iran after Jina Amini’s death.
Switzerland - Basel
Another important message from the Democratic Modernity Conference:
From many countries of the world they announced their support for the '' Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question'' campaign.
#FreeOcalan4PoliticalSolution
Ortadoğu’nun değme ordularının iki gün direnemediği IŞİD çetelerine
bir binada kuşatılmışken 5 gün direndiler ve bir kenti katliamdan kurtardılar.
Hakkınız ödenmez…
#Haseke
#rojava
#QSDe_Parezvanen_Welat
If you are not familiar with Abdullah Öcalan you should be. Google his books and read them. Study his ideas. Then you will understand why this Kurdish revolutionary hero has been locked away on an island for the past 25 years—because his philosophy of democracy scares dictators.
The Turkish Air Force is bombing the mountains of Kurdistan with their drones and chemical weapons. But the Kurdish women guerrillas who follow Abdullah Öcalan’s philosophy will never stop singing. As what Turkey fears most is a happy Kurd who refuses to deny their homeland. ☀️
Abdullah Öcalan lives in the hearts of many
#Kurds
because they know that while other leaders seek fortunes, mansions, fancy cars, and private jets – he has sacrificed the last 25 years in a small prison island cell, for daring to believe that
#Kurdistan
should be free. 💛❤️💚
He desired peace, but Turkey used state terrorism to burn down 4,000 Kurdish villages.
“When a state is based on injustice, force and violence and when it habitually violates universally accepted laws, the necessity for broad legitimate resistance arises.” ― Abdullah Öcalan 🕊️
Turkey continues to arrest, jail, and fine
#Kurds
who chant “Bijî Serok Apo!” (long live leader Öcalan!). But this slogan is chanted all throughout occupied Northern
#Kurdistan
(southeast Turkey) by millions of
#Kurdish
people who see him as their voice. Like in this video. ☀️✌️
The Turkish state can keep arresting
#Kurds
for dancing guerrilla govend, but it will never stop them from doing it!
#Govend
is a form of cultural expression and symbolic resistance, which is an integral part of what it means to be proudly
#Kurdish
in occupied
#Kurdistan
. 💛❤️💚
Recent demonstrations in 🇬🇷 Greece and 🇫🇷 France calling for an end to Abdullah Öcalan's illegal prison isolation. These occur every week all across Europe, as millions demand justice.
The graphic novel ‘Freedom Shall Prevail: The Struggle of Abdullah Öcalan and the Kurdish People’ is now available in English. Versions already exist in Kurdish, German, Turkish, and Arabic. It is written by Sean Michael Wilson and illustrated by Keko. Order now from PM Press.
Thousands of
#Kurdish
guerrillas defend the mountains in all 4 parts of
#Kurdistan
, and their philosophical leader is Abdullah Öcalan. His “crime” was teaching millions of
#Kurds
to fight for their freedom, rather than be victims of genocidal occupation and cultural assimilation.
“This policy of isolation on Imrali is not just about Abdullah Öcalan, but all Kurds. The state’s repression has intensified since Kurdish gains in Rojava.”
― Eren Keskin, Co-chair of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (İHD), at Saturday’s Peace and Democracy Conference in Berlin
The Turkish state believes they can sever the bond between the
#Kurdish
people and their leader Abdullah Öcalan by making him disappear for many years. But the loyalty many
#Kurds
have for him is unbreakable.
Video: Öcalan greeting the women & girls of a village in
#Kurdistan
🤝🏼
Abdullah Öcalan has languished on Turkey’s Imrali Island (“Europe’s Guantanamo”) for a quarter century. Nelson Mandela, who was similarly on Robben Island, later remarked: “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.”
Today,
#Kurds
& their allies are conducting a ‘Long March’ from Lausanne to Geneva in Switzerland 🇨🇭 to raise awareness about the illegal isolation of
#Kurdish
leader Abdullah Öcalan. The cities are symbolic: where
#Kurdistan
was carved up 🇬🇧 🇨🇵, to where 🇺🇳 UN justice is denied.
On the anniversary of Rojava's Revolution, a reminder that in 2017 when the YPG, YPJ, & SDF liberated Raqqa (capital city of ISIS) they dedicated the victory to Abdullah Öcalan and raised his flag in the city. Because his ideas on freedom helped destroy the terror Caliphate. ✌️
In an act of state terrorism, today the Turkish Air Force used one of their drones to murder two Kurdish women journalists in Silêmanî, Southern Kurdistan (north Iraq). This war crime is a reminder that Turkey believes they can slaughter any Kurd they wish, anywhere in the world.
“Our Kurdish national consciousness is entrusted to us by our martyrs and today it is under great threat. Unfortunately, most of the consciousness had been destroyed, but we are recreating it. We want a free life and that is why we must love our Kurdishness.”
― Abdullah Öcalan ☀️
Türk Devleti’nin işgali altında bulunan Serekaniye’de, Fransa’yı protesto gösterilerinde DAIŞ bayrağı açıldı. Erdoğan’ın askerleri özünden hiç sapmadı. Teröristler...
Abdullah Öcalan criticized Imrali Prison & Turkey in his last call, saying:
“What you are doing is very wrong. Both the state and you are acting incorrectly. This is neither legal nor right. It is completely unacceptable and very dangerous. Do you understand what you are doing?”
Abdullah Öcalan is affectionately called “Apo” by supporters. While this literally means “Uncle” in Kurdish, it also signifies that he’s a symbolic member of their family. Because for millions of Kurds throughout Kurdistan and the diaspora, he is like a relative. 💛❤️💚
“Can a caged bird’s great struggle for freedom be denied? While the nightingale’s song surpasses the most worthy symphony, with what other concept than freedom can we explain the reality of its beauty?”
― Abdullah Öcalan 🕊️ 🎻
“If there is to be a meeting, it should be with my lawyers because this situation is both political and legal.”
― Abdullah Öcalan, 25 March 2021
* Shortly before the phone line was cut by Imrali Island Prison. Nobody has heard from him since, despite hundreds of lawyer requests.
Abdullah Öcalan has a global network of lawyers, trade unions, academics, activists, authors, artists, musicians, women’s organizations, and youth groups - who hold rallies, protests, sit-ins, demonstrations, information tables, seminars, concerts, and book days on his behalf. ✌️
Erdoğan’s regime in Turkey is brutally massacring 4 million street cats and dogs, causing outrage and tourism boycotts throughout Europe.
In stark contrast, Abdullah Öcalan’s democratic confederalist principle of social ecology values Mother Nature and all her animals. 🐱🐶
NEVER FORGET. The Turkish state burned down 4,000
#Kurdish
villages, drove 3 million
#Kurds
into exile, cut the ears off Kurdish villagers, threw Kurds from helicopters, tortured Kurds in Diyarbakir No. 5 prison, and used JITEM death squads. This is why Abdullah Öcalan resisted.
Abdullah Öcalan has not spoken to his lawyers in 5 years. In March 2021, he stated: “I want my lawyers to come here and meet with me. This is a legal matter… It can only be resolved through legal means. Why aren’t they coming here?”
The answer is Turkey illegally blocks them.
Nelson Mandela spent 18 years imprisoned on Robben Island under South African apartheid. (top)
Abdullah Öcalan has now spent 25 years imprisoned on Imrali Island under Turkish oppression. (bottom)
Abdullah Öcalan has pushed women’s rights to the front of the revolutionary stage. This is why many Kurdish women look to his ideas to protect their life pursuits. But his theories apply to every woman. As he’s said: “A society can never be free without women’s liberation.” 💜♀️
Abdullah Öcalan’s lawyers describe their last meeting with him in 2019 ―
“We were impressed by his energy, his hope, his reassuring attitudes, his foresights despite the conditions he was in and his determinations on the current course of events. His smiles that preserved the
Abdullah Öcalan has always defended Yazidis, who he calls “the original Kurds.” He also stated if Yazidism ever disappeared, the Kurdish language would follow. This is why in 2007, he warned his lawyers Yazidis could soon face annihilation, which occurred 7 years later in 2014.
🇮🇸 Iceland’s former Justice Minister Ögmundur Jonasson attended the Peace and Democracy Conference in Berlin, where he gave a speech calling for Abdullah Öcalan’s release. He also criticized Turkey for demanding surrender on the Kurdish issue rather than negotiating for peace. 🕊️
Writer and philosopher Slavoj Zizek quoted Abdullah Öcalan's writings "How to live, what to do, where to start?" and said, "Öcalan gives us the precise coordinates of where we are."
#OcalanBooksDay
#FreeOcalan4PoliticalSolution
Abdullah Öcalan has written many books advocating democracy, gender equality, religious freedom, ethnic diversity, social ecology, and cultural rights for all. He is a deep thinker who examines how societies developed and ways to advance freedom for Kurdistan and the world. 📖
Young Kurds from the Revolutionary Youth Movement (Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger) and their allies led a march through Stuttgart, Germany 🇩🇪 to protest against the prison isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. This follows institutions like the CPT & CAT criticizing Turkey’s illegal detention.
A call from Jin TV reporter Lydia Gottschalk for the Öcalan Books Day to be organised within the framework of the Freedom for Öcalan campaign for a political solution to the Kurdish question
''On 10 December 2023 there is the ''Öcalan Books Day'' and we invite you to read
In
#London
🇬🇧 the Kurdish People’s Assembly launched a 3-day sit in protest in front of the Prime Minister’s office. They want the UK to impose sanctions against 🇹🇷 Erdoğan’s regime until he ends the illegal isolation of Kurdistan’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. Join them from 1-5 pm.
Our campaign is an intellectual battle of ideas, and we trust that all of us can succeed if we refuse to give up. Abdullah Öcalan has not abandoned the Kurdish people or humanity despite a quarter-century locked away on a deserted island, so we will not abandon him. 💛❤️💚
#Kurds
marched in traditional dress during
#Kurdish
Culture Week in Brussels, Belgium 🇧🇪 while chanting “Bijî Serok Apo!” (Long Live Leader Öcalan), “Bê Serok Jiyan Nabe!” (There’s No Life Without Our Leader), and “Jin, Jiyan, Azadî!” (Women, Life, Freedom). 💛❤️💚
The West shamelessly criminalizes Abdullah Öcalan’s KCK freedom movement in order to sell weapons to Turkey, but they saw the reality of his ideas following August 3, 2014. With
#Yazidi
#Kurds
abandoned by the world, it was his
#Kurdistan
guerrillas who came to their rescue. ☀️
Deputy First Minister of 🏴 Scotland Kate Forbes stopped by the “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan” informational table at SNP’s annual conference in Edinburgh. Representatives presented her with a Kurdish scarf and Öcalan’s book ‘The Sociology of Freedom’. ✌️
Turkey even violates Turkish law to isolate Abdullah Öcalan.
The law says 240 family visits since 2014, he’s been granted 5.
The law says daily meetings with lawyers, he’s been granted 5, for 8 hours, in 13 years.
The law says 650 phone calls in 25 years, he’s been granted 2.
The campaign for freedom for Abdullah Ocalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question continues to unite social movements, political parties, municipalities, trade unions, activists, intellectuals and millions of Kurds and friends around the world around a common cause.
Kurds gathered in front of the 🇺🇳 UNHRC in Geneva, Switzerland 🇨🇭 as they continue to demand accountability from global institutions for Turkey’s blatant violations of international law. Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan remains illegally ‘disappeared’ from the world for 3.5 years.
#Kurdish
leader Abdullah Öcalan is many things: revolutionary, philosopher, intellectual, author, visionary, political theorist, guerrilla strategist, and voice for millions of
#Kurds
who see him as the defender of their dreams. He is the only path to peace in
#Kurdistan
. ☀️🕊️
Turkey is imprisoning Makbule Özer, an 82-year-old Kurdish grandma from Wan, for being a ‘terrorist’. She can barely see or walk.
Özer has said: “We Kurds are oppressed. Thieves and murderers will be let out of prison, but we Kurds will be punished. There is no justice for us.”
Most of the world cheered for the heroic city of
#Koban
î when they defeated ISIS. But less people realize that the philosophical leader behind the heroes of that city was Abdullah Öcalan, a Kurdish freedom fighter who Turkey has held as a political prisoner for the last 25 years.
A musical concert and communal event were held in Berceto, Italy 🇮🇹 calling for the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. ‘Bella ciao’ was performed, while locals learned how his ideals can increase political participation in Italian society. ✌🏻
Kurdish political leader Abdullah Öcalan may be in prison—but his ideas have inspired millions to struggle for freedom.
On December 10th, Global Ocalan Books Day, it’s your turn to be inspired.
Read here:
Abdullah Öcalan has been barred from speaking to his family or lawyers for the past 1,222 days, over 29,300 hours. And every hour that goes by where he is denied his human rights under CoE law is a failure by the Council of Europe to hold Turkey (a member state) accountable.
Abdullah Öcalan’s brother Mehmet has contacted the Bursa Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Imrali Prison Directorate demanding to meet with his brother. Mehmet is the last known person to speak with his brother, in a telephone call on March 25, 2021 (which the prison cut).
On the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide by ISIS in Şengal, we remember all the victims of that terrible tragedy. But we also honor those Kurdish guerrillas who heroically saved 40,000 Yazidis on Mount Sinjar, while guided by Abdullah Öcalan’s philosophy. ✌️♥️🦚
The extreme isolation Turkey keeps Abdullah Öcalan under on Imrali Island is hard for many people to comprehend. He has only been allowed to call his family twice in 25 years, and the last time 3.5 years ago the call was cut off by the prison and he has not been heard from since.
The Committee for the Prevention of Torture (
#CPT
) must immediately go to Imrali Island and check on the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Kurds around the world demand to know if he is alive and well! CPT must act or the Council of Europe (
#CoE
) should get rid of the organization!
From the moment the Turkish state abducted Abdullah Öcalan in 1999, they feared his brain and ideas. This is why they insist on isolating him and limiting his ability to communicate with the outside world. Because he holds up a mirror to the lie that democracy exists in Turkey.
For 25 years, Abdullah Öcalan’s contact with the outside world has been through books. 📚 Imprisoned in a small cell on a tiny Turkish island, he’s spent his time studying world history to create Democratic Confederalism, a blueprint for peace in
#Kurdistan
& the Middle East. 🕊️
In Frankfurt,
#Germany
🇩🇪 a tent was set up to educate Germans how Turkey is violating Council of Europe law by denying Abdullah Öcalan access to his lawyers and family for 3.5 years. This is important because Berlin traditionally collaborates with Ankara to criminalize Kurds.
“Mr. Öcalan’s absolute isolation has a moral dimension of great importance, especially for the Kurdish people. Every mistreatment that is done to Mr. Öcalan, whom millions call ‘my will’ and accept as their Leader, is directly related to the Kurdish issue.”
― Sümeyye Boz, DEM MP