Following our successful event two weeks ago, ‘Open Discussion onThe Road Map to Negotiations’, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign is working hard to ensure Abdullah Ocalan’s proposals for peace are read and heard by as many people as possible. We hope to bring you photos and videos of the event for those of you who missed it – we’ll keep you updated. Two of our panellists from that day, Stan Newens and Prof Michael M. Gunter, have written reviews of book that are now available for you to read.
International Initiative published the third volume in Ocalan’s Prison Writings series, called The Road Map to Negotiations, in February this year. It is this proposal that Ocalan had been discussing with the Turkish government between 2009 and June 2011, and that, it was revealed earlier this year, was being discussed in secret negotiations in Oslo between the Turkish intelligence agencies and senior leaders of the PKK. Right after talks between the Turkish government and Ocalan broke down, Ocalan was put into renewed isolation on the prison island of Imrali, without visits from friends, family or lawyers.
At the time of publication, around 8,100 nonviolent Kurdish politicians, journalists, activists, student, human rights advocates and union members have been imprisoned for not much more than thought-crimes – some cases have reached the international press, but thousands of others have not. Amongst those arrested in recent months were, not coincidentally, 47 members of Ocalan’s legal team.
You can read the reviews of The Road Map here. There is also lots of information on the book and campaigns to free Ocalan which you can get involved with on the International Initiative website.