A new signature campaign for freedom for Abdullah Ocalan has been announced, as part of the world-wide “End Isolation, Fascism and Occupation – Time for Freedom” campaign. The Peace in Kurdistan campaign calls on all its supporters around the world to sign this petition. Please send your name and organisational affiliation to Peace in Kurdistan: estella24@tiscali.co.uk. Thank you, we appreciate your support.
Included below is the text of the appeal for this signature campaign from the International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan–Peace in Kurdistan”.
Signature Campaign
The Time Has Come: Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan
Between 2013 and 2015, a staggering 10.3 million people worldwide signed the following statement:
I support the demand “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and the political prisoners in Turkey”. Öcalan’s freedom will mark a breakthrough for the democratization of Turkey and peace in Kurdistan.
More than five years later, this is still true.
In 2015, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ended several years of talks between the Turkish state, Abdullah Öcalan, and the PKK, he launched a new stage of aggressive and violent escalation in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. In recent months Erdoğan waged war not only against the Kurds but all the neighbours of Turkey including Libya, Cyprus, the border with Greece and Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh.
Meanwhile, the people of North and East Syria, inspired by Öcalan and his prison writings, have transformed their land into a major bastion of peaceful coexistence and democracy despite Turkey’s constant and ongoing military attacks.
Öcalan’s ongoing incarceration and the inhumane isolation to which he remains subjected, the massive repression inside the Kurdish regions of Turkey and the attacks on North and East Syria are all aspects of the same overall approach taken by the Turkish state: to attack the forces of democracy and especially the Kurds by all means possible.
Unfortunately, international institutions have refrained from providing an adequate response to this deteriorating situation and the Council of Europe along with the European Court for Human Rights and the Committee against Torture (CPT) have all failed to guarantee even the most basic human rights for Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island.
Abdullah Öcalan is the most important symbol of the struggle against the repression of freedom and democracy in Turkey and the wider Middle East. His firm stand for peaceful coexistence, his relentless efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the Kurds and the Turkish state have proven to be effective. This makes his freedom ever more important for all peace-loving people.
This is why we say: The Time Has Come—Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan!
Please support us with your signature and join the struggle for freedom, democracy and peace for the Kurds and all peoples of the Middle East.
Carry this message to your local councils, assemblies, trade unions, community organizations, parties and persuade them to join the worldwide chorus of voices for Öcalan’s freedom.
The Time Has Come - Signature Campaign