EUTCC calls for the release of Yilmaz Orkan

27 March, 2013

Press release: for immediate release

The deputy head of the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (KON-KURD) and a member of KNK, Mr. Yilmaz Orkan, were arrested yesterday morning at the Zaventem airport in Brussels by Belgian police on behalf of their Spanish colleagues.

Yilmaz Orkan was on his way to Tunisia and the World Social Forum (WSF) which provides a platform that enables encounters between women and the men who struggle to build democracy, equality for all, solidarity, justice and peace, to protect the environment and commons. Orkan’s work, his diplomatic efforts and lobbying for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question are well known to the European Parliament, the European Council and the international community. It seems that despite the ongoing political peace talks between Mr. Abdullah Öcalan and the Turkish government, dark political forces swipe Europe. Orkan’s arrest is just another attempt to curry favor to the campaign against the PKK and its so-called “terrorism” in Europe. The arrest of Yilmaz Orkan follows the case of the imprisoned Kurdish diplomat Adem Uzun who was detained in Paris October 2012. Continue reading “EUTCC calls for the release of Yilmaz Orkan”

KON-KURD condemns arrest of Yilmaz Orkan

CONFEDERATION OF KURDISH ASSOCIATIONS IN EUROPE (KON-KURD)
RELEASE KURDISH DIPLOMAT MR YILMAZ ORKAN


Press Release: for immediate release, 27 March 2013

We condemn the arrest of Mr Yilmaz Orkan, the vice president of the Confederation of Kurdish Associations in Europe (KON-KURD) which has 12 federations and 165 associations in Europe, Australia, and Canada. Mr Orkan is a deputy head for the last three years and also a member of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK). Mr Orkan was detained on 24 March 2013 in the Zaventem Airport/Brussels and then put in Belgium Forest Prison by the Belgian police at the request of Spain’s National Court. Mr Orkan was on his way to Tunisia to attend to the World Social Forum 2013.

Continue reading “KON-KURD condemns arrest of Yilmaz Orkan”