Today marks 23 years of imprisonment for Abdullah Öcalan (aka Apo) the de facto leader of the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who has been held at Imrali Island Prison on
the Marmara Sea, Turkey, most of the time in solitary confinement.Sentenced to death in 2002, his sentence was commuted
to life imprisonment when Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of
its quest for European Community membership.
Born on April 4, 1948, in Mardin Province of Southeast Turkey/North
Kurdistan, Öcalan 's importance and significance cannot be ignored. Often called the Nelson Mandela of the Middle East, the treatment of Ocalan
has many similarities to Nelson Mandela’s incarceration on Robben
Island, yet, in the words of Mandela’s lawyer, Essa Moosa, “the
isolation of Ocalan is worse than that of Mandela.”
Mandela was at least allowed to see his lawyers whereas since his
abduction and incarceration Ocalan has been mostly condemned to complete
isolation with little or no access to lawyers or his family.
For more info: http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/
As of now, no-one has heard from Ocalan since March 2021 when he was
allowed a brief call with his brother, and between 2015 and 2019 he was
not allowed to meet with his lawyers, have any visitors or any contact
with the outside world.
The isolation of Abdullah Ocalan is
contrary to Turkey’s own constitution and to international human rights
law bu is
symptomatic and symbolic of the Turkish state’s war on the whole of its
Kurdish population. .Solitary confinement is commonly regarded as a form of torture, one
that Öcalan has had to endure since his arrest in 1999.Despite his continuing imprisonment he has made the whole world
acknowledge the Kurds, and Ocalan’s ideas
have inspired a major movement for grassroots,
multi-ethnic secular democracy, and the respect in which he is held
makes him key to a peaceful settlement for the Kurds in Turkey – an
ideal for which he has strived repeatedly over the last two decades.
In Rojava, The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria,
Öcalan’s political thoughts are being implemented, negotiated and
practised.
However since 2016 thousands of Kurdish politicians, teachers, journalists,
activists and trade unionists have been jailed, many for numerous life
sentences that reflect that of Abdullah Ocalan’s sentence.
Increasingly the charge of terrorism is used by the Turkish state to
punish anyone who speaks out against it, and in particular those who
speak out in favour of the ideas of Ocalan on peace, freedom and
equality.
Abdullah Ocalan is a powerful symbol of the Kurdish people’s desire
for peace. He founded the Kurdish liberation movement in 1974 in
response to military oppression of the Kurds by Turkey, and although
influenced by Marxist ideas he has since developed these ideas and
transformed the politics of the liberation movement with new ideas based
on women’s liberation, ecology, and grassroots democracy as an
alternative to the nation state.
His philosophy of democratic confederalism has its roots in the
international workers’ movement and offers a new solution of peace and
democracy for the entire Middle East.
His ideas and vision have served as an inspiration for Kurds in
Turkey, in Syria, for the Kurdish diaspora, and for left movements
globally.
His detention has been condemned by the Committee to Prevent Torture and other international rights organisations which say his treatment contravenes international law on the
rights of prisoners.
Ocalan, held in prison under extremely
inhumane conditions, is about as physically unfree as any human being
can be. But his ideas run free among the Kurdish people exactly as they
did when he was at liberty.
Physically, Ocalan is silenced and prevented
from speaking to any of his supporters, but through his powerful
writings and within the collective memory of the people his words are as
alive as if he was able to speak to an audience directly. Ocalan still
exercises an influence like no other Kurdish political figure of modern
times. This influence is undiminished because Ocalan articulates the
main demands and wishes of the Kurdish people. A leader with such
demonstrable influence clearly has much to offer and contribute to the
future politics of his people and the region. He speaks for the
Kurdish people’s aspirations for freedom from political and cultural
oppression, for democracy and peace.
From his prison cell, Öcalan has led a campaign for peace and a
democratic solution. He has written books explaining his ideas on how
democratic peace can be achieved through a process of negotiation. His
‘Road Map to Peace’ has inspired millions of Kurds, in Turkey and
beyond, to seek the democratic path to freedom within the existing
borders of the country.
' The Nelson Mandela of the Middle East' is a unique modern Kurdish leader whose reputation
continues to grow. He has stood firm in his call for peace over all
these years and has issued repeated proposals for achieving peace with
Turkey and is the key to resolving the crisis in Turkey and the wider Middle East and spearheaded the 2012-2015 ceasefire and peace negotiations between Turkey and the PKK.
But his last contact with the outside world was a brief phone call in March 2021 to dispel rumours of his death, and his lawyers and family have just been informed it will be many months before they can hope to contact him again. The campaign to free him deserves our support as does the broader struggle for the rights of the kurdish people.
Numbering some 40 million people, the Kurds are the world’s largest
nation without a state. They have been subjected to massacres,
oppression and the banning of their language and culture since the
establishment of the modern Turkish state in 1923. For many years even
the word Kurd was banned and they were referred to as “Mountain Turks.”
During the 1990s more than 3,000 villages were burned to the ground and
Kurds were forced from their homes and into large cities as part of
state assimilation operations. An estimated 40,000 people have been
killed in a bitter struggle, with Ocalan’s freedom central to a peaceful
resolution to the country’s so-called Kurdish question.
The fate of the Kurdish people in Turkey has become intertwined with the
fate of Mr. Ocalan. Since its inception in 1923 the Turkish state has
not accepted the existence of the Kurdish people and massacred over
250,000 Kurds; and also denied their right to representation and a
leader. All Kurdish leaders have either been executed, murdered or
imprisoned. This is why the freedom of Mr. Ocalan is a prerequisite for a
political and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.
It is no no surprise that Nelson Mandela recognised the plight of the Kurdish
people as a similar struggle to that of black South Africans and the
struggle against apartheid. Addressing a conference in 1997 he said: “I
am part of the Kurdish struggle. I am one of you.“We know what it means to be oppressed in your own country. We know
the pain of a mother whose child has disappeared. We know what it means
to have your nationality and culture insulted.”
Turkey benefits from the PKK being defacto included on the terror lists across the West, though no European court has even found that the PKK should be included on their domestic terror lists. Indeed worldwide it is only Turkey, the USA and the EU which consider the PKK to be a terror organisation, This happens at Turkey's request, to stifle legitimate debate or any attempt towards a resolution of the crisis in Turkey.
You can support the Kurdish cause by signing the following petition calling for the PKK to be removed from international terror lists.
And you can join millions of Kurds and supporters across the world who will be raising the simple demand: “Freedom for Ocalan.”
For more info: http://www.freedom-for-ocalan.com/
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