“Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”

‘All Kurds should unite and speak out against isolation and injustice’

Mothers at the Justice Vigil continue their ‘Give voice to freedom’ protests demanding an end to isolation. Afife Kartal called for participation in the rally in Amed on 13 October and appealed to all Kurds: “We must raise our voices against isolation."


ANF
AMED
Sunday, 29 September 2024

Mothers of the Justice Vigil continue their ‘Give voice to freedom’ protests demanding an end to the isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and the rights violations against political prisoners. The mothers come together every fortnight on Mondays and make press statements.

Afife Kartal, mother of prisoner Muhammed Kartal, called for participation in the central rally to be held in Amed (Diyarbakır) on 13 October and said, “The aim of our action is the end of isolation and the physical freedom of Mr Öcalan. We are calling out to the whole world to stand against isolation.”

Speaking to ANF, Afife Kartal emphasised that they are following the cause of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and said, “Our children sacrificed their lives in his footsteps. He is the leader of 50 million Kurds. Let the isolation be lifted; let the Kurdish people come together with their Leader. If Mr Öcalan speaks, our young people will not die, our nature will not be slaughtered, crises and wars will end. This state is killing our people, nature and animals. It ignores our culture and language. We want an honourable peace.”

Afife Kartal called on all Kurds to participate in the rally against isolation to be held in Amed on 13 October, saying “We must raise our voices against isolation. Every Kurd with dignity should stand against isolation and raise their voice.”

Stating that the condition of sick prisoners has also worsened, Kartal said, “Sick prisoners should be released as soon as possible. The prisoners whose sentence is over should be released. They bear hostility towards Kurds in every way. I underwent angiography twice. My toes are broken due to diabetes, and I can't walk anymore, but that doesn’t stop me going to demonstrations even in this state. If we don't raise a voice today, no one will tomorrow. All Kurds should unite and speak out against isolation and injustice. Kurds should stand up for their struggle. No one should fall into the tricks and traps of AKP and MHP. Let us starve but not give up our honour. On 13 October there will be a rally against isolation in Amed. Everyone should attend this rally, and we should raise our voices for the physical freedom of Mr Öcalan. We want an honourable peace to come to our Kurdistan. Our hearts should not bleed anymore. I don't want money, I don't want worldly goods, but we want Mr Öcalan to be among us, 4 parts of Kurdistan to be united, peace to come, our children to be released from prisons. We will raise our voices for this at the rally.”

TJA activists gathered in Amed and called on people to attend the “Freedom Rally” on 13 October.


ANF
AMED
Sunday, 29 September 2024

The Free Women’s Movement (Tevgera Jinên Azad-TJA) gathered at the Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Amed Provincial Organization on Saturday to discuss the difficulties experienced in the past two years. The meeting ended with a call to everyone to attend the “Freedom Rally” to be held in Amed on 13 October.

Adalet Kaya, Amed MP for the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), said that they discussed the problems experienced and the deficiencies in organization. Addressing all women’s movements in Amed, Kaya said: “In the territory we live in, we are faced with a central administration that does not recognize its own constitution and increasingly escalates war policies. Poverty, deprivation, femicides, child abuse and all the social problems we experience are connected to the war being waged in the country. We must raise our voices and reject war and isolation at the rally we will hold in Amed on 13 October. We must defend honorable peace against war and freedom against conspiracies in Amed. We must also call for the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan and protest isolation. Because the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan means the solution tothe Kurdish question.”

TJA activist Havva Can said: “The entire Kurdish people are under isolation in the person of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan. In order to break this isolation, we as Kurdish women, will be on the streets on 13 October.”

TJA activist Adle Fidan said: “We call on everyone to raise their voices from Amed on 13 October with the philosophy of Jin jiyan azadî.”

Central rally in Amed on 13 October to demand “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan”

The Platform of Democratic Institutions announced that a central rally will be held in Amed (Diyarbakır) on 13 October to demand the freedom of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.


ANF
AMED
Friday, 13 September 2024

The global campaign for an end to the absolute isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, for his physical freedom and for the solution of the Kurdish question continues. As the 26th anniversary of the 9 October Conspiracy, which marked the beginning of the international conspiracy against the Kurdish People's Leader, approaches, mass actions and events will be organised across the world, mainly in Kurdistan and Turkey.

The Platform of Democratic Institutions made a statement at the Association of Southeastern Journalists (GGC) in Amed (Diyarbakır) on Thursday. The Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır and representatives of the organisations taking part in the platform attended the meeting.

The platform announced that the campaign for ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a political solution to the Kurdish question’ has reached a new stage. According to the platform's statement titled ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’ the final of the actions and activities that will continue until 13 October will take place in Amed. On 13 October, a central rally will be held in Amed.

The press statement, the Turkish version of which was read by DBP PM (Party Assembly) member Elif Turan and the Kurdish version by Ferhat Ertaş from Ma Music, said the following:

“It has been 44 years since the military coup of 12 September 1980, which has taken its place in the black pages of history with its violations of the right to life and inhumane practices. The 12 September coup deeply transformed the official ideology, state-society and state-democracy relations in Turkey and reinforced the monist, denialist and assimilationist system. The 1982 Constitution, which was the product of the coup d'état, and the constitutional amendments that took place in the following period strengthened the political and social designs of the coup plotters.

On the anniversary of the 12 September military coup, the shirt of nation and belief based on monism is being tried to be put on diversities, local democracy is being denied through an over-centralised state formation, the field of democratic politics is being poisoned with fascist delusions and subjects, all kinds of tyranny against women is being put into practice through the male-dominated ideology, ecological destruction is deepening day by day through an obedience to capitalism and capital at the level of faith, and hunger runs rampant throughout the country. In other words, the political design of 12 September still hangs over the peoples of Turkey and Kurdistan like a nightmare in the forty-four years that have passed.

All kinds of democratic rights struggles, especially a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, and objections against the state in defence of society, nature and life, are being tried to be disrupted. The AKP-MHP fascism, the heir of 12 September, is expanding its areas of domination and developing comprehensive attacks against society's windpipes. The military attacks that deepen the deadlock in the Kurdish question and spill over the borders, the suppression of the demands for democracy by means of force, the oppression of the civilian sphere by all kinds of lawlessness, the systematic and ideological attacks on women, the deprivation of future for the youth, the injustice in the distribution of income, the horrible levels of income inequality and the desire to transfer the burden of the economic crisis to the workers and the poor have become the summary of the current picture in Turkey.

In Turkey, almost everyone shares a common fate under the regime's oppression, whether they demand recognition for their identity, want to protect nature or struggle for a future. We, who are the addressees of the multifaceted attacks of the AKP-MHP fascism, share a common destiny with our identities, beliefs, lives and nature. The way to say no to this common fate drawn by the rulers and to build a new life is to increase the common struggle.

The strategy of depriving the society of breath and shattering the opposition groups, which was initiated with the absolute isolation of Mr Abdullah Öcalan and the state of incommunicado, has brought nothing but violence, death, hunger and instability to the peoples of Turkey since 2015. The Kurdish question, which has been driven into a deadlock by absolute isolation, has become the cause of multiple crises in Turkey. On the other hand, with the policy of absolute isolation and non-communication, even the crumbs of democracy were wanted to be swept away, deep poverty spread to wide social segments, and no space was left for the search for rights.

At the stage we have reached, the AKP-MHP alliance's strategy of suffocating the society and shattering the social opposition is no longer holding together thanks to the stubborn and strong resistance of peoples, beliefs, women and different social segments. The AKP-MHP alliance has largely lost its social support. Despite the law enforcement and judicial power at its disposal, a large media apparatus and all kinds of material resources, the AKP-MHP alliance has decayed.

We believe that we can make the strongest breakthrough to increase the common struggle of the peoples and the oppressed against this rotten power bloc by ensuring the success of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign. Because we know that the AKP-MHP fascist alliance generates itself from the denial of the Kurdish people's reality and the criminalisation of the Kurdish political movement, especially Mr Abdullah Öcalan, and its objection. Therefore, taking our struggle against the fascist power to the next level will open the doors to the construction of a democratic life.

The state of absolute isolation and incommunicado imposed on Mr Öcalan, which is practiced as a management strategy of the current regime, is no longer limited to Kurdistan, but has spread all over Turkey, deepening the deadlock in the Kurdish question, which is the litmus paper of democracy and peace, and creating a political knot. Without untying this political knot, it is not possible to get rid of multiple crises. We must increase our struggle to untie this political knot that has been tied to democracy and peace in Turkey. By saying ‘peace against war, freedom against isolation’, we can write together the prescription to save Turkey from the multiple crises it is in.

On the anniversary of the fascist coup, we would like to state once again that the defeat of the AKP-MHP fascist alliance means the defeat of the 12 September regime. It means the opening of the doors to a democratic order by getting rid of the coup mechanism. It means ensuring that the construction of a democratic life will flourish again in the hands of oppressed peoples and beliefs. Based on the fate-determining character of the struggle against the regime of absolute incommunicado in İmralı, we say ‘Let's break the isolation together and march to freedom’.

In October, the global campaign ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ will complete its first year. This struggle, which was initiated by world-renowned intellectuals, writers, artists, ecologists, politicians and lawyers, has spread to all parts of the world, especially Kurdistan, with the support of Turkish intellectuals in Istanbul. On 18 November, the Gemlik Freedom March reached its goal despite all obstacles, and a message of insistence on freedom was sent from Gemlik to the whole world.

The initiatives and applications by artists and lawyers made the isolation more visible; between 01-15 February, the cities of Northern Kurdistan were illuminated with the torch of the ‘Freedom Walkers’, and on 8 March and 21 March the determination for freedom reached its peak with the witnessing of millions. The resistance of the prisoners against isolation, who participated in every moment of the campaign with great sacrifices, was enlarged with the ‘Give voice to freedom’ actions in front of the prisons, the ‘End the isolation’ actions in front of the AKP buildings, and the ‘Ensure justice, implement law’ actions in front of the Ministry of Justice. The ‘Freedom Readings’ led by women and youth have been held in hundreds of neighbourhoods, streets and villages throughout the summer.

As of today, we are bringing a new stage to the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign. Our Freedom March, which focuses on achieving results in the struggle of the Kurdish people to ‘protect their existence and ensure their freedom’, will be further expanded with the campaign ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’, which we will carry out from 12 September to 13 October. In this context, we invite all democratic forces in Kurdistan and Turkey to the campaign of our Freedom March, which we have started to defeat the 9 October International conspiracy and the conspirators, to shatter the İmralı Torture system and to achieve a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, which will last until 13 October.

Let's fight for our democratic future and freedom side by side. With this belief, determination and stubbornness, we call on all democratic, revolutionary forces and social opposition of the geography to our campaign, which we have launched with the slogan ‘We Resist Against the Conspiracy, We Meet in Amed for Freedom!’ and which we will conclude with a big rally to be held in Amed on 13 October. On the 26th anniversary of the International Conspiracy, we will carry the struggle for solution and freedom to every time and place where life flows. With our campaign that we will continue for a month, we will once again shout freedom against the slavery impositions of the conspirators and say ‘Never without freedom! Let victory be our promise: The putschists, conspirators and those who insist on isolation will lose, and freedom will win!”