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Tens of thousands demanded freedom for
Öcalan in Strasbourg, France
19.2.2012
By ekurd.net staff writers |
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Demonstrators hold flags with portraits of jailed
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan
during a protest in Strasbourg February 18, 2012.
Thousands of demonstrators protested in support of
Ocalan was captured by Turkish undercover agents in
Kenya in 1999, brought back to Turkey and sentenced
to death. His sentence was later commuted to life.
Photo: Reuters
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People hold flags bearing a picture of convicted
Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah
Ocalan during a demonstration of several thousand
people from all around Europe asking for his
liberation in Strasbourg, eastern France, on
February 18, 2012. Photo: Getty
February 19, 2012
STRASBOURG, France,— Strasbourg city of
France witnessed on Saturday the greatest 15
February protest of the last 13 years.
Sixty thousand people from many countries in Europe
have demanded freedom for the Kurdish leader of the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan Öcalan
and status for Kurdish people. Ocalan is serving a
life prison term in Turkey. ANF news agency
reported.
The demonstrators demanded his release. The
demonstration is timed to the anniversary of
Ocalan's arrest.
According to organizers, the rally was held in
Strasbourg, because in this city are the Council of
Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
The demo was staged after the arrival of Long March
in Strasbourg on 17 February. The march left Geneva
on 31 January to reach Strasbourg on Thursday,www.ekurd.net
after 420 kilometers in Siberian temperatures.
Making a speech in the meeting area, Kongra-Gel
President Remzi Kartal called attention to the
current situation of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and
condemned the increasing pressures of the AKP
government.
Speaking after, Öcalan’s lawyer Mahmut Şakar
criticized the silence of the Committee for the
Prevention of Torture and European Court of Human
Rights about the isolation imposed on Öcalan.
One other speech was made by KNK President Tahir
Kemalizade who called on European countries to
respond to the Kurdish people’s demands for freedom.
BDP Diyarbakır MP Emine Ayna also pointed out that
the Kurdish people would continue to be on streets
every day until the liberation of Öcalan. “Freedom
for Öcalan to enable a free and equal life”, added
Ayna.
During the meeting, activists of the Long March
declared the formation of “Council of Initiative for
Freedom for Leader Öcalan” which consists of 183
activists of the Long March who have a symbolic
value for starting the long march at the 183rd day
of Öcalan’s isolation. It was stated that the
Council would organize committees in many parts of
Europe as well as leading the organization of
Freedom for Öcalan campaign in national and
international area.
Ocalan is the founder of the outlawed Turkey Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
which took up arms for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey
(Northern Kurdistan). Ocalan had been forced from his long-time home in Syria by
Turkish pressure in 1998, embarked on an odyssey through several European
countries and ended up in the residence of the Greek ambassador in Nairobi. He
was on his way from there to the airport on February 15, 1999 when he was arrested by
Turkish agents and put on a plane to Turkey.
Following the arrest, violent protests by Kurds erupted all over Europe. Ocalan
was put on trial on the heavily guarded prison island of Imrali in the Sea of
Marmara near Istanbul and sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to
life in prison, after Turkey abolished the death penalty in
2002. Ocalan was the only prisoner for a decade until new prisoners arrived on
November 2009, after the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of
Torture (CPT) criticised Ankara for violating
Ocalan's human rights by keeping him in solitary
confinement. He is allowed only visits from
close relatives and his lawyers.
Ocalan has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the
Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional
existence of Kurds,www.ekurd.net
to establish a Kurdish state in
the south east of the country, sparking a conflict
that has claimed some 45,000 lives.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous
Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic
Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in
Turkey, numbering more than 20 million. A large
Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with
the Kurdish PKK rebels.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees,
lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish
system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the
detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping
military action against the Kurdish party and
recomposing the Turkish constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
Sources: firatnews.com | AFP | ekurd.net | Agencies
Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net
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