On the occasion of the “Free Öcalan Global Days”, the Democratic Kurdistan Cultural Center is organizing a series of events in Athens. Below is the call and the event list:
On behalf of the campaign – Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan: A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question, we would like to update you on our collective progress over the last year and make an impassioned appeal to continue our efforts. Since October 2023, the global campaign ‘Freedom for Öcalan, A Political Solution for the Kurdish Question’ has brought together unions, social movements, political parties, elected officials, artists, intellectuals, activists, and millions of Kurds and their supporters. The main aim is to end the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan by allowing his lawyers and family to visit him, and ultimately secure his freedom. In doing so, the campaign strives to make a just and democratic political solution to Turkey’s century-old Kurdish question possible by enabling Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan’s participation in a renewed dialogue.
In the past year we have had a range of accomplishments that are worth mentioning. On the organizational front we have created a wide range of international networks involving lawyers, trade unions, politicians, activists, artists, musicians, women’s organizations, youth groups, and geographical regions. As a result, we have held many press conferences, rallies, protests, sit-in demonstrations, informational tables, and seminars, to get awareness out about our cause.
Alongside this we held international global books days, musical concerts, and dialogue meetings all across Europe and Kurdistan, to discuss how Öcalan’s ideas can act as a blueprint to transform our world, guided by principles of ecology, women’s liberation, and direct democracy. Furthermore, we saw thousands of people around the world mail postcards to Imrali Island, in a symbolic attempt to break through his inhumane isolation. We sent letters to the president of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), and inspired others to do the same, including 69 Nobel Prize laureates, who signed a recent letter calling for Abdullah Öcalan’s release and a political solution to the Kurdish question.
Our efforts reached such a level that CPT themselves took the unprecedented step of responding to our letters and meeting with us. The international press published several articles on the Kurdish question and the inhuman situation towards prisoners in Turkey and globally. However, despite all of these efforts, we unfortunately have yet to end the isolation against Kurdistan’s leader Abdullah Öcalan, who remains cut off from all contact with the outside world for more than 3.5 years. Therefore, as we approach the one-year anniversary between October 1-10, 2024, we would like to send out a clarion call for all of us to do even more, as we believe we are close to finally breaking through the international conspiracy that has lined up to deny Mr. Öcalan his philosophical voice and the Middle East his message of reconciliation.
We warmly invite you to join us in Athens for a series of events organized within this framework, which you can find listed below:
Ecology: Rebellion of the Environment
Brochure Presentation
October 3rd, 19:00
TRISE (Kolokotroni 31, Athens)
Event: https://www.kinimatorama.net/event/169275
Panel Discussion, Rocinante Festival
October 5th, 19:00
Embros Theatre
Event: https://www.kinimatorama.net/event/168712
Öcalan and the Kurdish Question
Legal Roundtable Discussion
October 9th, 17:00
ESIEA (Akademias 20, Athens)
Freedom for Ocalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question!
Demonstration
October 11th, 18:00
Propilia, Athens to the Turkish Embassy
Event: https://athens.indymedia.org/event/95458/
Please share widely!
