‘‘That this Congress notes that the Kurdish question in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey is one of the major unresolved problems of the Middle East. The conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish freedom movement has cost tens of thousands of lives while millions of Kurds have become refugees across the world.
Abdullah Öcalan used his defence statements to the European Court of Human Rights to issue an extensive manifesto for what he calls Democratic Civilization.
hrough a critical engagement with Marxist theory and with the ideas of many other thinkers – notably Murray Bookchin, André Gunder Frank, Immanuel Wallerstein and Fernand Braudel – Öcalan has produced new understandings that have become a source of inspiration and hope throughout the world.
Police attack and detain prisoners relatives trying to draw attention rights violations in prison, 13 August 2022 outside an HDP district office in Istanbul
There are currently three other PKK prisoners held on İmralı. They are also suffering from isolation, as summarised by Asrın Law Office, below. (We do not know if they actually met the delegation from the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) during their visit in September 2022 as the CPT refuses to release any information about that visit.)
Throughout his imprisonment, Abdullah Öcalan has been represented by Asrın Law Office in Istanbul, which also acts for the other prisoners in İmralı.
This week’s protest was prompted by the claims made to Öcalan’s lawyers that Öcalan had not met with the CPT delegation, which would mean that he has had no contact with the outside word since a very brief phone call in March 2021. In any case, the CPT are refusing to give any information as to his condition.
Every day the people who work in the office of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) see the vigil for Öcalan on the path outside
Since the 1980s, Abdullah Öcalan has used the international day of working class-struggle as an opportunity to analyse the situation of the world socialist movement and to derive perspectives for the struggle for self-determination and socialism in Kurdistan and the Middle East.
Tomorrow, wherever there are Kurdish communities, the Kurdish Freedom Movement will take part in Mayday marches.
