On 15 December, to mark World Human Rights Week, there will be an online panel, the final event of the webinar series 'Öcalan Paradigm', organised by the Network Women Weaving the Future, of which REPAK is part. 

The webinars of the series can be watched here

Tomorrow the last webinar will be live streamed here

ANF spoke to Meral Çiçek of the Kurdish Women’s Relations Office (REPAK), about the themes of the webinar. 

How would you summarize the role of Ocalan in the Kurdish women’s movement?

One of the most essential points that distinguish Abdullah Öcalan from other revolution leaders is his approach to the gender issue, or rather, women’s freedom. He very soon was able to realise the fact that the freedom question is inseparable from women’s freedom or even that women’s liberation builds the nucleus of the freedom question. This means that, for the first time in modern history, a revolutionary mass movement, which struggles for national liberation, theorizes the question of women’s liberation not as a secondary -after class or national liberation- but a primary issue. The autonomous organisation of the women’s movement within the Kurdish liberation movement with its liberation ideology, self-defence forces, confederal system, co-chair system etc. is the result or expression of such an approach, developed and defended by Öcalan himself. We will talk more on this issue at the panel.  

Why does his freedom matter?

Ocalan’s captivity, which continues for nearly 23 years, can be discussed from different aspects. On the one hand, one needs to urge on his detention conditions, which are unexampled. He has spent more than half of his 23 years confinement completely alone, as the only detainee at the prison complex on Imrali island. Imrali constitutes a legal vacuum and Öcalan is seen as a person without rights. From a human rights perspective, nobody who defends law and justice should remain silent on this issue. Then there is the political aspect. Why was Ocalan abducted by foreign intelligence organisations, led by the CIA, in 1999 and handed over to Turkey? Why is he being held incommunicado not only by the Turkish state but the NATO system itself? What was his crime in their eyes? It is clear that his crime was and still is to lead a truly revolutionary liberation movement, as Kurdish movement not to get under the influence and control of the hegemonic world system, to develop a democratic and ecological paradigm that puts women’s liberation in its centre, by doing so giving new hope, inspiration and conception to opponents of capitalist modernity. In the eyes of the ruling exploitative system his crime is big. In the eyes of freedom-seeking people in Kurdistan and across the world, especially women, he is the leading freedom fighter of our time. We know why he is detained. We know why his contact with the outside world is completely inhibited. We know why they fear him. In this sense, defending Ocalan and struggling for his freedom means for us defending democracy and struggling for freedom in general. If you look from this perspective, then you can better see that Ocalan’s freedom matters, not just for women or Kurds but all anticapitalistic, ecologic, freedom-seeking forces that resist capitalist modernity and fight for true freedom, democracy and justice.

What can women do in Europe to keep attention high and keep reclaiming his freedom?

Especially European states tried and still try to legitimize the unjust detention of Ocalan under solitary confinement by defaming him as ‘unscrupulous terrorist’, whose rights are not worthwhile. It is important to expose and, by doing so, disable this political and ideological attitude of European states. For this, we need to bring his paradigm closer to the people. Another issue is that Turkey is a member of the European Council and therefore, the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has the right and the duty to prevent torture in Turkish prisons. But unfortunately, despite all the calls and actions, CPT refuses to visit Ocalan although there is no sign of life from him for 9 months, as his lawyers are not able to see him and his communication rights are denied. Women in Europe should put pressure on the CPT through their own governments, political parties, human rights organisations etc. in order that the CPT does its duty. Moreover, women should support and become part of the campaign Freedom for Öcalan.

This is the last of your webinars. 

Yes, as Network Women Weaving the Future, of which REPAK is part, we started a webinar series under the title Ocalan’s Paradigm on 4 April 2021, the 72nd birthday of Abdullah Öcalan. Every month, one different aspect of his paradigm of democracy, ecology and women’s freedom was discussed by activists of the Kurdish women’s movement. Through this webinar series we aimed to bring his revolutionary ideas closer to women across the world. I think this is very crucial in order to understand the special war which is being waged against him by capitalist hegemony, organised, inter alia, under the umbrella of NATO. The online panel tomorrow marks the final event of this webinar series, where we as women will also discuss what we can to together to strengthen the struggle for his freedom.