Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek is one of 69 Nobel Prize winners who have gone public in recent days and called for the release of Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question. As part of this initiative, international institutions were called upon to act. In a letter to Turkish president, Tayyip Erdoğan, 69 Nobel Prize winners called for a resumption of peace negotiations with the Kurdish freedom movement and its representative Abdullah Öcalan.

Elfriede Jelinek explained why she signed the letter: "It is unbearable for me to hear the catchphrases terrorism, uprising, fighting militias, destroying PKK positions, operations to displace them, etc. in connection with Kurdistan and the Kurds. As if this Kurdish people, who only strive for autonomy and freedom, were the super terrorists of Europe, indeed of the world. Turkey and other states bombard them and use these well-known catchphrases in order to respond brutally with destruction, bombs even on the dead in cemeteries, as if this oppressed people could even be persecuted and silenced (and of course literally killed) with their dead. We must get away from this terminology and of course also from the associated actions. We must find a way out of this oppression of the entire Kurdish population.

Abdullah Öcalan, who is seen by the majority of the Kurdish population as a legitimate political representative, must finally be released after almost a quarter of a century of total isolation, during which he was not even allowed to express himself. He will be able to play a decisive role in the plan for a solution for Kurdistan. He is the great liberation figure for the Kurds. His release will be the basic condition for a peaceful future, ultimately also for Turkey."