Stephen Smellie, activist in the public sector UK trade union UNISON, the biggest trade union in the United Kingdom and trade union liaison for the campaign group Peace in Kurdistan said in an interview with journalist Erem Kansoy that the “UN should ensure the release of Öcalan and facilitate peace talks.”

Stephen Smellie talked about the South Africa based Kurdish Human Rights Action Group and the trade union confederation COSATU that have launched a campaign calling on the United Nations to intervene in Turkey to secure the release of Abdullah Öcalan.

Smellie said that the UN should ensure the release of Öcalan and facilitate peace talks and added that Öcalan is the Kurdish Mandela. The British trade unionists also spoke about the the suppression of opposition in Turkey and the recent, new jailing of DTK co-chair Leyla Guven.

The interview was prepared with the support of the Freedom for Ocalan Campaign and the Peace in Kurdistan Campaign in collaboration with Medya Haber TV and Sterk TV.