Protest for Öcalan's freedom in Russia

Protests by Kurds around the world for the freedom of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan are intensifying. The Kurdish community in the Russian city of Novoalexandrovsk is also in action.

The protests against the total isolation of Abdullah Öcalan on the Turkish prison island of Imrali have now also reached Russia. In Novoalexandrovsk in the Stavropol region, members of the Kurdish diaspora gathered on Sunday to demand the freedom of the PKK leader.

A statement read out at the gathering said, "The forces of capitalist modernity are trying to reshape the Middle East and Kurdistan according to their interests. Only the Kurdistan Freedom Movement and Abdullah Öcalan oppose this. The project of democratic modernity developed by Öcalan is the project of the peoples against capitalist modernity. This project is the only solution for the Middle East."

The state repression in Turkey against the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the attacks on the guerrilla-controlled Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan were also addressed. "The fascist Turkish state suffered heavy losses in its military operation against the Gare region and had to retreat in the face of the guerrillas. With the wave of arrests launched as a result, the AKP/MHP regime is taking "revenge" on the democratic opposition, the statement added.”

The Kurdish community of Novoalexandrovsk expressed solidarity with the hunger strike of political prisoners in Turkish detention centers for the lifting of Abdullah Öcalan's isolation and against degrading treatment. "In Kurdistan and around the world, Kurds are rising up in support of this demand,” they added.