On July 9, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan made a historic call from İmralı Island Prison, where he has been held since 1999, when he was arrested in Kenya and handed over to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy.

In the video message published by ANF, the Kurdish leader highlighted the importance of voluntarily taking the weapons away and ensuring the comprehensive activities of a legally authorized commission to be established in TBMM [Turkish Grand National Assembly] as part of the ‘Peace and Democratic Society’ process that started with his February 27 call.

The historic call by Öcalan, a first since his imprisonment in Imralı, was met with excitement and hope.

The Shengal Autonomous Administration issued a written statement expressing its satisfaction with the video message by Abdullah Öcalan with other prisoners in Imralı.

The statement by the Shengal Autonomous Administration said the following:

“Despite the fact that we had heard of and seen Leader Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] before the conspiracy, seeing and hearing him for the first time after the conspiracy made us, the Yazidi community, very happy. This increased our hope for Leader Apo’s freedom and showed that results can be achieved through a comprehensive struggle.

Leader Apo has always made the greatest sacrifices for humanity and women. As the Yazidi community, we find Leader Apo's call, which has been on the agenda since February 27 and entered a new phase with his message on July 9, to be historic and very meaningful. Despite being one of the oppressed communities under constant threat of genocide and suffering from cruelty, our community is a very peaceful one. We find Leader Apo's call for peace very meaningful and are delighted by it. We believe that this call will have a positive impact on our society and especially on the people of Shengal. We have unwavering faith that no one will lose from peace, but rather that all the peoples of the region will gain, because peace sustains life, while war brings death. As the leader of the peoples, Leader Apo has initiated a new process of peace and democracy in opposition to the genocidal policies of the ruling regime. Today, there is no call more sacred or meaningful than this one.

The greatest injustice is to imprison the most peaceful, freedom-loving, and democratic person in the world behind four walls. Leader Apo is the most peaceful, humane, and freedom-loving person in the world. For 26 years, he has been fighting for an honorable peace within a brutal torture system. For the sake of an honorable peace, the obstacles blocking this peaceful and freedom-loving voice must be removed, and this voice must be allowed to reach every corner of the world freely. The Yazidi community, the Kurdish people, all freedom-loving peoples, and humanity draw strength and hope from this voice. We will intensify our struggle for the physical freedom of our leader, for the realization of our dreams and aspirations for peace, and for the establishment of a democratic society and a free Shengal.”