A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the 'Dem dema azadiye' [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.

During this week's demonstration, which is held at a tent set up in Nation Square where the UN Office is located, activists protested the usurpation of the Hakkari Municipality. The governor of Hakkari was appointed as the mayor of the municipality by the Turkish Ministry of the Interior last week. The democratically elected mayor, Mehmet Sıddık Akış, who received almost 49 percent of the vote in the local elections in March despite massive attempts at fraud and the deployment of thousands of soldiers as mobile voters, was removed from office and sentenced to almost 20 years in prison in a fictitious terror trial. This is the third time that this process has been repeated in Hakkari. In Turkey, Kurdish municipalities have been placed under trustee administration since 2016 after every election success of pro-Kurdish parties, and the elected mayors are arrested and removed from office.

The protest started with a minute's silence to remind international organisations, especially the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the UN and the Council of Europe (CoE), of their responsibilities in the face of the İmralı Isolation Torture System.

Mustafa Altunbaş, who made the opening speech on behalf of the action committee, said that the attacks against the Kurdish people and Kurdistan continue in violation of humanity and international law.

“As the isolation of Leader Öcalan deepens, the attacks on the Kurdish people and Kurdistan increase,” said Altunbaş.

Stating that the detention and arrest of Hakkari Municipality Co-Mayor Mehmet Sıddık Akış and the usurpation of the municipality is a part of this attack concept, Altunbaş said, “We will continue to expose these policies against the rights and will of the Kurdish people in every field we are in.”

After Altunbaş's speech, Aziz Aslan read the press statement.

The activists called for participation in the central march to be organised on 25 June on the occasion of the 12th anniversary of the vigil, saying: “We will say ‘Leader Öcalan is our will’ in front of the CPT.

The ongoing resistance in the metropolises of Kurdistan and Turkey, especially in Hakkari, was also saluted by the activists.