A written statement made by the German Migrant Workers' Federation (AGIF) said: "Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held captive in Imralı Prison since 1999 as part of an international conspiracy, and has been subject to absolute isolation for years. The fascist AKP government aims to isolate political prisoners from life by isolating them from life with the isolation practice that has spread to all prisons. Basic needs are seized with raids on wards, newspapers and letters are not given, and the prisoners' rights to visit and telephone are violated, in an attempt to sever their ties with the outside world."

In its statement, AGIF called on everyone to attend the rally to be held in Cologne on Saturday, 16 November, with the slogan of 'Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a political solution to the Kurdish question.'