Leading Danish newspaper Politiken has published an appeal demanding freedom for Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. The prominent newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus media company, is the third best selling newspaper in Denmark.

The appeal published on the 22nd anniversary of the international conspiracy, which led to the capture of Öcalan on February 15, 1999 was signed by a number of politicians and cultural figures including Former Minister for Foreign Affairs Villy Søvndal.

The appeal includes the following:

“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is waging an aggressive armed war against the Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iraq.  Erdogan also does not refrain from participating in wars against Armenia and Libya, and at the same time Erdogan threatens the Greeks with war and conflicts on a daily basis.  The whole world is witnessing Erdogan in these times trying to create a new Ottoman empire in the Middle East, where freedoms and democracy are being ignored.

The leader of the Kurdish people's freedom struggle, Abdullah Öcalan, is the key to resolving the Kurdish cause and the key to the process of democratization in Turkey.

In the period between 2013 and 2015, more than 10.3 million people around the world (including Danish citizens and public figures) have signed the following declaration: “I support the demand: Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and all political prisoners in  Turkey. Öcalan's freedom will mark a breakthrough for the democratization of Turkey and peace in Kurdistan.

Öcalan has been in solitary confinement in a single-person cell on the island of Imrali, Turkey, since 15 February 1999.  Öcalan is perceived by millions of Kurds as the legitimate representative and leader of the Kurdish people in the resistance struggle against the Turkish state.  From his solitary confinement, Öcalan has tirelessly published a number of books, pamphlets and articles on "Democratic Confederalism". The theory of Democratic Confederalism has been developed by Öcalan and has inspired Kurds and other human rights defenders and intellectuals around the world with this theory.  Öcalan points out in his theory that religion, beliefs and gender differences are not contradictions and weaknesses;  but that they should instead be seen as the wealth of society and the raison d’etre of democracy.

Öcalan has uncompromisingly fought for peaceful coexistence, the liberation of women and maintaining peace talks between the Kurds and the Turkish state.

If the Turkish state is forced to resume negotiations with Öcalan, the foundations of peace in the region and of democracy in Turkey could become a reality. This requires both sustained diplomatic pressure and a strong popular will.

At the same time, an international campaign has been launched by KHRAG (Kurdistan Human Rights Action Group in South Africa) and COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions), asking UN Secretary-General António Gutteres and OHCHR High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to get involved in Kurdish issue immediately as actions and works for Öcalan to be released.

The aim of the campaign is to end the imprisonment of isolation and put the demand for Öcalan's freedom on the UN agenda.  One of our sub-goals is to send an investigation team that fights torture and ill-treatment (CAT) and which is affiliated with the UN Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) to Imrali.

The Danish public is invited to show their support for the Kurdish people and can do this by supporting the campaign, Freedom for Öcalan.

The Danish government and all international organizations - including the UN, the European Commission, the Council of Europe, NATO and the OSCE are called upon to press Turkey as soon as possible to start new peace negotiations to resolve the Kurdish issue.

Öcalan is the key to freedom for the Kurdish people and stability in the Middle East!”

The signatories of the appeal are:

Nils Vest, Film director; Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt, Member of Danish Parliament for the Socialist People Party; Mette Knudsen, Film director; Per Nørgaard Kristensen, Board of the Red-Green Aliance Party, Roskilde; Klaus Schulte, Lektor Emeritus, Roskilde University, Department of Communication and Arts; Tue Magnussen, The Danish Anti-Torture-support foundation; Steen Folke, retired senior scientist, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), and former member of parliament for the Red-Green Alliance Party; Jørgen Holst, Member of the Zeeland Regional Council, for the Danish Parliament for the Red-Green Alliance Party; Theresa Olesen, Board of the Red-Green Alliance Party, Roskilde; Anne Haarløv, Author; Leif Borg Hansen, Priest, social debater; Marianne Olsen, editor of SOS Against Racism, translator, debater; Villy Søvndal, Former Foreign Affair Minister; Uffe Elbæk, Member of Danish Parliament for Independent Greens; Janos Ekia Rasmussen, Danish author, 2019 Nordic Council Literature Prize; Annika Smith: City Council of Copenhagen for the Socialist People Party; Jørgen Primdahl: Professor, Copenhagen University, Department of Geoscience and Nature Management; Eva Flyvholm, Member of Parliament, Foreign Policy spokesperson for the Red-Green Alilence Party; Christian Juhl, Member of the Parliament, Develop­ment Policy spokesperson for the Red-Green Alliance; Rosa Lund, Member of the Parliament, legal rapporteur for the Red-Green Alliance Party; Villo Sigurdsson, Former Mayor in Copenhagen for the Socialist People’s Party; Pernille Frahm, Former MEP and member of Danish Parliament for the Socialist People’s Party; Holger K. Nielsen: Former Foreign Affairs and Minister of Taxation; Ulla Sandbæk, Member of Danish Parliament for the Independent Greens; Sune Dalsgaard Christiansen, Project Manager in Amnesty International Denmark; Dr. Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, researcher, lecturer, and writer.