The European Freedom and Peace Platform (EFFP) launched the campaign “I want to visit Abdullah Öcalan” in order to request a meeting with him.

As part of the campaign, a 39-member delegation composed of journalists, writers, academics, trade unionists, parliamentarians, and legal experts from various countries around the world recently gathered in Istanbul.

The delegation, formed to advocate for the democratic resolution of the Kurdish question and the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, included Ferat Koçak, a member of the Federal Parliament of Germany (Bundestag) and a representative of Die Linke (The Left). Koçak spoke to ANF about their efforts and political engagements.

You recently traveled to Istanbul and met with several institutions. How did this idea come about? What was your objective?

We can say that this international delegation was inspired by the campaign launched by the EFFP titled “I want to meet with Öcalan.” Alongside the efforts of our internationalist comrades, people from many countries expressed interest in joining this delegation, including journalists, trade unionists, politicians such as members of parliament, and especially lawyers. These were individuals who had already engaged with the Kurdish question in the past.

There were 39 of us in total in the delegation. We had participants from those professional fields as well as from various countries across the globe. For example, there was a journalist and a MP from Japan, and a human rights activist from India. Beyond that, friends from European countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and France also joined.

In this context, we wanted to be part of the delegation. We especially wanted to make the voices from Germany heard. There was a strong turnout from German-speaking countries. We had participants from Vienna and from different regions of Germany.

On the first evening, we had an introductory session with the delegation. The next day, on Tuesday, the July Conference began. Our first official visit was to the Asrin Law Office, which is responsible for the legal defense of Mr. Öcalan.

There, we were first given a briefing about the current situation and the stage we are going through. Naturally, the delegation had many questions. The lawyers responded to these questions as thoroughly as possible. They answered professionally, without including personal evaluations or speculation.

This visit was closed to the press, so I do not want to go into too much detail. However, within the framework of this meeting, we, as members of the delegation, submitted our petition to meet with Mr. Öcalan to the lawyers, with the request that it be delivered to the Turkish Ministry of Justice or the relevant authorities.

So you submitted your petitions expressing the request to meet with Mr. Öcalan to the lawyers?

Yes, the lawyers will deliver them to the Ministry of Justice.

Will you be following up on the petition you submitted, in terms of the next steps?

What matters to us is that we did not include any time conditions in our petition to the Ministry of Justice. Our message is clear: We are saying to the Ministry of Justice, ‘We urgently want to meet with Mr. Öcalan.’ The responsibility to determine the date lies with the state. Give us a date, and we are ready to conduct the meeting.

Does the delegation have any plans going forward, or was the petition submission considered sufficient?

The delegation had already stated that it would reconvene after this conference in order to meet with Mr. Öcalan. It was also made clear that this would not be the final delegation, that the process would be closely followed, and that efforts would be made to come together again with broader participation.

In a way, the delegation will act as a follower of this process. And since we have not yet been able to physically meet with Mr. Öcalan, our request for a visit remains in place.