Internationalists call for participation in Cologne rally on 16 November

Internationalist communes, initiatives and organisations called for participation in the rally to be held in Cologne on 16 November. The internationalists also asked Germany to lift the ban on the PKK.

Kurds and their friends in Europe are preparing for the central rally to be held in Cologne, Germany on 16 November within the scope of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign, which continues in its second year.

Various segments continue calling for sttrong participation in the demonstration under the motto ‘End 26 years of isolation, torture and lawlessness! Freedom for Öcalan’. 14 internationalist communes, initiatives and organisations also called for participation in the cemtral Cologne rally. In the joint statement, it was emphasised that despite the Turkish state terror, the PKK has managed to continue its struggle by growing. The statement pointed out that the Rojava system has become a beacon of hope for ecological, feminist and radical democratic struggles around the world after the victory against ISIS with the resistance centred on Kobanî.

The statement pointed out that Turkish-German commercial relations were effective in the German state's decision to ban the Kurdish Freedom Movement and Abdullah Öcalan: “Although Abdullah Öcalan has been kept in solitary confinement for 25 years, he has left a lasting impression with his works such as ‘Sociology of Freedom’ and ‘Manifesto for Democratic Civilisation’. In Germany, showing a picture of Abdullah Öcalan in a political context is considered a punishable offence. Although the European Court of Justice ruled at the end of 2018 that the PKK had been wrongly included retrospectively on the ‘EU list of terrorist organisations’, Germany, as a NATO partner and export market, is too important to antagonise Turkey. Since the ‘refugee deal’, Turkey has played a central role in the European border regime. It is therefore not surprising that the Turkish attack on Rojava was carried out with German Leopard 2 tanks and that Germany plays a key role in the persecution of Kurdish activists in Europe. We demand: Stop the ban on the PKK! Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan!”

The call for participation in the central Cologne march was made by the following communes, initiatives and organisations:

* Internationalistische Jugendkommunen

* Perspektive Kommunismus

* Interventionistische Linke

* Ende Gelände

* Kommunistischer Aufbau

* Migrattack - migrantische Selbstorganisierung

* Women Defend Rojava

* Initiative gegen Krieg und Militarisierung

* Borderless Collective

* Zora

* Gemeinsam Kämpfen

* Widerstandsvernetzung (Switzerland)

* Defend Kurdistan