In Italy, in the run-up to the anniversary of the deportation of Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey on 15 February 1999, the Kurdish community is carrying out a lot of public relations work. On 12 February, parallel to the large central event in Strasbourg for the freedom of the Kurdish leader who has been imprisoned in Turkey for 23 years, a demonstration has been announced in Milan, for which an appeal with the slogan "Free Öcalan" has been widely posted. In Rome, a van with a billboard calling for the demonstration is on the road.

Since Friday, Kurdish politicians in exile Sibel Yiğitalp and Firat Anli have been travelling through Italy to talk to Italian local politicians and representatives of civil society organisations. In Florence, Rome, Mantua and Genoa, talks took place in the respective city halls, and information about the situation in Kurdistan was provided at events.

In Rome and in Mantua in Lombardy, the campaign to remove the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations was also promoted and signatures were collected at information stands.