A 26-day “Long March” was launched in France yesterday to demand the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan and a solution to the Kurdish question.

The march draws public attention to Öcalan’s 26 years of captivity in the İmralı Island Prison in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. 26 people will march through 26 different cities in France and conclude the action with a march and rally in Strasbourg on February 15, the anniversary of the international conspiracy that resulted in the capture of the Kurdish leader in Kenya and his handover to Turkey in 1999.

The Long March continued on its 2nd day in Vannes. The activists made a press statement in front of the Town Hall.

The activists stressed that the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and the freedom of Kurdistan are interconnected and that no one can be free unless Öcalan is physically free.

The activists emphasized that the current challenging process requires increasing the resistance and struggle rather than complacency or waiting. “We need to strengthen the hand of Leader Öcalan and get results,” they said.

After the statement, the activists continued their march and held a series of meetings with civil society organizations and political parties and presented files documenting the unlawful imprisonment of Öcalan in Imrali and the war crimes committed by the Turkish state in North-East Syria and all of Kurdistan. Hundreds of leaflets on Öcalan’s biography and the isolation were also distributed.

During the meetings and leaflet distribution, they called for participation in the rally to be held in Strasbourg on February 15.

The march will continue tomorrow in Nantes.