Scottish activist Sarah Glynn wrote an article on Common Space to report on the solidarity action promoted at the Scottish Parliament.

Edinburgh Kurds and friends, wrote Sarah Glynn, “marked Ocalan’s birthday, and our support for the Kurdish hunger strikers, with a demo in the icy April showers outside the Scottish Parliament, where we were joined by Green MSP Ross Greer. Turkey is an increasingly fascist state, but the rest of the world is prepared to look the other way. This indifference to injustice has inspired over 7000 Kurds to go on indefinite hunger strike, demanding, as a basic first step to peace and dignity, the recognition of Ocalan’s human right to visits by his family and his lawyers.”

Glynn added: “Greer made clear that the Cross Party Group for Kurdistan would be putting pressure on not only the Turkish government, but also on the UK Government. In particular, they would be calling for the UK to stop selling arms to Turkey, and to delist the PKK as a terrorist organisation - and Greer pointed out that ‘there is no route to peace in Turkey that doesn’t involve sitting down and negotiating with the PKK’. 

Greer also announced a practical initiative, which has been put together by the Cross Party Group, to build on the previous twinning scheme and link up Scottish local politicians with HDP local politicians in Turkey.