The Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) organized a demonstration in the Shehba Canton on Thursday. The protest march was staged as part of the international campaign "Freedom for Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question". The campaign, which was launched simultaneously in over a hundred places all around the world on 10 October, unites social movements, political parties, municipalities, trade unions, activists, intellectuals and millions of Kurds and people in solidarity with the Kurdish liberation struggle worldwide around a common goal: the participation of Abdullah Öcalan in a dialogue for a just and democratic political solution to the Kurdistan question in Turkey, which has remained unresolved for more than a century.

The demonstration which kicked off from the village of Til Qirah, in the Ehtash district of Shehba, was attended by the local people as well as IDPs from the Afrin canton which has been occupied by the Turkish army and jihadist allies since 2018.

Banners displayed by the crowd demanded an end to the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan and his immediate release from captivity, pointing out that “It is time to free Leader Öcalan and Afrin”.

Speaking after the protest march which ended at the Serdem Camp, TEV-DEM Co-Chair Hesen Wilo saluted Abdullah Öcalan, who -he said- dedicated his life to the freedom of peoples.  

Hesen Wilo stressed that the gains in North-East Syria were made thanks to the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan and the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs. He condemned the Turkish state’s imposition of an aggravated isolation on Öcalan and obstruction of his meeting with his family members and lawyers.

The Co-Chair of TEV-DEM called on the international community and legal organisations to do their part to end the inhumane isolation the Kurdish leader is subjected to.