Oldenburg activists take over from Freedom for Öcalan Vigil in Strasbourg
The Freedom Vigil for Abdullah Öcalan was launched on June 25, 2012 in Strasbourg to guarantee the physical freedom of the leader of the Kurdish people and break the isolation imposed on him. The vigil entered its 536th week.
The action, which takes place at the crossroads of European institutions and is carried out each week by a different group of Kurds living in Europe, was taken up by members of the Kurdistan Democratic Community Center in Oldenburg, Germany.
The group includes Tori Akan, Selahattin Ege and Xelef Akyüz.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Tori Akan said: “We came here on behalf of the Oldenburg People’s Democratic Assembly. Our leader has been in solitary confinement for 23 years. We have been carrying out this action for his freedom for 10 years. So far no one has come from international circles to ask us what our problem is. This is why we criticize the European Union. They say they are a democracy, but they are not. If there were, they would have asked us what our problem was. Unless our leader is free, unless our lands are liberated, we are not free either. We send our greetings to the Leader, to the friends who resist in the mountains, to those who gave their lives for us against the invasion of the Turkish State. The Kurdish community should also be on the streets. They must protect their leaders, guerrillas, martyrs and lands.