Despite official bans, massive police presence and violence, numerous people from the Marmara region took part in the protest “March to Freedom” in Istanbul on Sunday for the abolition of the isolation regime on the prison island of Imrali and a solution to the Kurdish question. The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the forced departure of PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan from Syria, which marks the beginning of the “international conspiracy” that led to the deportation of the Kurdish leader from Kenya to Turkey on 15 February 1999. The protest was promoted by an alliance of political parties and civil society organisations, including the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Green Left Party, Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), as well as prisoner solidarity groups, peace initiatives and the Kurdish women’s movement.
The action in the district of Kadıköy was organised as a march and was divided into several groups. The police sealed off almost all entrances to the harbour square, the destination of the freedom march, as well as several side streets, and were deployed with a large contingent. Green Left Party MP Çiçek Otlu criticised the massive police presence in Kadıköy. The district is being turned into a “fundamental rights-free zone” because of the ban on protest action, said the parliamentarian. “Despite all the pressure, we will protest here against isolation. We will resist here to break the walls drawn around PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan,” Otlu said.
Green Left Party MP Burcugül Çubuk appealed to the public to rebel against the “police state of the AKP regime” and the systematic repression throughout the country. She described Öcalan as a leading figure and contact person for the solution to the numerous crises and conflicts in Turkey, the root of which, she said, is the unresolved Kurdistan question. “Öcalan must be released and allowed to work to address this issue. The unresolved Kurdish question is the main reason for Turkey’s failure to democratise and means a continuation of Ankara’s policy of escalation, designed for war and conflict, which affects all levels of life. Continuing to insist on violence means even more insolubility, even more war, even more chaos. For peace and democracy, for a dignified life for all, isolation must be lifted,” the MP said.
The protest was surrounded by police and numerous participants were taken into custody, some of them with massive violence. Among them were the co-spokesperson of the HDK, Esengül Demir, and the “Peace Mothers” Narenciye Acar and Hanife Gümüş, who had travelled from Izmir. The crowd chanted slogans including “A thousand greetings to Imrali”, “Long live the resistance in the prisons” and “Bijî Serok Apo” (Long live Chairman Apo, meaning Öcalan). Police also detained people in cafés along the harbour square. Most of the people involved in the action have since moved to the local HDP office, accompanied by the MPs who were present at the demonstration.
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