{"id":14317,"date":"2025-08-07T06:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T06:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freedomforabdullahocalan.org\/en\/?p=14317"},"modified":"2025-08-07T06:52:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T06:52:17","slug":"i-want-to-visit-ocalan-campaign-completed-its-second-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/?p=14317","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d campaign completed its second month"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Launched on June 5, 2025 by the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP), the \u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d campaign has completed its second month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An international campaign titled ‘I want to visit Abdullah \u00d6calan’ was launched on June 5 under the initiative of the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP), calling for in-person visits to be allowed with \u00d6calan at Imral\u0131 Prison. The campaign was initiated following the Kurdish leader\u2019s February 27 \u2018Call for Peace and Democratic Society\u2019, after which the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire and convened a congress soon thereafter, deciding to end its armed struggle against the Turkish state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their statement marking the launch of the campaign, the organizers called on the international public to support the current process for democracy and peace in Turkey through the resolution of the Kurdish Question: \u201cBoth Mr. \u00d6calan\u2019s call and the PKK\u2019s actions have created a historic opportunity for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. It is clear that this opportunity offers a strong basis not only for peace, but also for the realization of freedom, equality, justice and democracy \u2013 in other words, for a genuine solution. We, the founders of the European Forum for Peace and Freedom, are determined to ensure that this great opportunity is not squandered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the campaign, official requests have been submitted to Turkey\u2019s Ministry of Justice. In addition, video messages have been shared on social media to support the appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement on August 5, the EFFP said the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the European Forum for Freedom and Peace, we launched the campaign \u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d on June 5. As we launched this campaign, the echoes of the \u201cCall for Peace and a Democratic Society\u201d announced by Abdullah \u00d6calan, the founding leader of the PKK, who has been held in isolation on Imrali Island by the Turkish state for 26 years, on February 27, were still resonating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following this call, the PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire and, shortly thereafter, convened a congress and decided to end its armed struggle against the Turkish state. On July 11, in accordance with the decisions of the PKK congress, 30 guerrillas led by Bese Hozat burned their weapons and declared that they would continue their struggle within the legal framework under the name \u201cGroup for Peace and Democratic Society.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both \u00d6calan’s call and the PKK’s move have created a historic opportunity for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. It is clear that this opportunity not only offers a chance for peace but also for the realization of freedom, equality, justice, and democracy\u2014in other words, a genuine solution. As the founders of the European Forum for Peace and Freedom, we have continued our campaign to contribute to this significant opportunity that has emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international campaign \u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d has received support from numerous institutions, artists, academics, and parliamentarians across a wide geographical area stretching from Europe to Africa and from Kurdistan to Latin America over the past two months. Below is an updated list of individuals and organizations supporting the campaign, categorized by group:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Institutional Participation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Party of the European Left<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Left in the European Parliament \u2013 GUE\/NGL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian Recreational and Cultural Association (ARCI, Associazione Ricreativa e Culturale Italiana)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catholic Bishops’ Conference – South Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evangelical Alliance – South Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italian Confederation of Grassroots Committees  (Confederazione dei Comitati di Base, Cobas)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swiss political party BastA! (Basels Starke Alternative)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSTA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAESA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAV-BEL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

transform!europe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Peace Research Association (IPRA) \u2013 ABD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathare Social Justice Centre \u2013 Kenya, Nairobi<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimbabwe People\u2019s Land Rights Movement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives of supporting organizations and activists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ashish Kothari<\/strong> \u2013 Co-founder of the environmental action group Kalpavriksh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Steiner<\/strong> \u2013 transform!europe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danielle Simonnet<\/strong> \u2013 Member of the French National Assembly for the 15th arrondissement of Paris<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walter Baier<\/strong> \u2013 President of the European Left Party<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferron Coll i Soi<\/strong> \u2013 Catalonia Advisory Council, International Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franziska Stier<\/strong> \u2013 BastA!, General Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilary Zhou<\/strong> \u2013 Zimbabwe People\u2019s Land Rights Movement, National Coordinator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jakob Migenda \u2013 German Left Party<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Maurice Glasman<\/strong> <\/strong>\u2013 One of the founders of the Blue Labour movement, political theorist, academic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Schirdewan<\/strong> \u2013 Co-Chair of the European Parliament’s Left Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Arnott<\/strong> \u2013Dundee Trade Union Council, Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pedro Lobera<\/strong> \u2013 OSTA, General Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Dr. Matt Meyer<\/strong> \u2013 IPRA General Secretary, USA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Moss<\/strong> \u2013 General Secretary, Evangelical Alliance of South Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the individual supporters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alan Michael Lapsley<\/strong> \u2013 South African Anglican priest, prominent figure in the anti-apartheid resistance. Founder of the Institute for Healing of Memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alenka Zupan\u010di\u010d<\/strong> \u2013 Professor, Philosophy and Psychoanalysis at The European Graduate School \/ EGS. Nova Goricia. Slovenian philosopher whose work focuses on psychoanalysis and continental philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anuradha Chenoy<\/strong> \u2013 Professor, Jindal Global University, India, expert on gender, militarization, international relations, and alternative security policies; active member of the Asia Europe Peoples Forum and the International Peace Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federico Venturini<\/strong> \u2013 Italian academic and activist; known for his work on urban rights, ecosocialism, and local resistance. University of Udine, Italy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elisabeth Grosz<\/strong> \u2013 Australian philosopher, feminist theorist, and professor in the United States<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerry Adams<\/strong> \u2013 Honorary President of Sinn F\u00e9in, Northern Ireland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hilary Zhou<\/strong> \u2013 ZPLRM Coordinator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeremy Corbyn<\/strong> \u2013 Former leader of the British Labour Party (2015\u20132020), British parliamentarian and peace activist, co-founder of Your Party (2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josu Urrutikoetxea<\/strong> \u2013 High-ranking member of the ETA organization, diplomat, former member of parliament<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ken Loach<\/strong> \u2013 British film director and activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kostis Moudatsos<\/strong> \u2013 Cretan artist, painter, and musician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Livia Mattm\u00fcller<\/strong> \u2013 German activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maurice Glasman (Baron Glasman)<\/strong> \u2013 British academic and politician. One of the founders of the Blue Labour movement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miloon Kothari<\/strong> \u2013 UN human rights expert, lawyer, New Delhi, India, and Geneva, Switzerland. Member of the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, and chair of UPR Info<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahila Gupta<\/strong> \u2013 Writer, journalist, activist, editor of Southall Black Sisters, and member of the Management Committee, United Kingdom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slavoj \u017di\u017eek<\/strong> \u2013 Professor, University of Ljubljana, New York University, and University of London, Slovenian neo-Marxist sociologist, philosopher, and cultural critic, co-founder of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sre\u0107ko Horvat<\/strong> \u2013 Croatian philosopher, writer, and political activist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delegations that visited Turkey in the context of the campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I \u2013 Thirty-nine academics, journalists, writers, lawyers, politicians, and human rights defenders visited Istanbul on July 1\u20132 to support the Campaign and held various meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

II \u2013 Seven young people from the \u2018Insisting on Freedom Initiative\u2019, which was established by young Europeans, applied to the Ministry of Justice on July 24 to meet with Abdullah \u00d6calan. A group of young people who came together in Europe and identify themselves as internationalists announced that they had established an initiative to secure the physical freedom of Abdullah \u00d6calan and contribute to the democratic resolution of the Kurdish question. The group held numerous meetings and talks, including with the DEM Party and Asr\u0131n Law Office in Istanbul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

III \u2013 On July 28, 100 women from Latin America and France, including well-known community leaders, feminist collectives, and human rights defenders, submitted an official request to the Ministry of Justice to visit Abdullah \u00d6calan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One hundred women from Argentina, Guatemala, Bolivia, Chile, France, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Honduras, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Ecuador, including many well-known activists, spiritual indigenous leaders, collectives, and feminists, submitted a joint letter to officials at the Ministry of Justice. In the letter and messages shared on social media, they emphasized that securing the freedom of Kurdish leader Abdullah \u00d6calan would pave the way for peace in the Middle East and ultimately for global peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion: Dialogue, not isolation; peace, not war<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d campaign is not merely a request for a visit. This campaign is a call from a rising global conscience against the Imrali system, which has become a symbol of isolation that continues in the 21st century, and a symbol of policies that seek to stifle hopes for peace, and of intractability. The new era that began with Abdullah \u00d6calan\u2019s Call for Peace and a Democratic Society <\/em>on February 27 presents a unique opportunity for the silence of weapons and the opening of democratic grounds for resolution. Therefore, the campaign is not merely a defense of the right to visit, but also an assertion of the peoples\u2019 right to peace and freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The voices of hundreds of individuals and organizations from different continents, faiths, political traditions, and social struggles participating in the campaign represent a shared determination to come together on common ground for the construction of a peaceful future in the Middle East and around the world. The continuation of isolation is not only the imprisonment of a prisoner, but also the hostage-taking of the democratic right of peoples. Yet we know that dialogue, not isolation, and peace, not war, are the keys to a lasting solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This campaign has once again demonstrated that defending peace requires courage, perseverance, and global solidarity. The task now is to raise this voice even louder and make the lifting of isolation and the resumption of negotiations with \u00d6calan for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question one of the main priorities of the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘I Want to Visit \u00d6calan!’ campaign kicks off<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new campaign was launched by the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP). The campaign is called “I Want to Visit \u00d6calan”, and the organizers “call on the international public to support the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Launched on June 5, 2025 by the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP), the \u201cI Want to Visit \u00d6calan\u201d campaign has completed its second month. An international campaign titled ‘I want to visit Abdullah \u00d6calan’ was launched on June 5 under the initiative of the European Forum for Freedom and Peace (EFFP), calling for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/222-2.webp?fit=990%2C556&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14319,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14317\/revisions\/14319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freedomocalansyria.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}