A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the ‘Dem dema azadiye’ [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.
During this week’s demonstration, which is held at a tent set up in Nations Square where the UN Office is located, activists observed a moment of silence in memory of Sara Hogir (Gülsün Silgir), who was martyred on July 28, 2023, Cûdî Amed (Mehmet Yakışır), who was martyred on July 14, 2018, and Hozan Serhat (Süleyman Alpdoğan), who was martyred on July 22, 1999.
The activists stated that the Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923 in line with imperialist interests, was the cornerstone of the status quo that disregarded the will of the Kurdish people. They called for strong participation in the march to be held in Lausanne on July 26, based on the paradigm of Peace and Democratic Society developed by Abdullah Öcalan.
Speaking on behalf of the Geneva Action Committee, Veysel Kuşkanadı greeted the 13th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution and saluted Abdullah Öcalan’s call for a solution and peace. Kuşkanadı stated that the weapon-burning ceremony organized by the Group for Peace and Democratic Society on July 11 was the most concrete expression of the will for peace, saying, “The response to this historic step must be the physical freedom of Leader Öcalan. Peace is not possible through unilateral steps, but through mutual actions.”
Osman Tekin, co-chair of the Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Center, who made the weekly statement, said that the Treaty of Lausanne institutionalized a system that divided the Kurdish people into four parts and systematically sought to destroy them. “Today, the strongest response to the regimes that maintain this status quo is Leader Öcalan’s democratic confederal solution model,” he stated.
Tekin noted that representatives of institutions and parties from the four parts of Kurdistan would participate in the march and rally to be held in Lausanne on July 26, calling for strong participation and saying, “This march is not only against the Treaty of Lausanne, but also against the colonialist system it represents.”
Source: ANF News
