The international conspiracy that started with the release of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan from Syria on 9 October 1998 is in its 27th year. Öcalan was brought to Turkey on 15 February 1999 after he left Syria. The conspiracy, coordinated by the United States of America (USA), involved Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as Israel, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and Kenya.

 

Öcalan has been held in İmralı F-Type High Security Prison since the day he was brought to Turkey. During this period, the isolation against Öcalan has deepened day by day. The resistance against the aggravated isolation in which Öcalan is kept has never ended. Standing for 27 years, Kurds and their friends have been shouting for Öcalan's physical freedom.

 

Most recently, a global campaign for Öcalan's physical freedom was launched on 10 October 2023. The campaign, led by writers, journalists, politicians, artists and human rights activists, is still ongoing.

 

Mahmoud Patel, Co-Chair of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in South Africa, is one of the names supporting the campaign. Patel is one of the names who took part in the armed struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa and returned to the country after the peace process and took part in the academic community.

 

Patel pointed to the similarities between Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison during his struggle against the apartheid regime and was later elected president of the country, and Abdullah Öcalan, saying that both men were "undisputed leaders of their people".

 

SOUTH AFRICA PROCESS

 

Patel noted that both Öcalan and Mandela resisted against violence and oppression and were later arrested by states. Describing them as "two leaders defending truth and justice", Patel said that South Africa was subjected to apartheid regime oppression and the Kurdish people were subjected to a "systematic genocide" after the Treaty of Lausanne. Patel said: "Mr. Mandela only together with his comrades, started to negotiate formally with the apartheid state after they were unconditionally released from prison. Whereas in the context of the Kurdish struggle, the undisputed leader, Mr. Abdullah Ocalan, leader Apo is still on the island of Imrali and a peace process or a commission has been established in Turkey, which is full of hope. But at the moment, we are very pessimistic because we don't see any concrete steps from AKP and the Turkish state taking place."

 

Referring to the solution process in South Africa, Patel said that the state abolished racist laws immediately after Mandela was released. Patel pointed out that Öcalan made a call during his detention, but despite this, his freedom was not ensured. Patel said, "How is it logical, how is it just? It makes us angry that the Turkish state on the one hand, say that 'we want peace and brotherhood'. Those were the words of President Erdogan. He said ‘We are one brotherhood, we are one people’  and months later, nothing concrete has happened. The PKK itself, under the request of leader Apo, disbanded and ended the arms struggle. In South Africa, we did not end the arms struggle immediately. We suspended the arms struggle in 1990. Until such time as we had real guarantees of peace and transition. Only around 1993 was our arms struggle seized, three years into negotiations." Patel stressed that the steps taken by Öcalan and the PKK were different in all resistances.

 

'ÖCALAN MUST BE RELEASED'

 

Stating that Öcalan should be able to communicate with all groups, Patel said: "As people of the free world and as South Africans who struggled against oppression and got our political freedom through peaceful negotiation that was premised on a multi-pronged approach that had armed struggle; We support and call the absolute unconditional release of leader Apo. If the Turkish state is serious, it must release Mr. Ocalan and all the other comrades, friends who are incarcerated as political prisoners. You must show good faith in negotiations. You must remove barriers to peace, dialogue, and include the Kurdish people in decision making in Turkey."

 

'I CONTRIBUTE TO MY COUNTRY'

 

Patel also pointed to the situation of PKK members and Kurds in the diaspora. "? In South Africa, all of us who were guerrillas were brought back into the country from exile and the military camps in Angola, Tanzania, whether comrades were in Russia, Cuba, they came back to South Africa, and many then joined in the military of the country, many became ministers, cabinet people, part of government. Many became judges and lawyers. Myself, the youth who joined the armed struggle in the 70s and 80s, we came back. I am now an academic. I contribute in that way to my country now. So what is going to happen to all the guerrillas? What's going to happen to all the Kurds who are in exile in Europe? Many of them are in other parts of the world as well. Will they be able to return home and play a meaningful role in the future of a free Turkey where all Kurdish people can hold their heads up high with dignity and say we are treated as one with everybody?"

 

Patel stated that international powers should put pressure on Turkey against the Kurds' struggle for their rights. Patel said that the people of Africa had fought against colonisation and therefore they knew that international powers could not be trusted but still pressure must be put on the international powers. 

 

MA / Hîvda Çelebî