Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan's call on 27 February and the PKK's announcement that it would lay down its arms had a wide repercussion on the world agenda. 

 

While the Kurdish issue continues to be discussed by many people, 39 people from many different countries, including journalists, writers, academics, trade unionists, parliamentarians and lawyers, came to Istanbul to meet with Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan as part of the "I want to meet Abdullah Öcalan" campaign launched in May.  

 

The delegation submitted their petition to Asrin Law Office for a meeting with Abdullah Öcalan.

 

'OUR STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM IS COMMON'

 

Indian Human Rights Activist Miloon Kothari, a member of the delegation, spoke to Mezopotamya Agency (MA) about the purpose of his visit to Turkey, the democratic solution of the Kurdish issue and Abdullah Öcalan's role in this process. Explaining his purpose of coming to Turkey as " My purpose in coming to Turkey was to assist with the general Kurdish struggle. And I have been working for the last year with Kurdish groups in different parts of the world, in Brussels, in Geneva, in India. And I wanted to come to Istanbul to meet with other people from around the world who are working on the Kurdish issue and to meet Kurdish parliamentarians and others who are here in Turkey.", Kothari said that he has been working with Kurds in Brussels, Geneva and India for the last one year.

 

Kothari said that he was impressed by Abdullah Öcalan's "Call for Peace and Democratic Society" and added: " I think that Abdullah Öcalan's writings on confederalism, on many different issues, on women's rights, on environment, are very inspiring. I think they need to be known more in the world. Also the ideas that are already being implemented in the semi-autonomous regions in Syria, Kurdish regions in Iraq, are also very important. I find the Kurdish struggle to be, as I said, very inspiring because it's a very inclusive struggle. It includes the other groups as well. And I'm from India and I find that there is a lot in common with our own freedom struggle and the struggle that social movements in India are currently going through. So I see a lot of possibilities of there to be collaboration between the people's movements in India and the Kurdish movement in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran."

 

'THE CALL OPENED SPACE FOR A DEMOCRATIC NATION'

 

Stating that the steps taken by Abdullah Öcalan to realise the Democratic Nation perspective in Turkey are very important, Kothari said: " And with Abdullah Öcalan's recent call, it has opened up a space for that kind of momentum. We are all over the world, those of us who support the Kurdish struggle are anticipating a positive response from the Turkish state. I am in touch with Kurdish people in India who are trying to mobilize Indian opinion on their struggle. I will be assisting them in that process. But I want to stress that it's not only a state-to-state process. I think what is really important in any kind of democratization process or any kind of resistance or social movement process is that there is people-to-people contact. That is why I am here and that is what I hope to contribute more.”

 

Noting that he agreed with Abdullah Öcalan on confederalism and women's rights, Kothari said, "From India, I can say that there are also a lot of messages from our own freedom struggle against the British. But also what the strategies that our social movements are leading towards self-determination. I think the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, for example, of non-violence, of Satyagraha, of freedom, and social struggle are also very important. I hope that his ideas and the ideas of other leaders of the Indian freedom struggle will also be useful for the Kurdish struggle.”

 

MA / Melik Celik