Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)

Abdullah Ocalan

Nilüfer Koç writes that imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has become a symbol as well as an effective actor for progressive change in the Middle East — and must be freed.

Kurds and their supporters in France, Germany, and Switzerland protested on July 8 over new death threats against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan who has been imprisoned by the Turkish state for the past 24 years, reports Peter Boyle.

Kurdish protest in Paris January 2023 cr Sarah Glynn

A large march took place in Paris, on January 7, to demand justice for three Kurdish female activists assassinated by a Turkish gunman in that city 10 years ago. Sarah Glynn participated in the march.

An emergency rally at Sydney Town Hall Square called for the immediate end to the cruel and illegal isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Video by Peter Boyle.

Demonstrators rally in Sydney on October 8 in solidarity with the Iran uprising. Inset: Nilüfer Koç

Nilüfer Koç from the Kurdish National Congress spoke at the Ecosocialism 2022 conference about the popular uprising in Iran, war in Ukraine and Rojava Revolution. Alex Bainbridge and Susan Price report.

Sydney protest for Kurds

Shocking video footage was released on October 18, showing the painful death of two young Kurdish freedom fighters, who were among 17 people recently killed in a chemical weapons attack by Turkey, reports Peter Boyle.

The Yazidi Justice Committee released a damning report in July on the complicity of various governments in the Islamic State genocide against the Yezidi. Peter Boyle reports.

Protest outside the court. Photo: ANF English

A landmark appeal against a 2019 ban imposed on a leading Kurdish publisher and music distributor failed in the German Federal Administrative Court on January 26, reports Kerry Smith.

Current and former MPs and other prominent people have called for Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's release to advance a peaceful solution to conflicts in the Middle East. Peter Boyle reports.

An online petition has been launched calling on the Australian government to de-list the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a “terrorist organisation”. Peter Boyle reports.

Abdullah Ocalan's jailers hoped that by slamming shut the prison doors, the world would forget about him. But, as John Tully writes, Ocalan remains a living symbol of resistance to a century of oppression by the Turkish state. 

A global digital campaign will be launched to end the unfair and unjust ban on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), reports Peter Boyle.