Formation of Iraqi Initiative for Ocalan's Freedom 

A group of intellectuals, journalists, writers, artists, and politicians in Iraq announced in a written statement the formation of the "Iraqi Initiative for Ocalan's Freedom." The statement said that the initiative will work to introduce and promote the ideas of leader Abdullah Ocalan through cultural and intellectual activities and will call for his physical freedom.

The statement read: "The Middle Eastern and international revolutionary Abdullah Ocalan, who struggles not only for the Kurds but has also fought and continues to fight with his ideas for freedom, the brotherhood of peoples in the Middle East, and women's rights, is a prisoner of conscience. He is perhaps the last of the great prisoners of conscience after the African revolutionary Nelson Mandela. He is a prisoner of principles and of the struggle for freedom."

It added: "He has paid a great price, sacrificing for the cause he believed in, the cause of freedom and liberation from the chains of oppression and tyranny. However, he never sacrificed his principles or his leadership of the liberation movement he founded and fought to see victory. He has now spent 26 years imprisoned in a brutal and inhumane jail, in a cell that isolates him from the world, his people, and the peoples of the Middle East, for whose freedom he has struggled and fought for more than three decades, enduring immense suffering and pain."

The statement continued: "The ideas of Mr. Abdullah Ocalan, through the struggle of his supporters, followers, and cadres from among his people and the free people of the world, now resonate in regional and international arenas. Tyrants are finding it increasingly difficult to suppress them. Even those who imprison him are now negotiating with him. So why should we, who advocate for freedom, not defend him? Abdullah Ocalan was never a nationalist in the sense of extreme chauvinism, nor was he a religious extremist, nor an opportunistic leftist."

The initiative declared: "We are a group of intellectuals, journalists, writers, artists, and politicians who advocate for freedom and equality in society. We hereby announce the formation of the 'Iraqi Initiative for Ocalan's Freedom,' which will work to introduce and disseminate Ocalan's thought through cultural and intellectual activities."

It continued: "It is time for the whole world to stand in solidarity with this thinker, political leader, and prisoner of conscience who loved freedom and fought for it as a sacred right for all people. He believed in freedom and democracy in all free societies. It is time for this great thinker and his people to enjoy freedom."

A-H

ANHA