Noon Initiative: Freedom of Leader Abdullah Ocalan, key to peace and liberation of peoples and women

The Noon Initiative for the Freedom of Ocalan issued a statement today, April 4th, the birthday of leader Abdullah Ocalan, which reads:

"April 4th arrives once again, bringing with it the anniversary of the birth of leader Abdullah Ocalan, an anniversary that transcends being a mere individual event, becoming a pivotal moment in the liberation of peoples and women. In this month, when the earth is renewed and nature regains its splendor, the will to resist and hope are reborn, making the leader's birth a dawn that illuminates the paths of the oppressed and restores the Kurdish people's dignity after centuries of marginalization.

With his thought and vision for a democratic society, leader Ocalan has constituted a major turning point in confronting oppressive patriarchal systems. These systems have kept women and humanity in the dungeons of darkness for thousands of years. But the dawn of April 4th witnessed the birth of a new consciousness, making the philosophy of 'Woman, Life, Freedom' a compass for a dignified existence, and the Kurdish woman a model of renaissance and nation-building."

Leader Ocalan: A Freedom Fighter Who Transformed Prison Isolation into a Platform for Enlightenment

Leader Ocalan has always been the voice of absolute freedom, calling on peoples to break free from the shackles of domination and tyranny. But fate decreed that he would pay a heavy price for this call. He was captured in 1999 and sentenced to death, then to life imprisonment, and also subjected to the harshest forms of isolation, designed to silence his voice and ideas. The great irony, however, lies in the fact that prison was not the end of the road, but rather a new turning point. Instead of being broken behind bars, the leader was able to transform his isolation cell into a platform for enlightenment, and to make the prison walls balconies from which truth could be seen by the world. In the darkest conditions of exile and oppression, the leader produced his profound thesis on building democratic modernity—a modernity that stands in opposition to the savage capitalist modernity that has never ceased to transform the world into arenas of war, destruction, and ruin, pursuing profit at the expense of lives and plundering resources in the name of false progress.

Leader Ocalan did not merely criticize the oppressive capitalist system; he also undertook an extraordinary initiative to establish peace and build a democratic society. From his prison cell, he repeatedly called for an end to the bloodshed that had been ongoing for years, not only in defense of a just cause, but also for profit, power, and the greed that was devouring the people. His initiative represented a moral revolution against traditional military logic, offering a model of leadership that prioritizes the interests of the people above all else, advocating dialogue instead of bullets, and mutual recognition instead of denial and destruction. This initiative demonstrated to the world that there is another path besides war, and that diverse peoples can live together within a democratic, consensual system that respects diversity and safeguards

Ocalan: The Identity of an Oppressed People, Not Just an Individual

A grave mistake many make is reducing Leader Abdullah Öcalan to a mere leader or political figure. The deeper truth is that Ocalan has far transcended the boundaries of a single individual to become the collective identity of an entire people who have been oppressed and marginalized for centuries. He is the living embodiment of the Kurdish people's struggle for existence and recognition, and his cause is not that of an individual seeking personal privileges, but rather the cause of a nation that desires to live freely on its land and under its sky. Therefore, his physical freedom is not simply a legal demand pertaining to him alone, but a symbol of the freedom of the entire people. His liberation means the liberation of hope, the removal of a heavy burden from the hearts of millions, and the opening of the way for constitutional and legal recognition of the Kurdish people as an essential component of the democratic Republic of Turkey. In short: Ocalan is not an individual; Ocalan is a people.

We, the women of the Noon Initiative for Ocalan’s Freedom, believe in peace, justice, and women's freedom. We affirm that the physical liberation of Leader Ocalan is a fundamental key to the liberation of women and all peoples, and to ensuring the continuation of the peace process that began with the February 27th appeal. We have completed the first stage of the struggle, and today we stand on the threshold of a new stage in which we must intensify our efforts to remove all obstacles to his freedom, establish recognition and human rights laws that preserve his dignity and his right to life and struggle, enshrine the right to hope, and remove the obstacles to peace.

Therefore, we call upon all international human rights organizations, Amnesty International, and the Organization Against Torture, as well as all academics, democrats, and activists, to mobilize for Ocalan’s freedom. We also call upon the Turkish state and its judicial and political institutions to assume their historical responsibilities and work towards enacting democratic integration laws that recognize cultural diversity and the constitutional rights of peoples.

Sh-S

ANHA