Democratic Institutions Platform organized a “Democracy and Freedom” rally in Êlih (Batman) demanding the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and a democratic solution to the Kurdish issue. Those who set out from many cities of Kurdistan demanding democracy and freedom showed with their slogans and messages that İmralı is the interlocutor. 

 

'ÖCALAN IS THE INTERLOCUTOR OF PEACE'

 

Stating that she attended the rally to end the trustees, Meryem Aktaş said: “We don't want the trustees. We want our Gülistan mayor to govern this city. No panzers around us. We want the isolation of the Kurdish People's Leader to end, we want Abdullah Öcalan and our arrested politicians to be released and we want the war to end. Everyone needs to stand up against what is being done and say enough is enough.” 

 

Emphasizing that they will break the isolation by fighting together, Emine Alkış said: “The people who came here gathered here both to claim their will and to react to the isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan.” Emine Alkış stated that Kurds need to strengthen their organization and added: “Our call to all Kurdish people; Our mothers in 4 parts of Kurdistan should join hands. We must put an end to this evil. Êlih and the municipalities are ours.” 

 

'WE LIVE IN THIS LAND'

 

Asya Tahir addressed human rights defenders and said: “They should not remain indifferent to what is happening here. Can trustees appointed to our will be a solution? Even if trustees are appointed to the municipalities, they cannot erase our ideas from our minds. We also live in this land.  We elected the mayors of the trustee-appointed municipalities with our own will. It is our will that is appointed trustees.” 

 

Stating that they do not want war, Asya Tahir said: “Even if the war continues for another 100 years, there will be peace in the end. Abdullah Öcalan is the interlocutor of the peace to be achieved in these lands. We do not want our children to die anymore.”

 

'THE PATH TO A SOLUTION IS CLEAR'

 

Ferha Akbulut, who came to the rally area with the support of her cane regardless of her age, stated that the AKP government is trying to trample the will of the Kurdish people with its actions, but the Kurds are resisting this everywhere. Akbulut stated that they do not accept the appointment of trustees to their municipalities. 

 

“Let them know this well, we will resist wherever we are,” said Ferha Akbulut and added: ”I am a woman who walks with a cane in my hand and I came here with it. They are afraid of the cane in my hand. Thousands of Kurds like me will continue to resist.  God willing, we will do our duty as human beings and kick those trustees out of here.” 

 

Ferha Akbulut evaluated Turkish Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chair Devlet Bahçeli's statements on the Kurdish issue as follows: “On the one hand, they say that we are extending a hand and they do not accept it, on the other hand, they bring all kinds of tricks on the Kurds. Today they have no conscience left and our funerals are coming out of prisons. How can this happen? The addressee is the Leader, Imrali. He is the leader of the Kurdish people. 'Come and extend your hand,' he says, 'Kurds, Turks, Arabs, whatever they are, should come together. The solution is clear.” 

 

SHE CAME WITH HER 2-MONTH-OLD BABY

 

Neşe Aktaş, who attended the “Freedom and Democracy” rally in Êlih with her 2-month-old baby, said: “The trustees are an usurpation, injustice and unlawfulness against the will of the people. We will always be in the fields against this injustice. We will never accept these trustees and our struggle will continue until we take back the municipalities.”

 

Stating that the government is not sincere about the solution, Neşe Aktaş continued as follows: “These approaches are attempts to distract the people and strike a blow. No one should deceive us with the words 'Abdullah Öcalan should come to parliament' and the peace process. We know this; These are all games. Today, I came to the demonstration with my 2-month-old baby and I would take all my children and be in the demonstrations again. We want our leadership to meet with his lawyers and his family and to be released as soon as possible. So the interlocutor is in Imrali. In other words, for a peace process to take place, Öcalan must be free. Because those who usurp municipalities today will usurp our homes tomorrow.” 

 

'WHERE IS BROTHERHOOD?'

 

Raife Can, who stated that the purpose of participating in the “Freedom and Democracy” rally was freedom, peace and democracy, demanded that the isolation end. “They are appointing trustees to the municipalities they could not take with their own rights. They say we are supposedly brothers. Where is brotherhood? One day they extend a hand of peace, a few days later they appoint trustees to municipalities. We do not want war. Once Mr. Öcalan is free, peace will come within a week,” she said. 

 

Bilal Özdemir stated that the purpose of participating in the rally is to fight against the usurpation and persecution of the will of the Kurdish people and called on everyone to resist against this persecution and said: “The devil is the one who remains silent against oppression.”

 

Hakan Türksoy attended the rally with his 2-year-old child. “We do not want the trustee. The trustee is disturbing the peace of Êlih. They call it a solution process and we want a solution process. We demand the freedom of Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ,” he said.  

 

'ISOLATION MUST END'

 

Kamil Göktaş said that what the Kurds want has been clear for more than 40 years: “We have been living in these lands as Kurdish people for a thousand years. But today, they do not accept our existence. We say that we want to live with our identity: Our language is Kurdish and the geography we live in is Kurdistan. They do not accept this and we do not accept what they say. Today, we want to choose the person who will govern us from the headman to the top. They oppose this and appoint trustees. The Kurdish people are no longer like before, they have recognized themselves, shouted their will and say what they want. We want to be officially recognized in the Constitution and have our rights guaranteed. The Kurdish people have a leader.  The people have intellectuals and pioneers. The isolation must end, the isolation on the Kurdish people, the isolation on the Kurdish People's Leader must end so that all prisoners of freedom can be released.”

 

'KURDS WILL NOT BACK DOWN'

 

Stating that what the Kurdish people want is clear and that the crowd filling the area points to İmralı as the address for a solution, Göktaş said: “The people are shouting from the area, saying ‘My leader is Abdullah Öcalan’. This is not something hidden, everything is obvious. I also came here from Riha. A trustee was appointed to Xalfetî. The meaning of this is also strategic. With this, he is saying to the people, 'I will appoint a trustee to the place where your leader was born', he is trying to make the people step back, but the Kurdish people will not step back. It will continue to resist in every way. They can see this reality by looking at this area.” 

 

MA / Şirvan Şilan Çil - Heval Önkol