Syriac Union Party in Syria shows solidarity with the Kurdish people, takes part in rallies demanding the release of Abdullah Öcalan

GOZARTO (JAZEERA) Canton, North and East Syria – Rallies were held yesterday in cities in the Region of North and East Syria to commemorate the twenty-sixth anniversary of the arrest of Abdullah Ocalan, co-founder and imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and demand his release.

In solidarity with the Kurdish people, representatives of affiliated organizations of the Bethnahrin National Council participated in rallies in Zalin (Qamishli), Hasakah, Derik and Qabre Hewore (Qahtaniye). Robel Bahho, General Board member of the Syriac Union Party (SUP) in Syria, attended the rally in Zalin. In remarks to our reporter on the ground, Bahho commented on the rally, saying that his party participated in solidarity with what he called a “black day” for the Kurdish people;

“Today’s anniversary rally turns a black day into a day of freedom, a day of struggle and sacrifice, also for the Syriacs. We ask all peoples in the region to show solidarity and to cooperate to obtain the rights of all peoples in a new democratic and pluralistic Syria. One in which all communities and all peoples participate with equal national and ethnic rights.”

The SUP official expressed his hope that the new Syria will indeed be a model for the entire Middle East. Bahho called for the release of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan who adheres to a democratic thought of the brotherhood and coexistence of peoples.

Demand to Lift Öcalan’s Isolation

During the rally in the city of Hasakah, SUP General Board member Maha Shabo remarked to our reporter there that their participation is in solidarity with the demand to lift the isolation of all political prisoners, in particular the urgent demand to lift the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.

Regarding a possible lifting of the isolation of the Kurdish leader, Shabo explained that the resolve is to settle the Kurdish Question in Turkey and Syria once and for all. She hopes that her party can contribute to this by showing their solidarity in participating in the rally.

She too emphasized that Öcalan’s ideological way of thinking stresses the brotherhood of peoples and advocates the rights of all religious and ethnic peoples. Such a way of thinking can indeed bring peace to the Region and therefore deserves support, Shabo concluded.

Conspiracy forces Practice Strict Isolation on Öcalan

SyriacPress also spoke with Democratic Union Party Executive Body member Aldar Khalil, who explained that conspiracy forces within the Turkish state have always tried to impose a strict isolation on Öcalan to prevent him from expressing his opinions and presenting his ideas. However, over the years, he managed to bring out his ideas to solve the social and political problems in the Middle East. Khalil added that Öcalan;

“has repeatedly stressed that the nation-state model in the Middle East only complicates matters, exacerbates already problematic issues and thereby increases conflicts and contradictions in the region…”

“After all these years, the Turkish state is in serious turmoil and has realized that it cannot achieve a solution by way of the military or the genocidal method that it has practiced for all these years.”

The DUP official further pointed out that;

“There are current talks about the possibility of developing the peace project in Turkey and in Kurdistan. If these talks succeed, it confirms the fact that the ideas of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan are the basic solution to all the problems in the region, and that what he proposes represents a solution not only for the Kurdish people, but for all the peoples and pending problems in the region.”

In October 2024, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Nationalist Movement Party Devlet Bahceli, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made a historic proposal calling on Abdullah Öcalan to come and address the Turkish parliament to dissolve the Workers’ Party and stop the fighting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Turkish army. This represented a major change in the way the denialist Turkish regime deals with the Turkish-Kurdish conflict that has been going on for four decades.

Öcalan is the co-founder and leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party that has been in armed struggle with the Turkish military and state since 1984. He has been imprisoned on the Turkish prison island of Imrali since 15 February 1999.

For the article in Arabic see here