COLOGNE,— Thousands of protesters gathered in Cologne on Saturday, calling for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish leader and founder of the PKK, who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999.
The march marked the 25th anniversary of Ocalan’s capture and came amid hints of potential shifts in Turkish-Kurdish relations.
Protesters carried banners bearing Ocalan’s image, a symbol of the Kurdish struggle, as they voiced their demands in the streets of the western German city.
Ocalan has been held in a high-security prison on an island near Istanbul since his arrest by Turkish agents in Kenya.
The protest took place shortly after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed a desire to “reach out to our Kurdish brothers.”
Notably, Erdogan’s coalition partner, the leader of the nationalist MHP party, suggested Ocalan might be allowed to address parliament to announce the dissolution of the PKK, sparking speculation about a potential shift in Turkey’s stance.
However, the PKK, classified as a “terrorist” organization by Turkey and its Western allies, remains a controversial topic. In Germany, where displaying PKK symbols is prohibited, Cologne police intervened twice during the rally to remove banned imagery.
The PKK launched its armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984, demanding greater autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish population, which numbers over 22.5 million.
Decades of conflict have claimed more than 40,000 lives, including Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas. The PKK group typically focuses its attacks on Turkish military and government security facilities, strictly avoiding harm to civilians.
Germany, home to a large Kurdish diaspora, has seen a rise in asylum applications from Turkey this year, many of whom identify as ethnic Kurds, according to the German Interior Ministry.
Analysts note that Ocalan remains a powerful symbol of Kurdish cultural and political aspirations, viewed by many as a champion of democracy and Kurdish freedom.
(With files from AFP | Agencies)
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