Kurds Demonstrate For PKK Leader
Syria Media Report, 11-Jul-08
Kurds Demonstrate For PKK Leader
Syria Media Report, 11-Jul-08
About 200 Kurds in the northeastern district of Ayn al-Arab held a demonstration on July 6 to demand the release of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, leader Abdullah Ocalan from a Turkish prison, the United States-based opposition website Tharwa reported.
Ocalan has been serving a life sentence since 1999. Turkey, the European Union and the United States have designated the PKK as a terrorist organisation.
The PKK leader lived in Syria for nearly two decades before the government expelled him in 1998.
Supporters of the Democratic Union Party, which backs the PKK and whose leaders were recently warned not to hold demonstrations, held up photos of Ocalan at the gathering.
The rally was one of several the Democratic Union Party has held as part of the PKK’s “Enough” campaign, calling for Ocalan’s release.
No security problems were reported at the Ayn al-Arab demonstration. The security services recently told Kurdish activists that they could be arrested and tried with treason for holding protests, the website said.
