Fabien Roussel, General Secretary of the French Communist Party, has called for the release of Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who has been held in solitary confinement in a prison on the north-western Turkish island of İmralı since 1999.

“As the French Communist Party, we have always fought for the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan, because the principles that Öcalan puts forward in his paradigm are the symbol of the freedom of the Kurdish people,” Fabien Roussel said in an interview with Erem Kansoy of Medya Haber TV.

Acknowledging Öcalan’s prolonged incarceration in isolation, the leader of the French Communist Party expressed his deep concern about the silence surrounding the PKK leader’s condition, as no information about his health or well-being has been released for two and a half years. Roussel also underlined the importance of Öcalan as a political leader and his role in the struggle for Kurdish freedom.

Öcalan’s vision, as presented by Roussel, represents the aspirations of the Kurdish community for self-determination and liberation.

One of Roussel’s key demands was the removal of the PKK from the European Union’s list of proscribed organisations. He argued that this step was essential to advance the cause of Öcalan’s freedom.

The General Secretary called for a united effort by French progressive forces, including political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations, to demand Öcalan’s release and turn it into a collective struggle. He stressed the importance of making the struggle more public and turning it into a political and symbolic movement.

Noting that similar campaigns for the freedom of other political leaders had been successful in the past, Roussel underlined the potential of uniting different opinions and backgrounds to achieve their common goal.