The Democratic Kurdish Community Center (DTKM), Arin Mirkan Assembly and the Revolutionary Youth Movement (TCŞ) organised a demonstration in the French city of Marseille on Saturday in protest at the aggravated isolation imposed on Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in Turkey’s Imrali Island Prison, where he has been held since his capture as result of an international conspiracy in 1999.

Banners displayed by demonstrators criticised the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the United Nations over their responsibility for the isolation regime executed at Imrali.

The march from Canabiere Square to the European Parliament Marseille representative office was followed by a rally where speeches were made in the name of Kurdish institutions and called on the CPT and other European institutions to stop ignoring the demands of the Kurds.

“European states and authorities make fun of the Kurdish people’s will. We warn that our actions will be carried to a further level unless the CPT announces the truth,” the TCŞ said.

The following statement on behalf of DTKM vowed to make any effort for the freedom of Öcalan, who has not been allowed to meet with his family and lawyers since 2011.

“As Mr. Öcalan’s ideas promote a democratic living, peace in the Middle East, co-existence of cultures, faiths and peoples, ecology and women’s freedom, his situation does not concern the Kurds alone,” said the statement, criticising European bodies for failing to take a concrete step and hold Turkey accountable. According to the DTKM, the European silence and failure to apply its own laws makes it accomplice to Turkey’s crimes against humanity.

DTKM called on the European Union to go into action immediately and urged Turkey to abolish the aggravated life imprisonment introduced for Öcalan.

Urging the Council of Europe and affiliated bodies to uphold their responsibilities, DTKM called on all the powers that were involved in the international conspiracy against Öcalan to review their anti-Kurdish policies.

DTKM ended its statement by calling upon all democratic circles to strengthen the freedom struggle of Abdullah Öcalan.