It has been 26 years since PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan was brought to Turkey on 15 February 1999 with the cooperation of international imperialist powers. During this period, Abdullah Öcalan was wanted to be forgotten with heavy isolation. However, despite the isolation conditions, the ideas he put forward influenced many people from different peoples and beliefs in the following period.

 

Margaret Owen, a human rights defence and lawyer in the UK, is one of these people. Margaret Owen has been working for many years for the solution of the Kurdish issue and against the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan. She is a member of the Kurdistan Peace Campaign and is also involved in the global campaign for the physical freedom of Abdullah Öcalan.

 

'MOST EXTRAORDINARY LEADER'

 

Speaking about the isolation and her struggle for Abdullah Öcalan's physical freedom, Margaret Owen said, "Öcalan is the most extraordinary male leader that the human race has ever had. We've never before had a leader, a man who has put his finger on what is the source of conflicts and inequality and poverty, it is the oppression of women. He's the first man who's ever said, ‘We've got to get rid of the dominant male. The oppression of women oppresses all of society, men as well.’ All his ideas about pluralism, freedom, saving the planet, looking after everybody, whatever their ethnicity or their religion. It's a model for all of us, but it's also a threat to lots of states who don't want that. They want their own autocracy, which is often racist and misogynist and built on deeply well enshrined patriarchal structures"

 

Margaret Owen said that the isolation of Öcalan is "torture" and noted that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the United Nations (UN) have also described this situation as "torture". Margaret Owen said, "We didn't even know until last year, we weren't even sure if he was alive. Because nobody could see him, neither his lawyers nor his family. It was great relief to know now that he is alive and that he is vocal and he is giving these messages. It's more important than ever, that he is freed so that can be part of the dialog, because he is the one you cannot have a dialog about peace and negotiations unless he is free. And we remember about Mandela, what happened in South Africa. Mandela had to be freed so that they could be that dialog. And then you just think about things like the Mandela rules that said that everyone who is in detention in prison has a right to see his lawyer. So it goes on this freedom for Öcalan, and we have to intensify that even more because of the terrible terrible situation now in Syria,"

 

'AANES MUST BE RECOGNIZED'

 

Margaret Owen pointed out that other European countries, especially the UK, are ignoring the demands for Öcalan's release due to their relations with Turkey and added: "We've got to be stronger and stronger in voicing our protests and demonstrating. Even I would say risking in countries where we're still supposed to have freedom of speech, risking being arrested so we could have our day in court say exactly what is going on. Because if we don't see the release and freedom Öcalan, then we are also risking that we do not get peace.  Syria, if it's we allow it to be led by jihadists, because that's what they are. HTS are jihadist. We know what they did in Idlib we know everything that happened. We will see Syria becoming another Afghanistan, or certainly another Libya. And so the hope for Syria and for that whole region and for the world, is the release of Öcalan and dialog and the recognition of Rojava. AANES must be recognized by all the governments of the world, by the UN. "

 

'WE MUST WORK MORE'

 

Stating that she has been reading Abdullah Öcalan's reviews and books for nearly 20 years, Margaret Owen said: "I'm still meeting people who have never heard of him. So it just we have to work much harder. I would love to see versions of his prison writings on the curriculum of every primary school and secondary school in every country in the world. Because they are absolutely about peace and how we can all live together to save the planet. He goes back 5000 years to the Sumerians, when we were hunters and gatherers and there was more equality. I'm always shocked that when I meet people at university were studying political science or economics. I asked them, have they heard of Öcalan, they haven’t. Have they heard of Murray Bookchin, who was his great influence, they haven't. Have they heard of the Kurdish women's revolution. They haven't. It's not there in our education system, and it really has to be. Because we've got to really inspire and generate interest from young people. We need to educate them about the unique message of Öcalan for pluralism, for peace, for justice and for equality."

 

'HIS PARADIGM IS A WONDERFUL THING'

 

Margaret Owen said that Abdullah Öcalan's "democratic, ecological, women's libertarian" paradigm had made a great impression on her and stressed: "It's a wonderful model. He also prioritizes ecology and looking after the planet. We all come together because that's our we all wherever we are in the world, wherever we are, whether we're men or women, we're rural or urban or whatever our religion, we are all facing the devastation of our planet because of global warming and the climate crisis. So this is something absolutely amazing. I think what is wonderful is the idea of democratic confederalism and decentralization and giving the voices to local people at the local level, and stop this terrible centralization. Really empower people to come together. Why did nobody talk about it before? It is the co-chair system that wherever you have decision making body, whether it's your national government or your army or your police or your local councils or your village street or wherever you are, making decisions, whoever gets it, it's a man and a woman together." 

 

Margaret Owen continued: "Nobody else talks the language that he talks. There's a whole problem of having Trump. We have to all get together to actually protect ourselves from the absolutely catastrophe of Trump administration in America. His expansionist ideas that he actually could what he's saying about Gaza. So let's hope that all these countries will come together and see that they have a common threat, which is climate change, and it is people like Trump and people like Putin who put their own narcissistic wish of hard could throw prioritize that beyond the right of the human race to live together.  I just think that Öcalan, with all his policy, his huge view of the future as well, is really amazing view of where we are in the history of the human race, that people will listen to him. Maybe that's why people don't want him free, because they don't want to listen to the truth. But if he is out and speaking, and we can all echo his words; I think it could only be a good thing. And people must listen."

 

MA / Hîvda Çelebi