{"id":16112,"date":"2018-09-10T16:34:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T15:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16112"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:15","slug":"free-ocalan-political-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16112","title":{"rendered":"Free Ocalan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yesterday (September 9) Tommy Murphy spoke at TUC for Unite seconding motion 75 on Turkey.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bComrades, the Turkish regime is at war with its own people,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Murphy. <\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s record of repression against trade unionists, journalists and civil society ranks it alongside the most oppressive regimes on earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut, conference, the crisis in Turkey cannot be solved until the Kurdish people’s struggle for freedom is resolved,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat must mean the immediate end to the Turkish state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s war on the Kurdish people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c inside its claimed borders and without,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Since Congress voted to support the Kurdish struggle for freedom last year by backing the Freedom for Ocalan campaign, the Turkish state has taken the war on the Kurds into Northern Syria. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe invasion and ethnic cleansing of Afrin – a free canton of Rojava – is a war crime medieval in its barbarity,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Murphy. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPresident Erdogan has increased the arrests of Kurdish peace activists \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and launched a murderous campaign of targeted assassinations of Kurdish political leaders in the region,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This year the Freedom for Ocalan campaign was the official international campaign of the Durham Miners Gala. <\/span><\/p>\n

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It was an occasion which linked our movement’s finest traditions of solidarity and internationalism with the most important struggle against tyranny of our age.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOn behalf of Unite I would like to put on record our thanks to the Durham Miners Association for having the courage and strength of conviction to give their support to the Ocalan campaign,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Murphy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the year ahead, the leader of the Kurdish freedom movement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Abdullah Ocalan \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will mark his 70th<\/span><\/sup> year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but also his 20th<\/span><\/sup> year of imprisonment.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ocalan is not only the inspirational leader, whose ideas have been tested and put into practice in Rojava \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he is a powerful symbol.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUntil Ocalan walks free, no Kurd walks free. Until the kurds are free, none of us are free,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Murphy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat’s what it means to be an internationalist and I am proud that my union is building solidarity with free Rojava,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Murphy urged conference delegates to commit today to step up the pressure and build the campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must demand that the Turkish government recommit to serious peace talks with the Kurdish freedom movement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c represented by the PKK,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must demand, as a starting point, the immediate release of all political prisoners \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including Abdullah Ocalan, the Mandela of the Middle East. Long live the free cantons of Rojava,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday (September 9) Tommy Murphy spoke at TUC for Unite seconding motion 75 on Turkey.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bComrades, the Turkish regime is at war with its own people,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Murphy.   It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s record of repression against trade unionists, journalists and civil society ranks it alongside the most oppressive regimes on earth.   \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut, conference, the crisis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[548,158,1008,618],"wps_subtitle":"We must demand immediate release of all political prisoners","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16112"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16112"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25906,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16112\/revisions\/25906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}