26 days for freedom 26 cities 26 people: Final in Strasbourg

2025-01-29 12:30:26


	 

	 

	Melek Avcı

	 

	ANKARA - Payiz Tunç, who is marching for the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan, shared his observations in the cities he visited and said, "Everyone's eyes and ears are here for the physical freedom of our leader. We have realised that the talks are being followed, everyone is locked on the physical freedom of our Leader and longing for it."

	 

	Within the framework of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and Solution to the Kurdish Question’ move, the marchers who set off for the ‘Long March’ on 21 January in Lorient, France, have been marching for 8 days.  In the march, the final point of which will be Strasbourg, the enthusiasm of the people and the excitement of welcoming the marchers are reflected, while the demand for the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan draws attention.

	 

	Payiz Tunç, who is one of the members of this march and has been walking for days, talked about the events during the march.

	 

	26 days 26 cities 26 people

	 

	Payiz Tunç, who is one of the participants of the Long March and has been walking with 25 friends for days, stated that they have been making meetings and visits for the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan. Payiz Tunç said, "As you know, there has been a move process for two years and the first stage of this move process was to break the isolation. We partially achieved this with the move. It was partially broken with actions and diplomatic negotiations with all our people. Of course, we are continuing this in the second year with the slogan ‘Freedom for our leadership, status for Kurdistan’. Since we have entered the anniversary of the conspiracy, we have organised another long march. There are symbolic numbers; 26 days, 26 people, 26 cities. And today is the 7th day of our march. In the diplomatic meetings we hold in every city we visit, we present our dossiers on the isolation and freedom of the Leader. We make home visits, especially to the families of our martyrs, and we distribute leaflets about the process in general."

	 

	Internationalists and the youth branch start

	 

	Stating that the march continues in three branches, Payiz Tunç said, "On 29 January, the march of the youth will start and then the internationalists will start marching. Last year there were three columns; a long marchers' column, last year it was 25 days, this year 26 days because we calculate it with the imprisonment of the Leadership. There were youth, internationalists and us. The meeting point of these three columns was Strasbourg. Now the youth branch will start from Germany, this time we did not include our international friends among us, we wanted them to form their own branches and they will start from Switzerland. I believe that last year and this year the internationalist branch was very colourful and beautiful. It will be the same this year. This year their planning will be separate."

	 

	Two files are presented in diplomacy: Isolation and status

	 

	Stating that they presented information files on the process and Rojava, Payiz Tunç said that they went in two files, "The first is the approach to our Leader, his isolation and freedom, and the second is the status of the status in Rojava. In general, the approaches and diplomatic talks are very positive. Especially the sensitivity towards the Leadership and Rojava is revealed. Maybe we don't see and feel this much within ourselves and within the struggle, but we look at every institution, organisation, left-wing social structures and mayors we visit, and we see that they are very familiar with the process concerning us. Because we can encounter various questions from them. Everywhere we go, we see that they closely follow the pressures in Bakurê Kurdistan, the pressures in Rojava and the pressures against the press, institutions and politicians. In this sense, it is promising. None of the approaches have been negative."

	 

	‘There is great faith and enthusiasm’

	 

	Stating that they are determined in this move, Payiz Tunç said that they want the physical freedom of PKK Leader Abdullah Öcalan and Kurdistan to have a status in line with the framework they have determined this year. Payiz Tunç continued as follows: "We say that we can do whatever it takes for this. The atmosphere is very nice and exciting. Sometimes friends ask ‘are you getting tired’, no, we are not tired because we get a very good energy, we encounter very positive reflexes. It is very embracing and warm, and there are even stories of feeling embarrassed in some places, but we say that you are also hosting us, there should be no embarrassment in this sense because there are things that everyone can do socially. Everyone has a way of expression, in this sense, it is quite enthusiastic and exciting. Belief catches our eye. There is a serious belief and a lock on success."

	 

	What diplomacy says

	 

	"Everyone's eyes and ears are here for the physical freedom of our leadership. We have realised that the talks are being followed and questions are being asked about them. There is only one point, everyone is locked on the physical freedom of our leadership and is waiting for it with longing," Payiz Tunç said, adding that the public as well as the diplomacy is closely watching. Payiz Tunç said, "In every city we visit, we hold meetings with the first degree governorships, mayors, councilors and parliamentarians. We have file presentations to them, and they ask questions about the four parts of Kurdistan in general and the leadership in particular. Of course, some of them are also testing our pulse, like ‘I wonder if there are any question marks’, but in general it is very positive. The approaches of the parliamentarians, mayors, councillors and left-wing social organisations we visited are unquestionably positive, supportive and locked onto us.

	 

	Because they say ‘yes, the Kurdish problem is a problem that binds us and the whole world’ and they emphasise and underline that it must be solved. Neither the parliamentarians nor the mayors have any contradiction in this sense regarding the freedom of the leadership. They have promised us about this. Many of them underlined that they will come to the Strasbourg action. There are demands to plan the upcoming process together. We also welcome these. Of course, this does not end with the Strasbourg action, the final of the march will be Strasbourg and we will go to a more in-depth work on the physical freedom of the Leader and the status of Kurdistan in our next diplomatic work."

	 

	‘Grab whoever you have by the hand and let's meet in Strasbourg’

	 

	Continuing, Payiz Tunç stated the following: "We say to our people that the freedom of the leadership is our freedom, our freedom is the freedom of our children, the freedom of our children is the freedom of our geography, the freedom of our geography is the freedom of our ecology. We appeal to women in particular because, as the Leader said, if women are not free in a society, no one and nothing can be free. For this reason, we call on all of you, your children, your children, whoever you have, take them by the hand and let's meet in Strasbourg. We have held marches in the past years as well, but this time we have realised that as a result of the struggle and the price paid in the last two years, we have seen how much sympathy and admiration different societies have shown in every city we have visited. This is very good.

	 

	We used to distribute leaflets before, but we didn't get much response in general, but this time they themselves come and ask for leaflets. There is a curiosity like ‘I wonder how the latest process is developing, what are they trying to explain’. This is a response to the struggle we are waging and we have a friend among us, a Dadaş from Erzurum, who does not speak Kurdish at all. It is also very nice to have friends from this segment among us. We say ‘yes, we are doing the right thing, we are going in the right direction’. This means that we need to embrace our paradigm or our line more. This embrace is not a theory alone, but embracing our personality, embracing our existence. We have seen this, it reflects on us and gives us strength."