The Kurdish Human Rights Actions Group (KHRAG) launched their ‘One million signatures for the release of Abdullah Ocalan’, campaign at the Cape Town festival on Human Rights Day, 21 March 2010 at 3pm. Abdullah Ocalan is the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish people.
KHRAG LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN FOR THE RELEASE OF ABDULLAH OCALAN AT THE
CAPE TOWN FESTIVAL
President Mandela Declines Ataturk Peace Prize
In and during his presidency, President Mandela, was awarded the Ataturk Peace Prize by the Turkish authorities. Because of Turkish human rights record, particularly towards the Kurdish people, as more fully set out in the previous paragraph, he declined the prize. When this became public knowledge, there was tremendous jubilation amongst the Kurds throughout Turkey. President Mandela became an instant hero in the eyes of the Kurdish people. Such admiration continues to exude and reverberate to the present. Because of this gesture, the respect accorded by the Kurdish people to President Mandela, is unprecedented.
LETTER TO THE WHITEHOUSE
Dear Honourable President
We take the liberty of writing to you. The writer happened to be in Istanbul,
Turkey, at the time you were also there. You gave a key-
Conference on Multi-
the International Delegation of Human Rights Lawyers (The Delegation), to
assess and report on the Kurdish Question in Turkey.
RESPONSE FROM THE WHITEHOUSE
Dear Friend:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Many Americans have
written to me about human rights around the world, and I appreciate your
perspective.
International Campaign
“One million signatures for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the legitimate leader of the Kurdish People”
EMAIL:
KHRAG’s aims and objectives are as follows:
# to promote awareness of the Kurdish struggle for the recognition of their basic human rights and the right to practice their culture, language and customs and to promote the protection of such rights;
# to promote awareness of the right to freedom of association and more particularly
to form their own cultural, social and political organisations and the freedom of
expression and more particularly the right to be taught in their mother-
# to promote awareness of human right abuses perpetrated against the Kurds, more particularly in Turkey and to strive to bring an end to such violations through peaceful means;
# to promote the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey through dialogue with the legitimate leaders of the Kurdish people and their legitimate organisations.
Stop the bloodshed
We cannot allow innocent lives of young people to be destroyed, whether they are Turkish or Kurdish, in fruitless wars. Their rests a great responsibility on the genuine leadership of the Kurds and Turks to avoid such loss of lives, whether Kurds or Turks and negotiate a peaceful resolution of their problem. We appeal to Prime Minister Erdogan to seize the opportunity to do so as he has done so to resolve the Palestinian issue. Khrag supports him in that regard. Khrag regrets the loss of lives of both Turks and Kurds.
Essa Moosa -
