ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish police on Saturday detained 28 people in connection with a march in support of jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. Dubbed a “freedom march,” protestors in the provinces of Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Mersin, Van, and Sirnak took to the streets to demand an end to the isolation imposed on Ocalan, who has not been heard from in more than two years. The protestors plan to end their march in the Gemlik district of northwestern Bursa province, which is the last stop before Imrali island where Ocalan is imprisoned. Turkish police cracked down on the march in Diyarbakir (known as Amed in Kurdish), reported the pro-Kurdish media outlet Mezopotamya Agency. An unconfirmed number of people were also arrested in Van, according to Mezopotamya Agency. The march was led by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (HEDEP) among several other pro-Kurdish parties and organizations. “We will march towards Gemlik tomorrow with all our friends and all our people in solidarity here,” HEDEP co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari said during a brief speech in Mersin. Ocalan founded the PKK in 1978 and the party began its armed struggle against the Turkish state in 1984. The party, which fights for the rights of Kurds in Turkey, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara. Ocalan was arrested in Nairobi in 1999 and has been in jail ever since. His lawyers and family have several times been prevented from contacting him. His elder brother Mehmet last had a short phone call with him in March 2021. Numerous subsequent requests by lawyers and family to meet the PKK leader have been rejected.
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