Filmed on July 24, 2021.
COLOGNE, Germany — A Kurdish singer imprisoned in Turkey for her support of a pro-Kurdish political party has returned to Germany, meeting with German officials and Kurdish activists in Cologne.
"When you live your own language, sing your Kurdish songs and live a Kurdish life, you can overcome your enemy, it does not matter how strong they are," Hozan Cane told Rudaw.
Cane was imprisoned in June 2018 after travelling to Turkey to support the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the elections. She was imprisoned on terror charges and was released in October 2020, with a travel ban that was not lifted until this month.
In Cologne, she sang and told the audience about her experience.
"Cane's arrest reverberated with all of us. Her arrest reminded all of us of our time in jail," said Khunaf Haji.
"When Cane spoke about Kurdish women, she spoke about her story and that reminded me of Kurdish women as a whole, those in prisons or not. Kurdish women are all oppressed. I cried," said Gulpari Abbas.
A German politician has said action should be taken to uphold human rights.
"We should not be afraid of the deterioration of relations with Turkey," said Axel Schafer. "We will take this matter to parliament."
Translation by Zhelwan Zeyad Wali
Video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed
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