Abdullah Öcalan given award by South African Communist Party

News and Comment by KT:

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has given Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader, a Special Recognition Award.

The award was made at the SACP’s 13^th National Congress held from 11th-13^th July in oNgoye, KwaZulu Natal province. SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande described Abdullah Öcalan as: “A revolutionary internationalist fighter and a symbol of the Kurdish freedom struggle. A political prisoner isolated in a Turkish island prison under atrocious inhumane conditions. His relentless struggle for peace, democracy and socialism for the peoples in the Middle East remains a beacon of progress against imperialism and colonialism.”

The SACP has around 150,000 members and is the second largest party in South Africa, allied to the ruling African National Congress.

This award is a new boost to the international campaign for Abdulla Öcalan’s freedom.The Turkish establishment is coming to appreciate the power of his appeal to ordinary Kurds. One sign of its groping for a solution – alongside its continuing repression – was the recent decision by prime minister Erdogan to meet Leyla Zana, the Kurdish BDP MP who has herself spent more than 12 years in prison. If it wants a lasting settlement, the regime has no choice but to release Öcalan from captivity.