15. Long March For Freedom

Last weekend of November the group of 6 Kurds who lives in United Kingdom, as a representation of Kurdish Community, decided to march from the city of Leeds to the City of London. By taking this action, we would like to turn the attention of media and public opinion to the incident that took place on 22nd October 2011, when Turkish war planes bombarded the mountain area using illegal chemical weapon, which is forbidden by International Law, and causing the death of 36 Kurds, the members of Kurdistan Workers Party, young brave people, who dedicated their lives to the struggle for Kurdish rights and the dignity of Kurdish people, permanently persecuted and discriminated by the Turkish authorities.

The kind of illegal chemical weapon used by Turkey caused the huge damages of the freedom fighters bodies, that could be hardly recognized by the members of their families. The march from Leeds to London was the expression of our disapproval for breaking the law by Turkey, as well as the expression of our concern about the situation of Kurds in Turkey.

We also would like to point out the fact that our leader Mr Abdulla Ocalan, imprisoned on Imrali Island by Turkish state, has been isolated from the outside world for nearly 4 months, without the chance to see even his lawyers, which we consider as very inhuman. Our delegation marching to London, had two letters to provide to the British Parliament and Mr David Cameron regarding the matter.


This great and meaningful activity was organized and sponsored by Heval Rebwar, Kurdish activists from Leeds and wouldn't be possible without his participation. We named this action - "Long March For Freedom".

We started our march on early morning, on Saturday, 26th November and e were walking on local roads for 4 days, from town to town, where we were greeted by the representatives of Kurdish communities. We carried Kurdish flags with us and we talked to a number of people on our way, explaining them in brief the situation of Kurds in Turkish state. Our march ended in the center of London, where we participated in a demonstration in front of 10 Downing street on Tuesday afternoon, 29th November.

Kurdistan - our country that does not exists on the world's map, but exists on the map of our hearts - needs to be noticed by the International Community and not be ignored any longer. We, the People of Kurdistan, the members of Kurdish Nation, are doing our best to make the world to hear our voice - the voice of stateless and oppressed.

We cherish the deep hope that our action was noticed and will caused the involvement of the Western World in Kurdish Question.