Thousands march in Germany to demand release of Kurd leader

Thousands of protesters marched in the western German city of Cologne on Saturday to demand the release of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish PKK militant group who was arrested 25 years ago.

Amid signs of easing tensions between the Turkish government and the PKK, the demonstrators carried banners bearing the image of the PKK’s founder and historic leader, who has been detained in an island prison off the coast of Istanbul since 1999.

The protest followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statements in late October that he wanted to “reach out to our Kurdish brothers.”

The head of Turkish nationalist party MHP, Erdogan’s main coalition ally, has invited Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence, to speak before parliament to announce the dissolution of the PKK, raising the possibility of his release.

Cologne police reported no incidents during the march, though they did intervene twice to remove “symbols that could have a link to the PKK.”

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkiye and its Western allies, and showing its symbols is illegal in Germany.

The conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state has caused more than 40,000 deaths since 1984.

Turkiye is the third largest country of origin for asylum seekers in Germany this year, after Syria and Afghanistan, according to the Interior Ministry.

Most of the applicants claim to be ethnic Kurds, according to the German daily FAZ.