Kurdish patriots march for the recognition and release of political prisoner Abdullah Ocalan Abdullah Öcalan (/ˈoʊdʒəlɑːn/ OH-jə-lahn;[10] Turkish: [œdʒaɫan]; born 4 April 1949), also known as Apo[10][11] (short for both Abdullah and "uncle" in Kurdish and Turkish),[12][13] is a Kurdish political prisoner[14][15] and founding member of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).[16][17][18][19]

Öcalan was based in Syria from 1979 to 1998.[20] He helped found the PKK in 1978, and led it into the Kurdish–Turkish conflict in 1984. For most of his leadership, he was based in Syria, which provided sanctuary to the PKK until the late 1990s.

After being forced to leave Syria, Öcalan was abducted in Nairobi in 1999 by the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) (with assistance of the USA) and taken to Turkey,[21] where after a trial he was sentenced to death under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code, which concerns the formation of armed organizations.[22] The sentence was commuted to aggravated life imprisonment when Turkey abolished the death penalty. From 1999 until 2009, he was the sole prisoner[23] in İmralı prison in the Sea of Marmara, where he is still held.[24][25]