Fairfax Ad For Ocalan

Fairfax Media's Victorian outlet The Age publishes an ad calling for freedom for Abdullah Ocalan. Turkish community demands an apology.

Ocalan ad by an anonymous UK based charity is estimated to be about $20 thousand.

The "UK-union backed campaign" seem to be headed by a couple of British individuals. A similar ad was published by the media outlet's NSW masthead Sydney Morning Herald last year.

The UK based organisation have some 19 unions backing the initiative with an annual donation of $300, which is too little to pay such a big campaign. With the website's PayPal account deemed ineligible and cancelled, the funding source of such an expensive campaign becomes more questionable.

PKK affiliated illegal groups are generating big revenues in Europe from extortion, human and drug trafficking, according to German experts.

The Age editors responding to a query by a member of our community defended their decision to publish the ad, refusing any association with the organisation listed as a terrorist one by Attorney General of Australia.

Turkish community associations are now seeking legal avenues to prevent such acts of promoting terrorism, as defined by the Crime Act 1995 Division 102 subsection 7 and 8, never to take place again.

Turkish community groups also accuse the Fairfax media editors with implicit racist bias against the Turkish community, as they argue the same editors would show empathy towards the relatives of Bali bombing victims and never publish an ad asking for the freedom of Abu Bakr Al Bash, the Indonesian mastermind of terror attacks that killed 88 Australians.