Reverend Bill Crews, most likely Australia’s best known and respected clergy, has nominated Mr Abdullah Ocalan for the Sydney Peace Prize. During his Sunday service on 30 April 2017, Rev Bill Crews said, “I am honoured to have nominated Mr Ocalan for the Sydney Peace Prize” and called for his release from prison. He went on to liken Mr Ocalan to South Africa’s Nelson Mandela who was accused of being a communist terrorist and spent twenty seven years in prison. Upon his release in 1990, Mandela peacefully ended apartheid and later became President of South Africa and went on to become a champion of human rights the world over.
Rev Bill Crews, founder of the Exodus Foundation, went on to say all people deserve to be free to enjoy their identity, language and cultural heritage. In his letter of nomination, Rev Bill Crews said, “Mr A Ocalan started his movement in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup when it was against the law to be a Kurd, to listen to Kurdish music and to read and write anything in Kurdish language.”
Rev Bill Crews also pointed out that Mr A Ocalan and PKK have modified their demand for an independent Kurdistan by uniting Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria to a political system “very much like the Federal and state governments in Australia and the United States of America.” As is known, Australia has a population of about 24 million people and is made up of 6 states and two self-governing territories each with its own parliament, police force, judicial system and educational institutions. The smallest state is Tasmania with a population of around five hundred thousand people. And self-governing Northern Territory has a population of less than a quarter of million.
Rev Bill Crews also said that once released from prison Mr Ocalan “can serve all citizens of Turkey and promote peace and reconciliation between the Turkish government and its Kurdish citizens who like people all over the world want to preserve, develop and pass on to the future generations their identity and cultural heritage.”
According to Wikipedia, Rev Bill Crews studied electrical engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and “worked with AWA in microelectronic research studying the properties of silicon until 1971, including building the first machine in Australia to grow ultra pure single crystal silicon.” Then, he decided to leave engineering behind to serve the people in need. Rev Bill Crews is the founder and Chairman of the Exodus Foundation that among other things feeds 400 needy people every day. Rev Bill Crews has been helping Kurdish refugees for over a decade and the Kurdish community is very grateful to him
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?%2Fpr-article%2Fimprisoned-kurdish-leader-nominated-for-sydney-peace-prize%2F
