Amid general indifference, the Turkish power is accelerating its enterprise of destroying the Kurdish people. The “Voice for Peace in Kurdistan” collective is organizing a conference in Marseille on Saturday, 13 January.

121 personalities from the cultural and intellectual world have signed an appeal, carrying among the signatories Annie Ernaux, Edgar Morin, Ariane Ascaride, Patrick Chamoiseau, Joseph Andras, Gérard Chaliand, Ernest Pignon Ernest, Sepideh Farsi, Patrick Baudouin, Françoise Cotta, Rony Brauman, Didier Fassin, Valérie Manteau, Jean Ziegler, Robert Guédiguian, Gilbert Mitterrand , Alice Mogwe, Olivier Weber, Elie Guillou.

The appeal said: "On 13 January we will come together to make louder the voice of calls for peace coming from Turkey. Recently, 78 Kurdish and Turkish journalists, artists, intellectuals and human rights defenders launched an appeal to draw attention to the urgency of a peaceful solution. We recognize their courage, as the situation in Kurdistan continues to become tense, and the previous call for peace ("We will not be complicit in this crime", in 2016) was described as terrorist propaganda by the Turkish government and caused the persecution of its signatories. We intend to support, protect and amplify their voices."

The text continues: "In a context marked by militarist policies, by the trivialization of all horrors, centers of extreme violence continue to multiply in the Middle East. After the ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh in the indifference of the international community, we are helplessly witnessing the unleashing of violence and the massacre by militarist powers of the Israeli and Palestinian populations.

The centers of extreme violence that are igniting the Middle East are not isolated, neither from each other, nor from the rest of the world. They are caught in the net of globalized militarism and are links in a chain of nationalist ideologies that are hopelessly similar. Let's not let the chain grow and close. Let's not let one massacre hide another. We must do everything we can to break the vicious circle of violence and hatred, before it is too late. Before horror is added to horror. In resonance with other voices raised around the world to call for a ceasefire and peace in Israel-Palestine, we raise ours so that the Kurdish people are not forgotten."

The text added: "Today the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) reports that between October 5 and 9 the Turkish army carried out massive operations in these regions – 580 air and ground strikes were carried out, causing dozens of deaths among the civilian population and systematically destroying not only the infrastructure which provides water and electricity to millions of people, but also schools and administrative buildings.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, several tens of thousands of political opponents, especially Kurds, and mainly women - including deputies and mayors - are locked up in the prisons of the authoritarian regime. Turk who wants to stifle every voice of peace. The Turkish government is deliberately fueling the anger of the Kurds by keeping Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdish movement who played a key role in the peace negotiations in 2013 and 2015, in prison in total isolation, with no sign of life for 30 months."

The appeal end with the following call: "On 13 January, taking seriously the alarming signals of another war that risks spiraling out of control, we will come together to say that it is not too late. We will come together to prevent the annihilation of a people and to raise loud and clear the voices of peace that come to us from Turkey and around the world."

The 121 signatories are as follows:

Joseph Andras, writer
Maryse Artiguelong, vice-president of FIDH
Ariane Ascaride, artist
Geneviève Azam, writer and administrator of the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation
Pierre Bance, lawyer, author
Katy Barasc, philosopher, author
Rim Battal, poet and author
Alexis Baudelin, lawyer 
Patrick Baudouin, lawyer, president of the LDH
Maïten Bel, economist
Bruno Bernard, president of the council of Lyon municipality
Janet Biehl, writer
Oristelle Bonis, editor
Patrice Bouveret, director of the Armaments Observatory
Rony Brauman, doctor, former president of MSF
Henri Braun, lawyer 
Christian Bruschi, professor of law emeritus
Claude Calame, anthropologist
Philippe Cazal, journalist, municipal councilor of Narbonne
Moutsie Claisse, writer, ethnobotanist
Silvia Yuri Casalino, chair Eurocentralasian Lesbian* Community association
Gérard Chaliand, writer, journalist
Patrick Chamoiseau, writer
Joelle Chalavoux, departmental councilor of Aude
Nina Chastel, journalist
Maryam Chémirani, musician
Sylvestre Clancier, honorary president of the PEN Club de France
Jean Marc Coppola, deputy mayor of Marseille
Françoise Cotta, lawyer 
Emmanuelle Dancourt, journalist, author
Pierre Dardot, philosopher
Javad Djavahery, author and producer
Jean-Pierre Djukic, research director, University of Strasbourg
Zehra Doğan, journalist, artist
António Pedro Dores, sociologist (Portugal)
Grégory Doucet, mayor of Lyon
Delphine Durand, poet
Murat Durmaz, former mayor of Ozalp, 
Marianne Ebel, philosopher and sociolinguist
Henri Eckert, sociologist, university professor
Didier Epsztajn, blog “between the lines between the words”
Asli Erdogan, writer
Annie Ernaux, writer
Jules Falquet, philosopher
Sepideh Farsi, director
Didier Fassin, anthropologist and doctor
Eric Fassin, sociologist, university professor
Nina Faure, documentary filmmaker and author
Barbara Glowczewski, anthropologist, emeritus research director of the CNRS
Marie-Louise Gourdon, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Mouans-Sartoux 
Robert Guédiguian, director
Elie Guillou, writer, director, musician
Jacqueline Heinen, sociologist
Beat Hrisbrunner, prof. emeritus in computer science, University of Friborg (CH)
Sylvie Jan
Laurent Jeanpierre, political scientist
Fanny Jedlicki, sociologist
Samuel Johsua, professor emeritus of educational sciences
Philippe Kalfayan, lawyer, doctor of law, former secretary general of FIDH
Alexandra Koszelyk, writer
Yasmina Kramer, journalist, writer
Christian Laval, philosopher
Genevieve Legay, alter-globalizationist
Maud Leroy, editor
Alain Le Sann, associate professor of history
Coline Linder, musician, painter
Olivier Liron, writer
Carine Lorenzoni, journalist
Maryam Madjidi, writer
Pascal Maillard, academic
Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist
Carol Mann, historian, sociologist
Valérie Manteau, writer
Sylvie Mateo, teacher
Halima Menhoudj, first deputy of Montreuil Town Hall,
Danielle Michel-Chich, writer
Gilbert Mitterrand, president of the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation
Alice Mogwe, president of FIDH
Nathalie Moineau, music teacher at the Conservatory
Sylvie Monchatre, sociologist, university professor
Léonore Moncond’huy, mayor of Poitiers
Jean Michel Morel, journalist, writer
Corinne Morel Darleux, writer
Edgar Morin, sociologist, writer
Fred Nevché, singer, poet and musician
Elisabeth Nicolini, Alliance of Women for Democracy
Rina Nissim, writer
Anna Nozière, author
Naz Oke, journalist, artist
Edmée Ollagnier, psycho-sociologist
Frédéric Paulin, writer
Pascaline Pavard, author, editor-in-chief of the journal Nature & Progrès
Dénis Péan, artist
Michel Peraldi, anthropologist, research director, EHESS
Jacques Perreux, president of the Ami-es de Roya association
Serge Pey, poet
Alessandro Pignocchi, author and designer
Ernest Pignon Ernest, painter
Nathalie Quintane, writer
Alain Refalo, spokesperson for the Movement for a Nonviolent Alternative (MAN)
Robin Renucci, actor, director, director of the Théâtre de la Criée, Marseille
Philippe Rio, mayor of Grigny
Alex Robin, journalist
Titi Robin, musician
Michel Rodde, filmmaker
Laurine Rousselet, poet
Azucena Rubio, president of the Voltairine Association and its Friends
Michèle Rubirola, caregiver, 1st deputy mayor of Marseille
Mylène Sauloy, journalist, author, director
Mathieu Schneider, university professor, president of the MEnS Network
Anne Steiner, sociologist
Pierre Tevanian, philosopher, co-host of the LMSI site
Sylvie Tissot, sociologist, University of Paris 8, co-host of the LMSI site
Hélène Trailin, designer, basketball player
Mathieu Tulissi Gabard, writer
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, writer
Christine Villeneuve, Co-coordinator of Editions des Femmes Antoinette Fouque
Marina Vlady, actress, singer and writer
Olivier Weber, writer, director
Jean Ziegler, anc. United Nations special rapporteur
Laurent Ziegelmeyer, activist for the Kurdish cause