Of the 65 mayors of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) elected in the March 2019 local elections in Turkey, 45 have now been removed from office and replaced by trustees. Against this systematic elimination of democracy as a method of war against the Kurdish people, many people took to the streets in Canada, Sweden, France and Germany.

CANADA

In the Canadian metropolis of Toronto, the Sara Women's Commune organized a rally in front of Old City Hall against the Turkish state’s appointment of trustees in place of democratically elected politicians. The group also protested against the criminalization of the Kurdish women's association Rosa in Amed (Diyarbakir). Twelve of 18 arrested persons have been imprisoned in the scope of an investigation into the institution, which is the only women's organization in the region that provides support and actively fights against violence against women, after all women's institutions were banned by emergency decree in the course of the state of emergency.

In an address, Elif Genç from the Sara Women's Commune drew attention to the worldwide increase in patriarchal violence against women during the Coronavirus crisis. In Canada alone, nine women became victims of femicide as a result of the exit restrictions imposed by the pandemic. After further speeches, artist Selma Civak put on a dance performance for which there was much applause.

SWEDEN

In Sweden, Kurdish women have been organising actions for weeks to demonstrate against the authoritarian policies of the Turkish regime. Yesterday's protests again took place in Stockholm, Örebro, Gothenburg and Uppsala. In addition to flags of the Kurdish women's movement, flags of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and the KCK also decorated the demonstration sites. During the action in the Swedish capital, an activist said: "The sovereign in a democracy is usually the people. But in Turkey, the sovereign is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who is waging a war against Kurdish local politics."

FRANCE

Kurdish youth staged a demonstration in the French city of Strasbourg in protest at the Turkish state’s seizure of HDP-run municipalities and attacks on cemeteries of fallen guerrillas. The group hung a PKK flag on the wall of the Turkish Consulate in the city and vowed to increase their actions against attacks.

STUTTGART

Another demonstration against the Turkish state’s attacks on the Kurdish people, their values and elected representatives took place in the German city of Stuttgart.

Activists from the Kurdish Revolutionary Youth Movement (Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger) and Free Young Women (Jinên Ciwan ên Azad) gathered at Königstrasse and displayed a banner reading “For the fascist Turkish regime, the killing of Kurds is not enough. They now destroy our graves and burn our dead”.

The group called on Kurdish youth to defend the values of the Kurdish people in response to the attacks of the Turkish state.