Led by the KCD-E (European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress), hundreds of people from Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium gathered in front of the Council of Europe (EC), European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Commission for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) buildings in Strasbourg to launch a 5 days-long sit-in.

The protest aims to break the European institutions’ silence towards the massacres of the Turkish state, led by Erdoğan and the AKP, in Kurdistan. Hundreds of protestors are calling for dropping Turkey’s membership in the European Council, bringing an end to the ECHR’s approval of the massacres in Kurdistan, and ending the isolation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. Banners, posters and photos of Öcalan decorate the 40 meters-long tent in which protestors carry out their sit-in.

KARTAL: STOP BEING A PARTY TO THE MASSACRES

KONGRA GEL Co-President Remzi Kartal criticized the EC, the ECHR and the CPT for their approval of and participation in the massacres Erdoğan carries out against Kurdish people, and called upon Kurdish people to play their role in pressuring the aforementioned institutions.

Kartal called upon the EC, the ECHR, and the CPT to end their silent approval of the on-going massacres and support the legitimate struggle of Kurdish people. Kartal noted that Kurdish people’s protests would grow if the on-going silence was not broken, and called upon the ECHR to stop issuing decisions that tolerate the Turkish state’s massacres in places such as Cizre and Sur. Kartal emphasized that Kurdish people would stand against anyone supporting the fascism of Erdoğan, and called upon the EC to drop Turkey’s membership, the CPT to take a stance against the isolation of Öcalan, and the ECHR to break its silence on the massacres in Kurdistan.

Lastly, Kartal saluted the on-going resistance in Kurdistan and called upon everyone to rise up against the massacres of the Turkish state.