Reactions against the land and air operation launched by the Turkish army and their allied FSA groups on January 20 against Afrin continue to grow.

Over 170 intellectuals have signed a joint letter demanding a stop to the operation. The signatories, including former ministers, MPs, writers, intellectuals, directors, actors, screenwriters, journalists and NGO and women’s organizations representatives, have sent the letter to AKP MPs and all MPs in the Parliament via e-mail to demand a stop to the Afrin operation.

The letter and the signatories are as follows:

“We the undersigned citizens call on you in the name of millions of our fellow citizens due to the authority and responsibility you hold.

We want peace and quiet in our country and region, not war. We believe the best way to protect our borders and avoid survival problems is through reciprocal friendship and strengthening good neighbor relations. We know by experience that our security won’t be achieved through an arms race that costs billions, at the price of young lives and with a war that will displace tens of thousands of people, but through bilateral negotiations and cooperaion, and we know that this is possible.

We also know that an armed intervention on Afrin, which poses no threat to Turkey and is part of Syria’s territory, will not  bring peace and security to our country and our region, but rather bigger problems and more destruction and pain, and that it will create deep wounds in the hearts of our Kurdish citizens.

Even the military presence of foreign states, who have turned the Middle East into a proxy war hell, is a violation of international law, but an intention to join them and steps taken in this direction will only create disappointment for our country, and cause irreparable social, political, economic and humanitarian losses for decades to come.

With our identity and responsibility as citizens, we are warning you who hold the authority in front of our people and history to heed our call, act responsibly, immediately stop the war and resolve the issue through dialogue.

With respect,”

The signatories are as follows:

“Abdullah Demirbaş, Fatma Bostan Ünsal, Nimet Tanrıkulu, Abdülbaki Erdoğmuş, Ferhat Tunç, Nimet Yardımcı, Ahmet Aykaç, Fethiye Çetin, Nur Bekata Mardin, Ahmet Faruk Ünsal, Fidan Eroğlu, Nurcan Baysal, Ahmet İnsel, Fikret Ünlü, Nurhan Keeler, Ahmet Özdemir Aktan, Füsun Ertuğ, Nurten Ertuğrul, Ahmet Tonak, Genco Erkal, Olga Hünler, Akın Birdal, Gençay Gürsoy, Onur Hamzaoğlu, Ali Bilge, Gonca Gül Gedikoğlu, Orhan Alkaya, Ali Haydar Konca, Gönül Saray, Orhan Silier, Ali Uçansu, Gülriz Sururi, Oya Baydar, Arzu Başaran, Gülseren Onanç, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, Aslıhan Karabacak Calviello, Gülten Kaya, Ömer Laçiner, Aydın Arı, Gürhan Ertür, Ömer Madra, Aydın Selcen, Hacer Ansal, Özgün E. Bulut, Aynur Özuğurlu, Halil Ergün, Özgür Müftüoğlu, Ayşe Erzan, Hasan Cemal, Pınar Kılıçer, Ayşe Hür, Hasip Kaplan, Rakel Dink, Ayşe Nur Doksat, Hıdır Işık, Rıfat Yüzbaşıoğlu, Ayşegül Devecioğlu, Hüda Kaya, Salman Kaya, Ayten Yıldırım, Hürriyet Karadeniz, Savaş Demirci, Bahattin Yücel, Hüsamettin Cindoruk, Sefa Feza Arslan, Baki Tezcan, Hüseyin Ayrılmaz, Sema Kaygusuz, Baskın Oran, Hüsnü Okçuoğlu, Semih Bilgen, Belgin Koç, İhsan Eliaçık, Semih Gümüş, Beyza Üstün, Kıvanç Ersoy, Semra Somersan, Binnaz Toprak, Kumru Toktamış, Serhat Baysan, Burhan Sönmez, Kuvvet Lordoğlu, Servet Demir, Bülent Utku, Lale Mansur, Simten Coşar, Celal Korkut Yıldırım, Lati Akyüz, Suavi, Celalettin Can, Levent Tüzel, Suna Uluçınar Aygün, Cem Mansur, Mebuse Tekay, Süleyman Çelebi, Cem Özatalay, Mehmet Rasgelener, Şahika Yüksel, Cengiz Arın, Mehmet Rauf Sandalcı, Şanar Yurdatapan, Ceren Şengül, Melehat Kutun, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Cihangir İslam, Melek Taylan, Tahsin Yeşildere, Defne Asal, Meral Camcı, Taner Akçam, Deniz Türkali, Meryem Koray, Tarhan Erdem, Deniz Yonucu, Mete Çetik, Tarık Ziya Ekinci, Dilek Gökçin, Mine Gencel Bek, Tatyos Bebek, Ece Temelkuran, Muammer Keskin, Tebesssüm Yılmaz, Ekrem Baran, Muhammed Salar, Tilbe Saran, Elif Sandal Önal, Murat Belge, Tuna Altınel, Emine Uşaklıgil, Murat Çeyişakar, Tümay İmre,  Engin Sustam, Murat Morova, Ufuk Uras, Erdal Kalkan, Mustafa Altıntop, Ümit Kıvanç, Erdoğan Aydın, Mustafa Paçal, Ümit Özgümüş, Erol Katırcıoğlu, Muzaffer Kaya, Viki Çiprut, Ersin Salman, Nadire Mater, Yakın Ertürk, Ertuğrul Günay, Nalan Erbil, Yasemin Bektaş, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Nazan Aksoy, Zehra Kabasakal Arat, Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır, Nazar Büyüm, Zelal Ekinci,  Esra Arsan, Necmiye Alpay, Zeynep Oral, Esra Mungan, Nesrin Nas,  Zeynep Tanbay, Eşref Erdem, Nesteren Davutoğlu, Zişan Kürüm, Fadıl Öztürk, Neşe Erdilek, Ziya Halis, Fadime Gök, Neşe Yaşin, Zülfü Livaneli, Fahrettin Dağlı, Nil Mutluer.”