Under the slogan "Defend Kurdistan", a protest against war and occupation in Kurdistan took place in Frankfurt on Saturday. The Iraqi aggression against Shengal, the main settlement area of ​​the Yazidi community, was also condemned.

The Kurdish Women's Movement in Europe (TJK-E) promoted the demonstration. Under a sea of ​​flags green, red and yellow, the march started behind a banner reading "Down with Turkish colonialism - Defend Kurdistan". Behind it, another banner reading: “Defend the legitimate self-government of the Yazidis”.

Sharp criticism of Hewlêr and Baghdad

Speakers at the demonstration referred to the ambitions of the Turkish state to politically revive the Ottoman Empire through occupation wars in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. Sharp criticism was directed at the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which dominates the government in Hewlêr (Erbil) and supports Turkey in its illegal military actions. The party of the Barzani family was also condemned for its dealings with the Yazidis of Shengal and for the October 2020 agreement negotiated with the Iraqi central government in Baghdad under Turkish direction, which provides for the dissolution of the autonomous administration and the disarmament of the Yazidi defense forces. Both Baghdad and Hewlêr as "the forces" who "made the ISIS genocide possible" in 2014 by their hasty retreat from Shengal were called upon to respect the autonomous Yazidi administration and to stop depriving them of their rights.

Sit-in in front of US consulate

The demonstration ended in a sit-in in front of the American Consulate General opposite Frankfurt's main cemetery. As a sign of anger at the international community's silence over Turkey's crimes in Kurdistan, those involved sat down in front of the building with their backs to the embassy and shouted "Nato financed - Turkey bombed".

The German federal government was also publicly denounced because it had been silently accepting the military actions of its Turkish ally for years and had approved arms exports to Ankara despite proven war crimes by the NATO member state in Kurdistan. "This means that Germany is jointly responsible for the war against the Kurdish people. We call on the federal government to have the courage to reverse its pro-Turkish course.”