Activists taking part in the sit-in protest in front of the UN Office in Geneva protested against the Yazidi Genocide committed by ISIS on 3 August in Shengal 10 years ago.
A vigil by the Democratic Kurdish Community in Switzerland has been taking place in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva since 25 January 2021. Every Wednesday, activists stage a protest in front of the United Nations building to demand the release of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The action is carried out as part of the 'Dem dema azadiye' [Time for Freedom] campaign and directed against the isolation of the Kurdish leader on the Turkish prison island of Imrali, the Turkish occupation attacks on Kurdistan, the massacres committed in Kurdish territories and the silence of the UN.
This week's demonstration, which is held at a tent set up in Nation Square where the UN Office is located, started with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the ISIS genocide against the Yazidi community in Shengal (Sinjar) on 3 August 2014.
Veysel Kuşkanadı made a speech on behalf of the Action Committee and commemorated those who lost their lives in the Shengal Genocide. Stating that no news has been received from Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan for 41 months, Kuşkanadı once again called on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and international organisations, especially the UN, to fulfil their responsibilities against the system of isolation, torture and genocide against Abdullah Öcalan.
İbrahim Yüksel, Co-Chair of the Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Centre (CDK-Ge), read the press statement. Drawing attention to the extent of the isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, Yüksel said that the isolation system is applied to the oppressed peoples as a whole, especially the Kurdish people.
Referring to the invasion attacks of the fascist Turkish state against Southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq), Yüksel said: “The gains that the people of Southern Kurdistan have achieved by paying great prices for decades are today being sold to the Turkish state by the Barzani family.”
Condemning the betrayal of the Barzani family, İbrahim Yüksel noted that the same circle was a partner in the genocide by handing over the people of Shengal to ISIS gangs on 3 August 2014.
Yüksel stated that the Turkish state has recently accelerated the genocide of Kurdish culture and emphasised that they will protect their identity and culture at all costs against attacks.
