On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the occupation of Afrin by Turkey and allied jihadists, the Association for Threatened Peoples is holding a vigil in front of the Federal Foreign Office.
On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the illegal occupation of the Kurdish region of Afrin by NATO member Turkey on 18 March 2018, the Association for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) is organizing a vigil in front of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. "Together we want to ask Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock not to forget the women in Afrin and northern Syria in her announced feminist foreign policy," said GfbV Middle East advisor Kamal Sido.
The action in Berlin has been announced for tomorrow, 16 March.
"Anyone who cannot or does not want to enforce women's rights and equal rights against a NATO partner like Turkey will not achieve this elsewhere either," emphasized Sido, who called on Green politician Baerbock to publicly condemn the illegal occupation of Afrin and to demand an end to the Turkish-Islamist occupation. “The rapes, kidnappings and murders of Muslims, Yazidis and Alevis women in Afrin, must finally stop,” Sido said, appealing to the German Foreign Minister to "apply international law and feminist politics together."
In a statement, the organization said: “While Turkish ruler Erdogan continued to crush women's rights in Turkey before 2018 and withdrew from international conventions for the protection of women, the Kurds in the autonomous region of Afrin had forbidden polygamy in Afrin, a practice common in the Islamic world. Before the Turkish occupation, women held at least half of all positions there, including in the police force. They could take to the streets without a headscarf and without fear. Hevi Mustafa, a woman belonging to the Kurdish-Alevi religious community, was the co-chair of Afrin's Autonomous Administration. All of that was destroyed by the occupation. The 300,000 displaced Kurds could return to their homes only if they accept the Islamic Sharia introduced by Turkey and its mercenaries. Meanwhile, Turkish attacks on northern Syria continue, even after the devastating earthquake. Tanks, artillery, rocket launchers and the air force, especially combat drones, are used. In 2022 alone there were 130 drone strikes in northern Syria, killing 87 and injuring 151.”
