The Administrative Court of Cologne ruled on the lawsuits filed by two women from Hamburg against the Federal Police's prohibition of their departure to Iraq in June 2021. The two plaintiffs were part of an international peace delegation that wanted to travel to southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq) in order to contribute to ending the attacks by the Turkish state in violation of international law. According to the legal aid fund AZADÎ e.V., the court ruled that the prohibition of the departures and the one-month travel bans to Iraq were unlawful.

International Peace Delegation of the Defend Kurdistan Campaign

On 12 June 2021, participants of a Peace Delegation of the Defend Kurdistan Campaign wanted to leave for Hewlêr (Erbil) in Northern Iraq via Düsseldorf Airport. Around 160 people from 14 countries took part in the Peace Delegation to raise awareness in European societies about the war in Kurdistan and the attacks by the Turkish military in violation of international law and to contribute to a peaceful solution to the Kurdistan conflict.

‘Significant interests of the Federal Republic of Germany jeopardised"

At Düsseldorf airport, the federal police refused 17 participants, including Hamburg Left Party leader Cansu Özdemir, permission to leave the country and issued one-month travel bans. The authorities justified their actions by citing, among other things, the Federal Republic of Germany's relations with Turkey, which, they said, would be ‘further negatively affected’ by travelling. They stated that this would jeopardise the ‘considerable interests of the Federal Republic of Germany’.

Attack on international solidarity

After the appeals against the bans were rejected, two participants from Hamburg filed a lawsuit against the federal police in June 2022. They defined the actions of the federal police as an attack on international solidarity with Kurdish society and an unlawful criminalisation of their commitment to peace in Kurdistan, which violated their fundamental rights. The Cologne Administrative Court ruled on these complaints on Wednesday.

The bans were unlawful

After the proceedings of the two plaintiffs were heard separately at short notice, the court came to the judgement in both cases that the bans were unlawful. The court based its judgement primarily on the fact that the authorities were unable to provide sufficient individual evidence that the plaintiffs wanted to participate in propaganda activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is banned in Germany, in northern Iraq, as alleged.

Rally in front of the administrative court

A rally was held in front of the court building, at which representatives of the German Left and the Kurdish movement expressed their solidarity with the plaintiffs and condemned the repression by the federal police in speeches.

Increased travel bans against political activists

Although the bans on which the decision is based date back more than three years, Wednesday’s judgement has a certain relevance. According to AZADÎ's observations, travel bans against political activists have become more frequent in recent years in order to hinder them in their activities. As recently as the end of July, a group of five travellers on their way to Shengal (Sinjar) in northern Iraq were stopped at Munich airport. All travellers were banned from leaving the country for one month. The group wanted to take part in commemorative events to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide against the Yazidis in Shengal.