Tens of thousands joined the rallies Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) organized in Mardin's Nusaybin district and Şırnak's Cizre district yesterday to display solidarity with the Rojava revolution and to protest at the walls of shame built between Rojava and North Kurdistan, and the barbed wire placed at the Roboski border.

Speaking at the Cizre rally, BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş said "We are here to support Rojava, which is resisting under the embargo of gangs, and to protest at the AKP government which is supporting these gangs." Demirtaş added that these armed gangs had the support of many European countries in addition to Turkey. Demirtaş continued, saying: "The Kurds are now extending the hand of assistance to the people of Rojava, but there is an embargo everywhere. They do not accept the proposals of Mr Öcalan for a solution. They do not want a free Kurdistan there. That is why we are here protesting. For us Qamışlo and Nusaybin are the same. Cizre and Cizirabotan too. If they introduce an embargo there, they will also introduce one for us. We will not permit this to happen."

Demirtaş also emphasised that the AKP government and PM Erdoğan were trying to prevent the Kurds attending Geneva II under the banner of the Kurdish Supreme Council in order to demand their freedom and status.

Demirtaş added: "On the one hand you will meet President Apo at İmralı, and on the other you will oppress the Kurdish people. We will not permit this. If the Kurds are going to be free in one place they are going to free in all four parts of Kurdistan. This is what we are striving for. The AKP is backtracking. it claims there is a state within a state. We say, are you only coming to your senses now that your money in shoeboxes has been found? Children in Van are wandering about barefoot, in below zero temperatures. When you were throwing Kurds in prison it was fine, but now your supporters are going to jail for corruption you claim it is a great conspiracy. Is this your sense of justice?"

BDP co-chair demanded the Turkish Prime Minister put those responsible for the Roboski massacre and the murders in Gever on trial, adding: "If you do this we will believe you are against the parallel state. Close the special courts and we will support you. You put children in jail for throwing stones at armoured cars. Now there is a clash of interests between you and the Gülen movement you claim there is a state within a state. The Kurds know this better that anyone and we will struggle against this. The people of Cizre have been waging a struggle for years. If the PM wants to take the correct path he should follow the mothers in their white headscarves. Otherwise, the AKP is on the way out. We will not weep at your demise. What else can we say?"

Following Demirtaş's speech the crowd marched towards the Rojava border, demolishing the police barricade in front of the border wire as they went. At the border Demirtaş addressed the crowd again, saying that not only the Turkey-Rojava border, but all the borders in the Middle East needed dismantling. He emphasised again that for Turkey, on the way to becoming a member of the EU, these borders were "borders of shame", adding that their protests would continue until these borders are removed. Demirtaş and the BDP MPs then returned to the Silk Road in Cizre, where the road was closed to traffic for a time by the crowd. The rally ended with slogans as the crowd dispersed.