Another appointment to put on the agenda of protests against the Turkish policies of all out-war against Kurdistan and the Kurdish people.

The date is 26 May which has been announced as Global Action Day against Turkish occupation of Kurdistan.

Among the first signatories are #DefendAfrin  Platform; Prof. Kariane Westrheim chairperson EU Turkey Civic Commission, Professor at the University of Bergen. Former Rafto Board Member; Rev, Fr. Joe Ryan, Chair of the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission (UK)...

In the manifesto launching the Global Action Day, the signatories underlined that “The Erdogan government has taken the colonial ambitions of the Turkish state to a whole new level. It now aims to destroy all the gains made by the Kurds in both the South and West of Kurdistan. If this is not achievable, then they would like to lay siege to the Kurdish territories and suffocate them”.

Turkey committed to all-out war against Kurds

Pointing out that “the Turkish military aggression has more recently spilled over the border into Syrian territory”, the manifesto also warns of the danger revealed by “increasing signs of an imminent full-scale invasion of Iraqi Kurdish territory, in an attempt to further encircle and strangle the only space of freedom in the region”.

The promoters of the Global Action Day call upon “all international governments and alliances (the UN, NATO, the EU, the Arab League) as well as the world’s democratic peoples, to oppose the Turkish aggression”.

They also “call upon all political parties, human rights organisations, trade unions, activists and international institutions, to support the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan”.

Here is the full text of the Global Action Day against Turkish occupation of Kurdistan:

The Erdogan government has taken the colonial ambitions of the Turkish state to a whole new level. It now aims to destroy all the gains made by the Kurds in both the South and West of Kurdistan. If this is not achievable, then they would like to lay siege to the Kurdish territories and suffocate them. The Turkish state is maintaining its age-old policy against the Kurds and Kurdistan, aiming to leave the Kurds without any rights yet again. Turkish state policy against the Kurds today is all out-war, destruction and occupation.

Erdogan began the latest aggression in the Kurdish region of Turkey

The Erdogan government has proceeded to break off peace negotiations and to resume its aggression by security forces in Bakur (the Kurdish region of Turkey). It unleashed a wave of brutal repression and atrocities, including the siege of dozens of cities, causing thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands displaced, and the unconstitutional imprisonment of hundreds of democratically-elected Kurdish local representatives and parliamentarians as well as jailing thousands more activists.   

Turkish state’s illegal bombing and invasion of Afrin in Northern Syria

Military aggression has more recently spilled over the border into Syrian territory.  The Turkish state has illegally bombed and invaded Afrin, a Kurdish-majority region which had been a peaceful oasis in a war-torn country, a site of refuge, and stronghold of the democratic confederal project.  This criminal invasion has led to hundreds of deaths and a further wave of mass displacement. Most alarming are indications of plans for full-scale ethnic cleansing of Kurds.

Turkey’s potential invasion of Iraqi Kurdish territory

Most recently, the genocidal assault on Kurds in Turkey and Syria has escalated further still, with aerial bombardments. There are increasing signs of an imminent full-scale invasion of Iraqi Kurdish territory, in an attempt to further encircle and strangle the only space of freedom in the region.

Stop Turkey’s invasion and support the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan

The heroic resistance of Kobane against the thugs of ISIS was a historic turning point.  It brought to the world’s attention the Kurdish Freedom Movement’s tenacious will to struggle for its democratic confederal project. This offers the only viable alternative to the ongoing spiral of violence and tyranny that continues to engulf the Middle East. The Turkish state has responded with fury to the spread of the democratic-confederal flame.  In the wake of Kobane, it has completely isolated the Kurdish Freedom Movement’s widely respected leader, Abdullah Öcalan, whose imprisonment in inhumane conditions on Imrali island now approaches its twentieth year.  This deliberate silencing of Öcalan since March of 2015 has been a crucial first step by the Turkish state in its declaration of all-out war on the Kurds. 

Break the silence against Turkey`s invasion in Kurdistan

In the invasion of Afrin, Russia opened up Syria’s airspace for Turkey’s air force, and the dominant international forces (the USA and the EU) remained silent. A similar silence continues during the attacks against South Kurdistan. The international complicity leaves the Kurds vulnerable to massacres in every part of Kurdistan.

We call upon all international governments and alliances (the UN, NATO, the EU, the Arab League) as well as the world’s democratic peoples, to oppose the Turkish aggression.

We call upon all political parties, human rights organisations, trade unions, activists and international institutions, to support the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan.

Towards this end, we announce the 26th May 2018 as a Global Day of Action against the Turkish invasion of Rojava (Northern Syria) and Basur (Northern Iraq)

First Signatories:

#DefendAfrin  Platform; Prof. Kariane Westrheim chairperson EU Turkey Civic Commission, Professor at the University of Bergen. Former Rafto Board Member; Rev, Fr. Joe Ryan, Chair of the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission (UK); Thomas Jeff Miley Lecturer of Political Sociology, Cambridge University (USA); Federico Venturini School of Geography, University of Leeds (Italy); Ulla Sandbæk, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Member, Group of the Unified European Left; Miren Gorrotxategi Azurmendi, Senadora de Unidos Podemos por Bizkaia; Estella Schmid, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC; The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E); EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Peace in Kurdistan -UK; Kurdistan National Kongress (KNK)