Tomorrow, Saturday, a nationwide demonstration against the PKK ban will take place in Berlin. The Kurdish umbrella organisation KON-MED is calling for people to ensure massive participation, stagin the following:

"The 'ban on PKK activities' in the Federal Republic of Germany has now been in place for 29 years. We have emphasised and presented so often so far what this means for us Kurds living here, but despite everything, German politics is not interested in the concerns of the Kurdish diaspora here in Germany. If we look at the situation in our homeland right now, we see war and chaos. In northern Syria (Rojava), the Turkish regime has launched a new war of aggression, which will probably be followed by a ground invasion in a few days. Already, the war is having an immense impact on our local people. Apart from the fact that the Turkish state is defaming us all as terrorists and has already killed several civilians in its latest offensive, it is now destroying the infrastructure of Northern Syria in order to destroy the economic basis of the people and, on top of that, it is trying to revive ISIS. On the other hand, we have northern Iraq (southern Kurdistan), where the Turkish state has been waging a massive war of aggression since April, in which it has long since ceased to shy away from systematically using chemical warfare agents on a massive scale. Finally, we have Iran (Eastern Kurdistan), where people have been taking to the streets day after day since the cruel assassination of Jîna Amini. People take to the streets unarmed to change the system there, the Iranian state responds with massive violence and has people shot at. Not a day goes by without a Kurd being killed because of racist nationalist policies. After all the decades that have passed, one would think that it is forbidden to be a Kurd.

We who were forced to flee our homeland and come here to Germany did not come here to hide. We left because we had to, but that has not changed our political stance. We continue to stand up for our rights, we continue to go out on the streets every day if we have to, to draw attention to what is not being heard in the Western press. We stand up for the self-administration of Northern and Eastern Syria that has been built over the years, for the liberation struggle that is taking place in the mountains, without which we would not have been able to survive, for this society that has never given up and resists despite all the massacres and genocides it has experienced.

But what do we encounter here in Germany? The German state is the Turkish state's brother in arms. The politics we experienced there we are experiencing again in Germany. In addition to the hostility of nationalist-fascist Turks, we are exposed to structural anti-Kurdish racism on a daily basis, which comes from the state itself. We are put under general suspicion and criminalised as a whole society. It is a practice that goes hand in hand with the politics we have experienced in Kurdistan. The basis of this is the so-called PKK ban. The PKK ban has been a trauma for us for 29 years. Because of this ban, some people have lost their lives and many Kurds have had to serve years in prison. Therefore, for us, it is clear that the criminalisation of Kurdish society must end - the PKK ban must end!

In this context, we support the call of the initiative 'Lift the PKK ban!' and call together with them for tomorrow's demonstration in Berlin. Come to Hermannplatz at 11.00 a.m. and let's demonstrate together against the anti-Kurdish policy in the form of the PKK ban!”