The Kurdish umbrella organization KON-MED in Germany condemned the raids against Kurdish institutions and private homes of activists and called on the Federal Ministry of the Interior to “end the criminalization policy”.
The umbrella organization for the self-organization of the Kurdish diaspora in Germany, KON-MED, condemned the raids and arrests of Kurdish associations and activists on Tuesday in Bremen and on 10 January in Hanover.
In the statement, the organization said: “We condemn the German state’s attempts to criminalize Kurds and Kurdish institutions and call on Germany to distance itself from its stance towards Kurds.”
The statement continued: “Both in Hanover and Bremen, the police searched Kurdish homes. In Bremen, at Biratî e.V., the administration room was vandalized and the desk drawers were broken. As KON-MED, the largest organization of the Kurdish community in Germany, we condemn this inhumane behavior towards the Kurds by the police and their superior Ministry of the Interior!”
The statement added: “We appeal to the German Ministry of the Interior to stop criminalizing Kurds! Like other communities, Kurds living in Germany have the right to freedom of assembly within the framework of German law. Kurds who have come to Germany and settled here due to the repression of the Turkish state, which occupies our country, and the pressure from the states of Iran, Iraq and Syria, fulfil their tax obligations and also exercise their rights of freedom of association and freedom of expression, as required by a democratic society.”
The statement also appealed “to the residents of Germany to protest against the attitude of the German state and the criminalization attempts of Kurds and Kurdish institutions.
Do not forget that the state institutions that prevent Kurds from exercising their basic human rights today will do the same to you tomorrow. The anti-Kurdish policy of the German Ministry of the Interior and Justice has become an all-consuming legal maelstrom. This maelstrom is targeting Kurds today, but tomorrow it will also affect you.
We call on the Kurds in Germany to stand up against this criminalization by the German state and to organize themselves. Now is the time to fight together against criminalization policies. Now it's time to live in solidarity. Now is the time for all Kurds in Germany to raise their voices against criminalization!”
