The Kurdish Community Centre (KGZ) in Saarbrucken and four private residences in the Saarland were searched by the police on Tuesday morning. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office in Koblenz, the suspects from Lebach, Völklingen, Losheim and Beckingen are accused of being members of the "Kurdistan Workers' Party" (PKK).

In front of the KGZ, members of the association and people in solidarity protested against the searches and stated: "Activities that are part of everyday business for every association are not a matter of course for Kurds. Even the campaign against the Turkish military's war in northern Syria and northern Iraq is being put through the wringer at Erdogan's behest, because criticism of and opposition to Turkey as a NATO partner is undesirable."

The group stated that the police action was intended to make the work of the Kurdish association in Germany impossible. Documents that are needed for the regular work of the association were seized: membership lists, applications for the register of associations and notarial deeds.

Speaking at the spontaneous protest rally, Dilan Akdogan, spokesperson for the association, said: "We stand behind our association here today. We are a Kurdish society, we will not allow ourselves to be criminalised and we will continue to stand behind what we represent with our heads held high. We stand up for democracy and human rights. We want to be treated in an equal way also here in the Federal Republic of Germany, we want to exercise our basic rights."

The PKK ban, which has been in force since 1993, repeatedly provides the leverage to persecute politically active Kurds. This is "practical support for the despot Erdogan and his AKP regime" and "legitimisation of the war policy against the Kurdish population", said the KGZ, and demanded: "Stop supplying weapons to Turkey, condemn the war crimes committed by the Turkish military, get rid of the ban on the PKK!

KON-MED: INTIMIDATION ORDERED BY THE TURKISH STATE

Engin Sever and Zübeyde Zümrüt, co-spokespersons of the umbrella organisation KON-MED, also commented on the searches in Saarland and the situation of the Kurdish community in Germany: "As the Kurdish society in Germany, we are regularly confronted with harassment and repression. On the one hand, there are massive attacks by Turkish nationalists, such as the largest right-wing extremist organisation in Germany, the 'Grey Wolves'. In recent decades there have been repeated attacks by members and sympathisers of these groups. They threaten, attack, injure and kill Kurds here in Germany on the sole basis that we are Kurds.

On the other hand, there are the activities of the Turkish secret service with its thousands of agents and informers here in Germany. One of their main tasks is to continue to monitor and spy on us as Kurds who had to flee to Germany because of the political pressure in Turkey. Hundreds of us were imprisoned in Turkey for months because of this, when we were visiting our homeland. Many are intimidated and no longer dare to become politically active here in Germany or to publicly recognise themselves as Kurds.

To make matters worse, a massive anti-Kurdish racism has developed in Germany over the last decades. As a Kurdish society, we are placed under general suspicion because of the ban on PKK activities. Each and every one of us is seen as a potential terrorist. The German authorities are thus making themselves a stooge of the Turkish regime's repressive policy of contempt for human rights. Since this year in particular, a campaign called the 'repatriation offensive' by the coalition of the two parties has been taking place, resulting in mass deportations of Kurds to Turkey. Currently, for example, there is the case of an HDP member who had to flee to Germany because he has been sentenced to prison in Turkey for his political activities. His deportation would mean direct deportation to prison, deportation directly into the hands of Turkish nationalists. It should be well known that this means persecution and torture. Germany must immediately stop the deportation of all Kurds to Turkey and other countries in the Middle East!

In addition, four flats as well as the Kurdish Community Centre (KGZ) in Saarbrucken were searched today by the German police. The KGZ said, “It is pure harassment and anti-Kurdish racism that we are confronted with here. Because here, too, the searches are only based on flimsy reasons. It is an attempt at intimidation ordered by the Turkish state.”

“As Kurds, we are being subjected to multiple attacks and repression here in Germany, which is incompatible with both the German constitution and international law. We strongly condemn the actions of the German state and demand a statement from the Federal Ministry of the Interior on the latest criminalisation attempts against the KGZ in Saarbrucken and its members! Germany must massively rethink its Kurdish policy!"