23rd International Kurdish Culture Festival will take place in the German city of Düsseldorf on September 5th, this Saturday. The traditional festival will this year be held under the main slogan “Let's Build Democratic Nation with Free Leader- We Will Not Allow Fascism”.

Unlike the previous year, the festival is organized by the European Peace and Democracy Assembly (ABDEM), which is comprised of 57 institutions, and Democratic Society Centre of Kurdish People in Germany (NAV-DEM), the biggest umbrella organization of Kurds in Germany.

In an interview to ANF, NAV-DEM Co-President Yüksek Koç called on all Kurds and other peoples living in Europe to join the festival.

Koç remarked that the 23rd Kurdish Culture Festival took place in a historic process and would therefore give a message accordingly, as the Kurdish people in both Rojava (West) and Bakur (North) Kurdistan rose up and established their self-rule, standing closer than ever to freedom.

Koç strongly criticized the AKP for starting a total war against Kurdish guerrillas in mountains and Kurdish civilians in cities after the defeat it suffered in Rojava, Kobanê and June 7 elections, adding; “The AKP which turned Kurdistan into a theater of war seeks to recover its defeat on November 1st. This plan will however not work because they will suffer a heavier defeat this time and AKP will become a thing of the past."

NAV-DEM Co-President recalled that last year's festival coincided a period of intense ISIS attacks on Kobanê and a major threat before Rojava, while Kurds today celebrated the victory of Kobanê and saluted the revolution in Rojava and the self-rule demand of Kurdish people in Northern Kurdistan.

Calling for strong participation in the festival for freedom of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan and establishment of democratic nation, Koç said the festival should take place in the very spirit of uprising and give the most effective answer to the attacks on Northern Kurdistan territory.

Koç also criticized the German state for the recent arrest of Kurdish politicians, and described this as hypocrisy as Germany claimed to be standing against both ISIS and AKP at the same time.

Pointing to the recent arrest of Ahmet Çelik- former executive of YEK-KOM (Federation of Kurdish Associations in Germany) -and Kurdish politician Bedrettin Kavak, as well as the three years prison sentence for Mehmet Demir, Koç said this was an unacceptable policy and condemned the German state for this prohibitive and arbitrary practices that served nothing other than hindering and delaying the solution of the Kurdish question. Koç demanded the urgent release of Kurdish politicians and removal of the ban on PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party).

Koç called on all peoples to attend the festival in solidarity with the Kurdish people's struggle against ISIS in Rojava and AKP in Bakur, adding that they would also commence works for the November 1st elections in Europe at the festival.

The 23rd International Kurdish Culture Festival which will be attended by HDP (Peoples' DemocraticParty) Co-President Selahattin Demirtaş and speakers from Shengal and Rojava will take place at Düsseldorf Rheinwiese (Kaiser-Wilheim-Ring) 40545 Düsseldorf on September 5th, Saturday.