Peace in Kurdistan issued a statement of solidarity to mark 1 September 2021 World Peace Day.

The statement reads: "Peace in Kurdistan sends its solidarity greetings on 1 September 2021 World Peace Day to all who call for an end to the Turkish occupation of Kurdistan to all who call for an end to the Turkish occupation of Kurdistan. The latest escalation of the Turkish state’s war against the Kurds came with the 23 April invasion of northern Iraq/South Kurdistan. This invasion is itself a violation of international law, being the occupation of a sovereign nation. As Kurdish-led resistance to the occupation army and its auxiliaries remains unbroken, the Turkish forces have resorted to the use of chemical weapons and to bombing medical facilities and health staff. These are both breaches of international law. Villages have been attacked, terrain set on fire and a campaign of forced population removal has been employed. That the invasion and the barbaric methods of conflict employed have gone without condemnation by the European Union, the US and British governments is a moral disgrace and a warning to all who value peace and democracy.

Everyday more Turkish soldiers are killed by the resistance. They themselves were sent into Kurdistan to kill people and are treated as disposable by the AKP/MHP government of President Erdogan. Precisely at the time when the popularity of the government in Turkey is declining and its legitimacy is questioned, that government’s campaign against the Kurds in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and everywhere else that Kurds live is increased. The invasion coincides with the orchestrated racist attacks on and murder of Kurds in Turkey and the intended criminalisation of Turkey’s third largest political party, the HDP.       

None of this could be done without the acquiescence of the European Union and NATO countries, an organisation of which Turkey is a member. None of it could be done without the weapons and credits that Europe, the US and Britain supply Turkey. Unless they speak out and oppose the Turkish occupation and war, they are complicit in the Turkish state’s crimes. There can be no peace in the Middle East without peace in Kurdistan.

All the while, the Kurdish movement remains committed to reaching a peaceful, political resolution of the conflict. By refusing to negotiate with the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, the Turkish government demonstrates not only its desire to wage a war of annihilation against the Kurds, but its own weakness and lack of legitimacy, fearing that if it were to open up for reconciliation with the Kurdish population, Erdogan’s government would lose its authoritarian grip on power. Without such a reconciliation, there can never be peace within Turkey, or the surrounding region. The people of Europe must oppose this war. Defend Kurdistan against Turkish occupation."