Peace in Kurdistan sent its solidarity greetings to all those resisting Turkey’s war on this day of action for the Kurds.

Peace in Kurdistan said in a statement: "We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those out on the streets who are joining in the demonstration for peace. For the fate of humanity, the Kurds must be victorious. Solidarity with the Kurds, stop Turkey’s war."

The statement continued: "The spill over into Kurdistan from the protracted conflict in Europe is becoming more clearly evident in Erdogan’s latest actions in Syria and Iraq. The President of Turkey is ruthlessly exploiting the situation opened up by the war in Ukraine to achieve maximum advantage in his unrelenting war against the Kurds. He calculates that while the United States and Russia are preoccupied with Ukraine, Turkish forces will have a free hand to eliminate Kurdish forces located across the border in Syria and Iraq, claiming to be acting in response to a terrorist threat and encouraged by his belief that Turkey’s allies will remain silent and in so doing will effectively be condoning his actions. 

Furthermore, while much of the Russian forces are preoccupied in Eastern Ukraine, Erdogan appears to believe that the Russian military presence in Syria will offer no obstacle to Turkey’s military operations against the Kurds, which involve mass expulsion of the Kurdish majority population in the border region of some 1,400 km. He expects to escape criticism of his actions by the device of claiming that he is simply making the land safe for Turkey. This is a falsehood. The Kurds pose no threat to the Turkish people. They seek peace and to be treated fairly and only wish to enjoy the rights that other peoples can take for granted. 

In pursuit of his war aims, Erdogan has frustrated NATO’s plans for expansion by refusing to countenance the membership of Sweden and Finland in a bid to exert leverage over the domestic policies of those two countries alleging that they offer a haven for Kurdish terrorist groups. 

With Erdogan poised to launch an all-out war on Kurdish positions, the danger to the Kurds is now real and imminent. He has wanted to destroy Rojava ever since the Kurdish controlled enclave was established and has long resented the successes achieved by Kurdish forces in their resistance to ISIS and their cooperation with international forces in the common struggle to restrain the advance of the Islamist groups, who were engaging in an orgy of bloody massacres and enslaving all who stood in their way of their plan to construct a caliphate. Turkey collaborated with these groups, who were regarded by others as a scourge on humanity. 

Like any other nation, Turkey must be held fully accountable for its actions. Ankara cannot simply be given free rein to ride roughshod over international law and flout standards of behaviour that we all expect other countries to follow.

Credible and repeated reports of the use of banned chemical weapons by Turkish forces against the Kurds demand to be thoroughly investigated.

Turkey must not be permitted to get away with its planned destruction of Kurdish civilians and displacement of entire communities in this ruthless and dirty war.

Turkey is pursuing an extremely high risk strategy with untold consequences which can only provoke further conflict and further destabilise the whole region. The Kurds stand full square for peace, for a new form of democratic self-government that offers hope for the peoples of the region and for advancing the rights of women and protecting the rights of minority communities. They must be supported.

The rights of all the peoples of the region and their way of life were mercilessly repressed by the jihadi factions whose interests became opportunistically aligned with those of the Turkish state. As such it is surely blatantly obvious that Turkey’s war on the Kurds is an attack on every one of us. Erdogan’s Turkey is engaged in a war of extermination against all decent, democratic, humanitarian principles and presents a threat to all the shared values that we should cherish and uphold as citizens of one global community. If we believe that we have a common interest in building a better future for the world, then we must stop Turkey from fulfilling its objectives.  

Since its foundation in 1994, Peace in Kurdistan has consistently argued that direct peace negotiations between Turkey and the Kurds offer the only realistic solution towards bringing this historic conflict to an end with an enduring settlement. We repeat once again this demand and call on all those with influence to restrain Turkey’s war drive and bring Erdogan to the negotiating table. 

The UK Government, NATO and the West must not remain silent in the face of Turkey’s war drive."

Peace in Kurdistan ended its statement by sending its solidarity greetings to "all those resisting Turkey’s war on this day of action for the Kurds. We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those out on the streets who are joining in the demonstration for peace. For the fate of humanity, the Kurds must be victorious. Solidarity with the Kurds, stop Turkey’s war."