Pressure and threats against Kurds rise in France

A collective of political organizations, trade unions and NGOs in France will hold a rally on Saturday against increasing threats against Kurdish representatives.

Pressure against Kurds has increased after French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit to Ankara on June 12.

Before the meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, several house raids were conducted against Kurds in France. Cavusoglu expressed his contentment for the raids by French authorities.

Democratic Kurdish Council France (CDK-F) said council spokesperson Agit Polat and former co-chair Vedat Bingol had their assets frozen on a joint order by the Ministries of Economy and Interior Affairs. The council said both representatives had also received open death threats. The young son of one of the representatives was approached by an unknown person at a park and threatened.

The collective for solidarity with the CDK-F, with NGOs, unions and political parties as constituents, protested the threats and pressure against Kurds and mentioned the assassination plan by the MIT that resulted in the murder of 3 revolutionary Kurdish women in 2013.

The statement said, “A new tragedy is unacceptable,” and demanded that the French state uphold their responsibilities and protect Kurdish political activists.

RALLY ON SATURDAY

The collective said, “France must not turn into a substitute for the Turkish state by getting involved in pressuring the Kurdish democratic movement. The fraternity of peoples cannot be marketed out for a handful of commercial agreements.”

The collective demands that the investigations against Kurdish activists be dropped and the PKK’s legitimacy as a leading political actor be recognized, and called for a rally on 147 Rue La Fayette, where the 3 Kurdish women were murdered, on Saturday at 17:00.

PCF: TURKISH EMBASSY IS A BASE OF OPERATIONS

Communist Party France (PCF) also issued a statement and protested the pressure against Kurds. PCF said: “The Turkish Embassy in France has become a base of operations against Kurds in Europe. French authorities cannot ignore this severely serious state of affairs.”

The Communist Party called on all elected officials and private citizens to take action, and stated that the French government must stress that total impunity for the murder of dissenters on their own lands is unacceptable.

PCF said all deportation attempts will constitute a “criminal act” and stressed that in any possible altercation the responsibility will lie squarely with the French government.

AMAZIGS: WE ARE IN FULL SOLIDARITY WITH THE KURDS

The Amazig Collective France said they stand in full solidarity with the CDK-F and the Kurdish people and added: “We condemn the criminalization of Kurdish political militants and call for mass solidarity with the CDK-F”

TAMILS: FRANCE MUST RECOGNIZE ITS TRUE FRIENDS

Another statement of support came from the Tamils. The Center for the Protection of Rights for the Tamil people issued a written statement and said, “France must not fall into Erdogan’s trap and see who its true friends are.”

The statement said, “We as the Sri Lanka Tamils who were sacrificed for the geopolitical interests of strong states call on states to stop abusing humanity and sacrificing people, and to recognize who their true friends and protectors are.”