The International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG) said: "We are appalled by the Turkish state’s ongoing brutal repression of activists in the Kurdish Freedom Movement. The aim of the Turkish state is to try and smother the values, principles and practices of this movement that further women’s liberation, direct democracy, and egalitarianism in Turkey, northern Syria and internationally."

The ILRIG reminded that "in the latest incident, the Turkish state arrested 53 activists - including Ayse Gokkan of the Free Women’s Movement - on Tuesday the 14th July. Most of the activists that have been arrested were women. This, yet again, is an attempt by the Turkish state to undermine women’s liberation and the struggle for democracy in the Middle East and to suppress the voices of Kurdish activists."

This, said the ILRIG, "has come on the back of a sustained attack on the Kurdish Freedom Movement by the Turkish state that has included the removal of democratically elected mayors and their replacement with state appointees in the Kurdish region of Turkey, the invasion of parts of Rojava in northern Syria and the assassination of 3 leading women activists in Rojava through a drone strike."

The ILRIG added: "We stand with all the progressive activists that have been arrested, assassinated or killed by the Turkish state and its surrogate forces, including the 53 comrades that have been arrested on the 14th of July. The best solidarity we can offer is to continue the work we have been doing around the Rojava Revolution and Democratic Confederalism, including sharing the related principles, values and practices of direct democracy, women’s liberation, anti-capitalism and the critique of the nation state with activists in South Africa"