Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Düsseldorf on Saturday to send a message  against Turkey's war policy in Kurdistan. The organising committee counted about 20,000 people who took part in the demonstration organized by the "Defend Kurdistan" initiative. The background of the nationwide mobilised demonstration under the slogan "Against Turkish occupation and the use of chemical weapons" is Turkey's invasion of the Kurdistan region of Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), which has been ongoing since 17 April. According to guerrillas, chemical weapons outlawed under international law are regularly used. The Turkish army's artillery and drone attacks on Rojava and the Yazidi area of Shengal, in which numerous people have been injured or killed in recent weeks, were also a topic.

Sever: Probably also German weapons in the war against Kurdistan

The participants of the demonstration came from all over Germany and other European countries. After a loud and militant opening rally, the protesters marched from Elisabethstraße through the streets of the city centre under a colourful sea of flags and banners. At the demonstration's destination, the northern Rhine Park near the Theodor Heuss Bridge, a stage programme with live music acts and political speeches was waiting. The co-chairs of the German umbrella organisation of Kurdish associations, KON-MED, started the programme. Zübeyde Zümrüt greeted the crowd with the words: "The Zap is in resistance, Abdullah Öcalan is in resistance. We are in Düsseldorf today to greet these legitimate struggles."

Referring to German arms exports to Turkey, Engin Sever stated, "It is considered likely that weapons produced in the Federal German Republic are used again in the war of aggression on Southern Kurdistan. Kurdish society does not accept the German-Turkish war partnership. Our position is clear: end the war in Kurdistan, peace now and freedom for Abdullah Öcalan."

Dr Wilk warns of consequences of a new war of aggression against Rojava

Yüksel Koç from the Kurdish European umbrella organisation KCDK-E called the demonstration a "correct response" to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and NATO, which persistently maintain their silence despite evidence of war crimes committed by Turkey in Southern Kurdistan. Dr Michael Wilk, a doctor from Wiesbaden who has travelled to Rojava several times to provide humanitarian aid, was also in Düsseldorf. Wilk warned urgently of the consequences of a renewed Turkish war of aggression in northern Syria and told of the terrible events the local population have already experienced in the past wars of aggression by Turkey and its Islamist partners in the region. "While media and public attention is focused on the war in Ukraine, Turkish drones are carrying out daily attacks on Rojava, Shengal and northern Iraq," said Dr Wilk.

British trade unionist: Freedom for Öcalan!

The International and Research Director of the British-Irish trade union Unite the Union, Simon Dubbins, also took part in the demonstration. Speaking at the closing rally, he expressed "fullest solidarity" with the Kurdish people on behalf of the whole union. "In the nineties, we positioned ourselves alongside our friends in South Africa. Today the Kurdish people are showing us the place to fight."  In the end, Dubbins called for "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan!". Unite the Union, which is one of the largest unions in the UK with 1.5 million members, is also leading the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan campaign.

YJK-E: Withdraw political support from Turkey immediately

Other speakers included Ayten Kaplan, spokesperson for the Association of Kurdish Women in Germany (YJK-E). Kaplan called on the international community to "immediately withdraw political support" from the Turkish government because Ankara wants to carry out genocide. Kaplan described the Turkish aggression against Kurds as a "symbol of the fear of the occupiers of Kurdistan". Kaplan also criticised the German government, especially the "criminalisation of almost all Kurdish activities" in Germany. "Yet Kurdish society only wants peace, freedom and democracy," said Kaplan.

Mizgin Çiftçi: Human rights are not negotiable

Mizgin Çiftçi, a local politician of DIE LINKE party in Lower Saxony, also criticised the federal government for its tolerance of the unlawful actions of the AKP government inside and outside Turkey. Whether wars of aggression against South Kurdistan and Rojava, the use of chemical weapons against guerrillas and the population or the withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention - human rights are not negotiable, said Çiftçi.

Music was provided by singers and bands of the Kurdish cultural movement TEV-ÇAND.