Demonstrations against the Turkish state's actions after the earthquake disaster will take place in several European countries today. The protests are organised by the Association of Democratic Forces in Europe (ADGB) and the Platform of Kurdistan Institutions in Europe.

In a statement calling for participation in protests, the Kurdish Women's Movement in Europe (TJK-E) said the following:

"We have witnessed the cries of many people waiting for help under the rubble because the search and rescue operations either never came or came too late. When we consider the economic, social and societal dimensions of the earthquake and the ongoing aftershocks, we cannot look at this major disaster independently of politics. The Turkish government is directly responsible for the emergence and expansion of this disaster. It could not manage the crisis from the beginning and is making it bigger by blocking volunteers from political parties and non-governmental organisations. By delaying relief work, it has left more people dead in the rubble. Many villages and settlements have not been able to receive relief supplies, volunteers have been harassed and arrested, and civil society-organised relief supplies have been confiscated and declared as state or AKP benefits.”

The TJK-E criticized the fact that the earthquake region was not declared a disaster area. “Instead, a state of emergency has been declared. The Erdogan government is trying to use the earthquake for its political advantage:"The fact that Kurds, Arabs and Alevis as well as members of other religions live in the disaster area is the reason for the deliberate delay of the intervention. The government aims to change the demographic structure of the region. It is exploiting the earthquake by fuelling hostility, racism and discrimination with genocidal policies. For this reason, those trapped under the rubble were not helped for three days and search and rescue teams from different countries around the world had to wait for hours at airports, delaying their intervention."

The TJK-E statement continued: "Those responsible for this disaster are Erdoğan and his cronies, who have been collecting an earthquake tax for years, of which it is unclear what it is used for. Out of greed for profit, building amnesties have been issued and all deficiencies have been concealed with money.

The Erdoğan government is also responsible for the loss of life in Rojava by blocking aid deliveries and bombing the region despite the earthquake. Despite this inhumane and illegal action, the Turkish government can continue to count on the support of the USA, Russia and the EU. The Kurdish freedom movement, on the other hand, decided after the earthquake to stop military actions and channel all energy into helping the affected population.

This earthquake has once again shown the importance of solidarity and organisation among peoples. The Kurdish people and their friends living in Europe have called for mobilisation and have set up crisis services in each region to ensure the necessary coordination of aid. In this sense, our main task is to heal the wounds of the people and to restore the living conditions after the earthquake. The situation created by the government shows us once again that the current system insists on blood, tears, looting, death, genocide and war politics. The dirty alliance of Erdoğan and his government must be denounced everywhere. We must shout in the face of him and his supporters that they cannot feed on the blood of peoples, women and children.”

TJK-E concluded its statement by calling for strong participation in the demonstrations announced for 25 February in England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Greece, Australia, Cyprus, France and Germany.