Global Day of Action against the Turkish invasion in Kurdistan on 26 May 2018

The Erdogan government has taken the colonial ambitions of the Turkish state to a whole new level. It now aims to destroy all the gains made by the in both the South and West of Kurdistan. If this is not achievable, then they would like to lay siege to the Kurdish territories and suffocate them. The Turkish state is maintaining its age-old policy against the Kurds and Kurdistan, aiming to leave the Kurds without any rights yet again. Turkish state policy against the Kurds today is all out-war, destruction and occupation. Erdogan began the latest aggression in the Kurdish region of The Erdogan government broke off peace negotiations in mid-2105, and ever since, has resumed the decades’ long pattern of state terror by security forces in Bakur (the Kurdish region of Turkey). It has unleashed a wave of brutal repression and atrocities, including the siege of dozens of cities, causing thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands displaced, and the unconstitutional imprisonment of hundreds of democratically-elected Kurdish local representatives and parliamentarians as well as jailing thousands more activists. Turkish state’s illegal bombing and invasion of Afrin in Northern Syria Military aggression has more recently spilled over the border into Syrian territory. The Turkish state has illegally bombed and invaded Afrin, a Kurdish-majority region which had been a peaceful oasis in a war- torn country, a site of refuge, and stronghold of the democratic confederal project. This criminal invasion has led to hundreds of deaths and a further wave of mass displacement. Most alarming are indications of plans for full-scale ethnic cleansing of Kurds. Turkey’s potential invasion of Iraqi Kurdish territory Most recently, the genocidal assault on Kurds in Turkey and Syria has escalated further still, with aerial bombardments. There are increasing signs of an imminent full-scale invasion of Iraqi Kurdish territory, in an attempt to further encircle and strangle the only space of freedom in the region. Stop Turkey’s invasion and support the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan The heroic resistance of Kobane against the thugs of ISIS was a historic turning point. It brought to the world’s attention the Kurdish Freedom Movement’s tenacious will to struggle for its democratic confederal project. This offers the only viable alternative to the ongoing spiral of violence and tyranny that continues to engulf the Middle East. The Turkish state has responded with fury to the spread of the democratic-confederal flame. In the wake of Kobane, it has completely isolated the Kurdish Freedom Movement’s widely respected leader, Abdullah Öcalan, whose imprisonment in inhumane conditions on Imrali island now approaches its twentieth year. This deliberate silencing of Öcalan since March of 2015 has been a crucial first step by the Turkish state in its declaration of all-out war on the Kurds. Break the silence against Turkey`s invasion in Kurdistan In the invasion of Afrin, Russia opened up Syria’s airspace for Turkey’s air force, and the dominant international forces (the USA and the EU) remained silent. A similar silence continues during the attacks against South Kurdistan. The international complicity leaves the Kurds vulnerable to massacres in every part of Kurdistan. We call upon all international governments and alliances (the UN, NATO, the EU, the Arab League) as well as the world’s democratic peoples, to oppose the Turkish aggression. We call upon all political parties, human rights organisations, trade unions, activists and international institutions, to support the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan.

Towards this end, we announce the 26th May 2018 as a Global Day of Action against the Turkish invasion of Rojava (Northern Syria) and Basur (Northern Iraq)

First Signatories: #DefendAfrin Platform; Prof. Kariane Westrheim chairperson EU Turkey Civic Commission, Professor at the University of Bergen. Former Rafto Board Member; Rev. Fr. Joe Ryan, Chair of the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission (UK); Thomas Jeff Miley Lecturer of Political Sociology, Cambridge University (UK); Federico Venturini School of Geography, University of Leeds (Italy); Ulla Sandbæk, Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Member, Group of the Unified European Left; Miren Gorrotxategi Azurmendi, Senadora de Unidos Podemos por Bizkaia, Spain; Estella Schmid, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), UK; The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E); EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Peace in Kurdistan, UK; Kurdistan National Kongress (KNK); Kati Engel, Abgeordnete des Thüringer Landtages, Fraktion DIE LINKE; Kerem Schamberger Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung, LMU München, stellv. Vorsitzender des isw.; Prof. Dr. med. Dipl. Soz.-päd. Gerhard Trabert; Dr. Dario Azzellini, Sozialwissenschaftler, Autor und Filmemacher; Gemeinsam kämpfen - feministische Kampagne für Selbstbestimmung und Demokratische Autonomie; Hartmut Ring, PädagogInnen für den Frieden, Hamburg; Städtefreundschaft Frankfurt- Kobane e.V.; Kampagne TATORT Kurdistan; Prof. Dr. Hans Haußmann; Leander Sukov, Schriftsteller, Publizist, Ochsenfurt; Dr Wolfram Elsner, Professor of Economics, University of Bremen, Business Studies & Economics (retired); Volker Jung, DKP Saarland; Janet Biehl Author, Translator (Revolution in Rojava) and artis, USA; Feministische Partei DIE FRAUEN; Paul Stern, DGB- Kreisvorsitzender Celle; Tomasz Konicz, Autor und Journalist; Rete Kurdistan Italia; Vittorio Agnoletto, MD, former MEP; Simone Oggionni, Coordinamento Nazionale Arricolo UNO-MDP; Francesco Sticchi, Ricercatore; Federica Giardini, Prof Università Roma tre; Vittoria Tola, Unione Donne in Italia; Laura Corradi, Researcher Università della Calabria. Supported by Lord Rea, House of Lords, UK; Lord Dholakia, House of Lords, UK; Lord Hylton, House of Lords, UK; Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary, Prof Bill Bowring, Prof Mary Davis, UK; Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans MEP; Rahila Gupta, journalist, author, UK; Nick Hildyard, policy advisor; Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, UK; James Kelman, writer, UK; Bruce Kent, Vice-President CND, UK; Jean Lambert MEP, UK; Hywel Williams Plaid Cymru MP, UK; Elfyn Llwyd, UK; Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Scotland; Mike Mansfield QC, barrister, UK; Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, International Coordinator, Green Party of England and Wales, UK; Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Ireland; Margaret Owen OBE, barrister, UK; Gareth Peirce, lawyer, UK; Dr Felix Padel, Oxford University, UK; Stephen Smellie, Deputy Convenor, UNISON, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, researcher; Dr Derek Wall, Goldsmith College, UK; Steve Sweeney, International Editor, Morning Star, UK; Amber Huff, Research Fellow at Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, UK; Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity, UK; Trevor Rayne, Editorial Board of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! UK; Maude Casey, writer, UK; Zaher Baher, activist, UK; Prof. Leon Tikly, University of Bristol, UK; Celia Stubbs, campaigner for refugees and asylum seeker, UK; Alain Hertzmann, branch secretary, UNITE, UK. Thorvald Steen, Author, ; Haci Akman, University of Bergen, Norway; , Writer and former MP, Red Party, Norway; Efraim Bulut, PhD Cardiologist, Haraldsplass Deaconess University College, Norway; Jan Bojer Vindheim, District Councillor, Green Party, Norway; Helene K. Eide, Associate Professor, University of Bergen, Norway; Bent Endresen, Lawyer, Norway; Kari Hagatun, PhD candidate, University of Bergen, Norway; Margareth Barndon, Communication advisor, University of Bergen, Norway; Ingunn Gjerstad, Union Activist, , Norway; Robert Grey, Ass. Prof. University of Bergen, Norway; John Thomas Suhr, Leader of dept. Oslo/Akershus, the Norwegian Union of Commerce and Office Employees (HK), Norway;v UDI-UNIONE DONNE Italia; L'Altra Europa con Tsipras; Rifondazione Comunista Sinistra Europea; Attac Italia; Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l'Acqua Bene Comune; Amig@s MST-Italia; Comitato di base NoMuos/NoSigonella Catania; Csoa Angelina Cartella di Reggio Calabria; Casa Madiba Network Rimini; Domenico Lucano, Sindaco di Riace(Rc); Livio Pepino, Magistrato, già consigliere Corte di Cassazione e componente Consiglio superiore della magistratura, Italia; Maurizio Acerbo, segretario nazionale Prc-Sinistra Europea; Dott. Giustina Selvel li, ricercatrice post-doc (Università di Novi Sad, Serbia); Nicla Scatizzi, Comitato Acqua Pubblica Torino; Gianni Sartori, Journalist; Giuliana Barbieri, Donatella Perfetti, Mariangela Rosolen, Enrico Barba, Mariagrazia Parolin, Italia; MLKP, Italia.