French Senator Laurent: We must break the silence

Senator Pierre Laurent, the National Secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), who took part in the European delegations that went to Hewlêr, called for increased solidarity with the Kurds.

Pierre Laurent held a press conference at the Senate in Paris after he returned from Hewler.

Laurent called for solidarity with the Kurds, stating that the invasion attacks carried out by the Turkish state in South Kurdistan since 23 April are very dangerous.

Laurent emphasized that “We need to be in solidarity with the Kurds”.

He asked the French government “What kind of relations does France have with Erdogan’s Turkey?”

Referring to the talks with Turkish officials before and during the NATO summit, Laurent criticised the process and said ‘Nothing is revealed to the public’ regarding what was discussed during these meetings.

The PCF National Secretary noted that although the tension between Turkey and France has recently increased, the ‘appeasement policy’ is ‘very dangerous’.

“Our delegation sparked a great interest in Hewler,” he noted.

“Our delegation was also blocked,” said Laurent, indicating those who were deported or were prevented from flying to Hewler from Germany.

“We want to break the silence; we want to create a social movement because there is an opportunity to create a public opinion in Europe to show solidarity with the Kurdish people. But we were denied access to information about what was going on there.”

The French senator called for an end to the bombardment of the Turkish state. “We do not accept the cooperation of the European countries with the Erdogan regime. France should take a stance.”

“The EU should remove the PKK from the list of terrorist organizations. It is necessary to develop a dialogue with all Kurdish organizations in order to come up with a solution,” he added.

Laurent stressed that they would make new visits to Hewler after September. “Our aim is to break the silence,” said Laurent adding that the Turkish state has created new dangers for the peoples of the region.