Vigil outside the CoE: “Europe is complicit in the massacres of the Kurds”

In front of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the vigil initiated by the action group “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan” on 1 December continued under the motto “Freedom shall prevail, act for Öcalan”. The action is organised daily by new groups, joined on Wednesday by members of the Free Yazidi Women’s Movement (TAJÊ, Tevgera Azadiya Jinên Êzîdî) and the Kurdish federation FCDK/Kawa from Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Giessen, Mannheim and Saarbrücken.

Abdülvahap Alper, co-chair of Kawa, explained the purpose of the vigil, which will be concluded on December 17, and said, “Turkey does not comply with international agreements such as the Convention on Human Rights and European institutions do not fulfil their obligations. For example, the Council of Europe has done nothing about the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, undermining its own bodies and principles.”

Speaking on behalf of the Yazidi Women’s Movement, Zekiye Ağırman opened her statement with condolences to the Kurdish people for Merwan Bedel, who was killed in a Turkish drone attack in Shengal on Tuesday. Bedel was a father of four, a survivor of the ISIS genocide and a Yezidi resistance fighter, and died in a targeted attack on his car in his hometown of Khanasor. Zekiye Ağırman said that ISIS committed genocide against the Yazidis with Turkish support and that the people of Shengal could only be liberated by the Kurdish defence forces. She pointed out that the Turkish state wants to avenge the defeat of ISIS and is trying by all means to prevent a self-determined life in Kurdistan.

Parallel to these attacks and the massacres against the Kurdish people, Abdullah Öcalan is being isolated from the outside world, said Zekiye Ağırman and continued; “Europe is verbally advocating human rights and democracy and at the same time becomes complicit in the massacres against the Kurdish people by taking no step against the isolation.”

According to Ağırman, the fascist politics of the Turkish state will not be stopped unless the isolation of the Kurdish leader is brought to an end. The Kurdish people will continue their struggle undeterred, stressed the Yazidi activist.

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