Campaign for delisting the PKK in Oslo and Melbourne

The international campaign against the classification of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organisation is being promoted in Australia and Norway. The campaign for the delisting of the PKK was launched last November by the international initiative “Justice for Kurds” and is directed at the Council of the Europe. The goal is four million signatures for the removal of the PKK from the “terror list”. The campaign petition can also be signed online.

In the city centre of Oslo, activists from the Kurdish Community Centre informed about the campaign and its background at a stand and collected signatures. The stand is set up on a weekly basis by the committees organised in the Oslo Community Centre and is planned for the time being until the Kurdish New Year festival Newroz on 21 March. This week, the local PJAK committee took over the stall. A rally against the international conspiracy that led to the abduction of Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey 23 years ago has also been announced for 1 pm.

In Melbourne, signatures were collected at a stand of the Kurdish association NAV-KURD. The Kurdish and Australian activists informed interested people about the campaign and the situation in Kurdistan with leaflets and in personal conversations.

The Justice for Kurds initiative highlights in the campaign that the classification of the PKK as a terrorist organisation serves as a justification for attacks on Kurds and as a reason for war and leads to “endemic inequalities being overlooked and social problems not being addressed”. The peace initiative is supported by internationally known personalities from politics, civil law, art and culture, including Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek, Afghan women’s rights activist Selay Ghaffar, German international law expert Norman Paech and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek.

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