Signature campaign in Kelar for delisting the PKK

The Patriotic Youth Association collected signatures in the town of Kelar, Sulaymaniyah for the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organisations in the EU. The internationally-led campaign was launched last November by the Justice for Kurds initiative and calls on the Council of the European Union “in the interest of peace, democracy and human rights” to remove the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the EU terrorist list. In the campaign, the initiative highlights 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.

Members of the association set up a stand in the town to collect signatures for the campaign which had been launched in Sulaymaniyah on January 29. Signatures have been collected in several cities and towns since the start of the campaign in the region. According to the organizers, thousands of signatures have been collected since.

Karwan Mehmud, a member of the Patriotic Youth Association, made a short speech at the stand and vowed to expand the campaign in the region.

“The PKK is a party fighting for humanity, which is why it should be delisted,” Mehmud demanded.