World public opinion says no to PKK ban!

In Kurdistan, one of the world’s places where war and humanitarian drama are most intense, the Turkish state continues its genocide attempts, denial, and assimilation. The Turkish state, under the Erdogan government, legitimizes all kinds of state violence in Turkey/Bakur, Syria/Rojava, and Iraq/Bashur in the name of the “fight against terrorism.”

The Turkish state, which does not recognize the natural and legitimate rights of the Kurdish people, accuses Kurdish parties, deputies, and mayors who engage in legal politics in parliament of “membership in a terrorist organization.”

• Three thousand academics who criticized the state’s Kurdish policy have been expelled from universities on charges of “supporting a terrorist organization.” Hundreds of journalists have been tried and imprisoned on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization and making propaganda.”
• In Rojava, the PYD, SDF, YPG, and YPJ, all of which are in the international coalition that defeated the enemy of humanity, are accused of “partnership with the PKK” and “terrorism.”
• The Turkish state occupied Rojava on the grounds of “fight against terrorism”; the Turkish army and ISIS members have settled in Afrin, Serekaniye, and Gire Sipî.
• The Erdogan government has repeatedly bombed the UN-controlled Mahmur refugee camp, causing the deaths of many of its residents.
• Turkey claims that this camp, where 15,000 civilians live, is a “terrorist camp”.
• Likewise, Yazidi Kurds in Shengal (Sinjar) are systematically bombed by Turkish planes.

Seeing these reckless attacks by the Turkish state and Erdogan government, twenty-nine well-known writers and politicians from around the world have established the International Initiative for Justice for the Kurds to oppose the attacks and to stand in solidarity with the Kurdish people.

On November 5, 2021, this initiative issued a statement calling on world intellectuals to oppose terrorism and terrorism accusations and to remove the PKK from terrorist lists.

Among the founders of the International Initiative for Justice for the Kurds are Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek; Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek; U.S. editor and artist Janet Biehl; spokesperson of the Afghanistan Solidarity Party Selay Ghaffar; Spanish member of the European Parliament Miguel Urbán Crespo; Croatian philosopher Srećko Horvat; director-general of the Progressive International David R. K. Adler; member of the Council of Europe and Italian senator Roberto Rampi; former Italian minister Paolo Ferrero; Spanish senator Gorka Elejabarrieta Díaz from the Basque Country; International Law specialist Prof. Norman Paech; President of the European Union–Turkey Citizens’ Commission (EUTCC) / Norway Prof. Kariane Westrheim; French writer and editor Nils Andersson; French Kurdistan Solidarity Coordination member Joel Dutto; founding member of the Argentine Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo Nora Cortinas; well-known Indian peace activist Prof. Achin Vanaik; secretary-general of the European Union–Turkey Citizens’ Commission (EUTCC) Prof. Michael M. Gunter; German jurist Berthold Fresenius; Bolivian scientist Prof. Raúl Prada Alcoreza; former Venezuelan planning minister Roland Denis; former Copenhagen mayor Villo Sigurdsson; former Danish member of the European Parliament Pernille Frahm,; Swedish human rights activist Benny Gustafsson; former Norwegian MP Erling Folkvord; Norwegian theater artist and director Pia Maria Roll; Swedish Left Party MP Håkan Svenneling; Dutch founder of the New World Summit Dr. Jonas Staal; renowned German lawyer Dr. Rolf Gossner; spokesperson of the Belgian Peace Movement Ludo de Brabander.

Responding to the call of the initiative, one thousand people from diverse countries said “no to the PKK ban” and demanded that the PKK be removed from the EU list. Among them were members of the European Parliament; national and local assembly deputies; senators, heads of political parties, and mayors; trade union leaders and union representatives; academics, journalists, and lawyers; managers and representatives of human rights organizations, women’s organizations, and peace organizations; artists, priests, and environmentalists,

As of December 13, 2021, these one thousand people representing Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and thirty countries have supported the appeal “For peace, democracy and human rights, for peace, democracy and human rights, to support the PKK” and signed on to the campaign for the removal of the PKK from the list of terrorist organizations.