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Supporters of the Pro-Kurdish HDP in Turkey celebrate their party’s victories in the June 2015 elections (REUTERS/Murad Sezer)
By Peace in Kurdistan Campaign:
Peace in Kurdistan was launched in 1994 in order to support the Kurdish people in their struggle to achieve justice through peaceful and democratic solutions to the persecutions the live under. This includes seeking international recognition of the fundamental right of the Kurdish people to self-determination and achieving their ability to exercise that right without fear of retribution and repression in Kurdistan in Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq.
Our campaigns have highlighted the various stages of the Kurdish struggle in the different states in which they reside and where they have been oppressed as a minority. These include the right to freedom of expression and to be educated in their mother tongue; for access to the media; an end to arbitrary arrest and torture; the defence of teachers, lawyers, trade unionists, elected representatives and Kurdish spokespersons persecuted for their professional and political activities.
We have organised many delegations to Kurdistan. These have included politicians, lawyers, women, trade union and human rights activists.
In recent years we have highlighted the efforts of the Kurdish people in resisting Daesh/ISIS in Rojava, Syria and Southern Kurdistan/North Iraq, called for international aid to defend and now re-build Kobane, raised awareness of the refugee crisis in Iraq, Syria and Turkey including the plight of the Ezidi people.
We have appealed for the world to see what is happening in Turkey. Here the AKP government have sabotaged negotiations for peace with the Kurds which included the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, and the wider Kurdish movement. They have pursued a violent campaign of war against the Kurdish people including curfews on Kurdish towns, hundreds of attacks on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases in Iraq. This policy has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians.
Peace in Kurdistan helped to organise the hugely successful demonstration Stop the War on Kurds in March 2016.
The struggle of the Kurds for peace, democracy, women’s emancipation and a secular society are in line with the values of progressive people everywhere.
Peace in Kurdistan is appealing for support to continue our campaigns and to help to raise awareness of the struggle of the Kurds for a democratic and peaceful solution.
We are inviting people and their organisations to join us as supporters; to build support for our campaigns; provide some financial support to assist our campaigns and; to develop solidarity with the Kurds in their struggles.
Peace in Kurdistan – Campaign for a peaceful solution of the Kurdish question
Patrons: Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Kate Osamor MP, Elfyn Llwyd, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, John Austin, Christine Blower, NUT General Secretary, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas, Nick Hildyard, Stephen Smellie, Derek Wall, Melanie Gingell
