Last week’s US election result and our own Brexit contortions must be one of the reasons why your paper and the media generally have had no space to cover the shocking descent into the genocide of the Kurds occurring in Turkey and Syria, where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sees all Kurds as terrorists, and, by his actions, Isis as his friends.
Hundreds of thousands of political prisoners, lawyers, parliamentarians, academics, journalists, teachers, trade unionists, women activists, university students and even schoolchildren are in overcrowded prisons where abuse and torture is rampant, and access to any impartial justice system nonexistent.
Last week 370 NGOs were shut down, becoming the latest victims to feel the wrath of President Erdoğan and his clampdown on democracy; 190 of them are Kurdish, accused of being affiliated to the PKK. Turkey’s leaders have unleashed a ruthless suppression of every aspect of Kurdish civil society, destroying all their efforts towards a peaceful solution to the long conflict. Likewise, in Syria, Erdogan’s forces are targeting the Kurds, whose People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) are among the only really reliable local forces on the ground fighting Isis, and providing refuge for nearly 3 million internally displaced people and refugees of all ethnicities and religions, who have come from other parts of Syria and now from Mosul in Iraq.
Under Barack Obama, there has been some recognition of Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan), and air cover and some arms have been given to the YPG and YPJ. But this could all change with Trump’s declared support for Russia and for Assad, whose regime has for decades has been persecuting its Kurdish citizens, as in Turkey.
The EU has condemned Turkey’s slide into dictatorship and human rights violations, and is considering ending its EU membership application. But we in the UK have remained silent. A week ago, a young Kurdish university student immolated herself in the prison where she was unlawfully detained. We in the UK must no longer keep silent. It will be to our lasting shame if we do not speak out and protest.
Margaret Owen
London
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