1.5 million signatures for de-listing PKK

A campaign was launched on December 13th by the International Initiative Justice for Kurds to remove the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) from the “list of terrorist organisations”, especially by the United States and the EU.

More than 1,000 internationally renowned people from 30 countries, including parliamentarians, academics, writers, intellectuals and activists, led the campaign.

The People’s Initiative of Northern and Eastern Syria announced on January 12th that it would participate in the campaign to remove the PKK name from the “list of terrorist organisations”.

Ferzende Munzur, a member of the Freedom for Abdullah Ocalan Initiative, said 1,522,237 signatures had been collected for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in northeast Syria.

Munzur speaking to Firat News Agency, stated the following:

“The individuals who participated in the campaign realised that the PKK’s name being on the ‘terror list’ was unfair . Especially in these recent years, many truths have been revealed. One of them was the murder of Olof Palme. It is understood that the PKK had nothing to do with the murder of Olof Palme. Again, European countries understood that the PKK is an organisation that does not harm people. In addition, in 2014, the PKK played a major role in the fight against ISIS attacks in both Iraq and Syria. Thus, PKK protected the Arab, Kurdish, Assyrian, and Armenian people from the massacres of ISIS.”

Ferzende Munzur, regarding their participation in the campaign as the Syrian people, said, “As the Syrian people, we have decided to take part in the campaign. Because the PKK played a major role both in Rojava and in north-east Syria.”

He also added that not only Kurdish people but also Arabs and others from different ethnic groups and races signed the petition.

“All the peoples participated in the campaign, but the participation of the Arab people was at the highest level, which made us very happy.”

Munzur concluded that their target was one million, but they already collected 1,522,237 signatures above the target set.