Kurds across Europe have taken to the streets to protest Turkey’s ongoing airstrikes in North and East Syria, condemning the attacks on civilian areas and denouncing the isolation of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Rallies took place on Saturday in major cities across France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, with organisers calling on European governments to end any complicity in Turkey’s actions and protect the region’s Kurdish-led administration.
The Nantes Democratic Kurdish Community Center (CDK-N) led a march in Nantes, France in which protesters carried banners reading “The Turkish state commits massacres in Rojava” and “End isolation, end fascism”. İsmail Erzingan of the CDK-N criticised Turkey’s policies, saying, “The Turkish state claims to seek a solution to the Kurdish issue but intensifies attacks on Rojava, South Kurdistan, and Medya Defence Zones. Women and children are being killed, and civilian areas bombed. We must resist these games and strengthen our struggle.”
Hundreds of Kurdish demonstrators in Paris echoed similar sentiments, marching from Gare de l’Est to République Square, where Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) co-chairs urged European nations not to support Turkey’s actions. “Wherever we are, we will resist this misogynistic mentality,” said Berivan Fırat, CDK-F’s spokesperson, calling on allies to join a mass march in Cologne on 16 November to advocate for Öcalan’s freedom and Kurdish autonomy.
In Germany, protests continued in Munich and Kiel, where demonstrators emphasised solidarity with Rojava, denouncing what they described as Turkey’s hypocrisy in condemning violence in Gaza while targeting civilian sites in Syria. “Turkey’s strikes on hospitals, bakeries, and water depots expose the double standard,” said a statement from the Defend Kurdistan Kiel Initiative, as participants called for mobilisation in Cologne.
The protests extended to the Netherlands, where Kurds gathered outside the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, and in Italy’s Milan, where union and civil society groups united under the banner “No to war, peace now.” Participants held banners and posters of Öcalan and Kurdish-led People’s Defence Units’ (YPG) flags, demanding an end to Turkish strikes and calling for solidarity with Rojava’s democratic and ecological model.
Organisers across Europe encouraged supporters to join the upcoming demonstration in Cologne on 16 November, emphasising their resolve to resist attacks on Kurdish identity and autonomy. The demonstration, organised by the European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E), is expected to be joined by thousands of demonstrators demanding the freedom of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan.
