David Shoebridge, Greens MP in the New South Wales Legislative Council, Australia, and lead Senate candidate for the Greens in the 2022 federal election, called on the Australian government to condemn the latest Turkish incursion into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), just as it has condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking at a rally on Saturday, organised in solidarity with the Kurdish community in Sydney and in protest against Turkey’s attacks against the KRI, Shoebridge urged the Turkish administration to withdraw its forces from the KRI and cease its military operations.
He said:
“We call on our government, if it’s a government of principle, if it is against, as it says it is, invasion of other countries, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, well then the Australian government should also be speaking out right now against the Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq and Southern Kurdistan, but there has been silence from the Australian government.”
He continued:
“And so today I give you my party’s solidarity, and we’re part of a global day of action, calling for solidarity with the Kurdish people, and to call on the Turkish government to withdraw its forces, to cease the invasion, cease the violence, and for the rest of the world to demand that Turkey de-militarise that part of Northern Iraq and end its ongoing military, political and civil attacks against the Kurdish people.”