European politicians and activists condemned Turkey’s suppression of the Kurdish political movement and aggression against Greece and Cyprus during a call for anti-fascist action at the Transform! Europe conference in Athens last week.
The conference’s final declaration noted the rise in far-right and fascist movements as Europe continues to suffer from severe economic pressures, before listing crucial points of focus for leftist movements around the continent.
Among those points was the crackdown by Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government on the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
This repression has included prison sentences for many HDP politicians and activists, including former co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ, and more recently a legal procedure which aims to close the party down.
“We strongly condemn Turkey’s pressures on the democratic opposition, first and foremost the HDP; invite Turkey to implement decisions of the CoE and ECHR; and vehemently reject the politically motivated attempts to ban the HDP,” said the conference’s final declaration, read by Spanish Communist Party General Secretary Jose Luis Centella.
The declaration likely referred to decisions by the Council of Europe and European Court of Human Rights which condemned the prosecution of HDP mayors and politicians and demanded their release.
The conference also took to task Turkey’s aggressive posture in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean seas, where the Turkish government has disputed Greek and Cypriot maritime territorial borders and pressed its own claims on the region’s gas reserves.
“We condemn the escalation and the threats by the Turkish leadership against Greece and Cyprus,” the declaration’s seventh point said, before condemning the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus and calling for a return to UN-backed bicommunal talks on reuniting the island.
“We underline the need for respect for the rule of law and human rights in Turkey,” the declaration said.
And, according to Kurdistan National Congress representative Sinan Önal, who spoke during the conference at a round table on “how to build peace”, the goal of restraining Turkish aggression is crucial for building a peaceful future in Europe.
“Turkey is at the moment a member of the Western Bloc, a member candidate of the European Union, member state of the European Council, it has the second biggest army of nation state in NATO,” Önal said.
“It is the most brutal country in the Western Bloc, and we should do our best to deter to this country, to transform it into democracy,” he said.
This, Önal and fellow conference attendee HDP MP Hişyar Özsoy said, requires an international effort to confront Turkey over its reported use of chemical weapons in its operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.
The Kurdish fighters have reported thousands of instances of suspected chemical weapons use by Turkish forces, including a report last week that included video footage of fighters suffering from apparent symptoms of chemical weapons.
Last week, Turkish Medical Association chair Şebnem Korur Fincancı told Medya News the symptoms were consistent with the effects of toxic chemical gas on the nervous system, prompting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to call reports of chemical weapons use “mudslinging”.
“Turkey is doing all of this as a member of NATO and the Council of Europe,” Özsoy said. “Yes, we are obliged to establish peace, but peace must be established gradually, step by step. It is only possible to establish peace through concrete political and social struggle.”
The concerns over chemical weapons use were also shared by Centella during his speech listing the conference’s final declarations, in which he joined calls for an investigation into the allegations.
The conference also addressed the topic of repression of the Kurdish political movement in Iran, where protests have been ongoing since the 16 September death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jîna (Mahsa) Amini due to injuries suffered while under arrest by the country’s morality police.
“We express our full support and solidarity with the women-led Kurdish struggles in Syria and Iran – with the motto of ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi!’” said the declaration, referring to the Kurdish slogan meaning ‘Woman, Life, Freedom!’ which has become a fixture at the protests.
As well as a call of support to the Kurdish political movement and its quest for self-determination, the conference also referred to the situation in Ireland, where the fallout from Brexit has endangered the peace solidified at the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
“We condemn all moves to undermine the Good Friday Agreement and call for respect for the peace process and its institutions,” the final declaration said.
“We recognise the growing demands for Irish reunification as set out in the Good Friday Agreement and the need for a Citizens’ Assembly to plan and prepare for constitutional change in Ireland,” it said.
