Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has published an account of her recent visit to southeast Turkey on social media platform X.
During her trip, Thunberg met with representatives of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) party-led Diyarbakır (Amed) Metropolitan Municipality, and paid a visit to a radio station which had recently been closed down by the Turkish state.
Thunberg, who inspired the Youth Strike for Climate Action movement/Fridays for Future movement, is a long-term supporter of the Kurdish women’s movement.
In her post, Thunberg describes the Turkish state’s systematic attacks on nature in southeast Turkey, including exploitation by mining companies and the decimation of forests. Ecologically destructive policies in southeast Turkey have been linked to the systematic marginalisation of Kurdish peoples by the Turkish state – which wants to break Kurdish communities’ connection to the land.
Thunberg emphasised the need for autonomous governance in the Kurdish regions of southeast Turkey. She wrote: “To build genuine bridges of solidarity in Turkey, autonomy and self-governance for Kurdish regions are essential. The Kurdish people deserve the right to shape their own lives, culture, and communities.”
Voices like Thunberg’s are all the more important, as peoples’ autonomy in southeast Turkey is currently under threat. Democratically elected DEM Party mayors have recently been replaced by state appointed trustees in constituencies across southeast Turkey, and in Istanbul.
“For a sustainable peace and a just future, the Kurds’ right to freedom and autonomy must be respected and the violent attacks against Kurdistan must end,” Thunberg emphasised.
Thunberg also made a call for justice for the thousand currently imprisoned by Turkey.
According to Thunberg, this sustainable future can only be achieved if Turkey clarifies its “stance on the Kurds and other minority groups by enshrining their rights in the constitution.”
Here is the full text of Thunberg’s account of her visit to Kurdistan:
“Recently I have been travelling through northern Kurdistan, and have met with Kurdish people from all different kinds of backgrounds. They told countless stories of the current systematic oppression and repression they face – especially from the Turkish state –, as well as a history full of massacres.
Destruction and exploitation of the nature – such as unlawful forest cutdowns, sacrificing zones for mining companies and fires – is one of the many tools used as part of the continuous attacks against the Kurds. This often leads to devastation of local communities and biodiversity as well as forced displacement. Erasure of culture and identity, state violence, political prisoners, forced displacement, ecocides and disappearances are just some examples of the discrimination people face on an everyday basis, as well as being denied the right to self determination and freedom.
To build genuine bridges of solidarity in Turkey, autonomy and self-governance for Kurdish regions are essential. The Kurdish people deserve the right to shape their own lives, culture, and communities.
Turkey must clarify its stance on the Kurds and other minority groups by enshrining their rights in the constitution. The government continues to use “terrorism” as a pretext to silence its political opponents. Tens of thousands of politically active individuals remain imprisoned without fair trials. International organizations such as the ECHR, UN, and Amnesty [International] have condemned this and call for their release.
For a sustainable peace and a just future, the Kurds’ right to freedom and autonomy must be respected and the violent attacks against Kurdistan must end.
No one is free until everyone is free. Bijî Kurdistan!”
