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Protests in the British capital and across several European cities took place on Wednesday over the consecutive air strikes that were launched by Turkish airplanes that killed ten people in Sinjar in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Protesters in London, among them many Kurds living in exile, gathered in front of parliament after a call was issued by the People’s Councils of Britain and London and Britain Women’s Initiative, ANF reported.
London protestors stated that the shelling in Sinjar was an act that led to a massacre, against international laws, and called on British authorities to act against such attacks by Turkey.
A female protester read out a press statement, noting the timing of the attack: Turkey dropped bombs in Sinjar when the whole world’s attention was focused on Afghanistan.
“The NATO forces showed their real colours in Afghanistan. Just at the same time that the Taliban took over Afghanistan and thousands of people were rushing through the streets of Kabul for their lives, the warplanes of the fascist Turkish state bombed Sinjar,” she said.
London protesters extended their solidarity and support for the Afghan and Yazidi women by chanting the slogan “Jin, jiyan, azadi – Women, life, freedom.”
A protest was also staged in the French capital Paris. Despite several attempts by the French police to intervene in the protest, protestors gathered in front of the French parliament with their banner reading, “Turkey massacres the Yazidi Kurds in Sinjar.”
The Kurdish Democratic Council in France (CDK-F) stated in a press release: “The fascist Turkish state massacred the Yazidi Kurds in Sinjar and the world watches this massacre. As the Turkish state drops bombs on civilians, on women, on children, our people become the victims of a massacre before the eyes of the world.”
Approximately 150 people also gathered in front of the main train station in the western German city of Cologne to protest against the attacks in Sinjar.
Speaking during the protest, Zübeyde Zümrüt, co-chair of the Confederation of Kurdistan Communities (KONMED) in Germany, stated that the Erdoğan government seeks to displace the Yazidis in Sinjar as part of its wider plans to prevent any political status being ever granted to the Kurdish people.
Zümrüt also reacted to the stances of the United States and European Union countries in this matter: “Turkish planes would not have flown so easily without the approval of the US. Turkey hits a hospital, a civilian institution and neither the US nor Germany condemns such an attack.”
Hundreds marched in the German city of Hannover in support of the people of Sinjar. Protesters opposed to Turkey’s aggression in Sinjar unfurled a banner that read, “We did not and will not forget the disappeared women. The freedom of the women in Sinjar is also our freedom.”
“People in Sinjar, women in Sinjar are not alone. Journalists, activists, especially women in Afghanistan are not alone,” said a Persian protester during the demonstration.
