Kurdish representatives met with British MPs at the Labour Party annual conference in Liverpool, highlighting the political turmoil in Kurdistan and the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Discussions focused on Kurdish rights, the Turkish occupation of Kurdish areas and calls for Britain to put diplomatic pressure on Turkey.
The three-day conference, attended by thousands of delegates, featured speeches by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Kurdish representatives, including officials from the Kurdish People’s Assembly and the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), met with UK politicians to call for greater diplomatic pressure on Turkey to end military operations in Kurdish areas.
In a panel discussion organised by Kurds for Labour, participants highlighted the oppression of the Kurdish people and called for solidarity between the British labour movement and Kurdish political efforts. The British Minister for Science and Technology Feryal Clark, the former mayor of Lambeth Sarbaz Barznji and the Bambos Charalambous MP were among the prominent participants.
Kurdish representatives discussed the situation in Rojava in a meeting with Baroness Frances O’Grady, former General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress. They noted Turkey’s cooperation with Russia, Iran and the Syrian government against the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria. SDC representative Hassan Mohammed Ali called on the UK to put diplomatic pressure on Turkey to end the conflict in the region.
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party spokesperson Berdan Öztürk linked the isolation imposed on Öcalan to the wider Kurdish question in Turkey and the Middle East, and stressed the need for the resumption of peace negotiations. In a separate meeting with John Mann of the House of Lords, there were calls for closer ties between the UK and the Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria.
The conference will conclude with a ‘Kurds for Labour’ reception, expected to attract hundreds of participants, and further meetings with MPs and trade union representatives.
