A group of Kurdish supporters of the Australian Western Sydney Wanderers football team staged an action at the team’s victorious match against the Macarthur Football Club on 1 January to show solidarity with Kurdish football players who have been facing racist violence in Turkey.
“Kurdish football teams from the Kurdish majority in southeast Turkey have been the subject of violent attacks by ultra-nationalist Turks in matches in the west of the country,” Ismet Tashtan told the Green Left party.
Tashtan is a member of the Ciwanên Welat Parez group, which has been organising solidarity protests in Sydney against racist attacks on Kurdish teams such as Amedspor.
On 19 December, members of the Amedspor team from Diyarbakır were violently attacked when they played the Turkish team Bursaspor who suffered a 2-0 defeat at home. Bursaspor members can be seen attacking Amedspor players after the final whistle in video footage that has gone viral on social media.
“There was another violent attack during a game in Anatolia on 3 January. Ultra-nationalist Turks from the Yozgatspor team attacked Kurdish players from Bingolspor,” Tashtan said.
“This is the kind of violent racism that Kurds face on a daily basis in Turkey, where they attack our culture, our language, our elected representatives and even our sports teams. Most of this racist violence goes unreported by the media, but when it happens on the football pitch in a big game, the whole world can see it.”
“We ask the world to condemn this racism carried out by supporters of the fascist Grey Wolves, who are using some teams to spread their hate,” Tashtan added.
Reported by Peter Boyle
