According to reports of ANF’s German service, 8 members of the “Delegation for Peace and Freedom in Kurdistan” were attacked by the police at Frankfurt airport today, 27th June.
It is reported that the police attacked the activists as they emerged from passport control. One person who came to meet the peace delegation has also been detained.
In a published video and photographs, it can be seen that members of the delegation were forced against the wall, while others were laid on the floor and handcuffed. The footage shows the German police acting in an extremely aggressive and disproportionate way.
On 23rd of June, 6 other members of the delegation were also detained at Frankfurt airport in Germany.
The Defend Kurdistan Initiative is an international peace delegation, consisting of journalists, feminists, politicians, academics, ecologists, and members of anti-war groups from various European countries and was established in June 2020.
The peace delegates had flown to Iraqi Kurdistan to call for an end to Turkey’s military operations and war there, and to also report and monitor the impacts of these military operations on the people and environment of Kurdistan, but many had found themselves deported on arrival by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
Dozens of the delegation were also prevented from boarding their flights from Germany, and about 50 were expelled from Erbil (Hewler). The remaining 70 people were also exposed to the daily pressures from the security forces of the KDP.
During their visits to and with contacts in Southern Kurdistan, the peace delegation announced the establishment of the “Defend Kurdistan Initiative”.