BERLIN – Climate activists are currently using campaigns to draw attention to the illegal offensive by the Turkish underwriter state, which has been attacking the self-governing Kurdistan societies since November 19. In Cologne, there are demonstrations in front of the Turkish consulate, the Berlin party office of the Greens was blocked for a short time, and an action took place in which the actions of the Turkish government were made visible. There are more and more campaigns in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Bochum and other cities to follow. The “Defend Kurdistan” initiative called for the week of action under the motto “Lützerath lives”. The call is supported by Fridays For Future NRW, among others.
The activists of the climate movement explain the current situation in Kurdistan: “Turkish airstrikes on areas in north-eastern Syria are hitting civilian infrastructure: schools, hospitals, community centers, power supplies and grain elevators. The scientific service of the Bundestag classifies the attacks as contrary to international law. The airstrikes were preceded by an attack that killed six people in Istanbul on November 13, for which there was no constitutional investigation by Turkey. However, less than 24 hours after the attack, the Turkish government claimed that the YPG (Kurdish forces) were responsible. The Department of Defense announced “retaliation” without any hard evidence. According to a supreme commander of the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces), the assassin’s family connections point to the Islamist milieu. Kurdish organizations publicly distanced themselves from the attack.”
Viyan Agiri from the “Make Rojava Green Again” initiative, which is promoting ecological reconstruction after the immense destruction caused by years of war, explained: “My friends are being attacked while working in the hospital, which makes it clear what the attacks are really about: the destruction of the achievements of the Kurdish freedom movement and Kurdish society. Erdoğan’s war obviously has genocidal traits, yet the Western media unquestioningly accept the Turkish narratives and thereby make themselves complicit. German Interior Minister Faeser went even further, standing behind Turkey while the bombs destroyed energy supplies and schools. While German politicians like to be photographed with the slogan of the Kurdish women’s movement ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadî’ in relation to the feminist revolution in Iran, in Berlin they close their eyes when exactly these women are bombed by Turkey.”
In addition to civilian infrastructure, prisons where tens of thousands of IS fighters are being held were also targeted. There have already been outbreaks. Jule Fischer von Lützerath Lives: “Turkey frees IS terrorists with the air strikes and unchallengedly calls this the fight against terrorism. The current wave of attacks hit exactly those who defeated IS at great cost. After being liberated from IS, they built a grassroots-democratic society – accusing these people of terrorism is inhuman.”
Charly Dietz, spokeswoman for Ende Gelände: “The climate justice movement is linked to the Kurdish freedom movement. In view of the climate catastrophe, societies around the world are facing existential challenges. The democratic project in Rojava has found answers to many of these questions and gives people everywhere hope for a more just world. An attack on them is an attack on everyone who works for ecology, feminism and grassroots democracy.”
The background to the current attacks is Erdoğan’s publicly announced plan to militarily “cleanse” a 30km wide strip of Syrian territory on the Syrian-Turkish border of the predominantly Kurdish population in order to settle Syrian refugees there. Numerous airstrikes on the civilian population served this purpose, intensified this year since April 17, up to and including serious war crimes through the use of poison gas, as Kurdish reports show. In order to carry out the current airstrikes, the consent of the USA and Russia, which control the airspace, is actually required.
Further information at: https://luetzerathleben.info/presse-und-quellen/#pressemitteilungen
