MAINZ, Germany – Kurds and other Europeans staged two days of rallies in Europe to condemn Monday’s deadly terrorist attack in the Kurdish city of Pirsus (Suruc) in Turkey’s southeast.
Many called for the Kurdistan Workers‘ Party (PKK) to resume the armed fight for Kurdish rights in Turkey.
“Again and again this happens to Kurdistan! How is it possible that the UN isn’t doing anything? How is it possible that this attack against Kurdistan is called an ‘attack against Turkey’ in the world media?“ asked 21-year-old Rejin Doski, who has roots in the Kurdish city of Zaxo and studies in Amsterdam. “Where is the PKK in these moments of terror against the Kurdish nation? “
The attack was reportedly carried out by militants of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. About 30 young people died and more than 100 were injured. Pirsus is a town on the Syrian-Turkish border and lies just minutes away from Kobani in Kurdish-populated northern Syria.
Mahmut Botan, who was born in Cizre in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast, attended a rally with about 1,500 people in the German capital Berlin: “I beg the Kurdish politicians from all sides to unite! It is our fault for letting these atrocities happen in Kurdistan! So many young people had to die because we can’t unite and fight the true enemies of our people!”
Shortly after the attacks, thousands filled the streets of European cities, chanting slogans in support of the Kurdish resistance movement and against the Turkish state.
In Istanbul, clashes erupted between Kurdish youngsters and Turkish police, after they shot teargas at the protesters. The rallies went on and spread over dozens of European cities on Tuesday.
At a rally in Swiss city of Basel Aras Murad, who has roots in Turkey’s Kurdish Diyarbakir, said: “I miss the PKK of the past. Where are they? Why don’t they defend us? I know many of them are fighting in other parts of Kurdistan, but we need them in northern Kurdistan! I don’t want any ‘brother nation’ with this regime in Ankara! I want an independent Kurdistan with peace and stability!”
In Mannheim in Germany, 21-year-old Juana Amin was stunned at the reoccurring attacks against Kurdish cities in all parts of Kurdistan. “I am speechless about the incident in Pirsus. I don’t really know what to say. It just hurts,” she said, calling for the arming of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in Syria, which is affiliated with the PKK.
“The West could do so much more against these monsters! Directly arming the Kurdish forces is the least they could do -- no matter if it’s the YPG or Peshmerga!“ said 36-year-old Halima Ozan, a protester in the Austrian capital of Vienna who was born in Batman in Turkey’s Kurdish region. “However, I think we would be much more successful if we really formed a true union of all Kurdish factions. If there is no unity among us Kurds, there will be no victory at all!”
Separate Kurdish forces have been fighting ISIS and other fanatic groups in Syria since the outbreak of a war that is in its fifth year, and in Iraq for nearly a year.
The Kurds have regained control of most Kurdish lands formerly governed by the Iraqi or the Syrian governments. However, political differences between the different Kurdish parties have hampered the formation of a united force against the Islamist fanatics.
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