Appeal on the occasion of the visit of the German Federal President to Turkey

“We are calling on German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to use his state visit to Turkey to advocate for human rights and minority rights, and to speak out against violence and war,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Correspondent of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), a few days before the visit. 
The beginning of Steinmeier’s trip on April 22 coincides with the eleventh anniversary of the kidnapping of two Christian dignitaries in northwest Syria. “Their families, friends, and all Christians in Syria and in the Middle East are waiting for this dreadful abduction to be clarified,” the STP wrote in an appeal to Steinmeier. Thus, Steinmeier should demand investigations into the fate of the bishops and address this issue in conversations with Turkish politicians.
On April 22, 2013, the Archbishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Mor Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim, and the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church, Boulos Yazigidie, were abducted in northwest Syria, close to the border with Turkey – presumably by radical Syrian Islamists. There is still no sign of life from them. “The two bishops were seen as mediators, ambassadors, and human rights advocates in the ongoing civil war in Syria. In 2014, they were thus – in absentia – honored with the Weimar Human Rights Prize, following an according proposal by the STP,” the STP’s letter continues. 
Further, the STP calls on Steinmeier to advocate for the release of Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş. At the time of his arrest in 2016, Demirtaş was a member of the Turkish parliament. “Demirtaş’s family, his wife and his two daughters, have been waiting for him to be released for eight years now,” Sido reported. Turkey has been ignoring an according ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which demanded him to be released immediately. 
Steinmeier should also demand an end to the human rights violations and the war crimes of the Turkish army and the Turkish-backed militias in the Kurdish region of Afrin, Sido demanded. “In this context, we are asking you to call on Turkish President Erdogan to put an end to the almost daily attacks on northern Syria, especially the drone attacks,” the appeal says. 
Afrin was attacked and occupied by Turkey in 2018 in violation of international law. Germany and other NATO states should not show any understanding for Turkey’s attacks on the Kurds and other minority groups in northern Syria. International law must apply to everyone, including NATO members,” Sido demanded 

The complete appeal in German can be found here.