Chancellor Merz's trip to Turkey

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has sent an open letter to Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling on him to use his upcoming trip to Turkey to make a decisive stand for human rights and peace between the Turkish state and the Kurds. During his trip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz must openly address the human rights violations committed by the Turkish state and demand the release of political prisoners. The Chancellor must advocate in particular for political prisoners with German citizenship," demands Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East expert at the STP. 144 Germans are currently in Turkish prisons or are not allowed to leave the country due to ongoing proceedings, including many people who were arrested for political reasons.

“Kurds continue to be politically persecuted by the Turkish state. Alleged support for the PKK continues to be used as a reason for arrests and detentions,” criticizes the Middle East expert.

“At the latest since PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in a Turkish prison for 26 years, called on his organization to lay down its arms and disband, the Turkish state should end its wars and all hostilities toward the Kurds in Turkey, but also outside the country,” states the letter sent by the STP to the Chancellor prior to his trip. In it, the human rights organization appeals to Merz to use Germany's role as an important partner of Turkey to support the peace process and demand the protection of minorities.

The human rights organization lists six key demands that Chancellor Merz should discuss with his Turkish counterpart:

• Turkey must immediately respond to the Kurds' offers of peace and reconciliation and take concrete steps of its own to ensure that the guns in Turkey and Kurdistan are silenced forever.
• Turkey must begin a genuine dialogue with the PKK and other Kurdish organizations under international observation.
• Turkey must immediately cease all military and other attacks on Kurds in Turkey and abroad.
• All Kurdish political prisoners, as well as Turkish democrats, must be released from Turkish prisons immediately.
• Turkey must help the people of Syria to stabilize the situation in their country. Turkey must refrain from threats of war and violence against Kurds and other ethnic groups in Syria.
• In Syria, Turkey must no longer support Islamist militias that attack Kurds, Druze, Armenians, Assyrians/Aramaeans, Alawites, Yazidis, or Christians.

In addition, the STP appeals to the Chancellor to receive representatives of Kurdish, Druze, Alawite, and other minorities at the Federal Chancellery before his trip to Turkey. “This would be an important sign,” the letter states.

This press release was translated from German to English using AI. If you come across errors or ambiguities, please contact us at presse@gfbv.de.