The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has once again called on Germany to lift the ban on the PKK. “The ban is long obsolete. It merely serves as a pretext for the Turkish state to continue attacking Kurdish settlement areas in Syria, Iraq, and in the country itself. Further, Erdogan-supporters in Germany are using the ban to criminalize peaceful protests against his politics,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant. “As long as Germany upholds the ban while providing Turkey with weapons and funds, Germany is helping the Turkish ruler to persecute his political opponents in other countries – and is thus partly responsible for the internationally wrongful attacks.”

During her visit to Ankara, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser should clearly criticize the recent attacks on northern Syria. “She must understand that the German authorities are not responsible for securing Erdogan’s power. Time and time again, Kurdish people in Germany are criminalized for taking part in peaceful protests against the Kurdish policy of persecution. It is not uncommon that people are persecuted for showing a Kurdish flag.” The ban on the PKK makes it more difficult to show solidarity with the demands for equality and freedom in their home country.

With the ongoing criminalization, Germany has joined a bizarre alliance of autocratic regimes that are trying to repress the Kurdish freedom movement. “Iran and Turkey are relying on massive violence against the Kurdish people in the countries themselves and in northern Iraq. In northern Syria, the same is done by Iran, the Assad regime, and Islamist militias – which again are supported by Turkey and by Qatar, the host country of the Football World Cup,” Sido emphasized. “Germany should leave this sinister group as soon as possible. A lifting of the ban on the PKK would be an important step to facilitate a peaceful political solution to the Kurdish question, based on negotiations. The German Federal Government should act as a mediator between the Kurds and Turkey. If it were possible to put an end to the war and to blind violence, this would serve all interests.”