Kurdish protests in Brussels on March 24, 2023. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Dozens of Kurds held a demonstration in Brussels on Friday, calling on the European Union to intervene in northwest Syria where four Kurds were killed by Turkish-backed fighters.
Members of the Ahrar al-Sharqiya armed militia opened gunfire on a Kurdish family celebrating Newroz in Jindires on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding two others. Jindires is located in Afrin in Syria’s northwest corner and historically has a Kurdish majority population.
The attack has been widely condemned by Kurds around the world. On Friday, dozens of Kurds held a protest in front of the European parliament in Brussels, demanding the European Union take action against Turkey and armed groups in Syria.
“Today we have gathered here to protest Turkish invaders in the Afrin region and the massacre in Jindires. We want to take this to the European Union and its member states so that they can pressure Erdogan to completely withdraw his army from Syrian Kurdistan, especially Afrin,” a protester in Brussels told Rudaw’s Alla Shally, referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Jindires was seized by Turkey and its allied Syrian militias in 2018 during an operation to drive Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the Afrin region. The YPG is the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Many of Afrin’s Kurdish population have left their villages where they suffered discrimination, looting, and violence at the hands of the Turkish-backed forces who have relocated Syrian families displaced from elsewhere in the country into Afrin.
A main demand of the protesters is for the invaders and those who arrived after the invasion to leave Afrin.
“We don’t want Arabs and Turks… Let them leave our land,” said protester Abdo Hajo.
“We all stand with the family of the martyrs and our Kurdish people. We will all be united. We want Arabs and Erdogan to leave Afrin,” said protester Ilav Haji.
“I call for the expulsion of these mercenaries from Afrin and Jindires. Our people have been living under oppression for five years. When I call them, they cry and say that they can no longer endure it. They are uprising and we in Europe should support them wholeheartedly,” said a female protester.
Thousands of Kurds staged a rare protest in Afrin, in front of the house of the victims in Jindires, demanding the expulsion of Turkey-backed armed groups.
In Brussels there were calls for the United Nations to intervene and for Kurds around the world to take to the streets.
“We call on the United Nations to enter Rojava. We do not want mercenaries. Viva Kurdistan,” said a protester to his fellow demonstrators.
Another protester, named Siwar, said he is “ready for protests everywhere. We want Turks and Arabs to leave our country. We will continue [protesting].”
Protester Sozdar Mamo called on more Kurds to take to the streets in protest.
“No one can extinguish the fire of Newroz and our Newroz becomes brighter every year,” protester Mustafa Mamo told Rudaw. The myth of Newroz, which falls on the first day of spring, tells a story of victory over oppression. It is an important holiday in the Kurdish year.
Protests have also taken place in Paris and Erbil.
The family of the dead has released a statement, calling for the perpetrators to be punished and for the case to be transferred to an international court.
On Friday, over 150 Syrian organisations released a joint statement condemning the murders and demanding international intervention.
They called on the UN to “take all necessary measures to protect the civilians in Afrin and across Syria, as well as pressure Turkey as an occupying power to assume its legal responsibilities in ensuring public order and safety and maintaining law and order.”
They also said that the UN should “pressure the Turkish government to stop the demographic” changes in Kurdish areas of northern Syria.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Wednesday that Ankara should stop supporting Syrian militias “implicated in recurrent or systemic human rights abuses and international humanitarian law violations.”
“As an occupying power and as a backer of the local factions operating in areas under its control in northern Syria, Turkey is obliged to investigate these killings and ensure that those responsible are held accountable,” added HRW.
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