PRESS RELEASE, — Canadians have just celebrated the Christmas and the world is prepared to welcome a New Year with anticipation of new hopes and dreams… Yet, Kurds are once again left in grief and agony by the actions of the criminal Turkish army and fascist Islamic government.
On 29 December at 21.00 local time in the Kurdish populated region of South Eastern Turkey, near the border of South Kurdistan (Northern Iraq), the Turkish army encountered more than 50 Kurds aged 12 to 20 from the Village of Ortasu (Roboski) and Gulyazı. They were returning home from border shopping in South Kurdistan when Turkish military forced them to return back. Moments later Turkish military planes bombed the area where 36 Kurds lost their lives. The pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party condemned the air strike as a “massacre”, saying that all the victims were Kurdish civilians.
Military aggression of the Turkish Army in the region has been well documented in the past. Yet, the International community has remained silent and this silence has encouraged the criminal mind of the Turkish government to continue its unjust assault on unprotected civilians in Kurdish populated areas.
What a hypocrisy while the Turkish PM Erdogan criticises Syrian President Assad for killing his own citizens, Erdogan`s own Islamic government orders military planes to massacre villagers preparing for a New year.
The irony is that the assault of more than 35 Kurdish civilians by the Turkish authorities at the period when the ruling pro-Islamist AKP is promoted as the engine of ‘progressive democracy’ in the Middle East. The recent massacre of Kurdish civilians once more reiterates the oppressive character of the Turkish-style of democracy which uses illegal tools to suppress the Kurds. The denial of this massacre by the Turkish authorities also confirms the bold fact that the Turkish state has no legitimacy in the eyes of the Kurds.
Since 1993 Turkish security forces have killed thousands of civilians including more than 450 Kurdish children aged 6 months to 16 years old. Let it be known that oppression and mass killings of Turkish state in the past 90 years have not been able to deter Kurdish people from its determination to seek justice and liberation. And these latest aggression of Turkish army will only make the Kurdish Liberation movement bolder and bring the criminal Turkish state closer to its end.
Canadian Kurds are condemning Turkish government and its fascist army`s criminal behaviour for state sponsored terrorism that massacre civilian Kurds, destroying their lives, hopes and dreams. We are asking international community, United Nations and human rights organizations to condemn this renewed violence and criminal aggression of Turkish government and its notorious army. And, We call upon our government and PM Steven Harper as well as members of Canadian Parliament to condemn Turkish government’s aggression and keep Turkish government responsible for the crime its committing. We demand that the Turkish military assault stops immediately, asking international community to interfere and start a negotiation for a peaceful resolution of the Kurdish conflict and ensure a secure life with dignity for Kurds to inhabit their own land where there is no arbitrary killing of Kurdish civilians.
On Behalf of all Participants and Organizers of Kurdish Canadian Federation
December 30 2011