A group of Kurdish women occupied Conservative Party headquarters in London to protest against the British government’s supply of arms to NATO-member Turkey. Since 19 January Ankara has aerial bombed the mainly Kurdish populated province of Afrin (northern Syria) with many civilans, including children, killed or injured in the onslaught.
The occupation of Conservative HQ took place on the afternoon of 29 January:
"Stop UK Arms Sales to Turkey!" Kurdish women take action to #DefendAfrin by occupying Tory HQ in London! @Reutersuk pic.twitter.com/Wn1XFVDqvq
— @Hevallo (@Hevallo) January 29, 2018
The mostly Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) are also mobilising to defend Afrin against the Turkish invasion.
The true casualities
The Canary previously reported on how most of the casualities resulting from the Turkish offensive have been civilians, including children. This has been confirmed by journalist and Middle East expert Robert Fisk. According to another report, on one day alone (24 January) 35 civilians were killed and 106 wounded by Turkish forces.
And one of the latest reports from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) graphically shows the consequences of an attack by the Turkish military on the Afrin village of Gubli:
To UN, EU, NATO & all other institutions that go silent when Kurdish people are slaughtered. Here are the children dug up from under their homes in Gubli village of Efrîn. Airstrikes by your partner Turkey slaughtered them. WARNING GRAPHIC https://t.co/uEB3k47umn
— Rojava (@AzadiRojava) January 29, 2018
Corbyn condemns
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke about the plight of the Kurdish people at a rally on 27 January:
Message from @UKLabour leader @jeremycorbyn at Saturday's #DefendAfrin demo in London calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Read in full here: https://t.co/cc0apzKuL2 pic.twitter.com/lPKaUycHle— Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign (@KurdsCampaign) January 29, 2018
He said:
This follows an open letter, signed by several leading human rights activists – including renowned political commentator Noam Chomsky – demanding an end Turkey’s attacks.
Meanwhile, Turkish authorities, led by alleged war criminal President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have arrested and detained more than 300 persons, whom they accuse of disseminating “terror propaganda”.
UK government also in the dock
So far, there has been no condemnation by the UK government. Perhaps this is because Turkey is still “a major buyer of UK-made weapons”, with a £100m fighter jet deal signed in 2017. Indeed, since 2015 the UK has sold Turkey £330m worth of arms.
As the Kurdish women who occupied Tory HQ pointed out, further arms sales must now cease. To do otherwise, leaves the UK open to accusations that it is complicit in the slaughter of Kurds.
Get involved!
– See more on Turkey at The Canary Global.
– Watch The Canary’s exclusive interview with author and activist Rahila Gupta, who visited northern Syria in March 2016.
– Join at least 400,000 Brits who have cancelled holidays in Turkey.
Featured image via Flickr Creative Commons / Daykan.com
