Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was hosted at 10 Downing Street on Tuesday 3 December alongside other NATO leaders. He will be attending the NATO summit, happening on 3 and 4 December near London.
Erdoğan has also reportedly been invited to the opening ceremony of a mosque in Cambridge.
Protests took place on 3 December against the NATO summit. The Kurdistan Solidarity Network tweeted:
On Tuesday, NATO leaders Trump and Erdogan, will attend a reception at Buckingham Palace.
Instead, Turkey’s dictator Erdogan should be standing trial for war crimes against the Kurdish people!
Join us to protest against Erdogan, Trump and NATO: https://t.co/XrBAnFsJtC pic.twitter.com/13U1McWp8Y
— Kurdistan Solidarity Network (@kurdistansolnet) December 1, 2019
One protester tweeted from Trafalgar Square:
A great crowd is marching from Trafalgar Square to protest against today's #natosummit and the presence of #DonaldTrump and #Erdogan#NATOLondon#politics pic.twitter.com/rIZRlVbqr7
— Shout Out UK (@Shoutout_UK) December 3, 2019
Invasion of Northeast Syria
Turkish-led forces invaded Northeast Syria (aka Rojava) on 9 October. The NATO member has faced accusations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes, and its invasion has so far killed over 300 civilians, created around 300,000 displaced people, and allowed hundreds of Daesh (Isis/Isil) supporters to escape detention.
The latest Turkish massacre
On Monday 2 December, eight children and two adults were killed by Turkish shelling in the city of Tel Rifaat. According to the Rojava Information Center:
https://twitter.com/RojavaIC/status/1201513160374702080
UNICEF released a statement on the killing of the children:
We are shocked and saddened at reports that eight children were killed and another eight were injured in attacks on Tal Rifaat town, northern Aleppo. All of them were under the age of 15.
The Rojava Information Center tweeted a list of further Turkish atrocities:
NATO's 2019 summit is being held today in London, with NATO member Turkey's invasion and occupation of North and East Syria still ongoing.
See our report here for a full overview of abuses by Turkey and Turkish-backed forces, possibly amounting to war-crimes: https://t.co/xa69uLFuJV
— Rojava Information Center (@RojavaIC) December 3, 2019
Message to Jens
British internationalist volunteer in Rojava Dani Ellis recorded a video message to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:
Dear @jensstoltenberg,
Tomorrow at the @NATO summit in #London you have to decide:
Become the one who has taken the side of ethnic cleansing, rape & murder or who stands up for women, life & freedom.#messagetojenshttps://t.co/PHvFobo6wq
— RiseUp4Rojava (@RISEUP4R0JAVA) December 2, 2019
In it she says:
This is an invasion where one NATO airforce keeps the skies open for another to bomb ambulances and murder aid workers with complete impunity. This is an invasion where former members of notorious Islamist organisations, paid, dressed, equipped and commanded by a NATO army, are committing ethnic cleansing on NATO’s behalf.
International campaign RiseUp4Rojava tweeted:
10 civilians, most children, even toddlers, directly targeted, murdered by the Turkish state just before it was officially welcomed to #London @NATO summit.
Turning a blind eye, not reacting against Erdogan's actions, you are accomplice to them.@jensstoltenberg#Riseup4Rojava pic.twitter.com/Eq6IeMUbuU
— RiseUp4Rojava (@RISEUP4R0JAVA) December 3, 2019
Call to take to the streets
On 3 December, KCDK-E, a European Kurdish organisation, called for people to take to the streets over the killings in Tel Rifaat:
In response to the civilian massacres and attacks we call on our people and all solidarity circles to take to the streets.
Featured image via RiseUp4Rojava
