Lift the ban on the PKK in 2018

Featured

Posted on March 18, 2018 by australiansforkurdistan

The PKK is not a terrorist organisation. It should never have been listed as such by Australia. In August 2018 the PKK’s current listing should not be renewed. The Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK has been listed as a terrorist organisation under Australia’s national security legislation continuously since 2006. Here are 8 reasons why the ending the ban in August 2018 is the right thing to do:

1. The PKK isn’t involved in terrorism. It has never deliberately targeted civilians or engaged in indiscriminate violence. Its armed wing, the HPG, is engaged in an armed conflict with the Turkish military and security forces — in much the same way that East Timor’s guerilla force, FALINTIL, fought Indonesia’s military forces before independence. FALINTIL was never listed by Australia as a terrorist group — and nor should the PKK. Continue reading →

‘PKK will pay the price, but will never surrender’

Posted on March 23, 2018 by australiansforkurdistan

[The following article is from ANF News. The Turkish regime is threatening to once more make a major military incursion into northern Iraq with the aim of crushing the PKK forces based in the Qandil mountains. Karasu refers to the 1995 Turkish Steel Operation in which 35,000 Turkish troops attacked PKK positions across the border.]

KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Member Mustafa Karasu stated that they are prepared for any and all attacks the AKP-MHP fascism has in store for Bashure (Southern) Kurdistan and added: “Like they barely escaped in the Zap and Çelik operations, they will certainly face the same fate in any invasion operations against Southern Kurdistan and Qandil.” Karasu stressed: “Not the Turkish state, nor any other colonialist can ever break the will for resistance in the PKK.” Continue reading →

Turkey’s genocidal policies against its Kurdish population

Posted on February 21, 2018 by australiansforkurdistan

[The following article by Victoria University academic Dr Hussein Tahiri, provides a valuable perspective on the unremitting hostility by Turkey’s ruling elite to the country’s large Kurdish minority.]

Genocide is a systematic use of violence or oppression with the aim of physically eliminating or culturally destroying a social group. The savagery involved in physical genocide often attracts international attention whereas the use of cultural genocide over time often goes undetected. See full article here. (Picture: Kurdish town of Nusaybin, after army bombardment, July 2016.)

Belgian court rules that PKK is not a terrorist organisation

Posted on November 12, 2017 by australiansforkurdistan

[By Melanie Gingell, Peace in Kurdistan] October 2, 2017 — On September 14 of this year a judgement was handed down in the case of a group of Kurdish activists who faced trial on terrorism charges in Belgium. The defendants were acquitted as the court found that the PKK is not a terrorist organisation but rather a party to an internal armed conflict in Turkey. Continue reading →