After the yesterday's search of the Kurdish association in Bielefeld a spontaneous demonstration took place in the evening. The Kurdish umbrella organization NAV-DEM condemned the ongoing criminalization of the Kurds in Germany.
In Bielefeld, on the morning of 3 July, the Democratic Kurdish Society Center (DKTM) was raided and searched by the German police. The police forcefully accessed the premises at 6:00 am and confiscated numerous items, including books, banners, flags and pictures.
On the evening of the same day, a spontaneous demonstration of solidarity with the DKTM Bielefeld took place, to which both Kurdish representatives and various leftist organizations in the city had called. Around 150 people attended the demonstration, which continued from Bielefeld city center to the association.
Kurdish umbrella organization in Germany, NAV-DEM Co-chairs, Bielefeld Die Linke representative Barbara Schmidt, German Anti-Fa, Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeite Jugend (SDAJ), Yazidi Women’s Council, Degehan Eleviyan OWL, Bielefeld Alevi Association, Ak Azyl, Bielefeld Democratic Forces’ Union constituents, Ciwaka Azad, YXK, Şêx Seid Mosque official and representatives were among the participants of the demonstration.
NAV-DEM Co-chair Ayten Kaplan commented on the raid in Bielefeld as follows: "The intervals between the raids in our member associations are getting shorter and shorter. Only a few weeks ago, the offices of NAV-DEM and the Kurdish Center for Public Relations Civaka Azad were raided and searched in Berlin. The Federal Government is currently conducting a campaign against Kurdish organizations in Germany. The criminalization of the Kurds in Germany is in no way inferior to that of the Turkish state. We condemn this practice very clearly."
Kaplan explained that the German-Turkish interests are behind the criminalization policy of the Federal Government against the Kurds.
NAV-DEM Co-chair Tahir Koçer drew attention to the fact that many Kurdish people have fled their homeland to Germany because they were denied their rights and persecuted in their homeland. "But now they make the same experiences here, which forced them to flee," said Koçer.
Koçer underlined that; “The German state must put an end to these pressures and change its policy against the Kurds. Germany must play its role for a solution to the Kurdish question through dialogue.”
Finally, both NAV-DEM Chairpersons thanked for the solidarity they had received after the raid in Bielefeld. "We call for maintaining this solidarity with the Kurdish social centers and for defending the right to self-organization of the Kurds in Germany," said the co-chairs.
