The Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria, a coalition of women’s organisations working with the Kurdish women’s movement, has written an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron. The women urgently wish to draw to Prime Minister's attention the serious threat to the Turkish-Kurdish peace process caused by Turkey’s indiscriminate bombing of innocent Kurdish civilians living in villages in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.

The signatories of the letter, who include deputies, authors, human rights activists, artists and academics, underlined that since Turkey, at the end of July, agreed to join the anti-ISIS coalition, and won the support of NATO to participate in airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria, the fact is that by far the majority of its attacks have been against Kurdish targets, and not against ISIS.

The letter pointed out that; "Moreover, in recent weeks more than 1,500 Kurdish civilians, including elected politicians, have been arrested by the Turkish authorities, resulting in Turkey being condemned by both Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch for such “unlawful acts” and for abusing and torturing many detainees. The shocking siege of Cizre, a town of 100,000 people, sealed off by the Turkish army for more than a week, is another case in point. Erdogan has now said that the peace process, launched in 2012 to put an end to a 30-year conflict that has killed over 40,000 people is “impossible to maintain.”

Pointing to the severe implications, for the whole region, if the peace process collapses, the signatories remarked that attacks against the Kurds are surely not what the UK government nor NATO intended, given the remarkable and effective military actions against ISIS taken by the Syrian Kurds’ YPG (Peoples’ Defence Units), the YPJ (Women’s Defence Units) and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) – for example, defending Kobanê, rescuing the Yezidis from Mount Sinjar – and the refuge Rojava is providing for over 1.8 million Syrian IDPs, of all ethnicities and religions.

Signatories asked that the British Prime Minister use all his influence to halt Turkey’s attacks on the Kurdish population; that its forces restrict its military actions to defeat ISIS, and that the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party is resumed.

Urging Cameron to help build peace with the Kurds, rather than extend the war, the women wanted Prime Minister's support for the struggle of the Kurdish people for their rights, noting that; "Neither the PYD in Syria nor the HDP in Turkey have any desire to “change borders”, or for separatism, as the Erdogan government asserts."

The Women’s Alliance also urged Cameron to recognise the Rojava democratic initiative as a legitimate entity within Syria, describing the self-administration there as now a model for all countries coming out of conflicts in which women have been the victims, of displacement, bereavement, sexual violence, and poverty.

"The Kurdish Women’s Movement has become an inspiration to many women and girls across the world, because in Rojava, (Syrian Kurdistan) women play an equal role in every area of both civilian and military life", the letter underlined.

Finally, the Aliance urged the Prime Minister to use all available diplomatic means to stop Turkey’s attacks against the PKK and the YPG and YPJ, saying the reality is that the Kurds are far and away the strongest regional force consistently resisting ISIS, and they deserve British support.

The women urged Cameron to work with his EU colleagues to “remove the unjust terror tag on the PKK and for the release of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, whose “Road Map for Peace”, written from his island prison, inspires millions of peace campaigners across the world. Without his presence at negotiations there can be no progress."

SIGNATORIES:

Baroness Glenys Kinnock
Baroness Joan Bakewell
Leslie Abdela MBE
Annette Lawson OBE, Past Chair, NAWO (in personal capacity)
Margaret Owen OBE
Kate Osamor MP
Caroline Lucas MP
Liz Saville MP, Plaid Cymru
Evrim Yilmaz, Roj Women Assembly
Michelle Allison, KNK UK Women’s Representative
Cynthia Cockburn, author
Amrit Wilson, Freedom Without Fear Platform
Dr. Shatha Besarani, Iraqi Women's League
Meredith Tax, Chair of the Board, Centre for Secular Space.
Elahe Amani, Chair, Global Circles, Women's Intercultural Network
Intsar Saeed, Lawyer, Chairperson Cairo Center for Development (CCD)
Anni Pues, Scottish Green Party International Committee
Maggie Chapman, Scottish Green Party Co-convener
Angie Zelter, peace and environmental campaigner, UK
Prof. Mary Davis
Melanie Gingell, human rights barrister
Dr Radha D’Souza, University of Westminster
Hagir Ahmed, CAMPACC
Sofia Beatty, Kurdish Solidarity activist
Isabel Marler, UK feminist activist
Celia Shenouda, UK feminist activist
Ifra Asad, activist, London UK
Nargis Azaryun, activist, Kabul, Afghanistan
Noorjahan Akbar, Afghan social activist
Nihal Zaghloul, Women's right advocate, Cairo, Egypt
Donna Swita, Women’s Activist, Indonesia
Evi Zain, Women Activist, Indonesia