Kurdish political inmates detained in the prisons of Orumiyeh, Khoy, Tabriz, and Kashmar published a statement and warned about “ethnic cleansing” in northern Syria in condemnation of the Turkish military’s incursion into the north and east of Syria, known as Rojava.

“The Kurds and other ethnic-religious minorities in Rojava, north and east of Syria have formed a democratic system in recent years, based on which they are cohabiting. The attack of the Turkish Government clearly shows that Turkish authorities find this system a threat to their existence,” reads the statement, a copy of which has been obtained by the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN). 

Political prisoners have emphasized that the Turkish government, which has imprisoned more than 10,000 Kurdish political activists and MPs in Turkey’s Kurdistan, has created a “fear zone” with the green light of the US and Russia. The political inmates believe that the Turkish government seeks to “purge ethnicity in Rojava and the eastern Euphrates by calling the inhabitants of these areas as atheists,” and under the name of “Prophet Muhammad’s Army”.

Additionally, the prisoners have called on all international organizations and public opinion to condemn and stop the Turkish attacks and establish a”no-fly zone” to prevent the genocide of Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians and others, similar to what the international community established in 1991 in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Signators:

Zeynab Jalalian in Khoy Prison

Ali Ahmad Suleiman in Tabriz Central Prison

Shaker Bagi in Kashmar Prison

Peyman Mirzazadeh, Saber Kamani, Kamran Kamani, Mostafa Sabzi, Kamal Hassan Ramadan, Rahim Mahmoudi Azar, Ahmad Tamui, Kamran Darvishi, Ebrahim Esaipour, Rahimi Turgut, Hatem Azadir, Mohammad Mirzaei, Mohammad Salihakor, Mohammad Salihshan, Mohammad Salihakar