AKEL on the side of Kurdish militant Kenan Ayaz

 

2 November 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

AKEL’s C.C. Spokesperson and MP Giorgos Koukoumas departed today for Hamburg, Germany, to attend tomorrow’s opening of the trial of Kurdish militant Kenan Ayaz.

Kenan Ayaz, who has been a recognised political refugee in the Republic of Cyprus for 13 years, was extradited last June by the Cypriot authorities to Germany on charges of terrorism, although he is not accused of any involvement in committing any violent or criminal act.

The extradition and trial of Kenan Ayaz is part of the wave of persecution launched across European countries at the request of the Turkish government in order to suppress the Kurdish movement. These persecutions are based on the fact that the EU, NATO, the USA and certain European states have characterised the Kurdish Workers’ Party as a terrorist organisation. As has been repeatedly pointed out, the Republic of Cyprus – which in any case does not consider the PKK to be a terrorist organisation – also had a legal obligation to refuse to execute the European arrest warrant, given that it persecutes Mr. Ayaz’s political beliefs.

AKEL’s presence at the opening of the trial of the Kurdish militant is a continuation of the struggle against his extradition and persecution and of the solidarity with Kenan Ayaz expressed by the Party and the Peoples Movement of the Left all through the previous months.