AKEL solidarity with Kurdish activist Kenan Ayaz

 

 

21 March 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

AKEL expresses its solidarity with Kurdish activist Kenan Ayas, who is threatened with extradition to Germany, and calls on the authorities of the Republic of Cyprus to act to prevent him from ending up in prison or in the hands of Turkey. Kenan Ayaz, a recognised political refugee who has been living in Cyprus for ten years, was arrested last week on the basis of a European warrant issued by the German authorities. Today, the Larnaca District Court will rule on Germany’s request.

Behind these persecutions of thousands of Kurdish activists by European states are the demands of the Turkish state, which wants to suppress the Kurdish movement. Turkey is, of course, exploiting the fact that both the EU and NATO include the Kurdish Workers’ Party on their lists of “terrorist organisations”. AKEL has long supported the demand to remove the PKK from these – in any case arbitrary – “terror lists”.

AKEL joins its voice with that of the Kurdish community in Cyprus and all Cypriots who stand by Kenan Ayaz.