Veterans For Peace Condemns Turkish Invasion of Rojava

Veterans For Peace condemns the Turkish invasion of Syrian Kurdistan and calls on the United States government to withdraw any support for the incursion. We also call for the United States to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the current crisis and to reopen our borders to allow in more refugees from this war torn region. 

Turkey's invasion into Syria could easily escalate the existing Kurdish refugee crisis and lead to a Kurdish genocide. Over 50,000 Kurds have been killed in the ongoing conflict with Turkey, which began in 1984 and saw a temporary cease-fire in 2015. This week’s Turkish airstrikes are said to have targeted civilian populations and have already resulted in more casualties. Turkey's president, Erdoğen, has also threatened to expel 3.6 million refugees temporarily living in Turkey if anyone in Europe calls his act an occupation.

The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group in Western Asia and the world’s largest ethnic group without a country. There are approximately 20-40 million Kurds spread out over the lands of southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria, in a region also known as Kurdistan. The Kurdish people were deprived of their sovereignty as a result of the British Mandate that divided the Ottoman Empire following World War I. The United States has historically turned its back on the Kurdish people at our government’s pleasure. This cannot be one of those times.

The time is now to raise awareness of the struggle of the Kurdish people. Veterans For Peace members are encouraged to contact the Turkish Embassy (Address: 2525 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008, Phone: 202-612-6700) to urge a military withdrawal and ceasefire.

Further, all members of VFP are encouraged to contact the Trump administration to demand that the U.S. withdraw any support to Turkey that can be used to attack the Kurdish people and that the U.S. allow more Kurdish refugees to enter the U.S.