As we publish this post, six of those arrested on 27 November are appearing in Westminster magistrates court, charged with membership of the the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which as the statement notes, is banned under: ‘UK anti-terrorism legislation that unfairly criminalises communities such as the Kurds, who have set up home in the UK after fleeing political persecution in their homeland and which puts under suspicion all their activities for as long as their political situation stays unresolved’. We hope to keep abreast of this situation and report further here.

On 27th November armed units of the Metropolitan Police raided the homes of Kurdish community leaders and the Kurdish Community Centre (KCC) in North London. The raids provoked outrage among the community and exacerbated tensions between the Kurds and the authorities. The KCC building in Haringey was surrounded by armed police and forcibly shut down for over a week while police smashed down doors and conducted a rigorous search for undisclosed items.

Outraged

Sweeping powers under UK anti-terrorism legislation were used to permit this frightening public display of brute force by police and authorities.

The Kurds have been rightly outraged and feel aggrieved that they are being unjustly persecuted once again.

Peace in Kurdistan is deeply dismayed at news of these incidents and believes that this criminalisation of an entire community must be brought to an end. Such abuses of power are a stain on our democracy and an affront to our sense of decency. By pushing the Kurds to the margins of society we perpetuate the historic injustices that have been inflicted on them throughout their tragic history.

The targeting of vulnerable communities is always a dangerous course of action for any state to embark upon and it can only have negative consequences such as exacerbating social tensions.

The Kurds are a minority community within our country and as such are easily vulnerable to discrimination. Misreporting of their activities and the fostering of deliberate misinformation about them crudely exploits these vulnerabilities. This puts them at serious risk of abuse and attack from groups of individuals with ill intent and whose ignorance can quickly be transformed into acts of hatred and physical violence against individual Kurds and their institutions.

The raid on the KCC, widely reported in the media, has fostered a negative impression among the wider public of Kurdish misbehaviour and what activities actually take place at the centre. People with no direct personal experiences of dealing with the centre or who have no contacts with Kurdish people at all would easily be misled into concluding that the centre was a haunt of criminal activities and anti-social behaviour that poses a direct threat to our security and wellbeing. The KCC’s activities are far more mundane, such as providing advice on welfare, healthcare and education.

These erroneous negative impressions, although a grotesque travesty of the reality, are an inevitable direct byproduct of the unjust targeting of the Kurds over many years and of which the recent armed police raid is only the latest manifestation. The Metropolitan Police and the authorities under which the police conduct their actions surely have a lot to answer for.

Enormous contribution

The Kurds have contributed enormously to the enrichment of our culture and way of life in the areas where they have become well established, setting up thriving businesses and admired for their music and lively cultural festivals, where people of all backgrounds are warmly welcomed. As such the Kurds are deserving of our respect, not punishment.

The Green Lanes area of North London where the KCC has for decades been located has become renowned for its restaurants and cafes which attract customers from across the capital and beyond who flock to enjoy the rich Mediterranean dishes. The Kurds are a generous and welcoming people who simply love to share with others their history and culture. Many who strike up relationships with Kurds feel that they have made friends for life.

The criminalisation of the Kurds by aggressive policing that is state sanctioned flies in the face of all the positive steps that have been taken over the years to build community cohesion and friendships across communities to enable people to live amicably together within the great multicultural metropolis that we all share and proudly call our home.

It looks that tremendous damage has been done by the latest police raids and we fear it will take years and enormous efforts to build bridges and assuage the widespread fears and suspicions that have been instilled within the Kurdish community.

What needs to be done

The roots of the problem are twofold and need to be addressed seriously and urgently by our politicians: these are, first of all, the UK anti-terrorism legislation that unfairly criminalises communities such as the Kurds, who have set up home in the UK after fleeing political persecution in their homeland and which puts under suspicion all their activities for as long as their political situation stays unresolved. Second and related, is the UK’s approach towards Turkey and that country’s conflict with the Kurds that has festered since the establishment of the Turkish Republic (now Republic of Türkiye) over a century ago.

Around 20 percent of Turkey’s population is of Kurdish origin, but they have been ruthlessly marginalised, endured decades of brutal persecution and denied even elementary political rights and treated as second class citizens at best. Their voices have been forcibly silenced, their elected representatives and chosen leaders have been arrested and systematically suppressed.

In fleeing to the UK, most Kurds will have assumed that they could enjoy the rights and freedoms long denied them in their country of origin. Such brutal police action as occurred in the last few days is a cruel reminder of the treatment that they and their families will have endured in Turkey in past years.

We demand a full investigation into the raid

The Kurdish community has a right to know the full facts as to why they have been targeted once more.

Nothing less than a full investigation will be needed into the circumstances surrounding the police raid on the KCC, including what appears to have been the very heavy-handed conduct of the raids on the community centre itself and on several other private residences that were subject to raids. Worrying reports into how individuals, including families with children, were mistreated by armed police appear to suggest that brute force was used against men and women who were not even attempting to resist arrest.

We understand that the individuals who were detained in the raids are respected community leaders, including individuals who had suffered years of political persecution in Turkey.

This unwarranted attack on the Kurdish community demonstrates clearly that Peace in Kurdistan has been absolutely correct to campaign for a just political solution to the Kurdish conflict.

We remain convinced that this unresolved conflict acts like a festering wound and is a blight on our society and has profound consequences for how governments conduct their affairs and on the relations between peoples and nations.

We call on the Home Secretary to conduct a full open investigation into the circumstances surrounding the raid and to return the properties that were confiscated from the KCC and elsewhere.

We demand an end to the criminalisation of the Kurdish community and their institutions.

The unjust anti-terrorism legislation that criminalises the Kurds and peaceful political activities should be repealed from the UK’s statute book.

The UK Government needs to urgently review its foreign policy approach towards Turkey and the Kurds and to take concrete steps to help bring about a political resolution to the Kurdish conflict by acknowledging the fundamental rights of the Kurdish people to freedom and self determination in line with international law.

PIK stands with the Kurds and insists that freedom must prevail.

For more information see Peace in Kurdistan: https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com