At a public press conference at the Apex in Göttingen, two women from Göttingen reported on their experiences of being taken into custody by the Turkish state two weeks ago. Around 80 visitors came to listen to the two participants on a delegation trip in solidarity with the Kurdish freedom movement. Based on his many years of experience in defending Kurds in Germany, the lawyer Sven Adam was able to legally classify the Turkish state's extensive repression efforts against opposition in Germany. Leyla Lacin, a Kurdish activist, illustrated the interaction between the German-Turkish authorities through her personal experiences in the asylum process.
At the beginning of the event, Sophie Paulmann from Women Defend Rojava Göttingen gave a political perspective on Turkey's recently escalated and illegal attacks on civilian infrastructure in the self-governing areas in northeast Syria. The region, like the one visited by the youth delegation, is shaped by the struggles of the Kurdish freedom movement. Yen Le, a participant in the delegation, described the cruel three days of detention with great sadness: “We were harassed, humiliated and mistreated. This is evidence of an arbitrary state in which the rule of law is nothing more than a façade. The Turkish government and authorities want to use disproportionate means to nip any form of opposition and resistance to fascism in the bud. Unfortunately, we have now had to experience this first hand and see this step by the Turkish state as a new level of escalation. No state will be able to take away the exchange and experiences we have had locally.”
The second participant Sarah Krüger made this clear, the two women and other participants came back stronger: “The attack on the delegation trip and the extreme physical and psychological violence against us as individuals had the aim of weakening us as a group and to suppress our political will and solidarity with all women and the Kurdish population. “I am now even more strengthened, with a deep trust in collectively managed structures, a strong rejection of feudal, sexist and fascist states and new hope for a better life through the liberation of women.” “The detention had no criminal basis,” says lawyer Sven Adam. “Detention and deportation were carried out with reference to so-called danger prevention, which was only intended to prevent any future possible solidarity with the Kurdish movement, for example. In addition, the entire detention situation, including the psychological and physical violence, represents a violation of Article Three of the European Convention on Human Rights.”
He will take legal action from Germany against the actions of the federal police at the border, during which delegation participants were interrogated for one and a half hours. “The interrogating officers similarly cut their names out of the protocols, a unique process that is being clarified,” says Sven Adam.
Leyla Lacin's remarks underlined the German state's involvement in Turkish politics. She reports that the “German federal government is undermining the human dignity of democratically organized fellow citizens.” Asylum procedures like her own are used as a political instrument against political Kurds. “The information block on the Kurdish freedom movement and the social transformation processes it supports, which is deliberately brought about by bans, means that German society remains ignorant and learns nothing,” she adds and appeals to everyone present to support the freedom of the representative Abdullah Öcalan and to carry out educational work in Germany to lift the PKK ban.
After the end, spectators present showed their solidarity with the women's liberation movement with the chant “Jin, Jiyan Azadî”. Background: Three Göttingen residents were invited by the Youth Council of the Green Left Party (YSP) as European representatives of an internationalist youth delegation. After they and a group of 35 young people were attacked by the Turkish police on October 12, 2023 on the sidelines of a press conference by the HDP, DBP and YSP in Riha in the southeast of Turkey, they were sometimes mistreated and denied legal representation until they were deported held in custody on 10/14/23. Women Defend Rojava Göttingen and Ronahî – Kurdish youth center for public relations.