The German Federal Government must demand Turkey to back down and ensure self-government for the Kurds in Syria

Now that the extremists of the so-called "Islamic State" have been driven out of Kobanî, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls on the German Federal Government to support self-government for the Kurds in northern Syria – even against the will of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Germany should not just let Erdogan decide on the fate of the Kurdish minority in the neighboring country alone," said Tilman Zülch, the STP's Secretary General, in Göttingen on Wednesday. "The only chance to stabilize the region in the long run is to ensure that Kobanî and the other two Kurdish cantons in northern Syria, Afrin and Cezire, can take their fate into their own hands after the decades of oppression and persecution." The Kurds have proven that they are able to protect their territory from the IS-extremists.

"If Erdogan decides to maintain his course and not to make any concessions to the Kurds in Syria, the Federal Government should reconsider its policy towards its NATO partner," said Zülch. He recalled that the Turkish government had weakened the Kurdish resistance against the IS considerably by blocking large parts of the humanitarian aid deliveries to the encircled Kurdish civilian population. In addition, IS-extremists from all over the world were tolerated on Turkish territory. Exhausted and wounded fighters were able to recover or be treated in Turkish hospitals. Injured Kurds, however, were only allowed to pass through exceptionally. Some even bled to death before the eyes of the Turkish border guards.

"The Turkish government still gives preference to the brutal terrorist group – and even accepts the deaths of innocent civilians," criticized Zülch. "It was only due to the growing international pressure that Ankara had allowed 160 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters from Iraqi Kurdistan to help the women and men fighting in Kobanî. Kurdish people from Turkey are not allowed to support their fellow Kurds."

The terrorist organization "Islamic State" had been trying to take Kobanî since the end of 2013, but had failed due to the resistance of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). In mid-September 2014, the Islamist militias started a major offensive – and the attack on the city started on September 28, 2014. As a consequence, 200,000 to 300,000 Kurdish civilians fled to the neighboring Kurdish regions of Turkey.