According to a press release, the vision of the Cyprus-Kurdish Solidarity Association, whose establishment was announced on Wednesday, is to build bridges between the Cypriot and Kurdish people, who are fighting for the universal human values of freedom, equality and democracy.
The establishment of the association was announced at a press conference in the presence of political figures and representatives of the two peoples. Present, among others, were EDEK MP Kostis Efstathiou, the President of the Solidarity Movement, Eleni Theocharous and former MP and President of the Ecologist-Civic Co-operation Movement, George Perdikis.
According to the press release, apart from practical solidarity, the aim of the Cyprus-Kurdish Solidarity Association is to provide assistance to the Kurdish refugees who fled to Cyprus for protection, to inform and raise awareness among Cypriots about the Kurdish struggle and to promote mutual understanding between the two cultures.
The conference was addressed by Kurdish fighter Cherkez Korkmaz who made special reference to Cypriot fighter Theophilos Georgiades who was assassinated in 1994 by Turkish agents. "Theophilos Georgiades believed that the liberation of Cyprus and Kurdistan is a common struggle and he paid the price for it with his life," Korkmaz said, according to the statement. He even said that "once Kurdistan is liberated, we will give its name to schools and universities."
Yesien Tarboush, on behalf of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), stressed that the peoples of the region have been struggling for the past 100 years to find a peaceful solution and survive in their land, finding the plans of Turkey and other powers an obstacle. He said that in the region of Rojava in northern Syria they have actively demonstrated a new philosophy where all peoples Kurds, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, coexist in harmony while preserving each one's language and culture. "This is the ideology and philosophy of our struggle, of peaceful coexistence," he said.
Perdikis said that as the Cyprus-Kurdish Solidarity Association, "we will work to create conditions of hospitality and friendship for our Kurdish brothers and sisters who found refuge in our homeland until their return to a free and democratic Kurdistan."
Perdikis said that as the Cyprus-Kurdish Solidarity Association, "we will work to create conditions of hospitality and friendship for our Kurdish brothers and sisters who found refuge in our homeland until their return to a free and democratic Kurdistan.
Efstathiou said that what the Kurdish people achieved in Rojava, "where they were able to implement the principles of human rights and democracy" is an example to be emulated regarding the Cyprus problem. He asked "what are we doing here in Cyprus where we have a state and we want to dismantle it to create a partnership with a Turkey which does not respect its signatures and all it knows how to do is to persecute and exterminate peoples". She said the example of Rojava is "a shining beacon for us who want to replace democracy with guaranteed majorities and a rotating presidency in a state that will never work."
Ms. Theocharous reviewed the history of the practical expression of Cypriot-Kurdish friendship and solidarity and spoke about her visits to the Damascus camp, where she performed surgeries and met the historic Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. She spoke of political support for the Kurdish struggle through the Cypriot Parliament and the European Parliament where events were held with international Kurdish personalities such as Leyla Zana.
In his own intervention, the director of the Cyprus Centre for Studies, Christos Iakovou, stressed, according to the press release, that "the struggle that the Kurds are waging today in Turkey is also our struggle and is a challenge to the principles and credibility of the civilized world."
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