Call from Kurdish Solidarity Cymru: Isolate Turkey to break the Isolation!

Kurdish Solidarity Cymru call on you to support a boycott of Turkish holidays in solidarity with Kurdish hunger strikers. Please join us for a decentralised day of action on the 4th of May. We encourage creative actions on the day, and for groups and individuals to immediately start  writing to travel agents asking them to stop selling Turkish holidays until Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation is broken.

In the UK Imam Sis, a 32 year old Kurdish resident of Newport, has been on an indefinite hunger strike since the 17th November 2018. His condition is rapidly deteriorating. He is part of an international movement of hunger strikers; almost 10 000 Kurdish activists and political prisoners are on hunger strike worldwide. They are calling for an end to the isolation of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, whose been held in a Turkish prison for 20 years and denied access to family and lawyers since 2011. Imam explains why the demands of the hunger strikers are so important here: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/abdullah-calan-erdogan-imam-sis-welsh-parliament-a8846926.html

We will concentrate our efforts on the travel agent Tui, formerly known as Thompson. There are branches in most towns and cities in the UK – an opportunity for a mass decentralised action in solidarity with the hunger strikers. Find your local branch here: https://www.tui.co.uk/shop-finder People can also register complaints to: https://www.tuigroup.com/en-en/meta/contact or via the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TUIUnitedKingdom/

We have the potential to raise awareness of the hunger strike, and the fact that Turkey as a state tortures Kurds and supports ISIS. A place totally unsuitable to go on holiday and support economically. Tourism accounts for 11.6% of Turkey’s economy, contributing $26 billion to their economy in 2017. This income helps fuel Turkey’s war on the Kurds. There are also direct links between Turkish holiday and arms companies. Over 2 million people from the UK visited Turkey in 2018, making the UK one of the top 5 countries supporting Turkey’s tourist income. We cannot rely on governments alone to pressure Turkey, attacking their economy through boycotts is an important part of the campaign.

A picket, a stall, an occupation, or creative forms of direct action –  your solidarity can be as limitless as your imagination. Why not use your local May day march as a convergence point for taking action?  By the 27th of April we will have produced leaflets, posters and other resources for all to use at actions that will be available to download on the Kurdish Solidarity Cymru website.

Please send reports of any actions, we can then pass it on to the hunger strikers themselves. E-mail a report to kurdishsolicymru@riseup.net or Tweet with the hashtag #Fast4Apo.

​Together we will break the isolation and stand with the Kurds who have already sacrificed so much in their fight against the fascism.