Kurds rally against occupation of Northern Iraq

BY AMY MCDONELL

ADELAIDE — On March 5, Adelaide's Kurdish community protested plans by Turkey to join the US in invading and occupying Northern Iraq (South Kurdistan). More than 100 people gathered at Victoria Square for a march to state parliament where the rally was addressed by a number of speakers.

Sherko Kirmanj, an activist with the Kurdish Action Committee, told Green Left Weekly that "Turkey's main reason to support the United States is to destroy the present Kurdish self-ruled government."

As demonstrators waved Kurdish flags and chanted "Freedom for Kurdistan!", Kirmanj explained to GLW, "the Kurdish people have long been the victims of American and Turkish strategic interests. George W. Bush says war in Iraq could become the initial spark for freedom, peace and democracy in the entire Near East. However, what we are about to see is 'liberation' to start with invasion."

From Green Left Weekly, March 26, 2003.

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From GLW issue 531