Yesterday – a month after the Turkish foreign secretary visited his counterpart David Lammy in Westminster – British counter-terrorism police raided the Kurdish Community Centre in Harringay, London, as well as the homes of several members of the local Kurdish community.
Seven people have been arrested pending charges over alleged ties to the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) – which the British state has proscribed as a terrorist organisation. The centre has now been shut down for investigation, which the police claim will take two weeks.
Immediately following the raid, a spontaneous demonstration erupted on nearby Green Lanes. The police brutally cracked down upon the protest as well, arresting handfuls of people. This is what free speech looks like in so-called ‘liberal’ ‘democratic’ Britain.
Undeterred by police intimidation, a larger demonstration of thousands is taking place tonight, as this article goes to press.
Thousands of people marching in #Haringey to condem attacks on Kurdish Community Centre #HandsOffKurds #London pic.twitter.com/l54eIpAzXN
— Aladdin Nisêbîn (@AladdinNisebin) November 28, 2024
New faces, same story
Labour’s attacks on British Kurds are not new. They are a continuation of the policies of the previous Tory government.
Last year, Sunak’s government agreed to crack down on Kurdish political and cultural organisations, in order to gain concessions from the Erdoğan and Turkish state, which held an all-important veto on allowing Sweden and Finland into NATO.
This same manoeuvring was carried out across Europe, including Sweden, which shamefully agreed to deport Kurdish political asylum seekers to face persecution in Turkey.
After western imperialism had spent years using the Kurds in Rojava to fight ISIS, promising them political protections and sending them money and weapons, they were betrayed the minute they were no longer useful.
🔥 Still marching, still resisting!
Thousands flood the streets of #Haringey in solidarity with the Kurdish Community Centre and to protest unjust raids and arrests. Together, we demand justice and an end to the targeting of Kurds in the UK.
📢 #JusticeForKurds #KurdsResist pic.twitter.com/RPTg9hEYUE— xunavek (@xunavek) November 28, 2024
Western leaders often like to use high-flown words like ‘self-determination’ and ‘democracy‘ when it suits their agenda. But the disgusting treatment of the Kurds shows us just how the imperialists really view oppressed peoples: as small change on the bargaining table.
The Labour Party stood on a platform of ‘change’. At least that was the title of their manifesto. But since they are dedicated representatives of the ruling class, they have changed nothing at all.
Britain is one of the biggest warmongers in NATO, and will do whatever it takes to please its allies, including pushing for Eurofighter planes to be sent to Turkey – weapons it knows will be used against the Kurds in Northern Syria.
Keir Starmer, the so-called human-rights lawyer, shows no concern at all for the democratic rights of the Kurdish people to their homeland, language, or culture, nor for freedom of speech in Britain.
Lammy’s cowardice
The PKK was proscribed back in 2001 for nothing more than political expediency: for Britain to secure stronger ties with the Turkish regime.
So why should Kurds be prosecuted for ‘apparently’ having links to it? And how can a community centre where old people drink tea and speak their own language be considered a threat to democracy or the security of Britain?
It may seem ludicrous, but this is the hypocrisy of the British state, which acts as one of the worlds’ greatest terrorists, sending weapons to war criminals like Netanyahu and Erdoğan, while accusing peaceful communities of harbouring ‘militants’.
If you want a clear cut example of this disgusting dishonesty and cowardice, look no further than our foreign secretary and MP for Tottenham, David Lammy, who for years has presented himself as a ‘friend of the Kurds’, even attending pro-PKK demonstrations in 2014!
This is @DavidLammy who has coordinated the dawn raids on the Kurdish communities in London. @KurdishAssembly is under heavy attacks.
10’s have been arrested, Police are brutal, people are angry. @metpoliceuk should be ashamed of themselves.. pic.twitter.com/W9ej9rYxhW
— The Karga (@tokyooslo) November 27, 2024
In fact, he was at one point an honorary board member of the same community centre that is now being shut down by the police!
Lammy wanted Kurdish votes. But he didn’t care about Kurdish lives.
Now that the community whose support he courted is under attack, he wines and dines the Turkish foreign secretary and offers resounding silence to the Kurds, while deleting anything he might once have said off the internet. With ‘friends’ like these, who needs enemies?
Down with Labour’s hypocrisy!
Against state repression! Against imperialist deals!
For the self-determination of the Kurdish people!
Letter from a Kurdish communist in Britain: Hands off the Kurds!
Buse, Wood Green RCP
Kurdish people have found each other in Britain, they have set up community centres all across the country, where they can speak their language and have political discussions comfortably.
But as has been the case for Kurds for over 100 years, since the Treaty of Lausanne, Kurdish people have yet again been forced out of their own spaces.
Following six arrests, the Kurdish Community Centre in Harringay was blocked off and police were sent in ridiculous numbers to intimidate the protestors. Accusations of ‘terrorism’ have been used to shut down our peaceful spaces.
Two weeks ago, Starmer and the UK Defence Secretary met with their Turkish counterparts. Britain and NATO need Turkey, so they will do everything Turkey wants. As Britain strikes deals, Kurds pay the price. Our people are bargaining chips between bigger countries.
Kurdish people came to Britain to seek political asylum, being identified as a Kurd in Turkey puts a target on your back and the word ‘terrorist’ on your forehead. Years of legal and cultural discrimination means the language and culture of the Kurdish people is dying.
Kurdish people feel isolated, angry, like their backs are against a wall. As Turkey improves relations and increases trade with imperialist nations, the British state does Erdoğan’s bidding, and attacks those seeking asylum from him.
The crisis in the Middle East is preparing the ground for big struggles of all oppressed peoples.
The liberation of the Kurds cannot be won alone. Kurdish people will be surrounded and targeted as long as we are isolated. International revolution is the only way we can achieve a homeland, and a dignified existence.
In order to break the rule of Erdoğan, we must unite with another group who also wants liberation from the Turkish state: the workers.
Erdoğan offers nothing to the workers of Turkey. Inflation is sky-high. Youth unemployment and poverty continues to grow.
Mass movements will continue to threaten the basis of his corrupt dictatorship. The only way to achieve victory – to gain genuine freedom and democracy – is through international class struggle and the downfall of imperialism.
The Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain opposes the hypocritical, anti-democratic British state, and offers its full solidarity to the Kurds.
