FREEDOM IN CYPRUS, FREEDOM IN KURDISTAN. These words belong to our comrade Kenan Ayaz, who shouts them loudly without getting tired, during two months of unjust and illegal judicial proceedings, during which time political negotiations and transactions took place.
We, Kenan and his comrades, have always kept alive our hope that the Cypriot government will stand by the side of the oppressed peoples and the Kurdish people, with whom it shares a common historical destiny.
Our comrade Kenan, and we, his comrades and supporters, have always stressed that this case is not a legal one, but a political one. And this was the case both in his defence in court and in the meetings we had as his supporters.
Although everyone knows that the real instigator of this case is the fascist Turkish state, the Cypriot government claimed the opposite, and decided to hand over our colleague and friend to the occupation and genocide forces.
With this decision, it not only denied the common pains and wounds of history, but also sided with the occupying and genocidal forces.
The fascist Turkish state is a genocidal machine. Throughout its history it has occupied every place it has gone, creating conflict and hostility between peoples, and has become a perpetrator of genocidal attacks.
Throughout history, both the German state and the fascist Turkish state provided economic, military and political support for the massacres and genocidal attacks.
Unfortunately, with this political case brought against our friend Kenan, the Cypriot government and state became partners in this crime. They too stood by the genocidaires who want to complete the genocide of the Kurdish people.
The fascist Turkish state has committed countless massacres and conquests, linguistic, cultural and physical genocides against the Armenian, Assyrian and Kurdish people, as well as brutal massacres and occupation attacks on the Cypriot people.
The massacres and genocidal policies implemented by the fascist, invasive and genocidal Turkish state against other peoples, particularly the Kurdish and Cypriot peoples, are still fresh.
But the prosecutor appointed by the Ministry of Justice was acting almost like a lawyer of the fascist Turkish state. He actively worked for the extradition of our friend.
First of all, we point out that the attitude of the prosecutor and the court is contrary to the sacrifice of Theofilos Georgiades, who created a bridge of friendship between Cyprus and Kurdistan.
With their stance on the extradition of Kenan, they exchanged the memory of the heroes who resisted and witnessed the invasion for the silver of treason. For us, that means falling in love with your executioner.
As Kurds and Kurdish people living in Cyprus, we have shown great sensitivity to all the sacred values of the Cypriot people during this time of trial.
We used our right to protest in non-violent and fully democratic methods, holding diplomatic talks to ensure that the government and the state of Cyprus did not join the game of international powers, and we expressed our concerns.
In all the official political meetings we had, we saw that the attitude and approach of the authorities, who expressed the independence of the judiciary in classical and diplomatic language, were in fact simply distracting us from the judicial decision.
We Kurds and the people of Kurdistan also accept the independence of the judiciary. But we have seen that for the German state the judiciary and the court itself are not independent.
For some reason, the Ministry of Justice of Cyprus did not give any explanation for the case, which lasted about two months, and felt the need to make a statement just two days before the Supreme Court’s decision.
Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision on the appeal against the first instance decision, the ministry said that “the decision of the Larnaca District Court is correct”.
The Supreme Court took the issuing decision confirming the Ministry of Justice’s statement. This fact clearly shows a political interference and pressure on the judicial system.
In our view, the Ministry’s statement is not ordinary and accidental. We would like to state that the interference of political power in the judiciary not only puts the democratic aspect of a country under question, but will also create a serious danger for the people living in Cyprus.
The struggle for the freedom of the Kurds and Kurdistan was put on trial in the person of our friend Kenan Ayaz, and a people was declared a “terrorist” in the trial provoked by the Turkish state.
To Kenan’s brother, who was only waiting for his brother’s freedom outside the court, we witnessed the practices and violence of the Cypriot police, which until today did not resemble the practices of the Turkish police.
Will the judiciary, which has rushed to meet the demands of the fascist Turkish state, show the same sensitivity for our friends who have been beaten, violated and tortured by the Cypriot police? Will legal proceedings be initiated against the torturing police officers?
Following the statement of the Kurdistan Cultural Centre “Theophilos” about our friends who were tortured, the Ministry of Justice spoke of “hubris”. Will the Ministry of Justice now apologise to the Kurds living and working in Cyprus?
In conclusion, with the decision of the court, which is not based on any law and justice, you have not only handed over our friend to the fascist Turkish state, but this is done purely for political interests.
We want you to know that with this decision you have handed over to the Turkish state the martyrs of Cyprus, who were raped and murdered by the fascist Turkish state in front of their children in 1974.
You handed over to his murderers Theophilus, who was trying to develop a common struggle between the Cypriot and Kurdish people, and was murdered by the fascist Turkish state.
We, as Kurdish people fighting for freedom, want all the dear people of Cyprus to know that we will remain in the memories of the priceless, martyr and heroic peoples of Kurdistan as well as Cyprus.
We fight against the attitudes that try to sow the seeds of hostility between our peoples.
We leave in the consciousness of all the dear Cypriot people the account of the treason committed by the Cypriot government, which is a partner in the extradition judgment against our massacred people.
We owe a debt of gratitude to all the honourable Cypriot people, who showed solidarity with us during this mobilisation and did not interrupt their support for a single moment.
As our friend Kenan Ayaz said so many times, we shout FREEDOM IN CYPRUS, FREEDOM IN KURDISTAN.
Long live the unity of peoples
Long live the solidarity between Cyprus and Kurdistan
Down with the fascist, occupying and genocidal forces.