Bombard Julie Bishop …

Dear Friends,

The Kurdish community in Australia has started a campaign to bombard Foreign Minister Julie Bishop with emails asking her to break her silence over the Turkish aggression against the people of Afrin in northern Syria.

It is estimated now that up to 200,000 people, mainly Kurds, have fled from Afrin and a huge number are destitute and without food or shelter. One example is the family of our friend – heval in Kurdish – Mira Ibrahim, who lives in Sydney.

Mira learned in the last few days that her 90 year old grandmother and her dad had made it across country to Damascus – where they still face an uncertain future. Their house in Afrin was destroyed by Turkish bombs and the chances are that they will never return.

Already we have heard that 5000 Islamist non-Kurdish families have been settled in houses taken from their rightful owners.

Ms Bishop has not replied to requests to break her silence and the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has ignored polite requests to meet with representatives from the Kurdish community.

Please feel free to amend the email below, but please do cut and paste it and send it to Bishop as a matter of urgency. Her email address is Julie.Bishop.MP@aph.gov.au Please blind cc it to lobby@navkurd.com.au

Also, please forward this as widely as possible.

In solidarity,

John (Australians for Kurdistan)

Pro-forma of a letter to Julie Bishop …

The Hon. Julie Bishop
Foreign Minister
Australian Federal Government
Canberra.

Dear Ms Bishop,

I write as a concerned citizen to ask that you as Foreign Minister do everything in your power to stop the Turkish aggression against the people of Afrin in Syria.

Until this illegal invasion, Afrin was an island of peace, security, and democratic freedom in the midst of the terrible civil war that has devastated much of Syria. It had welcomed huge numbers of refugees and had made great advances in women’s rights.

Let us not forget too that the Kurds and their Arab, Assyrian, Turkmen and Yazidi allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces were the main force in the destruction of the so-called Islamic State.

Now the invaders have raised the Turkish flag over the city that lies partly in ruins. Hundreds of innocent people, children included, are dead. Islamist gangs torment the citizens and thousands of people have fled from their homes.

History shows that dictators cannot be appeased. The civilised world must stand up to the tyrant Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now threatening to attack the other Kurdish cantons in Syria and even the Yazidi enclave on Mt Sinjar in Iraq. Ominously, he also threatens to “ethnically cleanse” Afrin of its Kurdish population.

We therefore ask that you:

* Summon the Turkish Ambassador to demand the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops and their proxies from Afrin;

* Seek UN supportfor a No Fly Zone in northern Syria;

* Withdraw the Australian Ambassador from Ankara in protest at Erdogan’s aggression.

Australia cannot remain silent in the face of this grave crime against peace and sovereignty.

Thank you.

Regards,
John Tully