Montreal: Kurds protest Ankara’s attacks in Syria

Militant/Pierre-Luc Filion

MONTREAL — Chanting “Long live Kurdistan,” 50 Kurds and supporters rallied here Sept. 6 to condemn the Turkish government’s military offensive against the Kurds in northern Syria. They also demanded that the Canadian government, a NATO ally of Ankara, end its complicity.

The signs above in French say, “The YPG forces who are fighting for humanity’s freedom are being attacked by Turkey” and “The West betrays the Kurds and allows them to be massacred.” The YPG, the People’s Protection Units, are the militia that controls the Kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, and has been the most effective force fighting against the reactionary Islamic State there.

The protest outside the office of Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Dion was called by the Kurdish Foundation of Quebec and Rojava Solidarity Montreal.

— PIERRE-LUC FILION AND ANNETTE KOURI