The European Trade Union Confederation is increasingly concerned at developments in Kobani, on the Syrian/Turkish border, under attack by Islamic State terrorists.
We call on the international community and European states, including Turkey, to act urgently to prevent the mass murder being perpetrated by these brutal thugs not only against Kurds but against people of all faiths and throughout swathes of Syria and Iraq. Their violent treatment of women is particularly abhorrent.
We draw attention to the view of our affiliate in Turkey, the Confederation of Public Employees’ Trade Unions (KESK), that the process for a democratic solution of the Kurdish matter is being brought into question. Rising tensions in Turkey itself, including a mounting death toll, are a further component of destabilization in the region. The IS terrorists must not be offered that sustenance.
