September 29, 2015

SOLIDARITY IS NOT A CRIME, IT IS THE COURTESY OF PEOPLE!

kritnet unterstützt diesen Solidaritätsaufruf aus der Türkei und ruft zur weiteren Unterstützung auf

On September 21st, the police stopped a group of migrants who were walking from the Esenler bus station towards Edirne, taking into custody 5 people. These 5 people, 3 of them Syrian, one German and one French, are still being held at the Kumkapi Foreigners Department Directorate.

As far as we have learned today, it is claimed that our Syrian friends will be forcefully sent to camps, while our two other friends will be deported, though it is not certain yet how this decision will be implemented.

Our friends were walking in solidarity with migrants whose only goal is to leave and who are suffering from vital, in fact life-threatening problems as an outcome of states’ border and migration policies. First of all, we find it unacceptable that they were arbitrarily detained without any criminal accusation and are now facing forced residence in camps and deportation due to their rightful action. We demand that they are immediately given back their freedom, before being subjected to any more rights abuses.

Furthermore, following their detainment the press has openly printed the identity information and photographs of our friends, declaring them “agent provocateur.” These are people who for years have stood on the side of migrants without discrimination of religion, language, race, nationality or gender. Now both the press and police are trying to lynch them, in a manner that is openly xenophobic and completely ignores all media ethics.

We are not intimidated by these days when our demand for our rights, from ecological to urban, and our solidarity with people who are struggling for their rights, is being declared a crime. We are not intimidated by these days when certain segments of the media declare all social movements as the acts of “agents”, “provokers” and “terrorists.” We walk together, we cling stronger together.

We shout that everyone has the right to movement and the freedom to live wherever he or she wants. No one can be detained or kept in a permanent state of deportability for using these rights and freedoms.

No border, fence or wall can deter humans from wanting a better life. They are all illegitimate.

Because migration is not a crime, it is a right.