IRANIAN human rights lawyer Shirin Abadi and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn are among 70 parliamentarians, trade unionists and Nobel prize winners that have issued a rallying call for an end to Turkey’s war on Kurds. 

The Kurdish Solidarity Collective has been launched by a host of signatories condemning Nato’s support for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s genocidal attacks. 

“We recognise in the Kurdish struggle for genuine democracy, gender liberation, and ecology is a struggle that concerns all of us in a time of rising authoritarianism across the globe. 

“Today standing in solidarity with the Kurds means standing in defence of democratic futures for everyone,” the launch statement says.

It highlighted Nato’s “dirty deal” struck with Turkey in its bid to ensure that Ankara did not use its veto to block Finland and Sweden’s accession bid, which it said gave Mr Erdogan “permission to carry out ethnic cleansing.”

Under a memorandum signed at the Nato summit in Madrid last month the Nordic nations agreed to Turkish demands to cut support for Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the resumption of arms sales and the extradition of a number of supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party and the Gulen Movement. 

But signatories accused them of stabbing Kurds in the back and leaving them to Turkey’s mercy. 

“The Turkish state today is ultra-nationalist, assimilationist, and authoritarian, imprisoning thousands of politicians, journalists, academics, and activists of both Turkish and Kurdish descent,” the statement said. 

It accused Nato of sanctioning Turkey’s “war on Kurds” within its own borders and radicalising Mr Erdogan’s annexation plans. 

Turkey provoked international outrage earlier this month when a missile strike killed nine people, including a one-year old baby, at a tourist resort in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Duhok province. 

Drone strikes have continued targeting Kurds in northern Syria where the signatories say that Mr Erdogan’s support for Isis and other jihadist groups is well-known. 

“Just as we struggle against oppressive politics and structures in our home countries, we are joining together today to support the Kurdish people, who defeated Isis but currently face renewed threats of ethnic cleansing from Erdogan,” the statement said. 

“We now ask all to support the Kurdish movement at this critical time — to stand with us in support of freedom, democracy, and peace, for the Kurdish and for all peoples.”

To view the full list of signatories and add your support visit www.kurdishsolidarityinitiative.org