Several thousand people took part in a demonstration in Berlin that Kurdish groups had called for.
The participants protest against Turkey's military invasion of the Rojava region in north-eastern Syria. The self-governing region is defended by the Kurdish self-defence units YPG and YPJ. Hundreds of people are said to have lost their lives in the fighting in the last few days. Over 100,000 people are on the run.
Both Turkey and the former allies of the YPG/YPJ are criticized in speeches. Furthermore, the role of the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan for the region is emphasized.
Turkey sees the YPG/YPJ as an offshoot of the Kurdish Workers' Party PKK and therefore sees them as terrorists. Meanwhile the Kurdish units have been the closest ally of the West in recent years, especially of the USA in the fight against Daesh (IS). By the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw his own troops from the Kurdish territories, he opened up the possibility of Turkey's invasion.
