Over 170 signatories, which include former ministers, MPs, writers, directors, actors, scriptwriters, journalists, representatives of democratic community organisations and women’s organisations, emailed a letter to MPs in the Turkish Parliament calling for an end to the military operation on Afrin and for problems to be resolved through dialogue.
The letter, supported by over 170 signatories including prominent figures such as Zülfü Livaneli, Rakel Dink, Fatma Bostan Ünsal, Gençay Gürsoy, Levent Tüzel, Ece Temelkuran, Şanar Yurdatapan, Deniz Türkali, Ertuğrul Günay, Esra Arsan and Necmiye Alpay states:
“We the undersigned citizens, call on you on behalf of millions of our people because of the position of authority and responsibility you possess.
In our country and our region, we want peace and stability, not war. We believe that the best way to defend our borders and avoid existential threats is by strengthening our mutual ties of friendship and good neighbourly ties. We know from experience that we cannot achieve security by spending millions arming ourselves and waging a war at the expense of young lives and leaving tens of thousands of families without a home; security can only be achieved through mutual negotiations and partnership, and we know this is possible.
We know that armed intervention in Afrin on Syrian soil will not bring our region or country peace and security. It will bring bigger problems, destructions and pain, and we know it will deeply wound our Kurdish citizens.
At time when foreign states have turned the Middle East into proxy war hell, and even there presence in the region is in breach of international law, any intention to join them and any steps taken towards this will result in disappointment and will lead to societal, political, economic and human losses that cannot be rectified for decades.
As responsible citizens with the public and history as our witness, we caution those with authority to hear our voice and act with good judgment to stop the war and find a resolution through dialogue.
Regards.”
Signatories to the letter are as follows: “Abdullah Demirbaş, Fatma Bostan Ünsal, Nimet Tanrıkulu, Abdülbaki Erdoğmuş, Ferhat Tunç, Nimet Yardımcı, Ahmet Aykaç, Fethiye Çetin, Nur Bekata Mardin, Ahmet Faruk Ünsal, Fidan Eroğlu, Nurcan Baysal, Ahmet İnsel, Fikret Ünlü, Nurhan Keeler, Ahmet Özdemir Aktan, Füsun Ertuğ, Nurten Ertuğrul, Ahmet Tonak, Genco Erkal, Olga Hünler, Akın Birdal, Gençay Gürsoy, Onur Hamzaoğlu, Ali Bilge, Gonca Gül Gedikoğlu, Orhan Alkaya, Ali Haydar Konca, Gönül Saray, Orhan Silier, Ali Uçansu, Gülriz Sururi, Oya Baydar, Arzu Başaran, Gülseren Onanç, Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, Aslıhan Karabacak Calviello, Gülten Kaya, Ömer Laçiner, Aydın Arı, Gürhan Ertür, Ömer Madra, Aydın Selcen, Hacer Ansal, Özgün E. Bulut, Aynur Özuğurlu, Halil Ergün, Özgür Müftüoğlu, Ayşe Erzan, Hasan Cemal, Pınar Kılıçer, Ayşe Hür, Hasip Kaplan, Rakel Dink, Ayşe Nur Doksat, Hıdır Işık, Rıfat Yüzbaşıoğlu, Ayşegül Devecioğlu, Hüda Kaya, Salman Kaya, Ayten Yıldırım, Hürriyet Karadeniz, Savaş Demirci, Bahattin Yücel, Sefa Feza Arslan, Baki Tezcan, Hüseyin Ayrılmaz, Sema Kaygusuz, Baskın Oran, Hüsnü Okçuoğlu, Semih Bilgen, Belgin Koç, İhsan Eliaçık, Semih Gümüş, Beyza Üstün, Kıvanç Ersoy, Semra Somersan, Binnaz Toprak, Kumru Toktamış, Serhat Baysan, Burhan Sönmez, Kuvvet Lordoğlu, Servet Demir, Bülent Utku, Lale Mansur, Simten Coşar, Celal Korkut Yıldırım, Lati Akyüz, Suavi, Celalettin Can, Levent Tüzel, Suna Uluçınar Aygün, Cem Mansur, Mebuse Tekay, Süleyman Çelebi, Cem Özatalay, Mehmet Rasgelener, Şahika Yüksel, Cengiz Arın, Mehmet Rauf Sandalcı, Şanar Yurdatapan, Ceren Şengül, Melehat Kutun, Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Cihangir İslam, Melek Taylan, Tahsin Yeşildere, Defne Asal, Meral Camcı, Taner Akçam, Deniz Türkali, Meryem Koray, Tarhan Erdem, Deniz Yonucu, Mete Çetik, Tarık Ziya Ekinci, Dilek Gökçin, Mine Gencel Bek, Tatyos Bebek, Ece Temelkuran, Muammer Keskin, Tebesssüm Yılmaz, Ekrem Baran, Muhammed Salar, Tilbe Saran, Elif Sandal Önal, Murat Belge, Tuna Altınel, Emine Uşaklıgil, Murat Çeyişakar, Tümay İmre, Engin Sustam, Murat Morova, Ufuk Uras, Erdal Kalkan, Mustafa Altıntop, Ümit Kıvanç, Erdoğan Aydın, Mustafa Paçal, Ümit Özgümüş, Erol Katırcıoğlu, Muzaffer Kaya, Viki Çiprut, Ersin Salman, Nadire Mater, Yakın Ertürk, Ertuğrul Günay, Nalan Erbil, Yasemin Bektaş, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, Nazan Aksoy, Zehra Kabasakal Arat, Ertuğrul Yalçınbayır, Nazar Büyüm, Zelal Ekinci, Esra Arsan, Necmiye Alpay, Zeynep Oral, Esra Mungan, Nesrin Nas, Zeynep Tanbay, Eşref Erdem, Nesteren Davutoğlu, Zişan Kürüm, Fadıl Öztürk, Neşe Erdilek, Ziya Halis, Fadime Gök, Neşe Yaşin, Zülfü Livaneli, Fahrettin Dağlı, Nil Mutluer.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir