Detained Iranian-Kurd Behrouz Boochani: Turkey’s war in Syria ‘international shame’

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Detained Iranian-Kurdish author Behrouz Boochani has spoken out about Turkey’s ongoing offensive in northeastern Syria, describing the war as “an international shame.”

“The Kurdish people fought against ISIS for everyone, for all the people around the world, particularly for people in Western countries,” Boochani said in an interview with Australia’s SBS News on Tuesday, reminding that 11,000 Kurdish fighters died in the war against the so-called Islamic State.

“This war is an international shame.”

Boochani highlighted the “progressive and democratic system,” which the Kurdish-led administration built in northeastern Syria.

“This is not only an attack on Kurds; it is an attack on democracy and democratic values.”

Turkish warplanes and artillery began bombarding Syria’s predominantly Kurdish northeastern town of Serekaniye on Oct. 9, the beginning of an offensive Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called “Operation Peace Spring” that has since spread to several other areas. 

Erdogan claims he wants to create a so-called “safe zone” in northern Syria and wants to protect his country’s southern border from “terror groups,” referring to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey claims has ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Group (PKK).

However, the military incursion has caused a catastrophic humanitarian situation, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and seek refuge in southern areas or the neighboring Kurdistan Region.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 54 civilians have been killed since the start of the Turkish offensive.

Boochani, himself an asylum seeker from the Kurdish city of Ilam, arrived in Australia by boat in 2013. He was immediately captured and transported to one of the country’s offshore immigration processing centers, located on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island. 

He is one of almost 600 refugees that reside on Manus’ camps, where the tough conditions that asylum seekers are subjected to have drawn widespread criticism.

Despite his detention, the Kurdish journalist and writer has been recognized for his achievements, including his debut autobiographical novel “No Friend But The Mountains,” published in 2018.

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In September 2019, Boochani was appointed as a visiting law professor at the Birbeck, University of London.