On June 1, German police raided and banned the Agri Verlag
publishing house in Cologne, Germany. The following statement is a
response from the National Liberation Front of Kurdistan (ERNK)
which was faxed to us from the KURD-A news agency.

The German Authorities Must Cease Their Attacks Against The Kurds!

     On June 1, German authorities attacked the Agri Verlag
publishing house which produces books and publications about the
Kurdish people. The attack on Agri Verlag is part of the campaign
which has been launched in Germany against the Kurds and their
associations and institutions. Ever since the attack on a Kurdish
cultural gathering in Mainz a few weeks ago, these attacks on
Kurdish associations, institutions, and houses have been
increasing. People are being observed, Kurds are being arrested,
and police prevent Kurdish cultural events from taking place. Kurds
are being put under great pressure to become informants. But for us
Kurds, such scenes are nothing new. We experience it all the time
under the terrorist Turkish state, which is backed by German
weapons. But the interesting thing we must also endure such things
in Germany, a country which likes to think of itself as "democratic
and law abiding".
     The Turkish state has made it illegal for the Kurdish people
to prepare and publish materials in their own language; it bans
freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.
In the last three years, 25 Kurdish journalists and writers have
been killed and hundreds more intellectuals have been imprisoned
for their ideas. The German authorities are now following this same
course by banning newspapers, books, and publications. Now the Agri
Verlag has been attacked and 15 tons of books have been confiscated
and banned. Such conduct brings back memories of Nazi book
burnings.
     In a period when the Turkish state is carrying out horrible
massacres in Kurdistan, terrorizing villages and destroying nature,
kidnapping people and executing them, and imprisoning Kurdish
members of parliament, police attacks in Germany will only serve to
provoke the Kurdish people. Such conduct shows that the German
state believes that military violence is an acceptable manner in
which to solve the Kurdish problem. By doing so, the German state
is bringing the bloody Kurdish question onto its own soil.
     As pressure on Turkey is increasing to find a political
solution to the Kurdish question, the German state's role as
Turkey's partner is hindering the search for a peaceful solution.
     It's not a solution to stand against the PKK and the Kurdish
people, rather that only makes the problems worse. Stop your
attacks and cease using state initiatives in order to criminalize
the Kurdish people.

ERNK European Representation,
June 1, 1995