7 December 2022
6pm-8.00pm
Emergency Parliamentary Meeting to discuss attacks on Kurds in Syria and Iran
With a recorded video message from Ilhan Ahmed, co-chair of the executive committee of the Syrian Democratic council.
Speakers: Sonia Karimi, Azad Deewanee and Ahmad Mohammed.
Hosted by Lloyd Russel-Moyle MP
On the 19th November the autonomous Rojava region of Northeast Syria and Kurdish Cities in Iran and other Kurdish areas of Syria and Iraq have been under attack by both the Turkish and Iranian states.
President Erdogan has been open about his ambition to invade Syrian Kurdish Region. Having failed to get a go-ahead from the United States or Russia, he has launched a bombardment campaign.
Parliament must be resolute in its defence of the people of Rojava, majority Kurdish, who have been our allies on the fight against terrorism and have paid a very heavy price.
We met to discuss these attacks, and the formation of a parliamentary response against them. Talks were productive and, hopefully, will lead to future collaboration
Ilham Ahmed is Syria’s most prominent Kurdish politician. Ms Ahmed heads the executive committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), which forms the basis for the Autonomous Administration of North and East of Syria (commonly referred to as Rojava) and functions as the political-wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF is a multi-ethnic alliance that, with the support of the international coalition, has been leading the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Ahmad Mohammed is the Syrian Democratic Council’s co-representative to the UK.
Graduated in 2021 with a BA(Hons)Middle Eastern Studies with International Disasters Management and Humanitarian Response from the University of Manchester.
Since his arrival to the UK in 2014, Ahmad has been an active member of the Kurdish and Syrian communities, advocating for human rights of the people of the region and political resolution for the conflict in Syria.
Sonia Karimi – Kurdish from Iran.
Representative of the Eastern Kurdistan Women’s Society (KJAR) in UK .
BA with Honours in English Literature, specialising in Colonialism and Gender .
Azad Deewanee is from Rojava and has a PhD in Peace Studies (Conflict Resolution) from Bradford University. He previously worked as a lawyer and human rights advocate, and dealt with cases related to Kurds, Iraqis, Syrians, and others. His research focuses on the Middle Eastern conflicts, political discourse, terrorism, Jihadism, human rights, the Kurdish question, and U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle is a Labour and Co-operative Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemptown in the 2017 general election. Chair of the UK APPG on Kurdistan in Syria and Turkey.