This archive report was first published on 12 October 2019.
On October 12, 2019, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Paris, France, to demonstrate against Turkey's military assault on Kurdish-held border towns in northeastern Syria.
The protest, which drew more than 20,000 people, was sparked by Ankara's decision to step up its assault on Kurdish-held areas in Syria, despite mounting threats of international sanctions.
US President Donald Trump had ordered American troops to pull back from the border on Wednesday, prompting widespread criticism for abandoning a loyal ally in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group.
Pro-Kurdish protests were also held in Germany, with over 10,000 participants in Cologne, according to news agency DPA. Scores of Kurds marched through Cyprus's capital, Nicosia, with one protester holding a banner reading: 'Do not be an accomplice to the genocide of the Kurdish nation.'
"Turkey is trying to carry out an ethnic cleansing and reinforce jihadism... to make the West kneel," said Agit Polat, spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Council in France, in Paris.
Polat urged the European Union and the United States to impose concrete economic sanctions on Turkey and called for France to recall its ambassador to Turkey.
Several French politicians, including France Unbowed MP Eric Coquerel and Green Party senator Esther Benbassa, participated in the march, criticizing Turkey's actions and calling for a halt to arms sales to the country.
