Kurdish community members and supporters gathered on July 27 to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution in northern Syria.
Greens MLA for the seat of Balmain Jamie Parker addressed the function along with the Socialist Allianceβs Susan Price.
ParkerΒ pledged to continue supporting the campaign to remove the Kurdistan Workersβ Party (PKK) from the Australian governmentβs list of proscribed terrorist organisations and recognise them as an organisation fighting for freedom.
Price praised the Rojava Revolution as a βbeacon of hopeβ in the Middle East, and remembered the martyrs from the Peopleβs Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) who had lost their lives in the battle to break ISISβs siege of Kobane in 2014-15 and repel Turkeyβs attack on Afrin, which began in 2015.
She mentioned the sacrifices made in the recent international hunger strike campaign, which eventually forced the Turkish government to allow jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan access to his lawyers.
August 3 marks five years since ISIS kidnapped and massacred Yezidi women, men and children in Iraqβs Sinjar province. Many Yezidi women, who were enslaved by their kidnappers, were subsequently rescued by the YPG/YPJ.