To:

– His Excellency the Secretary-General of the United Nations

– The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

– The President of the Human Rights Council

– The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Self-Determination

– The Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Internally Displaced Persons

– The United Nations Security Council.⁠

Your Excellency the Secretary-General.

We, the Kurdish Lawyers Union, as an independent professional legal entity licensed in Germany, dedicated to the defense of human rights, the consolidation of the rule of law, and the application of international legal norms, submit this communication pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, particularly Article 1 thereof, the International Covenants on Human Rights, the United Nations Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, as well as the principles of international law concerning the right to self-determination and the principle of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).

I. Background and Facts

For decades, particularly during the years of conflict in Syria, the Kurdish people have been subjected to grave and systematic violations, which have included, inter alia:

– Extrajudicial killings

– Forced displacement and demographic alteration

– Arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance

– Confiscation of land and property

– Targeting of national, linguistic, and cultural identity

– Systematic deprivation of political and civil rights

In the current phase, practices and acts are escalating which, by their nature and gravity, amount to genocide, whether through violations committed on the ground or through systematic incitement discourse.

These violations do not constitute isolated incidents, but rather represent a continuous pattern of systematic persecution that threatens the collective existence of the Kurdish people on their historical land.

II. The Role of the Turkish State and the Use of Religious Discourse in Incitement

Since 2018, particularly following the occupation of the city of Afrin, the Turkish state has pursued a systematic policy that has extended beyond military occupation and grave violations to encompass the instrumentalization of religious discourse and the conversion of places of worship into platforms for incitement, through the use of the concept of what has been termed „conquest“ (al-Fath), with ist explicit calls for the extermination of Kurds and justification for assaults against them.

This approach has been repeated during the current month in the city of Aleppo, and subsequently generalized throughout Syria via a directive issued by the Ministry of Religious Endowments, constituting systematic use of religion to legitimize violence and incite genocide, in flagrant violation of the principles of international humanitarian law, the prohibition of incitement to national and religious hatred, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

This conduct not only violates the rights of the Kurdish people, but also constitutes a direct threat to civil peace and establishes a foundation for grave crimes committed in the name of religion, necessitating urgent international intervention.

III. State Failure and Absence of National Protection

We affirm that the authority established in Damascus has utterly failed to provide legal and humanitarian protection to the Kurdish people, and indeed bears direct responsibility for the violations committed, whether by commission, omission, or complicity.

This structural and continuing failure constitutes one of those situations in which invocation of the principle of national sovereignty is invalidated, and the international community’s duty to protect is activated, in accordance with international law and the principle of the Responsibility to Protect.

IV. Legal Basis and the Right to Self-Determination

The right to self-determination is an inherent and inalienable right that cannot be restricted on the pretext of state unity or territorial integrity when peoples are subjected to:

– Systematic persecution

– Continuous denial of their identity and fundamental rights

– Deprivation of free participation in determining their political, economic, and cultural future

The existing facts indicate the probable commission of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and acts that may amount to ethnic cleansing or genocide—crimes that require international accountability and reinforce the legal basis for the Kurdish people’s claim to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with United Nations covenants and principles.

V. Demands of the Kurdish Lawyers Union

Based on the foregoing, we call upon the United Nations to:

1. Recognize the right of the Kurdish people to self-determination as a right guaranteed under the United Nations Charter and international law.

2. Undertake urgent and effective international protection measures for the Kurdish people in Syria.

3. Establish an independent international commission of inquiry or fact-finding mission to document grave violations, including religious incitement to violence and genocide.

4. Deploy international observers to monitor violations and prevent their recurrence.

5. Ensure that any future political process, under United Nations auspices, includes clear mechanisms enabling the exercise of the right to self-determination with complete freedom and without coercion.

The denial of the right to self-determination does not achieve stability; rather, it entrenches conflicts and threatens international peace and security.

We trust that the United Nations will discharge ist legal and moral responsibilities in accordance with the Charter for which it was established.

Please accept the assurance of our highest respect and esteem.

Kurdish Lawyers Union

Bonn, Germany

20 January 2026

www.ar.kurdishlawyers.org