JINHA

NEWS CENTER – Turkey’s human rights abuses in Kurdistan “should be enough to spark a worldwide outcry,” said Stanford University philosophy professor Anna Malmgren, among the authors of a recent petition calling on Barack Obama to take a public stand on the issue.

Anna-Sara Malmgren is an Assistant Professor in Stanford University’s philosophy department, focusing on epistemology and philosophy of mind. Along with law professor Robert Hockett, Anna-Sara authored a petition calling on Barack Obama to publicly call for an end to the blockades and bombardments of Kurdish cities and neighborhoods in Turkey.

“We want president Obama to speak out, loud and clear, against the atrocities that are being committed by the Turkish government in the southeast,” said Anna-Sara. She noted that media silence on what she described as “state terrorism” against Kurds prompted the petition.

“We were—and still are—frustrated at the general passivity and media silence here in the U.S. (and also in Europe) with respect to the Turkish governments’ actions,” said Anna-Sara.

“I really hope that the international community starts paying attention. First, there is the human rights abuse. That alone should be enough to spark a worldwide outcry. But moreover: there’s a serious risk of civil war in Turkey if the peace process doesn’t pick up again soon. And that, in turn, could have drastic consequences for the whole region.”

The petition is available at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-on-behalf-of-turkeys-kurds.

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