Soparo Kurdish news website

Ivan Lewis, Minister of State from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has responded to the news about the killings at the Newroz event al-Raqqa on 21 March 2010.  He expressed his deep concern to hear about the violence at the Newroz event this year.   He stated that the UK Government shares the concerns we have raised about the ill-treatment and discrimination faced by Syrian Kurds, and he agreed that this shows the significant deterioration of the situation facing Syria’s Kurdish population. He said that the UK Government has pressed Syria on this repeatedly and will continue to do so.

Ivan Lewis explained that he had personally raised human rights issues during his meeting with the Syria Foreign Minister Muallam in August 2009, and that David Miliband – the UK Foreign Secretary – has spoken out in Parliament on this issue:

“The UK is particularly concerned with the deterioration in the situation …. for Syria’s Kurdish population”.

He stated that human rights remain an important strand of the UK’s bi-lateral and EU relations with the Syrian Government. He drew attention to the report in the UK FCO report at http://centralcontent.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/human-rights-reports/human-rights-report-2009 which highlights the UK concerns about Syria.

We at International Support Kurds in Syria Association – SKS, thank Ivan Lewis for his response, and for confirming the UK Government’s position.