The charge against 18-year-old Silhan Ozcelik for links to an outlawed Kurdish group has prompted fury from supporters who insist that she headed for Syria in a bid to fight Isis.
The teenager, from Holloway, is alleged to have links with the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), a group which is on the Home Office’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations. The PKK is a Kurdish nationalist group which had been involved in a 30-year fight with the state of Turkey.
She is currently on remand after being charged under the Terrorism Act 2006 for engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to an intention to commit acts of terrorism.
Ms Ozcelik, who is of Kurdish descent, was arrested at Stansted airport on 16 January on return from Brussels. On Wednesday, 11 March, she appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a short hearing to confirm her name, age and address.
Free Silhan Ozcelik! Jailed in UK for seeking to fight against ISIS in #Syria SIGN http://t.co/HLJW2vuo8f @KurdishQuestion @SyriaUK @syriahr
— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) March 14, 2015
Upon leaving the court she appeared to say “it’s okay” in the direction of her brother who was watching from the public gallery. She is now due to appear at the Old Bailey on 1 April.
Supporters of the teenager insist that she began the journey to Syria in an attempt to join the Kurdish women’s protection units (YPJ), which are not considered to be terrorist groups by the UK government.
The YPJ are predominantly based in Rojava, the Kurdish parts of northern Syria which are currently under threat from the Isis extremists.
On Friday 13 March, a demonstration was held outside Holloway Prison, where Ms Ozcelik is currently being held. A group of approximately 40 people held up signs and listened to speeches of support.
Mark Campbell, 53, an activist on Kurdish issues for over two decades, said the government should be “ashamed” of its actions. “The British public are starting to wake up to what the Kurds have been resisting for the last 20 or 30 years,” he said.
Why has Silhan Ozcelik been detained now? We all know it’s because Turkey has labelled the PKK [as terrorists] to justify the oppression against the Kurds.
It’s a shame that this country [Britain] has gone along with criminalising the Kurdish struggle at the expense of so much suffering for the Kurdish people.
It is to the shame of the British government that they have not been supporting the Kurdish resistance in Rojava. And it is to their shame that they are jailing this young girl who wanted to go and fight Isis.
A petition, launched by Mr Campbell, calling for Ms Ozcelik to be freed has received more than 2,900 signatures in less than a week. It suggests that the charge against Ms Ozcelik is an attempt by the UK government to “placate” Turkey, a fellow Nato member state.
Dr Stefano Ba’, a lecturer at Huddersfield University and a signatory of the petition, said:
Britain has a long and proud history of anti-fascism. Silhan was simply following that tradition and committing herself to the values of civilisation, democracy and equality against barbarism and fascism. She needs to be free.
Jessica Foulger, from Islington, also a signatory, said: “The government should be locking up poisonous preachers who are allowed to radicalise vulnerable young men and women, not brave Kurds for wanting to reclaim their freedom.”
Ms Ozcelik’s cause has also received the support of public figures including Peter Tatchell, the human rights campaigner, and David Lock QC, a former Labour MP.
