Yesterday morning, we set off for the Turkish border—with flying flags and morale high. It turned out pretty much as we had expected: the border officials took our passports, made us wait, and finally turned us away. It comes as no suprise that the turkish state does not want to let us in, as with our campain we draw attention to the war in which turkey is closely involved.

At the same time, we received news from Bakur, the Kurdish part of Turkey, that a delegation of democratic youth organizations, which was also traveling as part of the Peoples Caravan, had been arrested. The friends, including several journalists, were on their way back by bus from the border town of Nusaybin, where they had accompanied the protests and documented the actions of the Turkish state. They were taken into custody pending deportation. This shows once again that the Turkish state wants to suppress critical voices and prevent media coverage.

In Turkey, hundreds of people have been arrested on the streets in recent days, mostly with reference to the restrictive assembly law and “terrorist propaganda.” In northwestern Turkey, a nurse was reportedly arrested for posting a video online in which she braided her hair as part of a protest campaign. Braiding the resistance. Resistance can take many forms.

After our protest at the Turkish border, we returned to Thessaloniki to gather our strength and get an overview of the situation. There is always a lot of organizational work to be done, a lot of media work, a lot of meetings. Even though we have now been stopped, we encourage everyone to become part of the caravan to Kobanê. The caravan is not just us. The caravan is all the people who want to defend Rojava in various ways. All the people who want to raise awareness on the situation, support the local population, provide humanitarian aid, and defend democratic values. Bijî Berxwedana Rojava!