President of the World Amazigh Association Writes to the Turkish President

In a letter addressed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of the World Amazigh Association, Mr. Rachid Raha, questions why Turkey vigorously condemns the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people while supporting the one being carried out against the ‘Muslim’ Tuareg and Moor populations of Azawad in Mali.

Mr. President,

We are honored to present to you the delicate issue of the deadly violence unleashed against the indigenous populations of northern Mali, namely the Tuaregs and Moors of the Azawad region, by the Malian military forces (Fama), with the inhuman and criminal support of the Russian mercenary militias of the ‘Wagner’ group, which continue to systematically conduct ethnic cleansing operations against these civilian Azawadian populations, in this Sahelo-Saharan region, at the heart of our African continent.

It has emerged that this genocide, which international media and public opinion are attempting to ignore by focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Russo-Ukrainian war, is being carried out using deadly drones made in Turkey, making them notorious accomplices in this horrific ethnic cleansing against Muslim populations. The latest report of one of your drones used against civilians in Tin-Zawatine on Sunday, August 25, resulted in the killing of more than twenty victims, including over 11 innocent children!

Mr. President,

Please be aware that if Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have experienced (and will continue to experience) various coups, it is primarily due to their inability to face the insecurity caused by jihadist terrorist groups, which unfortunately, both the Algerian generals and yourselves have significantly supported!

So the fundamental question we want to know is what have the Muslim Tuaregs and Moors of the Grand Sahara done to deserve your support for their worst enemies, namely the Malian authorities and Sahel terrorist groups, while this vast desert region of the Grand Sahara was previously a haven of peace, where various religions and beliefs coexisted harmoniously and where different ethnic groups, notably the Tuaregs, Moors, Peuls, Dogons, Toubous, and Songhais, alongside the Bambaras, respected each other?

Know that the Tuaregs and Moors of Azawad, as indigenous peoples, are fighting for survival in this vast and inhospitable desert and are all advocating for a political solution with their central Malian authorities to achieve a status of regional political autonomy.

Therefore, if you wish to make amends and try to rectify your mistakes, we advise you to follow the example of Mr. Romano Prodi, former President of the European Commission and Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahel from 2012 to 2014, who defended a realistic proposal capable of bringing peace to all Sahel countries. In response to a question from Jeune Afrique about whether an Azawad state seemed viable, Romano Prodi wisely answered: ‘I place hope in an acceptable agreement between Bamako and the armed groups. Because I consider that, without an agreement with the North, there will never be peace in Mali.’ This was, in the end, the solution to which the parties to the Malian conflict agreed in Ouagadougou on December 4, 2012, at the initiative of former Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, with the support of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where the government side and representatives of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), insisting on ‘rejection of terrorism’ and respect for territorial integrity, agreed on the ‘necessity of creating a framework for dialogue to achieve a cessation of hostilities,’ where the MNLA would renounce northern independence in exchange for guarantees of ‘broad autonomy,’ similar to the Moroccan proposal of 2007 to the UN to resolve the issue of Western Sahara.

In conclusion, to avoid being complicit in this new genocide, we appeal to your sense of responsibility and solidarity to work as urgently as possible to persuade the Malian military leaders and Tuareg and Moor fighters from Azawad to sit around a round table in Ankara, given that the Algiers Agreement of May 14, 2015, ended in total failure, and where the establishment of a federal territorial system constitutes the best political solution to establish peace.

Please accept, Mr. President, our most fraternal greetings.

Rachid Raha, President of the World Amazigh Assembly (AMA)”