MP Tommy Sheppard is set to speak at a protest in Edinburgh on Saturday as part as a global day of action in support of Kurds under attack in Iraq and Syria.

The Scottish demonstration, called by Edinburgh Kurdish Community and Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan, will gather outside the Scottish Parliament from 11 am, to march off at 11.30am for a rally by the Wellington Statue opposite Waverley Station.

A spokesperson for the Scottish protest’s organisers said: “When the day of action was first called it was a response to Turkish military operations in northern Iraq, where Turkey is occupying more and more of the country with a network of military bases.

“Thousands of villagers have been forced to abandon their homes, agriculture has been destroyed and 112 civilians have been killed by Turkish attacks on Iraq since 2015, though the actual figure is probably much higher.

“Now the situation has become even more urgent as Turkey is also threatening an imminent invasion into Syria. When Turkey invaded and occupied parts of the Autonomous Administration in 2018 and 2019, they turned regions of peace into a hell on Earth, where abduction and torture became everyday occurrences and where Daesh are able to thrive.

“Turkey is getting away with murder and most of the world does not even know this is happening.”