Dublin - Now that Christmas is over, Irish people should "turn their back on Turkey", according to Irish-based activists who are calling for a tourism boycott of the country, writes Paul Cullen, Development Correspondent.
The Irish section of the Kurdistan Information Network claims income from tourism funds a "bloody war" conducted by the Turkish army against Kurdish people in the south-east of the country.
It says that of 12 million Kurds, three million are living as refugees in the towns and cities of the south-east since their villages were destroyed and forcibly evacuated by the army. Over 350,000 troops are stationed in the area and torture, "disappearances" and extra-judicial killings are common, KIN claims.
The author of a new report by KIN on the problem, Ms Anne McCluskey, says that in spite of denials by the Turkish government, there is widespread evidence of devastation of the rural Kurdish population. The forcible urbanisation of the people, accompanied by burnings of houses and crops, requires urgent international attention, she says.