The mother of a former Royal Marine who died fighting ISIS, has launched a petition which calls on the Government to do more against the terror group.
Former Royal Marine, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield was the first Briton to die in Syrian conflict.
His mother, Vasiliki Scurfield launched a petition at Nottingham’s Kurdish Community Centre in Hyson Green, which calls on the Government to open talks with a Kurdish militia which is seeking to confront the terror group, ISIS.
The 25-year-old former Nottingham student, also known as “Kosta”, left the Royal Marines to fight for the Kurds in Syria against Islamic State. Kosta died in Northern Syria on March 2 when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a missile.
Mrs Scurfield is happy with the response they have had so far from the petition, she said: “About 200 people turned out, people from Jamaica, Cyprus, Kurdish people and non Kurdish people, we also have about 3000 signatures from around Nottinghamshire so far.
Mrs Scurfield believes Western Governments have ignored the Kurdish people in Syria, she said: “I would like the Government to stop ignoring the Kurdish people in Northern Syria, they are the ones doing the fighting.
The sooner ISIS is not there, the sooner our problems will be solved.
Vasiliki Scurfield, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield’s mother.
The petition is named Kosta’s Olive Tree and is urging for an increase in US military support for Kurdish forces in Syria.
Kosta’s mother said he thought “long and hard” before leaving to fight ISIS. She had tried to talk him out of going for a year.
She said: “You bring your children up to be free thinkers, to be fair, to be democratic and to uphold British values so you can’t complain when they do that, even if their decisions are going to cause you pain.”
Kosta’s sister, Georgianna Scurfield, a Nottingham Trent University graduate said: “We’ve been bombarded in this last year about the atrocities that ISIS are doing with the Charlie Hebdo and Lee Rigby – these things stirred him up to want to go.”
The Scurfield’s are trying to get more than 100,000 signatures on their petition. More information on their campaign can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/number-10-downing-street-barack-obama-jean-claude-juncker-stop-isis-act-decisively
