Friday 31 August 2012
KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 24 – 30 August 2012
1. “Syrian Rebels Working in Collaboration with Turkey”
28 August 2012 / Bianet
Haitham Qdemathi, a U.S. citizen of Syrian descent who introduced himself as one of the political leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA,) told bianet they were grateful for the contributions of both the Turkish government and foreign fighters, such as Al-Qaeda militants, for their contributions to the rebel movement. We met with Qdemathi at a location right next to the Cilvegözü Border Gate in the southern province of Hatay toward the evening. He explained that he had been residing in the U.S. for 30 years but had returned back to the region following the establishment of the FSA. Qdemathi said his Arabic was not very fluent and thus proceeded to speak to us in English.
http://bianet.org/english/world/140545-syrian-rebels-working-in-collaboration-with-turkey
2. Syrian Rebels Claim to Receive Battle Training on Turkish Border
28 August 2012 / Bianet
Fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) leave the Apaydın camp in the southern province of Hatay after daybreak to cross the border into Syria and fight the Al-Assad regime, only to return back to the camp toward evening, Abu Hussein, the commander of an FSA unit, told bianet. "We are deeply thankful to the Turkish government and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for receiving us with open arms," said Abu Hussein, who commands about 50 troops. Government officials announced that the Apaydın camp in Hatay's Antakya district hosts officers of the Syrian army who deserted the Al-Assad regime and declared the camp to be an area prohibited to entry on due to reasons of security. The officials, however, are yet to offer an explanation about the domestic or international legal foundations on which the camp was established.
http://www.bianet.org/english/world/140548-syrian-rebels-claim-to-receive-battle-training-on-turkish-border
3. Police attack Freedom March in Cizre and Yüksekova
26 August 2012 / ANF
Turkish police attacked the people joining the “We greet the Freedom March” rally in Cizre in the province of Şırnak on Sunday. The march has been organized by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to voice Kurdish people’s demands for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem and freedom for Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Leader Abdullah Öcalan. Demonstrators responded to police with stones and pushed the police out of the meeting area. Clashes between demonstrators and police teams continue in the district where special operation police units have been deployed in all neighborhoods.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5066 <http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5066>
4. Turkish police clash with pro-PKK Kurds in SE
27 August 2012 / Press TV
The police in Turkey have clashed with thousands of pro-PKK Kurdish protesters in the southeastern province of Cizre. The clashes erupted on Sunday after the police refused to let people hold a demonstration in support of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Reuters reported. Law enforcement agents fired teargas canisters and used water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. In response, the angry protesters threw stones at police vehicles and set off fireworks.
http://presstv.com/detail/2012/08/27/258315/turkish-police-clash-with-propkk-kurds/
5. “Parliament Speaker’s Kurdish Document is Too Ambiguous”
29 August 2012 / Bianet
Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek presented a "text of agreement" intended to solve the Kurdish issue during a press meeting on Tuesday. Prof. Büşra Ersanlı, who spent 8.5 months behind bars in connection with the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) trial, told bianet that the contents of the 11 point document were too murky, however.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140549-parliament-speaker-s-kurdish-document-is-too-ambiguous
6. Demirtaş: 400 km in Hakkari under PKK control
29 August 2012 / ANF
In an interview in the main Kurdish city Diyarbakır, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş evaluated the recent developments in the Kurdish region and pointed out that an area of 300-400 kilometers between the towns of Şemdinli and Çukurca has been under the control of Kurdish guerrillas for the last 40 days. Demirtaş called attention to the ongoing clashes and guerrilla domination in Şemdinli region and said that; “The Turkish army can currently not use the land route in the region whose control has already been taken by the forces of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party). However, manipulative statements are made by relevant authorities with an aim to hide the fact that the army cannot defeat PKK in military area.”
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5073
7. New AKP Cadre to Give Hint for New Policies
27 August 2012 / Journal f Turkish Weekly
Turkey is entering a painful fall season, within the spiral of violence and terror. With the burning fire of terror encircling politics, the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and opposition parties the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) will hold their congresses before the end of fall. The Kurdish issue will constitute a significant platform in the shaping of the policies and staff of all three parties. All three - in congresses held under the shadow of guns and violence - will determine the staff that will form their 2015 visions, as well as giving clues as to their viewpoints for solving the problem.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/140941/new-akp-cadre-to-give-hint-for-new-policies.html
8. In Turkey, Kurdish classes taught by a girl who is young enough to be in grade school
27 August 2012 / PRI
Speaking Kurdish in Turkey used to get you in a lot of trouble. In 1991, a Kurdish politician was jailed for 10 years for taking the oath of office in Kurdish. Turkey had banned speaking Kurdish in public places. As a result, Kurdish children in Turkey didn’t speak Kurdish in school, and sometimes their parents didn’t speak it at home, so many young people grew up without a firm grasp of the Kurdish language. But one young teacher in the southeast Turkish city of Diyarbakir is trying to remedy that. Medya Ormek is not your typical teacher. She’s only 13-years-old.
http://www.pri.org/stories/world/middle-east/in-turkey-kurdish-classes-taught-by-a-girl-who-is-young-enough-to-be-in-grade-school-11264.html
9. News briefing from the PYD foreign affairs office
30 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The continuation of Syrian crisis reveals that Syria has become an arena for regional and international conflicts after militarizing and Islamizing the popular and peaceful revolution for dignity and freedom. The regime has chosen to use the military and security as a tool to suppress and eradicate the revolution resulted in such a situation. The international and regional interventions are clear to the extent that war in Syria is labeled as a representative war on behalf of regional and international powers. This fact makes us realize how dangerous the situation is in Syria.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/news-briefing-from-the-pyd-foreign-affairs-office/
10. Another Tacit Acknowledgment: Indo-European Languages Originated in Anatolia, "southern Turkey" Biologists Say
24 August 2012 / hqberai.blogspot.nl
This is another tacit acknowledgment of the claims made in the Bible Discovered; after the new DNA-research by Genealogist Anatole A. Klyosov* , has proven that in earliest traceable origins, the Kurds were obviously descendants of indigenous (first) Neolithic Northern Fertile Crescent aborigines. The new entrant to the debate is an evolutionary biologist, Quentin Atkinson and colleagues of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. NYTimes: "Biologists using tools developed for drawing evolutionary family trees say that they have solved a longstanding problem in archaeology: the origin of the Indo-European family of languages."
http://hqberai.blogspot.nl/2012/08/a-tacit-acknowledgment-indo-european.html
11. Property Claims Law Fails Thousands of Kurdish Families
27 August 2012 / Rudaw
The files of several thousand Kurdish families for the return of their land have been rejected by the authorities in Baghdad, says Kawa Abduljabbar, the head of the property claims commission in Khanaqin. According to Iraq’s constitutional Article 140, families displaced during the Arabization process by Saddam Hussein’s regime are to be compensated and their properties legally returned to them. “In the property claims law they have not taken into consideration that most people whose houses or land were taken do not have registration papers and now the court requires those papers in order to reclaim their property.” Abduljabbar told Rudaw.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5133.html
12. Kurdistan players pin hopes on new pipelines
27 August 2012 / Financial Times
This month’s move by the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq to resume oil exports through a pipeline network controlled by the country’s federal authorities has done little to placate Baghdad’s anger with western oil companies entering the region.
Deals struck over recent weeks between leading oil companies and Kurdistan’s regional government to acquire oil interests in the semi-autonomous region have faced heated opposition from the Iraqi government. However, some argue that the latest transactions by France’s Total, Chevron of the US and Russia’s Gazprom have helped mitigate fears among investors over political and operational risk in the region.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71eee128-df14-11e1-97ea-00144feab49a.html#axzz24qI3vWAs
13. Denmark: Kurdish ROJ TV appeal trial set to start October 29th
23 August 2012 / eKurd
The Kurdish television station ROJ TV was ruled guilty of acting as a mouthpiece for the Kurdish rebel group PKK on January 10th 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The verdict was appealed and the new trial is set to start on October 29th, 2012. The trial will consist of forty court sessions of which the last one will take place in the summer of 2013. ROJ TV is owned by Mesopotamia Broadcast and was launched on March 1, 2004. It broadcasts from Denmark to the entire world in Kurdish and Zaza, Persian, Arabic and Turkish but due to the verdict, satellite providers dissolved their contracts with ROJ TV because they did not want to be associated with “terrorism”.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/8/turkey4114.htm
14. Kurds in Europe to gather at European Council on 1 September
28 August 2012 / ANF
The International Initiative Freedom for Öcalan called on all Kurds in Europe to gather in front of the European Council on September 1st to expose the isolation imposed on PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) leader. Kurds in Turkey and North Kurdistan will also take to the streets on 1 September, International Peace Day, to once again voice their demand for the freedom for Öcalan, peace and democratic autonomy. The Initiative has so far put its signature under remarkable protest actions around Europe including the fifteen-day Long March from Geneva to Strasbourg last winter, which was followed by the 52-days irreversible hunger strike in Strasbourg in April and the alternate vigil action in front of the European Council building in Strasbourg since 25 July.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5071
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
15. The Lonely Man of the Middle East
27 August 2012 / Huffington Post
When Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan met last month with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin about the civil war in Syria, political biographers had a right to be confused. After all, one is the leader of a government that has imprisoned more journalists than China and Iran combined; empowered special courts to arrest citizens on suspicion of terrorism without evidence or the right to a hearing; sentenced two students to eight years in prison for holding a sign at a rally demanding "free education;' and has seen more than 20,000 complaints filed against it in the European Court of Human Rights since 2008. The other is president of Russia.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stanley-weiss/the-lonely-man-of-the-mid_b_1832654.html
16. Regional role forces Turkey to revisit Kurdish issues at home
27 August 2012 / The National
Until the arrival of the Arab spring, the "zero problems with neighbours" foreign policy of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) seemed to be thriving. There was hope that Turkey could play a constructive role in the Middle East. The "zero problems" policy was founded upon two main premises: that trade and economic development would push long-festering ideological and security conflicts aside, and that Turkey's historical and cultural legacy is a soft-power asset, not a liability. While the Middle East's autocratic regimes were stable, both premises seemed to hold true.
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/regional-role-forces-turkey-to-revisit-kurdish-issues-at-home
17. The Rise of Independent Kurdistan?
27 August 2012 / Now Lebanon
Via Meadia has zeroed in during the past month or so on the Kurdish portfolio. In three posts, Walter Russel Mead has pointed to the key role of some 30 million Kurds in the mix of antipathy among the Syrian government and its rebel opponents, the Iranian government, the Iraqi government, and the Turkish government. Those who understand how complicated matters are within Syria, and its adjunct sufferer Lebanon, should be warned that matters Kurdish are more complicated still. Walter has done a good job of marking out the main contours in the context of recent developments; in his overseas absence I mean here only to dot a few background “i”s and cross one or two strategic-assessment “t”s on the subject.
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=431055&MID=0&PID=0#
18. Why Turkey Should Woo the PKK and Syria's Kurds
7 August 2012 / Al Monitor
The Turks have returned to their old/new threats, refusing to permit the "presence of terrorists" on their southern border — the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), to be precise. Turkey knows that the PKK is in Istanbul, Ankara and all Kurdish cities in the southeast of the country. It knows that the PKK is in the heart of the Turkish Parliament and that this party's fighters, cadres and political and cultural institutions are all over the Turkish mountains, villages, cities and prisons. Moreover, Turkey knows that the PKK fighters are located on the eastern (Iranian Kurdistan) and southeastern borders (Iraqi Kurdistan). If Turkey is afraid of the "terrorists" risk, then it must declare war on three neighboring countries. It also has to further engage in war against the Kurds of Turkey in the Kurdish and Turkish mountains and cities.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/08/potential-turkish-invasion-of-ku.html
19. Rare freedom: Kurds emerge as winners in Syria conflict
25 August 2012 / Middle East Online
On the main road to the northern Syrian town of Afrin, armed men stand beneath green, red and yellow Kurdish flags, welcoming truckloads of their displaced Arab neighbours.
They wave through pick-up trucks carrying women and children, granting them passage to Afrin, where a rare safety prevails thanks to a delicate Kurdish balancing act that has granted the population a first taste of autonomy. The checkpoint is a bold signal of just how radically life has changed for the Kurdish population in the north of the country since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime began in March last year.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=54026
20. Patrick Cockburn: As the violence intensifies in Syria, there can be only one winner - the Kurds
26 August 2012 / Independent
A favourite line of defence of embattled dictatorships is that if their rule is relaxed, their country will be torn apart by ethnic, religious or social strife. Opponents of autocracy commonly respond that these fears are exaggerated and self-serving and it is dictators themselves who foment such divisions to justify their monopoly of power. Moreover, critics of existing regimes hopefully claim that democratic elections will defuse the explosive potential for confrontations between opposing communities by giving them a non-violent path, denied under arbitrary government, to achieve their aims.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-as-the-violence-intensifies-in-syria-there-can-be-only-one-winner--the-kurds-8081272.html
21. A Tough Liberation for Syria's Kurds
23 August 2012 / Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
While the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are determined to hold onto Aleppo, they’ve already reportedly abandoned some of their positions north of the city, in Syria’s Kurdish populated regions. Yet the retreat of Syrian troops may not bring the liberation that Syrian Kurds have long desired. Now more than ever, Syrian Kurds are caught between the ambitions of their fellow Kurdish parties in neighboring Iraq and Turkey, and the strategies of a Syrian regime struggling to survive.
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/08/23/tough-liberation-for-syria-s-kurds/dntz
22. The Jihadist Element in Syria and its Implications
28 August 2012 / Oxford Research Group
This briefing analyses the growing significance of the foreign and home-grown jihadists in Syria. There may be over 1,000 foreign fighters in Syria now as the war becomes more violent and may continue for some time. Even if the regime falls soon, the jihadist element will have influence in a post-Assad era. If, however, the regime endures, and the longer it goes on, the more likely the jihadist element will gain in influence. Against all expectations, the al-Qaida idea could increase in significance. This could have disastrous consequences beyond Syria and makes the need to seek a negotiated solution a top foreign policy priority.
http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/paul_rogers_monthly_global_security_briefings/jihadist_element_syria_and_its_implicatio
Denmark: Kurdish ROJ TV appeal trial set to start October 29th
Denmark: Kurdish ROJ TV appeal trial set to start October 29th
By Naila Bozo – Kurdish Rightsv – 24.8.2012 – COPENHAGEN, Denmark,— The Kurdish television station ROJ TV was ruled guilty of acting as a mouthpiece for the Kurdish rebel group PKK on January 10th 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The verdict was appealed and the new trial is set to start on October 29th, 2012. The trial will consist of forty court sessions of which the last one will take place in the summer of 2013.
ROJ TV is owned by Mesopotamia Broadcast and was launched on March 1, 2004. It broadcasts from Denmark to the entire world in Kurdish and Zaza, Persian, Arabic and Turkish but due to the verdict, satellite providers dissolved their contracts with ROJ TV because they did not want to be associated with “terrorism”.
The Danish online newspaper arbejderen.dk writes that the Danish court has allowed more of the ROJ TV lawyer’s witnesses to be heard in court though it has again dismissed witnesses like Leyla Zana,www.ekurd.net three former Kurdish mayors including Osman Baydemir and the head of the independent Danish TV- and Radio Board, Christian Scherfig.
One of the new witnesses is Oluf Joergensen, an expert on press law. Bjoern Elmquist, ROJ TV lawyer, says Oluf Joergensen will be able to explain that different cultures have different ways of conducting interviews and that the reason why ROJ TV can come across as a mouthpiece for PKK with its many interviews with the rebel group is because “the Turkish politicians boycott ROJ TV. There is not the same debate as here [Denmark].”
Among the other witnesses are two Danish journalists who conducted an interview with PKK in the mountains. “They can tell us what criteria PKK puts forward before being interviewed. When TV2 (a Danish television station) did a segment on PKK, there were PKK flags in the background. When one evaluates the case against ROJ TV, it is important to realise that PKK has demands it wants to be fulfilled before it agrees to an interview. These demands must not be perceived as the television station doing terrorism propaganda. Then TV2 would have to be charged with terrorism too,” says Bjoern Elmquist to arbejderen.dk.
Two other important witnesses are Haluk Gerger, former president of Turkey’s biggest human rights organisation, IHD, and Kerim Yildiz, lawyer and director of the human rights organisation Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP).
“They will shed light on the conditions of freedom of speech in Turkey, especially the working conditions for journalists. This will help in showing how much ROJ TV means for democracy and the opportunity to express oneself in Turkey,” says Bjoern Elmquist.Pola Rojan, who is a journalist and author of the book “ERGENEKON – Turkey behind the front”, is also going to witness at the ROJ TV appeal trial.
http://www.mesop.de/2012/08/23/denmark-kurdish-roj-tv-appeal-trial-set-to-start-october-29th/
By Naila Bozo – Kurdish Rightsv – 24.8.2012 – COPENHAGEN, Denmark,— The Kurdish television station ROJ TV was ruled guilty of acting as a mouthpiece for the Kurdish rebel group PKK on January 10th 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The verdict was appealed and the new trial is set to start on October 29th, 2012. The trial will consist of forty court sessions of which the last one will take place in the summer of 2013.
ROJ TV is owned by Mesopotamia Broadcast and was launched on March 1, 2004. It broadcasts from Denmark to the entire world in Kurdish and Zaza, Persian, Arabic and Turkish but due to the verdict, satellite providers dissolved their contracts with ROJ TV because they did not want to be associated with “terrorism”.
The Danish online newspaper arbejderen.dk writes that the Danish court has allowed more of the ROJ TV lawyer’s witnesses to be heard in court though it has again dismissed witnesses like Leyla Zana,www.ekurd.net three former Kurdish mayors including Osman Baydemir and the head of the independent Danish TV- and Radio Board, Christian Scherfig.
One of the new witnesses is Oluf Joergensen, an expert on press law. Bjoern Elmquist, ROJ TV lawyer, says Oluf Joergensen will be able to explain that different cultures have different ways of conducting interviews and that the reason why ROJ TV can come across as a mouthpiece for PKK with its many interviews with the rebel group is because “the Turkish politicians boycott ROJ TV. There is not the same debate as here [Denmark].”
Among the other witnesses are two Danish journalists who conducted an interview with PKK in the mountains. “They can tell us what criteria PKK puts forward before being interviewed. When TV2 (a Danish television station) did a segment on PKK, there were PKK flags in the background. When one evaluates the case against ROJ TV, it is important to realise that PKK has demands it wants to be fulfilled before it agrees to an interview. These demands must not be perceived as the television station doing terrorism propaganda. Then TV2 would have to be charged with terrorism too,” says Bjoern Elmquist to arbejderen.dk.
Two other important witnesses are Haluk Gerger, former president of Turkey’s biggest human rights organisation, IHD, and Kerim Yildiz, lawyer and director of the human rights organisation Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP).
“They will shed light on the conditions of freedom of speech in Turkey, especially the working conditions for journalists. This will help in showing how much ROJ TV means for democracy and the opportunity to express oneself in Turkey,” says Bjoern Elmquist.Pola Rojan, who is a journalist and author of the book “ERGENEKON – Turkey behind the front”, is also going to witness at the ROJ TV appeal trial.
http://www.mesop.de/2012/08/23/denmark-kurdish-roj-tv-appeal-trial-set-to-start-october-29th/
Sunday 26 August 2012
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 17 - 23 August 2012
1. Five soldiers died in Şemdinli
23 August 2012 / ANF
Five soldiers died and seven others were wounded in clashes in Şemdinli (province of Hakkari) on Wednesday, Turkish authorities said on Thursday. Clashes reportedly broke out following a landmine explosion during the passage of a military convoy between the villages of Bağlar (Nehri) and Zorgeçit (Gerget). The Governor of Hakkari confirmed the number of casualties and claimed that 16 guerrillas also lost their life. The statement by the governor however hasn’t been confirmed by locals nor HPG (People’s Defense Forces) sources yet. The governor said that the aerial and land operations of the Turkish army continue.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5055
2. PKK Denies Involvement in Deadly Blast in Gaziantep
21 August 2012 / Bianet
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) issued a statement through the Fırat news agency (ANF) and denied government officials' claims that it was the culprit behind Monday's lethal blast in the southeastern province of Gaziantep that killed nine people and injured 69 more. "Our forces bear no connection to this blast. The public and our people know all too well that our forces would never [target] civilians... Our forces are complying with the call issued by the KCK's (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council to refrain from clashes during the [Ramadan] holiday," the PKK said in its statement.
http://bianet.org/english/other/140419-pkk-denies-involvement-in-deadly-blast-in-gaziantep
3. Turkey probes possible Syrian involvement in car bomb
21 August 2012 / Reuters
Turkey is investigating possible Syrian links to Monday's deadly car bomb attack near its southeastern border, officials said on Tuesday, underscoring fears that the conflict in Syria is fuelling instability on its own territory. A car packed with explosives blew up close to a police station in the industrial city of Gaziantep, around 50 km (30 miles) from the Syrian border, late on Monday, killing nine people including a 12-year-old child. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but senior ruling party officials in Turkey blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Kurdish militants designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/turkey-bomb-pkk-idINL6E8JL39E20120821
4. Kişanak: We saw guerrillas in Şemzinan, not Turkish soldiers
17 August 2012 / Roj Helat
A delegation of BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) and DTK (Democratic Society Congress) who paid visit to Şemzinan areas was stopped by guerrillas of HPG (People Defence Forces) who set up checkpoints on the roads controlling the region. Speaking to ANF after completing its survey of the region, BDP co-chair Gulten Kişanak said that they didn’t come across Turkish security forces in the region. “We came across guerrilla forces on the way back from the villages we visited but there were no security forces in the region except for a military point on the way out of Şemzinan province. A large number of cultivated areas and yards were completely burnt out in the villages where people say they are deliberatively targeted by the bombardment of security forces”, said Kişanak.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/taybet/2523-kianak-we-saw-guerrillas-in-emzinan-not-turkish-soldiers
5. Prosecutor Launches Probe into PKK, BDP Encounter
20 August 2012 / Bianet
The Chief Prosecutor's Office in the eastern province of Van launched a probe on Saturday into an encounter between members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a delegation of politicians, including certain members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP,) who were on a visit to the district of Şemdinli in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Aug. 17 Hakkari's Şemdinli district was the scene of some of the most intense fighting between government forces and the PKK in living memory during the past month. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Abdullah Gül and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP,) also issued public comments regarding the matter.
http://bianet.org/english/people/140410-prosecutor-launches-probe-into-pkk-bdp-encounter
6. HPG Erdal assessed current situation in Kurdistan
13 August 2012 / Kurdbox
In an interview to Yeni Özgür Politika paper about the recent military operations and clashes, People’s Defense Forces (HPG) commander Dr. Bahoz Erdal stated that in the last three weeks, 169 Turkish soldiers were killed and three Skorsky helicopters were shot down by HPG forces in the clashes in Şemdinli area. Bahoz said that Turkish security forces in the region of Şemdinli have been forced to withdraw in their bases. Asked about the recent strategy change of HPG forces, Erdal remarked that HPG forces have recently switch to a “area-control” strategy. This strategy of taking control over an area and limiting the war to that area has been witnessed in Şemdinli and Çukurca. Erdal noted that the actions carried out by Kurdistan Freedom Movement were directly related to the “state terror implemented by the ruling AKP government”.
http://www.kurdbox.com/english/?p=109#.UDYIMkRcRCY
7. Kurdish History Magazine Hits the Bookshelves
22 August 2012 / Bianet
The second edition of Turkey's first magazine on Kurdish history has hit the bookshelves with the stated goal of popularizing the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan. Published bi-monthly in Turkish, "Kürt Tarihi" ("Kurdish History") features an assortment of informative articles and other writings, ranging from a piece on a Kurdish Theater that appeared in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and an ode by Şeyh Rıza Talabani to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit to the first Kurdish Poetry Anthology, Kızılbaş Kurdish postcards and a 200 year old Kurdish medical book.
http://bianet.org/english/media/140436-kurdish-history-magazine-hits-the-bookshelves
8. EU critical of sentence against Leyla Zana
21 August 2012 / ANF
Antigoni Papadopoulou, member of Dimokratiko Komma (DIKO – Democratic Party), member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, tabled a parliamentary written question to the EU Commission about the prison sentence handed down to Labor Democracy and Freedom Block Independent MP Leyla Zana for "committing crime on behalf of an illegal organization despite not being a member of it" and "making propaganda for an illegal organization".
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5053
9. Turkey and U.S.A meet today over Syria
23 August 2012 / ANF
Turkish and U.S. commissions on Syria will be meeting in Ankara today to discuss the fight against PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and the establishment of a buffer zone on the Syrian border. The meeting in the capital city will be attended by military, intelligence and political representatives of both countries. The “political, military and intelligence working group” which is to hold its first meeting today was decided on during the 11 August dated meeting of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in Ankara.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5057
10. US Concerned about Kurdish Revolutionary Movement in Syria
22 August 2012 / Rudaw
According to American news sources, U.S officials and observers of the developments in Syria are worried about the escalation of violence and have accused Kurdish parties of “weakening the Syrian opposition” and “impeding its progress towards overthrowing the Assad regime.”
The concern of the Americans is that Kurdish forces have taken over control of several areas in northern Syria. A number of Kurdish cities were liberated in late July from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and are now being jointly run by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC).
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5116.html
11. Assad's Regime Has Totally Lost Northeastern Syria
17 August 2012 / Business Insider
We reported Syria could be a free-for-all if the Assad regime falls, and it seems the land grab has begun. Syrian Kurds have taken over about 50 percent of the territory in northeast Syria relinquished by Syrian forces and plan to create an autonomous zone, Orla Guerin of BBC reports. "We want to take over own affairs, and not just in Syria," one man told Guerin. "All the Kurds want a greater Kurdistan." More than 30 million Kurds live in Iraq (6 million), Iran (6 million), Syria (2 million) and Turkey (20 million), making them one of the world's largest stateless people.
http://www.businessinsider.com/kurds-have-claimed-part-of-northeast-syria-and-plan-to-defend-it-as-their-own-2012-8 <http://www.businessinsider.com/kurds-have-claimed-part-of-northeast-syria-and-plan-to-defend-it-as-their-own-2012-8>
12. VIDEO: Kurds seek autonomy in a democratic Syria
16 August 2012 / BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19291072 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19291072>
13. Kurdish parties of Iran sign cooperation agreement
22 August 2012 /AK News
Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan (best known as Komala) and Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK), two Kurdish opposition parties of Iran, signed an agreement for cooperation, said a member of the central committee of Komala. Komala General Secretary Abdolla Mohtadi and his counterpart in DPK, Mostafa Hejri, met yesterday in the politburo of DPK, said Salar Pashayi. Pashayi said in the meeting which lasted five hours, the leaders discussed the current situation in Kurdistan, Iran and the Middle East and continued with discussing the draft of the agreement.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/322673/
14. Australia Re-lists PKK as Terrorist Organization
20 August 2012 / Rudaw
In a media statement made Friday, Australia’s Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced that five organizations have been re-listed as terrorist organisations under the country’s counterterrorism laws. One of which is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Also included on the list were the Somalian Al-Shabaab, Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, Australia lists organizations that the Attorney-General is sure are “directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act or advocating the doing of a terrorist act.”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/5110.html
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
15. Kurds in the New Middle East
22 August 2012 / The National Interest
The breakdown of authority in Syria and creation of a Kurdish enclave there has unexpectedly pushed Kurds to the forefront of regional politics—and almost nobody’s happy. The opposition Syrian National Council, the umbrella group leading the fight against the regime’s forces, has refused to accept Kurdish demands for self-rule, causing a rift with the Syrian Kurdish parties. Turkey, which is battling its own Kurdish rebellion, is concerned about the effect of a new Kurdish autonomous region right on the border and has threatened military action against the enclave. Meanwhile, the United States, which says it wants Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to go but doesn’t want to commit forces to make it happen, has stated its opposition to Syrian Kurdish autonomy.
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/kurds-the-new-middle-east-7377
16. Violent times: A worrying escalation of violence in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east
18 August 2012 / The Economist
ON AUGUST 12th rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) kidnapped Huseyin Aygun, a prominent opposition MP, as he toured the mainly Kurdish eastern province of Tunceli. He was released 48 hours later, but the rebels got their desired publicity by abducting an MP right under the authorities’ noses. “They did it for propaganda purpose, they did me no harm,” declared Mr Aygun before passing on his captors’ “desire for peace”. Yet peace does not seem to be on the PKK agenda. Over the past month the group has increased its violence. It tied down the army for two weeks in a mountain enclave near Semdinli. It killed two soldiers in the Aegean resort of Foca. Hardly a day now passes without news of another PKK attack.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560603
17. Ankara moves on Damascus
16 August 2012 / Al Ahram
Not a few Turks muttered curses as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Istanbul last week for talks with senior Turkish officials, and perhaps Clinton herself will have even caught a glimpse of the demonstrator who charged towards her convoy, shouting "stop your offences against Islam and the Muslim people" as she arrived in the city. The man was immediately arrested and brought in for questioning, and though the results of the investigations have not been made public, some observers have conjectured that he could have been an agent of the Syrian regime, told to thrust himself before the television cameras in order to rouse anti-American sympathies.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1111/re4.htm
18. Turkey's Syria Conundrum
August 2012 / Foreign Policy Centre
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu must be secretly dreaming of a world where past statements would vanish into thin air. He had told Parliament in April that 'a new Middle East was emerging and Turkey would continue to be the master, the leader and the servant of this new Middle East' . Barely four months later, on August the 20th with the number of Syrian refugees on its soil approaching one hundred thousand people, Mr Davutoglu declared that Syria is no longer a national or regional problem. He said 'It now poses a security risk to neighboring countries and the United Nations should intervene in accordance with its mission'.
http://fpc.org.uk/articles/558
19. Where were you, Syria?
9 August 2012 / Support Kurds in Syria
It was raining my first day in Qami?lo. Small puddles were forming in the streets. My aunt pointed at them and said: “Look at the bubbles. We call them spring bubbles.” From that day I was aware that even though it was June and summer in Syria, spring had come to West Kurdistan these fateful months in 2012. Only one and a half year ago the Kurds in Syria did not exist. Today, Turkey is threatening to send its army into Syria because it fears that the now very much existing Kurds are seeking to found a self-ruled Kurdistan.
http://supportkurds.org/reports/where-were-you-syria/ <http://supportkurds.org/reports/where-were-you-syria/>
20. Crisis in Syria boosts Kurdish hopes
18 August 2012 / BBC News
With Syrian forces focused on the fighting in the big cities, Kurdish leaders say they now control half of their region in the north-east. Travelling undercover, the BBC's Orla Guerin found many already looking forward to autonomy in a democratic Syria. With gold-rimmed glasses, a neat black moustache and a pinstripe shirt, the middle-aged man who came to meet us could have been a bank manager. He was unmarried, he explained, and had no children. He wanted us to know that was a choice, not a twist of fate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19301543
21. Why the Kurdish Genocide Needs Recognising
21 August 2012 / Huffington Post
The possibility, as rightly red-lined by President Obama, that the beleaguered Assad regime in Syria could use chemical weapons in its desperate efforts to remain in power is a horrific reminder of the use of toxic bombs by another Ba'athist regime in neighbouring Iraq. It is knocking on 25 years since the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein used mustard gas against Kurds in Iraq in the closing stages of a decades-long effort by Hussein and other Iraqi dictators to exterminate the Kurds. Anyone who wishes to understand modern Iraq should appraise themselves of this toxic legacy and if at all possible visit the town of Halabja, near the Iranian border.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gary-kent/why-the-kurdish-genocide-_b_1816310.html
23 August 2012 / ANF
Five soldiers died and seven others were wounded in clashes in Şemdinli (province of Hakkari) on Wednesday, Turkish authorities said on Thursday. Clashes reportedly broke out following a landmine explosion during the passage of a military convoy between the villages of Bağlar (Nehri) and Zorgeçit (Gerget). The Governor of Hakkari confirmed the number of casualties and claimed that 16 guerrillas also lost their life. The statement by the governor however hasn’t been confirmed by locals nor HPG (People’s Defense Forces) sources yet. The governor said that the aerial and land operations of the Turkish army continue.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5055
2. PKK Denies Involvement in Deadly Blast in Gaziantep
21 August 2012 / Bianet
The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) issued a statement through the Fırat news agency (ANF) and denied government officials' claims that it was the culprit behind Monday's lethal blast in the southeastern province of Gaziantep that killed nine people and injured 69 more. "Our forces bear no connection to this blast. The public and our people know all too well that our forces would never [target] civilians... Our forces are complying with the call issued by the KCK's (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council to refrain from clashes during the [Ramadan] holiday," the PKK said in its statement.
http://bianet.org/english/other/140419-pkk-denies-involvement-in-deadly-blast-in-gaziantep
3. Turkey probes possible Syrian involvement in car bomb
21 August 2012 / Reuters
Turkey is investigating possible Syrian links to Monday's deadly car bomb attack near its southeastern border, officials said on Tuesday, underscoring fears that the conflict in Syria is fuelling instability on its own territory. A car packed with explosives blew up close to a police station in the industrial city of Gaziantep, around 50 km (30 miles) from the Syrian border, late on Monday, killing nine people including a 12-year-old child. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but senior ruling party officials in Turkey blamed the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Kurdish militants designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/21/turkey-bomb-pkk-idINL6E8JL39E20120821
4. Kişanak: We saw guerrillas in Şemzinan, not Turkish soldiers
17 August 2012 / Roj Helat
A delegation of BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) and DTK (Democratic Society Congress) who paid visit to Şemzinan areas was stopped by guerrillas of HPG (People Defence Forces) who set up checkpoints on the roads controlling the region. Speaking to ANF after completing its survey of the region, BDP co-chair Gulten Kişanak said that they didn’t come across Turkish security forces in the region. “We came across guerrilla forces on the way back from the villages we visited but there were no security forces in the region except for a military point on the way out of Şemzinan province. A large number of cultivated areas and yards were completely burnt out in the villages where people say they are deliberatively targeted by the bombardment of security forces”, said Kişanak.
http://www.rojhelat.info/english/taybet/2523-kianak-we-saw-guerrillas-in-emzinan-not-turkish-soldiers
5. Prosecutor Launches Probe into PKK, BDP Encounter
20 August 2012 / Bianet
The Chief Prosecutor's Office in the eastern province of Van launched a probe on Saturday into an encounter between members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and a delegation of politicians, including certain members of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP,) who were on a visit to the district of Şemdinli in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Aug. 17 Hakkari's Şemdinli district was the scene of some of the most intense fighting between government forces and the PKK in living memory during the past month. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Abdullah Gül and Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the head of the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP,) also issued public comments regarding the matter.
http://bianet.org/english/people/140410-prosecutor-launches-probe-into-pkk-bdp-encounter
6. HPG Erdal assessed current situation in Kurdistan
13 August 2012 / Kurdbox
In an interview to Yeni Özgür Politika paper about the recent military operations and clashes, People’s Defense Forces (HPG) commander Dr. Bahoz Erdal stated that in the last three weeks, 169 Turkish soldiers were killed and three Skorsky helicopters were shot down by HPG forces in the clashes in Şemdinli area. Bahoz said that Turkish security forces in the region of Şemdinli have been forced to withdraw in their bases. Asked about the recent strategy change of HPG forces, Erdal remarked that HPG forces have recently switch to a “area-control” strategy. This strategy of taking control over an area and limiting the war to that area has been witnessed in Şemdinli and Çukurca. Erdal noted that the actions carried out by Kurdistan Freedom Movement were directly related to the “state terror implemented by the ruling AKP government”.
http://www.kurdbox.com/english/?p=109#.UDYIMkRcRCY
7. Kurdish History Magazine Hits the Bookshelves
22 August 2012 / Bianet
The second edition of Turkey's first magazine on Kurdish history has hit the bookshelves with the stated goal of popularizing the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan. Published bi-monthly in Turkish, "Kürt Tarihi" ("Kurdish History") features an assortment of informative articles and other writings, ranging from a piece on a Kurdish Theater that appeared in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and an ode by Şeyh Rıza Talabani to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit to the first Kurdish Poetry Anthology, Kızılbaş Kurdish postcards and a 200 year old Kurdish medical book.
http://bianet.org/english/media/140436-kurdish-history-magazine-hits-the-bookshelves
8. EU critical of sentence against Leyla Zana
21 August 2012 / ANF
Antigoni Papadopoulou, member of Dimokratiko Komma (DIKO – Democratic Party), member of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, tabled a parliamentary written question to the EU Commission about the prison sentence handed down to Labor Democracy and Freedom Block Independent MP Leyla Zana for "committing crime on behalf of an illegal organization despite not being a member of it" and "making propaganda for an illegal organization".
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5053
9. Turkey and U.S.A meet today over Syria
23 August 2012 / ANF
Turkish and U.S. commissions on Syria will be meeting in Ankara today to discuss the fight against PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and the establishment of a buffer zone on the Syrian border. The meeting in the capital city will be attended by military, intelligence and political representatives of both countries. The “political, military and intelligence working group” which is to hold its first meeting today was decided on during the 11 August dated meeting of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in Ankara.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5057
10. US Concerned about Kurdish Revolutionary Movement in Syria
22 August 2012 / Rudaw
According to American news sources, U.S officials and observers of the developments in Syria are worried about the escalation of violence and have accused Kurdish parties of “weakening the Syrian opposition” and “impeding its progress towards overthrowing the Assad regime.”
The concern of the Americans is that Kurdish forces have taken over control of several areas in northern Syria. A number of Kurdish cities were liberated in late July from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and are now being jointly run by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Kurdish National Council (KNC).
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5116.html
11. Assad's Regime Has Totally Lost Northeastern Syria
17 August 2012 / Business Insider
We reported Syria could be a free-for-all if the Assad regime falls, and it seems the land grab has begun. Syrian Kurds have taken over about 50 percent of the territory in northeast Syria relinquished by Syrian forces and plan to create an autonomous zone, Orla Guerin of BBC reports. "We want to take over own affairs, and not just in Syria," one man told Guerin. "All the Kurds want a greater Kurdistan." More than 30 million Kurds live in Iraq (6 million), Iran (6 million), Syria (2 million) and Turkey (20 million), making them one of the world's largest stateless people.
http://www.businessinsider.com/kurds-have-claimed-part-of-northeast-syria-and-plan-to-defend-it-as-their-own-2012-8 <http://www.businessinsider.com/kurds-have-claimed-part-of-northeast-syria-and-plan-to-defend-it-as-their-own-2012-8>
12. VIDEO: Kurds seek autonomy in a democratic Syria
16 August 2012 / BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19291072 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19291072>
13. Kurdish parties of Iran sign cooperation agreement
22 August 2012 /AK News
Revolutionary Organization of the Toilers of Kurdistan (best known as Komala) and Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK), two Kurdish opposition parties of Iran, signed an agreement for cooperation, said a member of the central committee of Komala. Komala General Secretary Abdolla Mohtadi and his counterpart in DPK, Mostafa Hejri, met yesterday in the politburo of DPK, said Salar Pashayi. Pashayi said in the meeting which lasted five hours, the leaders discussed the current situation in Kurdistan, Iran and the Middle East and continued with discussing the draft of the agreement.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/322673/
14. Australia Re-lists PKK as Terrorist Organization
20 August 2012 / Rudaw
In a media statement made Friday, Australia’s Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced that five organizations have been re-listed as terrorist organisations under the country’s counterterrorism laws. One of which is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Also included on the list were the Somalian Al-Shabaab, Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Under the Commonwealth Criminal Code, Australia lists organizations that the Attorney-General is sure are “directly or indirectly engaged in, preparing, planning, assisting in or fostering the doing of a terrorist act or advocating the doing of a terrorist act.”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/5110.html
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
15. Kurds in the New Middle East
22 August 2012 / The National Interest
The breakdown of authority in Syria and creation of a Kurdish enclave there has unexpectedly pushed Kurds to the forefront of regional politics—and almost nobody’s happy. The opposition Syrian National Council, the umbrella group leading the fight against the regime’s forces, has refused to accept Kurdish demands for self-rule, causing a rift with the Syrian Kurdish parties. Turkey, which is battling its own Kurdish rebellion, is concerned about the effect of a new Kurdish autonomous region right on the border and has threatened military action against the enclave. Meanwhile, the United States, which says it wants Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to go but doesn’t want to commit forces to make it happen, has stated its opposition to Syrian Kurdish autonomy.
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/kurds-the-new-middle-east-7377
16. Violent times: A worrying escalation of violence in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east
18 August 2012 / The Economist
ON AUGUST 12th rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) kidnapped Huseyin Aygun, a prominent opposition MP, as he toured the mainly Kurdish eastern province of Tunceli. He was released 48 hours later, but the rebels got their desired publicity by abducting an MP right under the authorities’ noses. “They did it for propaganda purpose, they did me no harm,” declared Mr Aygun before passing on his captors’ “desire for peace”. Yet peace does not seem to be on the PKK agenda. Over the past month the group has increased its violence. It tied down the army for two weeks in a mountain enclave near Semdinli. It killed two soldiers in the Aegean resort of Foca. Hardly a day now passes without news of another PKK attack.
http://www.economist.com/node/21560603
17. Ankara moves on Damascus
16 August 2012 / Al Ahram
Not a few Turks muttered curses as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Istanbul last week for talks with senior Turkish officials, and perhaps Clinton herself will have even caught a glimpse of the demonstrator who charged towards her convoy, shouting "stop your offences against Islam and the Muslim people" as she arrived in the city. The man was immediately arrested and brought in for questioning, and though the results of the investigations have not been made public, some observers have conjectured that he could have been an agent of the Syrian regime, told to thrust himself before the television cameras in order to rouse anti-American sympathies.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1111/re4.htm
18. Turkey's Syria Conundrum
August 2012 / Foreign Policy Centre
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu must be secretly dreaming of a world where past statements would vanish into thin air. He had told Parliament in April that 'a new Middle East was emerging and Turkey would continue to be the master, the leader and the servant of this new Middle East' . Barely four months later, on August the 20th with the number of Syrian refugees on its soil approaching one hundred thousand people, Mr Davutoglu declared that Syria is no longer a national or regional problem. He said 'It now poses a security risk to neighboring countries and the United Nations should intervene in accordance with its mission'.
http://fpc.org.uk/articles/558
19. Where were you, Syria?
9 August 2012 / Support Kurds in Syria
It was raining my first day in Qami?lo. Small puddles were forming in the streets. My aunt pointed at them and said: “Look at the bubbles. We call them spring bubbles.” From that day I was aware that even though it was June and summer in Syria, spring had come to West Kurdistan these fateful months in 2012. Only one and a half year ago the Kurds in Syria did not exist. Today, Turkey is threatening to send its army into Syria because it fears that the now very much existing Kurds are seeking to found a self-ruled Kurdistan.
http://supportkurds.org/reports/where-were-you-syria/ <http://supportkurds.org/reports/where-were-you-syria/>
20. Crisis in Syria boosts Kurdish hopes
18 August 2012 / BBC News
With Syrian forces focused on the fighting in the big cities, Kurdish leaders say they now control half of their region in the north-east. Travelling undercover, the BBC's Orla Guerin found many already looking forward to autonomy in a democratic Syria. With gold-rimmed glasses, a neat black moustache and a pinstripe shirt, the middle-aged man who came to meet us could have been a bank manager. He was unmarried, he explained, and had no children. He wanted us to know that was a choice, not a twist of fate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19301543
21. Why the Kurdish Genocide Needs Recognising
21 August 2012 / Huffington Post
The possibility, as rightly red-lined by President Obama, that the beleaguered Assad regime in Syria could use chemical weapons in its desperate efforts to remain in power is a horrific reminder of the use of toxic bombs by another Ba'athist regime in neighbouring Iraq. It is knocking on 25 years since the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein used mustard gas against Kurds in Iraq in the closing stages of a decades-long effort by Hussein and other Iraqi dictators to exterminate the Kurds. Anyone who wishes to understand modern Iraq should appraise themselves of this toxic legacy and if at all possible visit the town of Halabja, near the Iranian border.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/gary-kent/why-the-kurdish-genocide-_b_1816310.html
Friday 17 August 2012
KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 10 – 16 August 2012
1. Huseyin Aygun’s first statement after his release
16 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The CHP member of parliament for Dersim, Huseyin Aygun, was released on the evening of 14th August. He was arrested two days before near the district of Ovacik by HPG guerilla forces. After his release he was reunited with his family, before he stepped in front of the cameras and represented his experiences from the previous 48 hours. Aygun explained, the PKK kidnapped him for propaganda reasons. After his arrest, Bahoz Erdal had communicated with the guerrilla force from Dersim. He had made it clear that they should pay attention for there not to be as much as a hair out of place on Aygun. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/huseyin-ayguns-first-statement-after-his-release/
2. PKK Says Shemzinan Area Under Full Control
11 August 2012 / Rudaw
The People’s Defence Forces, known by its Kurdish initials as (HPG) -- an armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) -- claim that the Shemzinan area is no longer under Turkey’s control. Bakhtiyar Dogan, spokesperson of the HPG, said the group’s guerillas had besieged Turkish army camps in the area. “Shemzinan is currently under the control of our guerrillas. Most of the Turkish army bases in the area are under siege and no longer under the control of the Turkish army,” he told Rudaw. “Turkish helicopters and fighter jets have been trying to fly over, but due to HPG’s attacks they have withdrawn from the area. The Turkish army has failed to end the besiegement,” Dogan said. The assault on Turkish military outposts in Shemzinan began on July 23 and is ongoing, despite Turkish efforts to put an end to the clashes.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5075.html
3. Interior Ministry Bans Pro-PKK Demonstrations on Aug. 15
14 August 2012 / Bianet
The Ministry of Interior issued a ban on all demonstrations in the southeastern province of Siirt between Aug. 10 - 20 to avert a commemoration of the first armed raid by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Aug. 15, 1984. A demonstration will nonetheless be held in the Kurdish province of Diyarbakır on Wednesday."Aug. 15 is a significant and historic date for the Kurds. There is also a need to offer moral support during the celebrations to the Kurds in Syria with respect to the developments there and hail them in earnest... The Kurds no longer entertain any expectations. To the contrary, they plainly [aim for] acts that rely on their self-strength. This situation was also manifest during the Newroz [celebrations] and July 14. The acts and demonstrations we are going to perform after this point will also [aim to] impose a solution," Zübeyde Zümrüt, the Diyarbakır Provincial Co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP,) said in a public statement.
http://bianet.org/english/people/140316-interior-ministry-bans-pro-pkk-demonstrations-on-aug-15
4. Turkish planes shell Kurdistan Region's border villages
16 August 2012 / AK News
The director of Sidakan district said Turkish airplanes shelled border villages of the Kurdistan Region last night. Mohammed Ismael said: "Turkish planes shelled some areas and villages in the foothill of Qandil Mountain, such as Chiay Ban, Se Kani and Harmoush village, for 30 minutes at 11:30pm." The shelling burnt farmers' fields and some forests. No casualties were reported, added the source. Ismaed expressed concern about migrant Kurds who now settled in the Qandil foothill areas, saying: "Some 100 migrant Kurds are now settled in the area and these border places are regularly shelled. The families are in real danger."
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/3/322126/
5. Displaced Villagers Unwilling to Return for Fear of More Clashes
12 August 2012 / Bianet
The Governor's Office in the southeastern province of Hakkari announced the conclusion of the millitary operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the district of Şemdinli on Saturday, some 20 days after clashes first broke out in the area.
Helicopter gunships and artillery shots can still be seen and heard despite the announcement of the Hakkari Governor's Office, however, according to Şemdinlihaber.com reporter Azer Demir.
The military operations against PKK militants conducting road checks in the villages of Bağlar and Rüzgarlı over the Şemdinli-Derecik highway began on July 23 and kept going for another 19 days with additional air support.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140259-displaced-villagers-unwilling-to-return-for-fear-of-more-clashes
6. Relatives of Roboski victims waiting for justice
16 August 2012 / ANF
No indictment has yet been presented for five Roboski villagers who have been held under arrest for eight months on the basis of statements by “secret witnesses”. Relatives of the victims have been subjected to a legal process instead of those responsible for the massacre of 34 civilians among whom 19 were children. Five Roboski suspects were arrested and sent to Şırnak Closed Prison one week after the massacre –which took place on 28 December 2011- for allegedly “intending to kill” Uludere Governor Naif Yavuz who was attacked during the funeral
ceremony of victims.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5037
7. Video: Kurds take control in Syria's northeast
12 August 2012 / Al Jazeera
Control of large parts of Syria's northeast is now in the hands of the Democratic Union Party, the main Kurdish party in the region. About two million Kurds live in the area, making up 10 per cent of the population. There are also significant Kurdish populations in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq and more in Iran. In Syria, the Kurds suffered discrimination and loss of culture under the ruling Baathist party since the 1960s. Many were granted citizenship only last year by President Bashar al-Assad, after the uprising started. As Assad's stretched security forces left parts of the northeast, Kurdish committees have taken more control. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid is the first international reporter to travel to the region since the uprising began last March.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/2012812155148623460.html
8. Kurds' ambitions add explosive element to Syria equation
14 August 2012 /CNN
In the city of Qamishli, on Syria's border with Turkey, neither the forces of the Syrian regime nor the rebels of the Free Syrian Army are to be seen. But visitors say the Kurdish flag is very evident, and Kurdish fighters man checkpoints around the city. More are being trained in the Kurdish region of neighboring Iraq. Away from the epicenter of the battle for Syria, the Kurdish minority -- about 10% of the Syrian population -- has gained control of two areas. One is around Qamishli, which has a population of nearly 200,000; the other is north of Aleppo in towns like Afrin and Ayn al-'Arab.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/14/world/meast/syria-kurds/index.html
9. Women's Group Calls for Nationwide Campaign Against Honor Killing
12 August 2012 / Rudaw
One week after its foundation, women’s rights organization Zhiyan [Life] Group organized a demonstration against honor killing in the Kurdistan Region. The demonstrators condemned the killing of Nigar Rahim, a Kurdish girl in the Garmiyan region, who was raped by one of her brothers and later killed by another. The spokesperson for Zhiyan called on all the civil organizations in Kurdistan to join her group in its campaign. Data from civil and human rights organizations showed a decline in cases of honor killing in the Kurdistan. However, the past few weeks the region witnessed the killing of several women in various areas, including one entire family in Kirkuk.This raised fresh debate among women’s organizations and the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG].
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5079.html
10. The women’s movement in Kurdistan: Interview with Professor Mary Davis
7 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.
Professor Mary Davis, well-known academic, trade unionist and former elected member of the TUC women’s committee, recently returned from a solidarity delegation to North Kurdistan where she met with a number of the women at the forefront of this political movement. Peace in Kurdistan Campaign interviewed her on her return to the UK, where she gives her candid impressions on the repressive nature of Turkey’s approach to its Kurdish citizens in general, and Kurdish women in particular.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/activities/delegations/the-womens-movement-in-kurdistan-interview-with-professor-mary-davis/
12. “We force them into line”: Press control in place of press freedom in Turkey
16 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
What could be more beautiful for a government than to see the media in its country only writing positive things about it? Certainly this would influence public opinion to the benefit of the government, which would in turn ease the path to re-election. Unfortunately it is not always so easy for some governments. Because, where there is democracy, the media ought to critically examine the policies of the government. Therefore the government must make more effort not to have any stumbles in their policies because the media representatives are on their tail. So goes the theory….
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/we-force-them-into-line-press-control-in-place-of-press-freedom-in-turkey/
13. The Kurdish Dilemma: An Open Letter to Turkey
12 August 2012 / Rudaw
Violence breeds violence. It may be a cliché, but it’s true, and this ideology will never eliminate the very real Kurdish problem -- either within Turkey or externally. It’s been said in Turkish circles that Kurds ask for too many rights and privileges, but has Turkey really gone anywhere near exhausting diplomatic solutions to Kurdish issues? The “Kurdish opening” of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was welcomed by Kurds as well as international human rights activists. A Kurdish language TV station was introduced, prisoners were given the right to speak to their families in Kurdish and an unofficial amnesty was introduced for those with links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/op-ed-contributors/5077.html
14. “May Peace Reign and Life Return to Normalcy”
9 August 2012 / Bianet
As intense fighting between government forces and militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continue unabated in the southeastern province of Hakkari, bianet reporter Nilay Vardar has travelled to the heart of the conflict zone to relate the developments there which mainstream media has given only superficial coverage to: ‘I am back from Şemdinli, the crossroads of three countries. We were deeply preoccupied with the question of how to find out about what was going on there since the start of the clashes, and thus we decided to set off for Şemdinli. Official response to the ongoing battle was muted, and even if there was some explanation, that would not have sufficed for us. Realizing the inadequacies inherent in armchair reporting from Istanbul, we pushed the envelope and I hit the road off to Şemdinli to find out about the locals' take on the events surrounding them.
http://bianet.org/english/english/140202-may-peace-reign-and-life-return-to-normalcy
15. Trending against Kurds in Turkey
10 August 2012 / Al Jazeera
Netizens were outraged to find "En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" -- the best Kurd is a dead Kurd -- trending on Twitter on August 9. Many said the phrase's online popularity reflected common sentiments in Turkey against Kurds. The Stream spoke to Kani Xulam of the American-Kurdish Information Network about why the phrase was trending.
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/trending-against-kurds-turkey-0022311#disqus_thread
16. American Professor: Syrian Kurds need to redefine their ambition
14 August 2012 / Rudaw
In an interview with Rudaw, Michael Gunter, professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University and the author of six books and hundreds of scholarly articles on the Kurds, addressed recent developments in Syrian Kurdistan. Professor Gunter, who is also the secretary general of the EU Turkey Civic Commission, offered his opinion on the Turkish threats of invading Syrian Kurdistan, the possibility of a Kurdish state or autonomous region and EU/U.S. views on the area.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5086.html
17. Will Syria's Kurds benefit from the crisis?
10 August 2012 / BBC News
In any assessment of the potential winners and losers from the political chaos in Syria, the country's Kurdish minority could be among the winners. The Kurds make up a little over 10% of the population. Long marginalised by the Alawite-dominated government, they are largely concentrated in north-eastern Syria, up towards the Turkish border. Aaron David Miller, a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC,
believes that the Kurds could be one of the main beneficiaries of the demise of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "Syria is coming apart, and there's not much chance it will be reassembled with the kind of centralised authority we saw under the Assads."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19197169
18. How, When and Whether to End the War in Syria
10 August 2012 / The Brookings Institute, Washington
Syria is Lebanon of the 1970s and ’80s. It is Afghanistan, Congo or the Balkans of the 1990s. It is Iraq of 2005-2007. It is not an insurgency. It is not a rebellion. It is not Yemen. It is certainly not Egypt or Tunisia. It is important to accept this simple fact, because civil wars — especially ethno-sectarian civil wars such as the one burning in Syria — both reflect and unleash powerful forces that constrain what can be done about them. These forces can’t be turned off or ignored; they must be dealt with directly if there is to be any chance of ending the conflict.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/08/10-syria-pollack
19. Syria After Aleppo
6 August 2012 / Carnegie Endowment for Peace
Prospects for Syria look bleak with conflict continuing to intensify in Damascus, Aleppo, and other parts of the country. The resignation of Kofi Annan as UN special envoy and interlocutor with the Assad regime highlights the difficulty of effective international engagement, while the even more recent defection of Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab underlines the narrowing political options for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In this Q&A, Yezid Sayigh explains how the regime’s probable victory in Aleppo will likely expand so-called clearing operations in the surrounding area to build on the government’s perceived success. Sayigh argues that despite the problems facing diplomacy, the international community should maintain pressure on Russia to help engineer a viable formula for sharing power as part of Syria’s transition away from Assad.
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/08/06/syria-after-aleppo/d8zj
20. Iran Launches Diplomatic Initiative Aimed At Preventing The Fall Of Assad's Regime, Collapse Of Entire Resistance Axis, And Regional War
10 August 2012 / Middle East Media Research Institute
In light of the escalation of the crisis in Syria, on August 9, 2012, Iran held an international conference aimed at preventing the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the collapse of the entire resistance axis that would inevitably follow. In Iran's eyes, the Syrian regime is the bulwark against a Sunni-Shi'ite war in the Middle East encompassing Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and others, which would have far-reaching ramifications for the survival of the Islamic regime in Iran itself.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6583.htm
21. CAMPAIGN: SET TURKISH JOURNALISTS FREE / European Federation of Journalists
To date, over 700 individuals and organisations around the world have joined the Set Turkish Journalists Free campaign thank to your support. They have sent a petition letter to the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling for the release of the jailed journalists in Turkey. To date, over 100 Turkish journalists (waiting for an updated list) still remain in prison with many facing the threat of imprisonment. Please keep supporting our campaign and share your solidarity with the jailed colleagues in Turkey. Join our campaign and send your e-petition today! And forward this email to your contacts.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/pages/turkey-campaign-set-journalists-free
16 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The CHP member of parliament for Dersim, Huseyin Aygun, was released on the evening of 14th August. He was arrested two days before near the district of Ovacik by HPG guerilla forces. After his release he was reunited with his family, before he stepped in front of the cameras and represented his experiences from the previous 48 hours. Aygun explained, the PKK kidnapped him for propaganda reasons. After his arrest, Bahoz Erdal had communicated with the guerrilla force from Dersim. He had made it clear that they should pay attention for there not to be as much as a hair out of place on Aygun. http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/huseyin-ayguns-first-statement-after-his-release/
2. PKK Says Shemzinan Area Under Full Control
11 August 2012 / Rudaw
The People’s Defence Forces, known by its Kurdish initials as (HPG) -- an armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) -- claim that the Shemzinan area is no longer under Turkey’s control. Bakhtiyar Dogan, spokesperson of the HPG, said the group’s guerillas had besieged Turkish army camps in the area. “Shemzinan is currently under the control of our guerrillas. Most of the Turkish army bases in the area are under siege and no longer under the control of the Turkish army,” he told Rudaw. “Turkish helicopters and fighter jets have been trying to fly over, but due to HPG’s attacks they have withdrawn from the area. The Turkish army has failed to end the besiegement,” Dogan said. The assault on Turkish military outposts in Shemzinan began on July 23 and is ongoing, despite Turkish efforts to put an end to the clashes.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5075.html
3. Interior Ministry Bans Pro-PKK Demonstrations on Aug. 15
14 August 2012 / Bianet
The Ministry of Interior issued a ban on all demonstrations in the southeastern province of Siirt between Aug. 10 - 20 to avert a commemoration of the first armed raid by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Aug. 15, 1984. A demonstration will nonetheless be held in the Kurdish province of Diyarbakır on Wednesday."Aug. 15 is a significant and historic date for the Kurds. There is also a need to offer moral support during the celebrations to the Kurds in Syria with respect to the developments there and hail them in earnest... The Kurds no longer entertain any expectations. To the contrary, they plainly [aim for] acts that rely on their self-strength. This situation was also manifest during the Newroz [celebrations] and July 14. The acts and demonstrations we are going to perform after this point will also [aim to] impose a solution," Zübeyde Zümrüt, the Diyarbakır Provincial Co-chair of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP,) said in a public statement.
http://bianet.org/english/people/140316-interior-ministry-bans-pro-pkk-demonstrations-on-aug-15
4. Turkish planes shell Kurdistan Region's border villages
16 August 2012 / AK News
The director of Sidakan district said Turkish airplanes shelled border villages of the Kurdistan Region last night. Mohammed Ismael said: "Turkish planes shelled some areas and villages in the foothill of Qandil Mountain, such as Chiay Ban, Se Kani and Harmoush village, for 30 minutes at 11:30pm." The shelling burnt farmers' fields and some forests. No casualties were reported, added the source. Ismaed expressed concern about migrant Kurds who now settled in the Qandil foothill areas, saying: "Some 100 migrant Kurds are now settled in the area and these border places are regularly shelled. The families are in real danger."
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/3/322126/
5. Displaced Villagers Unwilling to Return for Fear of More Clashes
12 August 2012 / Bianet
The Governor's Office in the southeastern province of Hakkari announced the conclusion of the millitary operations against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the district of Şemdinli on Saturday, some 20 days after clashes first broke out in the area.
Helicopter gunships and artillery shots can still be seen and heard despite the announcement of the Hakkari Governor's Office, however, according to Şemdinlihaber.com reporter Azer Demir.
The military operations against PKK militants conducting road checks in the villages of Bağlar and Rüzgarlı over the Şemdinli-Derecik highway began on July 23 and kept going for another 19 days with additional air support.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140259-displaced-villagers-unwilling-to-return-for-fear-of-more-clashes
6. Relatives of Roboski victims waiting for justice
16 August 2012 / ANF
No indictment has yet been presented for five Roboski villagers who have been held under arrest for eight months on the basis of statements by “secret witnesses”. Relatives of the victims have been subjected to a legal process instead of those responsible for the massacre of 34 civilians among whom 19 were children. Five Roboski suspects were arrested and sent to Şırnak Closed Prison one week after the massacre –which took place on 28 December 2011- for allegedly “intending to kill” Uludere Governor Naif Yavuz who was attacked during the funeral
ceremony of victims.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5037
7. Video: Kurds take control in Syria's northeast
12 August 2012 / Al Jazeera
Control of large parts of Syria's northeast is now in the hands of the Democratic Union Party, the main Kurdish party in the region. About two million Kurds live in the area, making up 10 per cent of the population. There are also significant Kurdish populations in neighbouring Turkey and Iraq and more in Iran. In Syria, the Kurds suffered discrimination and loss of culture under the ruling Baathist party since the 1960s. Many were granted citizenship only last year by President Bashar al-Assad, after the uprising started. As Assad's stretched security forces left parts of the northeast, Kurdish committees have taken more control. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid is the first international reporter to travel to the region since the uprising began last March.
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/08/2012812155148623460.html
8. Kurds' ambitions add explosive element to Syria equation
14 August 2012 /CNN
In the city of Qamishli, on Syria's border with Turkey, neither the forces of the Syrian regime nor the rebels of the Free Syrian Army are to be seen. But visitors say the Kurdish flag is very evident, and Kurdish fighters man checkpoints around the city. More are being trained in the Kurdish region of neighboring Iraq. Away from the epicenter of the battle for Syria, the Kurdish minority -- about 10% of the Syrian population -- has gained control of two areas. One is around Qamishli, which has a population of nearly 200,000; the other is north of Aleppo in towns like Afrin and Ayn al-'Arab.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/14/world/meast/syria-kurds/index.html
9. Women's Group Calls for Nationwide Campaign Against Honor Killing
12 August 2012 / Rudaw
One week after its foundation, women’s rights organization Zhiyan [Life] Group organized a demonstration against honor killing in the Kurdistan Region. The demonstrators condemned the killing of Nigar Rahim, a Kurdish girl in the Garmiyan region, who was raped by one of her brothers and later killed by another. The spokesperson for Zhiyan called on all the civil organizations in Kurdistan to join her group in its campaign. Data from civil and human rights organizations showed a decline in cases of honor killing in the Kurdistan. However, the past few weeks the region witnessed the killing of several women in various areas, including one entire family in Kirkuk.This raised fresh debate among women’s organizations and the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG].
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5079.html
10. The women’s movement in Kurdistan: Interview with Professor Mary Davis
7 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign.
Professor Mary Davis, well-known academic, trade unionist and former elected member of the TUC women’s committee, recently returned from a solidarity delegation to North Kurdistan where she met with a number of the women at the forefront of this political movement. Peace in Kurdistan Campaign interviewed her on her return to the UK, where she gives her candid impressions on the repressive nature of Turkey’s approach to its Kurdish citizens in general, and Kurdish women in particular.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/activities/delegations/the-womens-movement-in-kurdistan-interview-with-professor-mary-davis/
12. “We force them into line”: Press control in place of press freedom in Turkey
16 August 2012 / Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
What could be more beautiful for a government than to see the media in its country only writing positive things about it? Certainly this would influence public opinion to the benefit of the government, which would in turn ease the path to re-election. Unfortunately it is not always so easy for some governments. Because, where there is democracy, the media ought to critically examine the policies of the government. Therefore the government must make more effort not to have any stumbles in their policies because the media representatives are on their tail. So goes the theory….
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/we-force-them-into-line-press-control-in-place-of-press-freedom-in-turkey/
13. The Kurdish Dilemma: An Open Letter to Turkey
12 August 2012 / Rudaw
Violence breeds violence. It may be a cliché, but it’s true, and this ideology will never eliminate the very real Kurdish problem -- either within Turkey or externally. It’s been said in Turkish circles that Kurds ask for too many rights and privileges, but has Turkey really gone anywhere near exhausting diplomatic solutions to Kurdish issues? The “Kurdish opening” of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was welcomed by Kurds as well as international human rights activists. A Kurdish language TV station was introduced, prisoners were given the right to speak to their families in Kurdish and an unofficial amnesty was introduced for those with links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
http://www.rudaw.net/english/science/op-ed-contributors/5077.html
14. “May Peace Reign and Life Return to Normalcy”
9 August 2012 / Bianet
As intense fighting between government forces and militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) continue unabated in the southeastern province of Hakkari, bianet reporter Nilay Vardar has travelled to the heart of the conflict zone to relate the developments there which mainstream media has given only superficial coverage to: ‘I am back from Şemdinli, the crossroads of three countries. We were deeply preoccupied with the question of how to find out about what was going on there since the start of the clashes, and thus we decided to set off for Şemdinli. Official response to the ongoing battle was muted, and even if there was some explanation, that would not have sufficed for us. Realizing the inadequacies inherent in armchair reporting from Istanbul, we pushed the envelope and I hit the road off to Şemdinli to find out about the locals' take on the events surrounding them.
http://bianet.org/english/english/140202-may-peace-reign-and-life-return-to-normalcy
15. Trending against Kurds in Turkey
10 August 2012 / Al Jazeera
Netizens were outraged to find "En İyi Kürt Ölü Kürt" -- the best Kurd is a dead Kurd -- trending on Twitter on August 9. Many said the phrase's online popularity reflected common sentiments in Turkey against Kurds. The Stream spoke to Kani Xulam of the American-Kurdish Information Network about why the phrase was trending.
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/trending-against-kurds-turkey-0022311#disqus_thread
16. American Professor: Syrian Kurds need to redefine their ambition
14 August 2012 / Rudaw
In an interview with Rudaw, Michael Gunter, professor of political science at Tennessee Technological University and the author of six books and hundreds of scholarly articles on the Kurds, addressed recent developments in Syrian Kurdistan. Professor Gunter, who is also the secretary general of the EU Turkey Civic Commission, offered his opinion on the Turkish threats of invading Syrian Kurdistan, the possibility of a Kurdish state or autonomous region and EU/U.S. views on the area.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/5086.html
17. Will Syria's Kurds benefit from the crisis?
10 August 2012 / BBC News
In any assessment of the potential winners and losers from the political chaos in Syria, the country's Kurdish minority could be among the winners. The Kurds make up a little over 10% of the population. Long marginalised by the Alawite-dominated government, they are largely concentrated in north-eastern Syria, up towards the Turkish border. Aaron David Miller, a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC,
believes that the Kurds could be one of the main beneficiaries of the demise of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "Syria is coming apart, and there's not much chance it will be reassembled with the kind of centralised authority we saw under the Assads."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19197169
18. How, When and Whether to End the War in Syria
10 August 2012 / The Brookings Institute, Washington
Syria is Lebanon of the 1970s and ’80s. It is Afghanistan, Congo or the Balkans of the 1990s. It is Iraq of 2005-2007. It is not an insurgency. It is not a rebellion. It is not Yemen. It is certainly not Egypt or Tunisia. It is important to accept this simple fact, because civil wars — especially ethno-sectarian civil wars such as the one burning in Syria — both reflect and unleash powerful forces that constrain what can be done about them. These forces can’t be turned off or ignored; they must be dealt with directly if there is to be any chance of ending the conflict.
http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2012/08/10-syria-pollack
19. Syria After Aleppo
6 August 2012 / Carnegie Endowment for Peace
Prospects for Syria look bleak with conflict continuing to intensify in Damascus, Aleppo, and other parts of the country. The resignation of Kofi Annan as UN special envoy and interlocutor with the Assad regime highlights the difficulty of effective international engagement, while the even more recent defection of Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab underlines the narrowing political options for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In this Q&A, Yezid Sayigh explains how the regime’s probable victory in Aleppo will likely expand so-called clearing operations in the surrounding area to build on the government’s perceived success. Sayigh argues that despite the problems facing diplomacy, the international community should maintain pressure on Russia to help engineer a viable formula for sharing power as part of Syria’s transition away from Assad.
http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/08/06/syria-after-aleppo/d8zj
20. Iran Launches Diplomatic Initiative Aimed At Preventing The Fall Of Assad's Regime, Collapse Of Entire Resistance Axis, And Regional War
10 August 2012 / Middle East Media Research Institute
In light of the escalation of the crisis in Syria, on August 9, 2012, Iran held an international conference aimed at preventing the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and the collapse of the entire resistance axis that would inevitably follow. In Iran's eyes, the Syrian regime is the bulwark against a Sunni-Shi'ite war in the Middle East encompassing Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and others, which would have far-reaching ramifications for the survival of the Islamic regime in Iran itself.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6583.htm
21. CAMPAIGN: SET TURKISH JOURNALISTS FREE / European Federation of Journalists
To date, over 700 individuals and organisations around the world have joined the Set Turkish Journalists Free campaign thank to your support. They have sent a petition letter to the Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, calling for the release of the jailed journalists in Turkey. To date, over 100 Turkish journalists (waiting for an updated list) still remain in prison with many facing the threat of imprisonment. Please keep supporting our campaign and share your solidarity with the jailed colleagues in Turkey. Join our campaign and send your e-petition today! And forward this email to your contacts.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/pages/turkey-campaign-set-journalists-free
Thursday 9 August 2012
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 3 - 9 August 2012
1. Minister Ergin: 2146 people tried in KCK operation
4 August 2012 / ANF
Turkish Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin, in his answer to the parliamentary question by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP Emine Ayna, stated that 2,146 people are tried within the scope of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) investigations in Turkey. Among the KCK suspects, 992 are in prison and 274 are elected representatives, according to figures by the Ministry of Justice. Minister Ergin notified that 113 cases have been opened within the scope of KCK investigations so far and remarked that among the 274 elected representatives there are mayors, district and provincial executives, city council members and deputies of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5008http:/
2. Turkish security forces blamed for killing 501st child since 1988
7 August 2012 / Guardian
On a recent summer evening 11-year-old Mazlum Akay left his home in Yüregir, a predominantly Kurdish neighbourhood in the southern Turkish city of Adana, to buy sweets at the local corner shop. Nearby, clashes had broken out between riot police and local youths demonstrating against the solitary confinement of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Öcalan, who was convicted for treason in 1999. Witnesses say that there were no protesers on the sidestreet where Mazlum was heading to the shop, but the schoolboy was struck on the head by a police teargas cartridge. Eight days later, on 5 August, Mazlum died from his wounds and became the 501st child killed by Turkish security forces since 1988, according to Turkish human rights organisations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/07/turkish-security-forces-blamed-killing-boy
3. Cabinet Introduces War Time Laws for Dam Construction
4 August 2012 / Bianet
Cabinet authorized the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ,) the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) and certain municipalities to enact the "express nationalization" of real estates to allow for the construction of hyrdroelectric plants and dams through a decision published in the Official Gazette. The measure is going to accelerate the destruction of nature and force locals to emigrate by depriving them of their real properties, according to Cömert Uygar Erdem, a lawyer working for the Environment and Ecology Movement (ÇEHAV) and a member of the Ecology Collective.
Ömer Şan, the term spokesman for the Fraternity of Rivers Platform, also highlighted the fact that the decision simply ignores previous court verdicts.
http://bianet.org/english/environment/140126-cabinet-introduces-war-time-laws-for-dam-construction
4. Şemdinli mayor Töre speaks to ANF – SPECIAL
8 August 2012 /ANF
As heavy clashes between People’s Defense Forces (HPG) and Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continue in Şemdinli (province of Hakkari) since 23 July, ANF spoke to BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Şemdinli’s mayor, Sedat Töre. “Clashes – said the mayor – have been getting heavier in an area of 20 km from Goman Mountain, 1 km from Şemdinli district center, to Hacıbey Brook on the Turkey-Iraq border”. The clashes area is affecting the village of Bağlar and its six hamlets as well as the village of Günyazı and its three neighborhoods. Around a thousand people reside in 130 houses in this area, the mayor points out.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5011
5. Şemdinli turned into a war field
8 August 2012 / ANF
Clashes are ongoing in Şemdinli where People’s Defense Forces (HPG) guerrillas targeted Haruna military post on Tuesday. The attack on the post, which is located some 23 km from the city of Şemdinli, was carried out following two separate guerrilla actions targeting two separate military convoys in the afternoon. At least three soldiers are said to have died and three others were wounded in one of the convoy attacks, while no reports have been received as to the injuries or deaths in other attacks.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5010
6. Prosecutor Confirms Villagers Could Be Discerned in UAV Footages
6 August 2012 / Bianet
The Diyarbakır's Prosecutor's Office charged with investigating last year's Roboski massacre confirmed a news story by Wall Street Journal that a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had also taken footages prior to the deadly air strike and that the villagers were clearly discernable in those images. A total of 34 villagers had lost their lives in the district of Uludere (Roboski) in consequence of an air strike that took place in the southeastern province of Şırnak last year by the Iraqi border. The footages examined by the Diyarbakır's Prosecutor's Office show the villagers as they unload their goods from trucks and carry them onto their mules for cross-border trade with Iraq, according to a news report that appeared on the daily Taraf.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140149-prosecutor-confirms-villagers-could-be-discerned-in-uav-footages
7. AKP MPs Advise Turkey Not to Interfere in Affairs of Syrian Kurds
4 August 2012 / Rudaw
Abdurrahman Kurt, former MP and current member of the ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] expresses support for the Kurds of Syria and he urges Turkey to see Kurds and Kurdistan as they are.
“I believe the united Kurdish position is something normal and important,” Kurt says. “Turkey should not see the developments there as hostility. Turkey should see the value of Kurds and protect their achievements. If need be Turkey should even become an ally of the Kurds.”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/5046.html
8. Sayda cannot decide for us, PKK says
7 August 2012 / Kurd Press
Returning remarks by the Syrian National Council (SNC) Kurdish leader, Abdul Baset Sayda, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said the Syrian official “is not allowed to decide for us”.
“No one is permitted to comment on PKK and its actions but the Syrian Kurds, if we enter into the Kurdistan Region of the country,” a member of People’s Defense Forces (HPG), a PKK military offshoot, told Hawlati daily on Tuesday.
“PKK is the Kurds’ armed force, not the Arabs nor the Turks and Sayda has no right to decide for us,” Zhiyan Ali was quoted by the daily as saying, adding that his party will cooperate with the Syrian Kurds in the wake of any request from the Kurdish people of the country.
http://kurdpress.com/En/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=2196#Title=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Sayda%20cannot%20decide%20for%20us,%20PKK%20says%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
9. Time of Honey and Vine Harvest Gone Sour in Şemdinli
8 August 2012 / Bianet
I stand at the crossroads of three countries in Şemdinli.
It is not easy to get from Istanbul to the district of Şemdinli that sits about an hour of travelling away from Iraq and Iran. Şemdinli is where mountain ranges awash in greenery start, following a five hour long minibus trip over winding roads.
The locals in the town that consists of two avenues and 20,000 people are relatives of the Kurds in Iraq and Iran. Most of the youngsters and the men are bilingual and speak Turkish as well, but the majority of the women understand only Kurdish.
I arrived in Şemdinli at dusk, as clashes entered their 13th day on Saturday. I learned the district was relatively calmer in comparison to the preceding days; "tactics" or a planned visit by a delegation of deputies from the opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) are among the reasons cited.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140181-time-of-honey-and-vine-harvest-gone-sour-in-semdinli
10. How the Kurds Have Changed Turkey’s Calculations on Syria
6 August 2012 / Time
For many years, the Kurdish tragedy was poignantly illustrated by the gifts and sweets stuffed through gaps in a barbed-wire fence, the babies held high and the news shared across the closed Syria-Turkey border. Every religious holiday saw thousands of people dressed in their finest line the border at dawn just to see their relatives on the other side of a boundary arbitrarily drawn by Britain and France after World War I. The nation states invented by the war’s victorious Western powers left the Kurds divided between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, each of which sought to deny and suppress Kurdish identity.
http://world.time.com/2012/08/06/how-the-kurds-have-changed-turkeys-calculations-on-syria/
11. Turkey seeks dominance over region: Analyst
4 August 2012 / Press TV
Without being a nation state the Kurdish population controls energy resources forcing its neighbors to battle for energy agreements. Press TV has interviewed Dr. Randy Short, Baltimore Chapter, SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) about what he describes as an ‘ongoing war’ between Turkey and the US on one side and the Kurdish government on the other and the impact this has on the Syrian crisis. Dr. Short also comments on Russia as a player that is key to a solution for Syria. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/04/254469/turkey-doesnt-want-to-see-strong-iraq/
12. TURKEY: Caught Between Syria’s Kurds and a Hard Spot
4 August 2012 / Inter Press Service
In a display of muscle-flexing, Turkish tanks this week carried out military exercises on the Syrian border, just a few kilometres away from towns that Syrian Kurds had seized from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. The seizure of the Kurdish towns sent alarm bells ringing in the Turkish capital. “It took a lot of people by surprise in Ankara. It is one of the toughest and serious issues in the last period of Turkish history,” said Metehan Demir, a military expert and columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet. “The capture of Kurdish towns in Syria is perceived by Kurdish groups in Turkey as the signal for (a) future autonomous Kurdish region on Turkey’s border, which is seen as the start of (a) wider Kurdish state, including Iran, Iraq and Turkey,” Demir added.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/08/turkey-caught-between-syrias-kurds-and-a-hard-spot/
13. Russia and the Kurds
7 August 2012 / Mesop
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Vladimir Putin’s Middle East Special Envoy Mikhail Bogdanov met with the leaders of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main force controlling the Kurdish areas in northern Syria. That undeclared meeting in Erbil coincided with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Iraqi Kurdistan last Tuesday, July 31. It was the first time that a high-ranking Russian official met with Kurdish officials close to Syrian territory. For about a year, the PYD has been administering that territory through elected bodies.
http://www.mesop.de/2012/08/08/russia-the-kurds/
14. Intervention is now driving Syria's descent into darkness
7 August 2012 / Guardian
The destruction of Syria is now in full flow. What began as a popular uprising 17 months ago is now an all-out civil war fuelled by regional and global powers that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East. As the battle for the ancient city of Aleppo grinds on and atrocities on both sides multiply, the danger of the conflict spilling over Syria's borders is growing. The defection by Syria's prime minister is the most high-profile coup yet in a well-funded programme, though unlikely to signal any imminent regime collapse. But the capture of 48 Iranian pilgrims – or undercover Revolutionary Guards, depending who you believe – along with the increasing risk of a Turkish attack on Kurdish areas in Syria and an influx of jihadist fighters gives a taste of what is now at stake.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/07/intervention-syria-descent-into-darkness
15. Robert Fisk: Syria's ancient treasures pulverised
5 August 2012 / Independent
The priceless treasures of Syria's history – of Crusader castles, ancient mosques and churches, Roman mosaics, the renowned "Dead Cities" of the north and museums stuffed with antiquities – have fallen prey to looters and destruction by armed rebels and government militias as fighting envelops the country. While the monuments and museums of the two great cities of Damascus and Aleppo have so far largely been spared, reports from across Syria tell of irreparable damage to heritage sites that have no equal in the Middle East. Even the magnificent castle of Krak des Chevaliers – described by Lawrence of Arabia as "perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world" and which Saladin could not capture – has been shelled by the Syrian army, damaging the Crusader chapel inside.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrias-ancient-treasures-pulverised-8007768.html
16. Syria's 'forgotten Kurds' grab the spotlight
3 August 2012 / France 24
One of the unintended consequences of the Syrian uprising has been the rising political aspirations of Syria's minority Kurds, predominantly based near the Syrian-Turkish border. But across the frontier, Ankara is on high alert. Situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian frontier, al-Qamishli is the sort of nondescript border city that has been on the periphery of Syrian concerns – except for the country’s Kurds. Al-Qamishli after all, is called “the secret capital of the Kurds,” but that's a title more mythic than real.
http://www.france24.com/en/20120803-syria-forgotten-kurds-grab-spotlight-turkey-erdogan-kurdish-uprising-assad
7. Focus on Aleppo allows Kurds to fill vacuum
4 August 2012 / Irish Times
SQUEEZED BETWEEN the rock of Damascus and the hard place formed by the external powers involved in the struggle for Syria, the country’s Kurds have adopted an independent line. They have rejected the deployment of rebel forces in their area and aligned themselves with the domestic political opposition. With the tacit acceptance of Damascus, the Kurds have assumed control of Kurdish towns and villages from which government forces have made a tactical withdrawal in order to fight rebels in Aleppo. Kurds are also excluding the Free Syrian Army from the northeast corner of Syria bordering Turkey and Iraq. In response, Baghdad has bolstered army deployments along this sector of the frontier with Syria. The largest Kurdish faction is the deeply-rooted Democratic Union party (PYD), an offshoot of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has been fighting Ankara for the past 30 years and is regarded by Turkey as a terrorist movement.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0804/1224321449391.html
18. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Syrian Civil War
5 August 2012 / PJ Media
An interview with Ammar Abdulhamid, one of the most knowledgeable analysts about the Syrian civil war in the world by Barry Rubin: Ammar Abdulhamid may know more about Syria’s civil war than anyone else in the world. That’s no exaggeration. An pro-democratic oppositionist living abroad, Abdulhamid has functioned on a virtual 24/7 basis as the source of news and analysis about events within Syria, always trying to be honest and accurate in his assessments regardless of his own preferences. Barry Rubin, PJMedia Middle East editor, interviewed Abdulhamid on the latest developments and trends.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-the-syrian-civil-war/?singlepage=true
19. Slouching Towards Greater Kurdistan?
8 August 2012 / eKurd
Deep beneath "Damascus volcano" and "the battle of Aleppo", the tectonic plates of the global energy chessboard keep on rumbling. Beyond the tragedy and grief of civil war, Syria is also a Pipelineistan power play. More than a year ago, a $10 billion Pipelineistan deal was clinched between Iran, Iraq and Syria for a natural gas pipeline to be built by 2016 from Iran's giant South Pars field, traversing Iraq and Syria, with a possible extension to Lebanon. Key export target market: Europe.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/8/syriakurd583.htm
4 August 2012 / ANF
Turkish Minister of Justice Sadullah Ergin, in his answer to the parliamentary question by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) MP Emine Ayna, stated that 2,146 people are tried within the scope of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) investigations in Turkey. Among the KCK suspects, 992 are in prison and 274 are elected representatives, according to figures by the Ministry of Justice. Minister Ergin notified that 113 cases have been opened within the scope of KCK investigations so far and remarked that among the 274 elected representatives there are mayors, district and provincial executives, city council members and deputies of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5008http:/
2. Turkish security forces blamed for killing 501st child since 1988
7 August 2012 / Guardian
On a recent summer evening 11-year-old Mazlum Akay left his home in Yüregir, a predominantly Kurdish neighbourhood in the southern Turkish city of Adana, to buy sweets at the local corner shop. Nearby, clashes had broken out between riot police and local youths demonstrating against the solitary confinement of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Öcalan, who was convicted for treason in 1999. Witnesses say that there were no protesers on the sidestreet where Mazlum was heading to the shop, but the schoolboy was struck on the head by a police teargas cartridge. Eight days later, on 5 August, Mazlum died from his wounds and became the 501st child killed by Turkish security forces since 1988, according to Turkish human rights organisations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/07/turkish-security-forces-blamed-killing-boy
3. Cabinet Introduces War Time Laws for Dam Construction
4 August 2012 / Bianet
Cabinet authorized the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ,) the Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK) and certain municipalities to enact the "express nationalization" of real estates to allow for the construction of hyrdroelectric plants and dams through a decision published in the Official Gazette. The measure is going to accelerate the destruction of nature and force locals to emigrate by depriving them of their real properties, according to Cömert Uygar Erdem, a lawyer working for the Environment and Ecology Movement (ÇEHAV) and a member of the Ecology Collective.
Ömer Şan, the term spokesman for the Fraternity of Rivers Platform, also highlighted the fact that the decision simply ignores previous court verdicts.
http://bianet.org/english/environment/140126-cabinet-introduces-war-time-laws-for-dam-construction
4. Şemdinli mayor Töre speaks to ANF – SPECIAL
8 August 2012 /ANF
As heavy clashes between People’s Defense Forces (HPG) and Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continue in Şemdinli (province of Hakkari) since 23 July, ANF spoke to BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Şemdinli’s mayor, Sedat Töre. “Clashes – said the mayor – have been getting heavier in an area of 20 km from Goman Mountain, 1 km from Şemdinli district center, to Hacıbey Brook on the Turkey-Iraq border”. The clashes area is affecting the village of Bağlar and its six hamlets as well as the village of Günyazı and its three neighborhoods. Around a thousand people reside in 130 houses in this area, the mayor points out.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5011
5. Şemdinli turned into a war field
8 August 2012 / ANF
Clashes are ongoing in Şemdinli where People’s Defense Forces (HPG) guerrillas targeted Haruna military post on Tuesday. The attack on the post, which is located some 23 km from the city of Şemdinli, was carried out following two separate guerrilla actions targeting two separate military convoys in the afternoon. At least three soldiers are said to have died and three others were wounded in one of the convoy attacks, while no reports have been received as to the injuries or deaths in other attacks.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5010
6. Prosecutor Confirms Villagers Could Be Discerned in UAV Footages
6 August 2012 / Bianet
The Diyarbakır's Prosecutor's Office charged with investigating last year's Roboski massacre confirmed a news story by Wall Street Journal that a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had also taken footages prior to the deadly air strike and that the villagers were clearly discernable in those images. A total of 34 villagers had lost their lives in the district of Uludere (Roboski) in consequence of an air strike that took place in the southeastern province of Şırnak last year by the Iraqi border. The footages examined by the Diyarbakır's Prosecutor's Office show the villagers as they unload their goods from trucks and carry them onto their mules for cross-border trade with Iraq, according to a news report that appeared on the daily Taraf.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140149-prosecutor-confirms-villagers-could-be-discerned-in-uav-footages
7. AKP MPs Advise Turkey Not to Interfere in Affairs of Syrian Kurds
4 August 2012 / Rudaw
Abdurrahman Kurt, former MP and current member of the ruling Justice and Development Party [AKP] expresses support for the Kurds of Syria and he urges Turkey to see Kurds and Kurdistan as they are.
“I believe the united Kurdish position is something normal and important,” Kurt says. “Turkey should not see the developments there as hostility. Turkey should see the value of Kurds and protect their achievements. If need be Turkey should even become an ally of the Kurds.”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/5046.html
8. Sayda cannot decide for us, PKK says
7 August 2012 / Kurd Press
Returning remarks by the Syrian National Council (SNC) Kurdish leader, Abdul Baset Sayda, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) said the Syrian official “is not allowed to decide for us”.
“No one is permitted to comment on PKK and its actions but the Syrian Kurds, if we enter into the Kurdistan Region of the country,” a member of People’s Defense Forces (HPG), a PKK military offshoot, told Hawlati daily on Tuesday.
“PKK is the Kurds’ armed force, not the Arabs nor the Turks and Sayda has no right to decide for us,” Zhiyan Ali was quoted by the daily as saying, adding that his party will cooperate with the Syrian Kurds in the wake of any request from the Kurdish people of the country.
http://kurdpress.com/En/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=2196#Title=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Sayda%20cannot%20decide%20for%20us,%20PKK%20says%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
9. Time of Honey and Vine Harvest Gone Sour in Şemdinli
8 August 2012 / Bianet
I stand at the crossroads of three countries in Şemdinli.
It is not easy to get from Istanbul to the district of Şemdinli that sits about an hour of travelling away from Iraq and Iran. Şemdinli is where mountain ranges awash in greenery start, following a five hour long minibus trip over winding roads.
The locals in the town that consists of two avenues and 20,000 people are relatives of the Kurds in Iraq and Iran. Most of the youngsters and the men are bilingual and speak Turkish as well, but the majority of the women understand only Kurdish.
I arrived in Şemdinli at dusk, as clashes entered their 13th day on Saturday. I learned the district was relatively calmer in comparison to the preceding days; "tactics" or a planned visit by a delegation of deputies from the opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) are among the reasons cited.
http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/140181-time-of-honey-and-vine-harvest-gone-sour-in-semdinli
10. How the Kurds Have Changed Turkey’s Calculations on Syria
6 August 2012 / Time
For many years, the Kurdish tragedy was poignantly illustrated by the gifts and sweets stuffed through gaps in a barbed-wire fence, the babies held high and the news shared across the closed Syria-Turkey border. Every religious holiday saw thousands of people dressed in their finest line the border at dawn just to see their relatives on the other side of a boundary arbitrarily drawn by Britain and France after World War I. The nation states invented by the war’s victorious Western powers left the Kurds divided between Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, each of which sought to deny and suppress Kurdish identity.
http://world.time.com/2012/08/06/how-the-kurds-have-changed-turkeys-calculations-on-syria/
11. Turkey seeks dominance over region: Analyst
4 August 2012 / Press TV
Without being a nation state the Kurdish population controls energy resources forcing its neighbors to battle for energy agreements. Press TV has interviewed Dr. Randy Short, Baltimore Chapter, SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) about what he describes as an ‘ongoing war’ between Turkey and the US on one side and the Kurdish government on the other and the impact this has on the Syrian crisis. Dr. Short also comments on Russia as a player that is key to a solution for Syria. What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/04/254469/turkey-doesnt-want-to-see-strong-iraq/
12. TURKEY: Caught Between Syria’s Kurds and a Hard Spot
4 August 2012 / Inter Press Service
In a display of muscle-flexing, Turkish tanks this week carried out military exercises on the Syrian border, just a few kilometres away from towns that Syrian Kurds had seized from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. The seizure of the Kurdish towns sent alarm bells ringing in the Turkish capital. “It took a lot of people by surprise in Ankara. It is one of the toughest and serious issues in the last period of Turkish history,” said Metehan Demir, a military expert and columnist for the Turkish daily Hürriyet. “The capture of Kurdish towns in Syria is perceived by Kurdish groups in Turkey as the signal for (a) future autonomous Kurdish region on Turkey’s border, which is seen as the start of (a) wider Kurdish state, including Iran, Iraq and Turkey,” Demir added.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/08/turkey-caught-between-syrias-kurds-and-a-hard-spot/
13. Russia and the Kurds
7 August 2012 / Mesop
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Vladimir Putin’s Middle East Special Envoy Mikhail Bogdanov met with the leaders of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main force controlling the Kurdish areas in northern Syria. That undeclared meeting in Erbil coincided with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit to Iraqi Kurdistan last Tuesday, July 31. It was the first time that a high-ranking Russian official met with Kurdish officials close to Syrian territory. For about a year, the PYD has been administering that territory through elected bodies.
http://www.mesop.de/2012/08/08/russia-the-kurds/
14. Intervention is now driving Syria's descent into darkness
7 August 2012 / Guardian
The destruction of Syria is now in full flow. What began as a popular uprising 17 months ago is now an all-out civil war fuelled by regional and global powers that threatens to engulf the entire Middle East. As the battle for the ancient city of Aleppo grinds on and atrocities on both sides multiply, the danger of the conflict spilling over Syria's borders is growing. The defection by Syria's prime minister is the most high-profile coup yet in a well-funded programme, though unlikely to signal any imminent regime collapse. But the capture of 48 Iranian pilgrims – or undercover Revolutionary Guards, depending who you believe – along with the increasing risk of a Turkish attack on Kurdish areas in Syria and an influx of jihadist fighters gives a taste of what is now at stake.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/07/intervention-syria-descent-into-darkness
15. Robert Fisk: Syria's ancient treasures pulverised
5 August 2012 / Independent
The priceless treasures of Syria's history – of Crusader castles, ancient mosques and churches, Roman mosaics, the renowned "Dead Cities" of the north and museums stuffed with antiquities – have fallen prey to looters and destruction by armed rebels and government militias as fighting envelops the country. While the monuments and museums of the two great cities of Damascus and Aleppo have so far largely been spared, reports from across Syria tell of irreparable damage to heritage sites that have no equal in the Middle East. Even the magnificent castle of Krak des Chevaliers – described by Lawrence of Arabia as "perhaps the best preserved and most wholly admirable castle in the world" and which Saladin could not capture – has been shelled by the Syrian army, damaging the Crusader chapel inside.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-syrias-ancient-treasures-pulverised-8007768.html
16. Syria's 'forgotten Kurds' grab the spotlight
3 August 2012 / France 24
One of the unintended consequences of the Syrian uprising has been the rising political aspirations of Syria's minority Kurds, predominantly based near the Syrian-Turkish border. But across the frontier, Ankara is on high alert. Situated at the base of the Taurus Mountains on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian frontier, al-Qamishli is the sort of nondescript border city that has been on the periphery of Syrian concerns – except for the country’s Kurds. Al-Qamishli after all, is called “the secret capital of the Kurds,” but that's a title more mythic than real.
http://www.france24.com/en/20120803-syria-forgotten-kurds-grab-spotlight-turkey-erdogan-kurdish-uprising-assad
7. Focus on Aleppo allows Kurds to fill vacuum
4 August 2012 / Irish Times
SQUEEZED BETWEEN the rock of Damascus and the hard place formed by the external powers involved in the struggle for Syria, the country’s Kurds have adopted an independent line. They have rejected the deployment of rebel forces in their area and aligned themselves with the domestic political opposition. With the tacit acceptance of Damascus, the Kurds have assumed control of Kurdish towns and villages from which government forces have made a tactical withdrawal in order to fight rebels in Aleppo. Kurds are also excluding the Free Syrian Army from the northeast corner of Syria bordering Turkey and Iraq. In response, Baghdad has bolstered army deployments along this sector of the frontier with Syria. The largest Kurdish faction is the deeply-rooted Democratic Union party (PYD), an offshoot of the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has been fighting Ankara for the past 30 years and is regarded by Turkey as a terrorist movement.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0804/1224321449391.html
18. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly About the Syrian Civil War
5 August 2012 / PJ Media
An interview with Ammar Abdulhamid, one of the most knowledgeable analysts about the Syrian civil war in the world by Barry Rubin: Ammar Abdulhamid may know more about Syria’s civil war than anyone else in the world. That’s no exaggeration. An pro-democratic oppositionist living abroad, Abdulhamid has functioned on a virtual 24/7 basis as the source of news and analysis about events within Syria, always trying to be honest and accurate in his assessments regardless of his own preferences. Barry Rubin, PJMedia Middle East editor, interviewed Abdulhamid on the latest developments and trends.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-about-the-syrian-civil-war/?singlepage=true
19. Slouching Towards Greater Kurdistan?
8 August 2012 / eKurd
Deep beneath "Damascus volcano" and "the battle of Aleppo", the tectonic plates of the global energy chessboard keep on rumbling. Beyond the tragedy and grief of civil war, Syria is also a Pipelineistan power play. More than a year ago, a $10 billion Pipelineistan deal was clinched between Iran, Iraq and Syria for a natural gas pipeline to be built by 2016 from Iran's giant South Pars field, traversing Iraq and Syria, with a possible extension to Lebanon. Key export target market: Europe.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/8/syriakurd583.htm
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MS HILLARY CLINTON
We are writing to you this open letter regarding the Kurds, a people of over 40 million, and its incarcerated leader, Abdullah Öcalan. In 1999, your government, through the CIA, abducted the revered and popular Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, who was on his way to South Africa to seek political asylum. He was abducted in Kenya and handed over to the Turkish authorities. This was supposed to bring an end to the uprising of the Kurds in Turkey who have been fighting for their basic democratic rights for decades. But the Kurds cannot be expected to relinquish their most basic human rights like full citizenship rights, freedom of expression, freedom of association or the use of the Kurdish language as their mother-tongue in public schools. Ocalan was arbitrarily sentenced to death in an unfair trial but his sentence was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. He has been under isolation under atrocious conditions ever since. The first eleven years of his unjustified imprisonment, he spent as the only prisoner on Imrali Island, guarded by more than a thousand soldiers. For the past 12 months, he has been cut off completely from the outside world. Neither his lawyers nor family members nor anybody else has been allowed to visit him. This is a clear violation of international human rights instruments like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights. In the last few years other peoples have rebelled and demanded their basic rights. Your government has supported some of the uprising and opposed others. Nowhere is this as contradictory as in the case of the Kurds, the world's largest people without a state. The Kurds' struggle for basic human and political rights in Turkey has constantly been ignored, opposed or even suppressed by your government. In Turkey, today dozens of democratically elected Mayors are in prison as well as more than a hundred journalists and lawyers. All in all, more than 6000 Kurdish activists are in jail as political prisoners. All of them demand nothing more than basic human, cultural and political rights for the Kurdish people. If the US still purports to hold the torch of liberty high, it is obligated to call for free press and the release of journalists, the release of all unjustly arrested lawyers and political prisoners, especially those who have been democratically elected. But not all hope is lost. Between 2008 and 2011, the Turkish state has already inconclusively negotiated with its most prominent political prisoner, Abdullah Öcalan, and his organization, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which your government has unfortunately labeled "terrorist". They are regarded by us as freedom fighters in terms of International law and not terrorists. Öcalan has presented a number of moderate and reasonable proposals for a peaceful political solution of the Kurdish issue in Turkey in his Road Map to Negotiations. The Turkish government has implicitly acknowledged his role as the negotiation leader on the Kurdish issue. But we say that like Mandela, Öcalan cannot negotiate in chains. The US should not become complicit to any further harm to Öcalan's health and well-being. Your government bears the moral responsibility for his unlawful incarceration. Today, your government could correct the tragic mistake of 1999 and support the Kurds' demand for their political and human rights. In particular, it should support the Kurdish people's demand for the release of Abdullah Öcalan. His contribution is crucial for a peaceful, political solution of the Kurdish issue. Öcalan's freedom will be a breakthrough for democracy and peace in the Middle East.
With best regards
Justice Essa Moosa Chairperson and Reverend Mathew Esau, Vice-Chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group, South Africa
With best regards
Justice Essa Moosa Chairperson and Reverend Mathew Esau, Vice-Chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group, South Africa
Call to solidarity with Kurdish journalists, BDP appeal
Dear all,
Please find attached an appeal from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for international observers to attend the next significant court case in the on going KCK Trials. On 10 September 2012, 35 Kurdish journalists will be tried for ‘terrorist activity’ and their alleged connection to the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). This follows several important trials in the last month in which Kurdish lawyers (including Abdullah Ocalan’s defence team), BDP members and officials, and writers have been tried in court on mass.
The BDP is appealing for international observers to attend the journalist’s trial, to monitor the judicial process and show solidarity for the journalists present. Turkey is currently one of the most repressive in the world when it comes to press freedom, with nearly 100 media workers currently residing in Turkish jails and increasingly authoritarian measures designed to censor the truth abut the Kurdish struggle for rights ( http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/139915-press-freedom-day-with-95-journalists-behind-bars )
Information on who to contact about attending the trial is also on the attached appeal. We expect that many international delegates will attend the trial to show their solidarity and we hope that you will consider being part of it.
In solidarity,
Melanie
--
Melanie Sirinathsingh
Campaigns Assistant
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir / Madam,
BDP Foreign Affairs Commission calls international public opinion to aware of the political pressures against Kurds, democrats and trade unionists in Turkey. A new trial will start on 10 September 2012 that involves 35 arrested journalists. The related letter is attached.
Best regards
Evren Çevik
Member of Foreign Affairs Commission of BDP
____________________________________
COMMISSION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PEACE AND DEMOCRACY PARTY
Please find attached an appeal from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) for international observers to attend the next significant court case in the on going KCK Trials. On 10 September 2012, 35 Kurdish journalists will be tried for ‘terrorist activity’ and their alleged connection to the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). This follows several important trials in the last month in which Kurdish lawyers (including Abdullah Ocalan’s defence team), BDP members and officials, and writers have been tried in court on mass.
The BDP is appealing for international observers to attend the journalist’s trial, to monitor the judicial process and show solidarity for the journalists present. Turkey is currently one of the most repressive in the world when it comes to press freedom, with nearly 100 media workers currently residing in Turkish jails and increasingly authoritarian measures designed to censor the truth abut the Kurdish struggle for rights ( http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/139915-press-freedom-day-with-95-journalists-behind-bars )
Information on who to contact about attending the trial is also on the attached appeal. We expect that many international delegates will attend the trial to show their solidarity and we hope that you will consider being part of it.
In solidarity,
Melanie
--
Melanie Sirinathsingh
Campaigns Assistant
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir / Madam,
BDP Foreign Affairs Commission calls international public opinion to aware of the political pressures against Kurds, democrats and trade unionists in Turkey. A new trial will start on 10 September 2012 that involves 35 arrested journalists. The related letter is attached.
Best regards
Evren Çevik
Member of Foreign Affairs Commission of BDP
____________________________________
COMMISSION OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
PEACE AND DEMOCRACY PARTY
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