1. Turkey hits targets inside Syria after border deaths
4 October 2012 / BBC
Turkey has renewed firing at targets inside Syria after two women and three children were killed by shelling from across the border on Wednesday. Several Syrian troops were killed by Turkish fire, a UK-based Syrian activist group said.
Syria says it is investigating the shelling in the town of Akcakale. The Turkish parliament is discussing authorising troops to cross into Syria. But government sources say Turkey is not planning to declare war on Syria. A government official said the retaliatory shelling - now in its second day - was only a "warning" to the authorities in Damascus.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19822253
2. Turkish Parliament passes Syria cross-border motion
5 October 2012 / Hurriyet
The Turkish Parliament has passed a motion allowing the military to conduct cross-border raids into Syria. Some 320 deputies cast votes in favor of the motion, while 129 voted against it. The Turkish Parliament debated a cross-border motion brought by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, daily Hürriyet has reported.
Members of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have decided to vote against the motion following a group meeting in the early hours of the day, according to sources.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-parliament-passes-syria-cross-border-motion.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31639&NewsCatID=338
3. Kurds change tack in autonomy fight
5 October 2012 / The Australian
KURDISH rebels have launched a new strategy for territorial "dominance" in the southeast of Turkey, one that analysts say is designed to press the Turkish government into negotiations for autonomy rather than grab a military victory. The outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced on July 23 that it would drop its ambush strategy and opt instead for large-scale ground control of the mountainous areas surrounding the town of Semdinli, bordering Iraq and Iran. "The strategy is now changed, individual guerilla attacks are no more," said a senior PKK leader, Duran Kalkan. "The aim is not just to inflict damage on the opponent, but also to bring about democratic autonomy (and) build a democratic self-government for the Kurdish people."
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/kurds-change-tack-in-autonomy-fight/story-e6frg6so-1226488465637
4. Defendant Lawyers Forcibly Expelled Out of Courtroom
2 October 2012 / Bianet
The court delegation in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Istanbul trial ordered the defendant lawyers out of the courtroom yesterday. Gendarmerie troops then expelled the lawyers out of the building by force. "One of [our] clients attempted to make a statement about hunger strikes and the right to defense while the hearing was underway. When the judge stopped [our client, defendant] lawyer Ercan Kanar told them they could not obstruct the right to defense," Züleyha Gülüm, one of the defendant lawyers in the case, told bianet. "The court delegation issued a recess following Kanar's objection. When the hearing got underway again, the delegation ruled to expel lawyer Kanar and the audience out of the courtroom on the grounds they had violated the integrity of the hearing. [The delegation also] ordered the suspect whose statement they had obstructed to be removed from the trial for nine days," she said.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/141188-defendant-lawyers-forcibly-expelled-out-of-courtroom
5. KCK trial goes on without lawyers and defendants
2 October 2012 / ANF
KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) main trial in Istanbul continues without defendants and lawyers in the hearing room. Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court ordered to resume the KCK main trial without defendants who protested because audience and lawyers were prevented from entering the hearing room. The third sitting of the trial in the afternoon started with chief judge Ali Alçık’s warning to start legal process and dismiss those attempting to break the discipline of the trial. Arrested defendant Erdal Avcı therewith asked to leave the hearing room, saying that their right to fair trial, self-defense and consulting with their lawyers has been violated.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5193
6. Turkish PM says talks with Kurdish militants possible
27 September 2012 / Chicago Tribune
Turkey's intelligence agency may hold talks with Kurdish militants if the time is right, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, as his government grapples with an upsurge in separatist violence in the country's southeast. The conflict has cost Turkey dearly since the militants took up arms in 1984, both in human and economic terms, and as the death toll climbs there is growing public pressure on Erdogan to bring an end to the bloodshed.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-turkey-erdoganbre88q1mo-20120927,0,6711163.story
7. Kalkan: Political oligarchy prevent solution of Kurdish issue
3 October 2012 / ANF
Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council member Duran Kalkan spoke to ANF about the recent developments in Kurdistan and Turkey. Referring to the recent statement by Prime Minister Erdogan who said at his party's congress that he "cannot solve the serious Kurdish issue on my own”, Kalkan said that the government should concentrate on dealing with Turkey’s basic problems: democratization and the Kurdish problem. “Turkey will not exit the war, conflict, bloodshed and poverty context and it will never ensure peace, unity and a free and democratic life without finding a solution to these two basic problems”, underlined Kalkan and remarked that this truth has now imposed itself on the country's agenda.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5194
8. KCK: No talks in hand in the current situation
28 September 2012 / ANF
Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Presidency has released a statement in response to Turkish authorities’ most recent statements on Kurdish Leader Abdullah Öcalan and new talks with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) movement. KCK evaluated recent statements of government authorities as a “new tactical move” and underlined that “Our movement is currently not having any talks or conducting negotiations with the Turkish state”. The purpose of the statements on the possibility of new talks is to lead to an expectation among the Kurdish people, not to find a solution to the problem, stated KCK and added that “The Turkish government should expect a response from Kurds after taking concrete and evident steps so that Mr. Öcalan can play his role in the process of dialogue and negotiation.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5177
9. No peace talks under threats: BDP co-chair
27 September 2012 / Hurriyet
There will be no negotiation process to solve the Kurdish problem while nine Peace and Democracy (BDP) deputies are the threatened with the lifting of their parliamentary immunity, the BDP’s leader has said, in response to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for the launch of a new peace process. “Mr. Prime Minister should stop talking about [lifting] immunity. The cases [of the nine BDP deputies] should not come to the Parliament. Such a thing will kill any possible negotiation process,” Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chairperson of the BDP, told Hürriyet Daily News in a phone conversation on Friday.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/no-peace-talks-under-threats-bdp-co-chair.aspx?pageID=238&nid=31272
10. Turkey: Little Optimism Over Kurdish Rebel Negotiations
2 October 2012 / Global Voices
Last week the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signalled the start of much-needed negotiations between the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) and the government. In the past Kurdish rebels have often called for negotiations, and in light of the recent escalation of violence, the need for negotiation is becoming increasingly pressing.
The news was not met with optimism, because successive Turkish governments have a history of broken promises towards the Kurdish people. According to one Kurd in Chicago, the promise of negotiations is a new tactic adopted by PM Erdoğan in hope of securing his position in the next general elections. As Osman Ates points out, the Turkish government and Gulen movement both believe in the assimilation of Kurdish people.
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/10/02/turkey-little-optimism-over-kurdish-rebel-negotiations/
11. Erdoğan addresses congress
30 September 2012 / ANF
Who was expecting (or hoping) for some kind of fresh ideas from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech at today's 4 AKP general congress certainly got frustrated. Not only the PM and AKP president reiterated like a broken record the same things he has been saying for months now, but he even appeared to have chosen empty threats and bullying attitudes as his main features for the future. Today's speech was a list of the usual themes by the PM. No concrete proposals (the PM has taken a notion for indicating target dates for this and that but how is going to reach this target dates remains quite a mystery) was put on the table. Just some slogans. So "Before we [the AK Party] came to power [in 2002], there was no economic stability, no safety, no democracy in this country", said Erdoğan.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5183 <http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=5183>
12. No Further Statement on the Kurdish Issue
1 October 2012 / Journal of Turkish Weekly
Despite high expectations, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan did not further his recent statements about a potential dialogue process on the Kurdish issue with the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan. Instead he made a vague call to “his Kurdish brothers” to take a step against terrorism and declare that “enough is enough.” In return Erdoğan promised the government would implement initiatives for Kurds’ rights and said the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) 2023 Political Vision document foresees new initiatives on the usage of the mother tongue.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/142883/no-further-statement-on-the-kurdish-issue-.html <http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/142883/no-further-statement-on-the-kurdish-issue-.html>
13. IPA Calls for Ragıp and Deniz Zarakolu’s Acquittal
1 October 2012 / Bianet
The International Publishers Association (IPA) has called on Turkish authorities to remove all charges against Ragıp Zarakolu and his son Deniz Zarakolu who are both standing trial in the ongoing Istanbul Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) case.
Deniz Zarakolu, a PhD student at Bilgi University's Department of Political Science and a lecturerer at the Politics Academy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP,) has remained in prison since authorities incarcerated him on Oct. 7, 2011. The second hearing of the Istanbul KCK trial is scheduled to take place today. The IPA's statement highlighted the fact that dozens of writers and publishers continue to remain under arrest in Turkey and stressed the existence of ongoing human rights violations in the country.
http://www.bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/141172-ipa-calls-for-ragip-and-deniz-zarakolu-s-acquittal
14. As Kurdish Roj TV’s licence suspended, Turkey accuses Scandinavia of harbouring terrorists
29 September 2102 / eKurd
Station’s failure to turn in requested material leads to two-month ban; Turkish PM points to possible “diplomatic” solution to long-standing conflict. Roj TV, the Copenhagen-based Kurdish station that was fined earlier this year for violating Denmark’s anti-terror laws, has been stripped of its broadcast licence for two months. The national TV and radio board, Radio- og tv-nævnet, has been investigating the channel since January based on allegations that the channel serves as a mouthpiece for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and the EU. Although the channel was found guilty of violating anti-terror laws in January, it held on to its broadcast licence. Shortly thereafter, however, the TV and radio board re-opened its investigation.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/9/turkey4187.htm <http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2012/9/turkey4187.htm>
15. Anthropologist Tuzcuoğlu and Eight More Released
28 September 2012 / Bianet
The Diyarbakır Sixth High Criminal Court ruled to release anthropologist Müge Tuzcuoğlu and eight other suspects pending trial in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) suit on Tuesday. The court adjourned the trial for Dec. 14, 2012. A total of 27 suspects, 19 of them arrested pending trial, are facing charges in the suit that began after law enforcement officials raided the Politics Academy of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) on March 8, 2012. The court released Ramazan Kızıltepe, Mehmet Çetin, Müge Tuzcuoğlu, Cavidan Yaman, Mehmet Ekici, Mehmet Salih Yalçınkaya and Türki Gültekin, as well as two other suspects whose names have not yet been disclosed.
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/141145-anthropologist-tuzcuoglu-and-eight-more-released
16. Filling the US vacuum
2 October 2012 / New York Post
After months of “medical leave” in Germany, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is returning to Baghdad to face a three-part crisis that could re-plunge the country into instability and sectarian conflict. The first problem is the steady loss of legitimacy by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s coalition government. On paper, it controls two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly. In reality, however, most parties in the coalition, even Maliki’s own State of Law group, are waiting for the first chance to head for the exit.
The business of government is reduced to daily intrigues, the combined effect of which is paralysis. Major decisions on the sharing of oil revenues, the powers of regional authorities and big infrastructure projects are constantly postponed.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/filling_the_us_vacuum_3IkKE59qPaI4qBkgZTtsWN
17. Radio Station in Georgia Becomes Cultural Family for the Country's Kurds
3 October 2012 / Rudaw
Ayni Bahar is known on the radio as “Bela Sturki” or “Bahar Sturki.” From a Kurdish Yezidi family in Georgia, a former republic of the Soviet Union, Bahar is now the face of Georgia’s Kurdish radio. The history of broadcasting in Georgia goes back to Sept. 29, 1978, when the country was still under Soviet control. Authorities allowed the well-known Georgian Kurdish writer Karame Angosi a 15-minute Kurdish broadcast.
Despite technical obstacles and staff shortages, the country’s Kurds have kept broadcasts running on Georgian radio ever since. When they first began, there were no Kurdish classes in schools and the radio provided an opportunity to learn the language that was not accessible elsewhere. With Angosi’s support, Bahar and a few other young Kurds started learning Kurdish and about journalism.
“My Kurdish was not good because nobody around us spoke it,”
http://www.rudaw.net/english/culture_art/5280.html
18. Intervention to students who protested Erdogan: 19 detained
3 October 2012 / Dicle News Agency
The participation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Ankara University 2012-2013 term on the first day of classes was protested by students. The students were pepper-sprayed and 19 of them were taken into custody. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part in the ceremony of 2012-2013 term of classes in Ankara University. Extraordinary security measures were taken around the university at the early hours of the day.
http://www.diclehaber.com/2/22/1/viewNews/324649
19. Iraq tells Turkey to stop pursuing Kurdish rebels over border
2 October 2012 / Reuters
Iraq asked Turkey on Tuesday to stop attacking Kurdish rebel forces sheltering across the border in northern Iraq, as Turkey prepares to extend its internal mandate for the raids. The Baghdad government's power over Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region is limited, but the comments are an indication of tensions with Turkey, which has given refuge to Iraq's fugitive vice president. The Turkish government on Monday asked parliament to renew the mandate, expiring on October 17, under which it has mounted mostly aerial raids on Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in Iraq's Kurdish region. Parliament is due to discuss it on Thursday.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/uk-iraq-turkey-pkk-idUKBRE89117Q20121002
20. Turkey urges United States for 10 helicopters
30 September 2012 / Rojhelat
Turkish Prime Minster Erdogan has recently announced they have difficulties in transferring military personnel to North Kurdistan to fight the guerrillas of the PKK (Kurdistan’s Worker Party). Following that announcement by Erdogan, a Turkish journalist revealed that Turkey has urgently requested the United States of America for 10 helicopters for military consignment. Turkish Sabah Newspaper disclosed that although an agreement between the United Sates and Turkey had been reached for the sale of 10 attack helicopters to be delivered in 2015, now the Turkish authorities have requested the US for another 10 helicopters for military shipments. The sources outlined that these helicopters are Chinook type which can take 60 soldiers on board. It is also capable of working in very harsh climates and flying very low. The 10 helicopters are said worth one billion dollars.
http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=3859
21. Turkish troops fire across Syria border, kill Kurdish activist
2 October 2012 / The Daily Star
Turkish troops fired across the Syrian border on Tuesday, killing a member of a Kurdish militia and wounding two others in the first such fatal shooting at the Turkish frontier, a watchdog reported. "The three Kurds, members of a Kurdish militia hostile to the Damascus regime but also wary of the rebellion, were patrolling the border in (Syria's) Hasaka province when they were hit by Turkish army fire from the other side," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "This was the first fatal shooting at the Turkish border," he added.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Oct-02/189885-turkish-troops-fire-across-syria-border-kill-kurd-ngo.ashx#ixzz28ARcvoEF
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
22. Prime minister not ready for dialogue on Kurdish issue
4 October 2012 / Hurriyet
Only a few months ago he was saying, “I will not meet the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and Öcalan; I can talk with the BDP [Peace and Democracy Party].” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan changed his tune last week. He said, “If needed, I will meet both Öcalan and the PKK, but I will not speak to the BDP.” A few days later, at his party’s congress, he described the outlawed PKK as “dehumanized copies,” without elaborating on what they were copies of. Meanwhile, also in the top administration of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), everyone who opens his mouth on the Kurdish issue says something different. The meaning of all this: Even though Erdoğan is trying to look like it, he is not ready to solve the Kurdish issue through dialogue.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/prime-minister-not-ready-for-dialogue-on-kurdish-issue.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31582&NewsCatID=396
23. Abdullah Ocalan: Syrian Kurds Deserve Democracy, Nobody Should Interfere in Their Affairs
2 October 2012 / Rudaw
The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said that his health is in good condition but he is being kept in a narrow cell and has grown a long beard. Speaking to Rudaw, Mehmet Ocalan rejected reports by the Turkish media that his brother had refused to meet lawyers and family members. Mehmet visited the PKK leader on Sept. 21. The last time Ocalan met with his lawyers was in July 2011, and he has not been also allowed visits from his family members for almost a year. Rudaw conducted an interview with Mehmet Ocalan over the phone.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/interview/5274.html
24. KCK Trial Resumes in Silivri Under Shadow of Hunger Strike
30 September 2012 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
On Monday, October 1st, as Turkey writes its new constitution, a trial will resume at Silivri L Type Prison just outside of Istanbul that could well determine the country’s future. Will it be rule of law under an impartial justice system or courts used as tools to crush opposition under autocratic rule?
I attended every day of the trial this July and observed infringement after infringement of international standards of a fair trial. Never mind that 193 people were being tried at once. The court routinely violated the universally recognized right to an impartial judge by using highly charged language presuming guilt.
http://kurdishrights.org/2012/09/30/kck-trial-resumes-in-silivri-under-shadow-of-hunger-strike/
25. Turkish Kurds still search for disappeared
3 October 2012 / Die Welle
Hundreds of people were killed or disappeared during the insurgency by Kurdish rebels in Turkey in the 1990s. Now time is running out for the relatives still seeking justice.
Seyhan Dogan was just 14 when he was taken away by paramilitary police. It was 3 a.m. on October 29, 1995. "I remember waking up to screaming and shouting and powerful lights being shone into our house," says his younger brother, Hazni. "Special Forces broke in and took him away in handcuffs." The next morning they came for Hazni, too. They took him to the gendarmerie base where Seyhan and seven others were being held. "There was all kinds of inhumane torture," Hazni says. He can still recall the "terrible screams." Hazni was released four days later. He caught sight of Seyhan "bloody and unconscious - he looked in a very bad way." It was the last time he ever saw his brother.
http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16280699,00.html
26. How much more will violence escalate in Turkey? Interview with Hugh Pope
27 September 2012 / Euronews
Turkey is suffering from escalating violence. Each week dozens of security force personnel are being killed and sent home in coffins, further deteriorating the situation. According to some experts Turkey’s reaction to this escalation is critical for the future of the Kurdish issue. Hugh Pope, Director of International Crisis Group’s Project in Turkey and Cyprus recently talked to euronews’ Bora Bayraktar.
http://www.euronews.com/2012/09/27/how-much-more-will-violence-escalate-in-turkey-/
27. Pro- And Anti-Assad Camps Share Concerns Over Syria's Possible Disintegration Into Separate Sectarian, Ethnic Entities
1 October 2012 / MEMRI
"Everything in Syria these days is fragmented or divided. The regime is divided and crumbling, the land is divided, [and] the opposition is splintered and fragmented. Nothing is united... Aleppo is practically a separate [region], the Kurdish north is nearly independent, Damascus is isolated, the road to Al-Latakia is unsafe, and Homs is rebelling against the regime..." This is how 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan, editor of the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, described Syria, 60 years after its independence and 18 months into a violent struggle between the regime and its opponents. This situation has aroused concern in Arab and Muslim countries, and in the world at large, for Syria's unity and geographical integrity.
http://www.memri.org/report/en/print6717.htm
28. Syria's Kurds Build Enclaves as War Rages
3 October 2012 / Wall Street Journal
A teacher's request sends a dozen young arms skyward, with high-pitched pleas to showcase new skills. One by one, the excited pupils walk to the front of their dusty classroom to recite or write in Kurdish—a language outlawed from public life in Syria.
While civil war has shut many schools across the country, here in the Kurdish-dominated northeast, education is expanding into new territory—just one way in which the Assad regime's focus on fighting rebels in the biggest cities has allowed the emergence of autonomous Kurdish enclaves.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443862604578032381512705730.html
29. Kurds Prepare to Pursue More Autonomy in a Fallen Syria
28 September 2012 / New York Times
Just off a main highway that stretches east of this city and slices through a moonscape of craggy hills, a few hundred Syrian Kurdish men have been training for battle, marching through scrub brush and practicing rifle drills. The men, many of them defectors from the Syrian Army living in white trailers dotting a hillside camp, are not here to join the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s government. They are preparing for the fight they expect to come after, when Mr. Assad falls and there is a scramble across Syria for power and turf. These men want an autonomous Kurdish region in what is now Syria, a prospect they see as a step toward fulfilling a centuries-old dream of linking the Kurdish minorities in Iraq, Turkey and Iran into an independent nation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/world/middleeast/kurds-to-pursue-more-autonomy-in-a-fallen-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&
30. With their time to shine, Syrian Kurds must seize the moment
2 October 2012 / Kurdish Globe
Many observers often describe the Syrian Kurds as sitting on the fence in the Syrian conflict, waiting on a clear outcome before choosing sides. It may be true that Kurds have not necessarily taken a more natural anti-Assad position but this is more to do with the political climate and strategic ploys than any adoration of the regime.
If Sunni's feel that they have got a raw deal under the current dictatorship then how must the largely repressed and disenfranchised Kurds feel? This makes it all the more ironic that Kurds continue to remain divided and are slow in taking measures that necessitate decisiveness to capitalise on the historical opportunities on the table.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=F09845457A56E3531A84887BECBB9D43
31. Syria’s Kurds prepare for life after Assad
2 October 2012 / Washington Post
A single patrol car sits outside the new police station in the town of Girkilige in Syria’s oil-producing heartland, the lettering on its side freshly painted in the Kurdish language.
From the dilapidated three-roomed building, once a government-owned pumping station, Rayzan Turkmani, a clean-cut young man toting a Kalashnikov assault rifle, heads a ragtag force of 140 local volunteers. He describes plans to open a training academy for recruits within the month.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrias-kurds-prepare-for-life-after-assad/2012/10/02/13076e92-0cae-11e2-a310-2363842b7057_story.html
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