KURDISH NEWS UPDATE, 19 November 2013
News and reaction from Barzani and Erdogan’s meeting in Diyarbakir; the PYD releases a statement on interim government in Rojava; 20,000 protest the ban on the PKK in Germany, and more.
NEWS
Erdogan puts hopes for peace with Kurds in hands of Barzani
16 November 2013 / Middle East onlineTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.
Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Ankara hopes to use Barzani's influence as a respected figure among Turkey's Kurds to bring them back to the negotiating table.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62642
Iraqi Kurdish president in Turkey to back PM's peace effort
16 November 2013 / ReutersThe president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Masoud Barzani's trip to Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, comes as Ankara finalizes billions of dollars of energy deals with his semi-autonomous region and amid mutual concern over the ambitions of Kurdish militias in the chaos of neighboring Syria. Thousands gathered to hear Barzani and Erdogan speak, opening a day of ceremonies including a performance by Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer, who had fled Turkey in the 1970s, and a wedding of 400 couples.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/16/us-turkey-kurdistan-idUSBRE9AF05L20131116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
Erdogan launches peace talks with Iraqi Kurdish leader
16 November 2013 / Daily StarTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-16/238056-erdogan-launches-peace-talks-with-iraqi-kurdish-leader.ashx#axzz2kxQWpkM5
President Barzani on Historic Visit to Diyarbakir
17 November 2013 / Kurdish GlobeAt the invitation of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Kurdistan Region President Barzani paid a historic visit to Diyarbakir, Turkey, today. After his arrival in the city, the President delivered a speech to a gathering in which he reiterated his stance for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey. At the invitation of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Kurdistan Region President Barzani paid a historic visit to Diyarbakir, Turkey, today. After his arrival in the city, the President delivered a speech to a gathering in which he reiterated his stance for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/article/F3381A765778AE507C2173304A7AFB4C/President-Barzani-on-Historic-Visit-to-Diyarbakir.html
Diyarbakir meeting: Promise of emptying prisons, but when?
17 November 2013 / InfoturkDuring a joint rally with the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, in Diyarbakır, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the Kurdish population to support the ongoing resolution process. “We will witness a new Turkey where those in the mountains come down, the prisons empty and the 76 million [citizens of Turkey] become one,” Erdoğan said, hinting to a general amnesty demaned by many Kurdish groups, including the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). “In Diyarbakır, the city of brotherhood, we are brothers from time immemorial. We are not fellow travelers, we also share the same faith,” Erdoğan said.
http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#emptying
Salih Muslim to speak in Brussels conference
12 November 2013 / Kurdish InstituteA conference “Which future for the Kurdish regions in Syria?” will take place this Friday, 22 November 2013, in the Belgian senate in Brussels. The conference is a joint initiative of the Kurdish Institute of Brussels, Centre Maurits Coppieters and Karl Vanlouwe, and also includes sessions by Dr Khaled Issa (PYD); Dogan Ozdugen (Infoturk); Belgian Senetor Karl Vanlouwe.
http://kurdishinstitute.be/english/activities/8129-conference-22-11-2013-%E2%80%9Cwhich-future-for-the-kurdish-regions-in-syria-%E2%80%9D.html
20,000 march in Berlin to demand PKK ban lifted
17 November 2013 / AFPSome 20,000 people marched through central Berlin on Saturday to demand the German government lift its 20-year ban on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), organisers said.
Under a heavy police presence, the protest passed off peacefully with demonstrators marching under the banner: "Support the peace process, lift the ban on the PKK."
Despite the ban on the PKK, in place in Germany since 1993, the organisation enjoys considerable support there, with an estimated 500,000 Kurds in the country -- the majority of Turkish origin. German authorities believe the PKK has around 11,500 active members. Organisers of the march said police had been stopping protesters to search for banners displaying imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and imposing fines on those possessing them. Police provided no estimate of turnout.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guST212mxdWHW0XFRZzjCcWDyrnA?docId=54dd5d03-1483-4652-b399-f87a83f2f1c5
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Turkey Spotlight: The Kurds & Ankara’s Foreign Policy Dilemma
18 November 2013 / EA WorldviewIn recent months, Ankara has taken steps to reduce its isolation in the region, striving to boost its relations with Syria’s neighbors, hoping to replace the regional power struggles of the last two years with an active foreign policy through soft power.
The problem? given the Turkish ruling party’s limited perspective, which is conditioned on domestic gains, there is no second part of the would-be “zero problems with neighbors” policy. One of the central issues in Turkey’s attempts to reposition itself in the region is the Kurdish question. After lengthy disputes with Baghdad, with Damascus, and with Kurds outside Iraqi Kurdistan, Ankara has finally shown concrete signs of a shift in its tactical approach toward this issue.
http://eaworldview.com/2013/11/turkey-spotlight-kurds-ankaras-foreign-policy-dilemma/
Mixed Feelings Over Barzani’s Visit to Diyarbakir
16 November 2013 / Rudaw Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani is expected to arrive in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey, on Saturday. He will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; attend the inauguration of government projects and partake in some wedding celebrations.
Barzani’s invitation to Diyarbakir clearly marks a break from the traditional Turkish policy towards the Kurds in the whole region. It is true that provincial elections are coming in March next year and Erdogan wants to win Kurdish voters. But the story of the visit cannot only be read from this angle.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/151120131
Social media responses to Barzani and Erdogan’s gathering
16 November 2013 / Alliance for Kurdish RightsThe President of Southern Kurdistan visited Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast for the first time in nearly two decades, and gave a speech alongside Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on prolonging the peace settlement. As a way of celebrating Kurdish culture and music, Şivan Perwer was invited to sing at the gathering in Kurdish, alongside Ibrahim Tatlisis. Perwer fled Turkey in 1976 because he was threatened, and Turkish authorities were demanding his arrest at the time for singing in Kurdish. His presence was symbolic of recognising Kurdish cultural differences, and music, which for decades was banned in Turkey.
http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/16/social-media-responses-to-barzani-and-erdogans-gathering/
Upcoming Game Changer: Turkish-Kurdish Alliance?
17 November 2013 / On IslamRecently held regional Kurdish conference in Turkish capital Ankara may have surprised many in the Middle East and beyond but few realized that the event was a culmination of methodically crafted maneuvering of Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The smart move is aiming at forging an alliance with the Kurds of the region, divided in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria respectively. Kurdish leaders and intellectuals of all the four aforementioned regions have attended the two day long conferences on Nov. 9-10, and discussed the Kurdish solution process in Turkey and developments outside of Turkey.
http://www.onislam.net/english/politics/middle-east/466083-upcoming-game-changer-turkish-kurdish-alliance.html
Erdoğan and Barzani Cooperating Against the Rojava Revolution
19 November 2013 / ANFErdoğan, Barzani, Şivan Perwer and İbrahim Tatlises kicked off the AKP’s election campaign in Kurdistan [last weekend]. And when some intelligent (!) Kurdish politicians went on about how “it would be wrong to understand this meeting as support for Erdoğan in the election campaign” it can be clearly seen that this was a manipulation. The Erdoğan-Barzani meeting was fundamentally a reasonable and everyday affair. However this reasonableness was not a reasonableness related to the demands or preferences of the Kurdish people. What we are talking about is a reasonableness as relates to particular ideological-political preferences. The AKP and KDP are two “brothers” who take the same line on the subjects of statism, sexuality, family values and property. Both parties can be understood as having entered in the spirit of history as cogs in the wheel of capitalist hegemony relying on imperialist powers.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/erdogan-and-barzani-cooperating-against-the-rojava-revolution.htm
Spectre of resource regionalism haunts the Middle East
17 November 2013 / The NationalIt’s remarkable how oil, this sticky black fluid, arouses ambitions – ranging from the quixotic to the Machiavellian. Entrepreneurs see it as a ticket to wealth; ambitious politicians, the tool to achieve nationalist dreams; local people, as a route out of poverty. These ambitions merge into a spectre that is haunting the wider Middle East – the spectre of resource regionalism. In Iraqi Kurdistan, recent oil and gas finds offer the region the prospect of independence – whether formal or factual – from Arab Iraq, and aspirations to leadership of the wider Kurdish community. But for now, the Kurdish budget still comes almost entirely from Baghdad, and independent exports require agreement with Turkey.
http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/energy/spectre-of-resource-regionalism-haunts-the-middle-east
Judge Essa Moosa interview on Kurdish Question
18 November 2013 / Midori HouseLast week, Judge Essa Moosa, prominent South African human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in Cape Town, was in London to speak at a seminar about possibilities for peace and reconciliation in Turkey, and his work with the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative. The IPRI was launched after a call from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu last year for Turkey to reopen talks with the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. While here, Mr Moosa was interviewed by Monocle 24’s news show Midori House about the part he played in dismantling Apartheid in South Africa and his work in support of the Kurdish movement.
Midori House
Episode 534, 18 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534> Midori House
Episode 535, 19 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535>
Wednesday 20 November 2013
Judge Essa Moosa interview on the Kurdish Question and anti-apartheid struggles
Dear friends,
Last week, Judge Essa Moosa, prominent South African human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in Cape Town, was in London to speak at a seminar about possibilities for peace and reconciliation in Turkey, and his work with the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative. The IPRI was launched after a call from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu last year for Turkey to reopen talks with the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
While here, Mr Moosa was interviewed by Monocle 24’s news show Midori House about the part he played in dismantling Apartheid in South Africa and his work in support of the Kurdish movement. The interview is in two parts and is available to listen to online – just follow the links below.
Midori House
Episode 534, 18 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534
Midori House
Episode 535, 19 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535
A report from his seminar, given at SOAS in central London, will be available soon. Mr Moosa also spoke in Queens University Belfast last week as part of the Challenging Oppression of Lawyers in Conflict conference, organised by the School of Law. Videos of the conference and a conference report will also be available soon at the following link: http://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lawyersinconflictconference/post-conference/
In solidarity,
--
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish QuestionEmail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Conor Murphy MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
Last week, Judge Essa Moosa, prominent South African human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in Cape Town, was in London to speak at a seminar about possibilities for peace and reconciliation in Turkey, and his work with the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative. The IPRI was launched after a call from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu last year for Turkey to reopen talks with the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan.
While here, Mr Moosa was interviewed by Monocle 24’s news show Midori House about the part he played in dismantling Apartheid in South Africa and his work in support of the Kurdish movement. The interview is in two parts and is available to listen to online – just follow the links below.
Midori House
Episode 534, 18 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534
Midori House
Episode 535, 19 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535
A report from his seminar, given at SOAS in central London, will be available soon. Mr Moosa also spoke in Queens University Belfast last week as part of the Challenging Oppression of Lawyers in Conflict conference, organised by the School of Law. Videos of the conference and a conference report will also be available soon at the following link: http://blogs.qub.ac.uk/lawyersinconflictconference/post-conference/
In solidarity,
--
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish QuestionEmail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Conor Murphy MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union (KCK) statement
For any questions or suggestions please contact us:
Contact No.: (00964) (0) 750 237 28 63 E-mail: zagroskckinfo@gmail.com
TO OUR PEOPLES AND THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC OPINION
A car-bomb attack in the city of Kobani, Rojava Kurdistan, killed 14 civilians and wounded 24 others. We condemn this massacre, express our condolences to the families of the martyrs, and hope quick recovery for the wounded. This massacre has been done by the enemies of Rojava revolution. This inhumane and cowardly attack has been carried out by those who have suffered great defeats against Rojava revolution. Those who failed to hold out against the Rojava revolution have resorted to such a treacherous attack.
No matter who they are, those carrying out this massacre are the enemies of humanity. Those who carry out indiscriminate attacks on children, women, and the elderly cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, regard themselves humans. It is said these attacks have been done by Islamic-façade groups with the collaboration of some collaborative Kurdish traitors. Those who conduct such actions in the name of Islam cannot be called Muslims. They are pro-power Islam, pro-state Islam, the version of Islam that killed Hz. Hussein in Karbala, that is, the Islam of Muaviyeh. They are anti-Islam. Attacking the Muslim Kurds and Arabs give clear clues with regard to the real identity of these offenders.
The Muslim are the ones most angry at bombing the mosques in the name of Islam. The Middle East has turned into a region in which random and indiscriminate attacks are being carried out against the civilians. Those who present to the world’s public opinion such photograph of the Middle East as a place where civilians are under indiscriminate attacks are the enemies of Islam; for, only enemies would want to downgrade this religion of truth, conscience, justice and peace to such a level. In order to lift such negative shadows over Islam, the Kurdish People’s Leader recommended the Democratic Islam Conference. Thus, the democratic cultural Islam will be differentiated from the Islam used as a means of carrying out anti-human attacks. Justice, truth, conscience and peace, characteristic of Islam, can only be supported in this way.
The vicinity of Kobani, the city in which the massacre took place, to the Turkish borders, rises doubts about Turkey role in this regard. It is quite clear that Turkey is backing the Islamic-façade thug of gangs against the Rojava Revolution. Likewise, it is argued that some marginal Kurdish groups are also backing these thugs. Turkey cannot free itself from these accusations as far as in insists on enmity with Rojava revolutions. It is clear that these attacks are being supported by those who don’t want the Kurds to gain their rights, especially by Turkey.
The Turkish state was the first to oppose the demand of Rojava people to establish their own democratic self-rule; therefore, a concrete proof for its enmity against Rojava revolution. Considering Turkey’s fierce opposition to the establishment of self-rule by Rojava people whilst supporting the establishment of states for other groups and communities with whom it has close ties, gives irrefutable indications about Turkey’s approach towards the Kurds. In fact, Turkey’s lack of the will power to settle the Kurdish question is another reason for its unwillingness to take any steps appropriate to the steps taken by Kurdish People’s Leader and the Kurdish Freedom Movement.
These massacres will lead to the escalation of Rojava people’s struggle for freedom and unity. This people will strengthen their will for a free and democratic life, contrary to the aims and interests of those who carried out the massacre. Showing the will power to declare their own democratic self-rule in the aftermath of the attack is a clear sign of this fact.
We call on the countries in the region and all the enemies of the Kurds: “The Kurds are one of the ancient nations of the Middle East. The Kurdish people have the right to enjoy a free and democratic life, just as other people in the region have.” All the countries in the region and international forces should contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East, hence respect the will and determination of this people. The freedom and democratic life of the Kurds will bring peace, democracy and freedom to all the Middle East, primarily to those countries where the Kurds live.
THE CO-PRESIDENCY OF KCK EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
14 November 2013
Contact No.: (00964) (0) 750 237 28 63 E-mail: zagroskckinfo@gmail.com
TO OUR PEOPLES AND THE DEMOCRATIC PUBLIC OPINION
A car-bomb attack in the city of Kobani, Rojava Kurdistan, killed 14 civilians and wounded 24 others. We condemn this massacre, express our condolences to the families of the martyrs, and hope quick recovery for the wounded. This massacre has been done by the enemies of Rojava revolution. This inhumane and cowardly attack has been carried out by those who have suffered great defeats against Rojava revolution. Those who failed to hold out against the Rojava revolution have resorted to such a treacherous attack.
No matter who they are, those carrying out this massacre are the enemies of humanity. Those who carry out indiscriminate attacks on children, women, and the elderly cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, regard themselves humans. It is said these attacks have been done by Islamic-façade groups with the collaboration of some collaborative Kurdish traitors. Those who conduct such actions in the name of Islam cannot be called Muslims. They are pro-power Islam, pro-state Islam, the version of Islam that killed Hz. Hussein in Karbala, that is, the Islam of Muaviyeh. They are anti-Islam. Attacking the Muslim Kurds and Arabs give clear clues with regard to the real identity of these offenders.
The Muslim are the ones most angry at bombing the mosques in the name of Islam. The Middle East has turned into a region in which random and indiscriminate attacks are being carried out against the civilians. Those who present to the world’s public opinion such photograph of the Middle East as a place where civilians are under indiscriminate attacks are the enemies of Islam; for, only enemies would want to downgrade this religion of truth, conscience, justice and peace to such a level. In order to lift such negative shadows over Islam, the Kurdish People’s Leader recommended the Democratic Islam Conference. Thus, the democratic cultural Islam will be differentiated from the Islam used as a means of carrying out anti-human attacks. Justice, truth, conscience and peace, characteristic of Islam, can only be supported in this way.
The vicinity of Kobani, the city in which the massacre took place, to the Turkish borders, rises doubts about Turkey role in this regard. It is quite clear that Turkey is backing the Islamic-façade thug of gangs against the Rojava Revolution. Likewise, it is argued that some marginal Kurdish groups are also backing these thugs. Turkey cannot free itself from these accusations as far as in insists on enmity with Rojava revolutions. It is clear that these attacks are being supported by those who don’t want the Kurds to gain their rights, especially by Turkey.
The Turkish state was the first to oppose the demand of Rojava people to establish their own democratic self-rule; therefore, a concrete proof for its enmity against Rojava revolution. Considering Turkey’s fierce opposition to the establishment of self-rule by Rojava people whilst supporting the establishment of states for other groups and communities with whom it has close ties, gives irrefutable indications about Turkey’s approach towards the Kurds. In fact, Turkey’s lack of the will power to settle the Kurdish question is another reason for its unwillingness to take any steps appropriate to the steps taken by Kurdish People’s Leader and the Kurdish Freedom Movement.
These massacres will lead to the escalation of Rojava people’s struggle for freedom and unity. This people will strengthen their will for a free and democratic life, contrary to the aims and interests of those who carried out the massacre. Showing the will power to declare their own democratic self-rule in the aftermath of the attack is a clear sign of this fact.
We call on the countries in the region and all the enemies of the Kurds: “The Kurds are one of the ancient nations of the Middle East. The Kurdish people have the right to enjoy a free and democratic life, just as other people in the region have.” All the countries in the region and international forces should contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East, hence respect the will and determination of this people. The freedom and democratic life of the Kurds will bring peace, democracy and freedom to all the Middle East, primarily to those countries where the Kurds live.
THE CO-PRESIDENCY OF KCK EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
14 November 2013
Petitions to support criminalised lawyers and journalists in Turkey
Dear friends,
This week we received information about two important petitions that need your support.
The first is a Change.org petition for Selçuk Kozağaçlı and his colleagues at the Progressive Lawyers’ Association in Turkey who have been in detention without bail since their arrest in January this year:
AVUKATIM/MESLEKTAŞIM DERHÂL SERBEST BIRAKILSIN! RELEASE MY LAWYER/COLLEAGUE RİGHT NOW! http://www.change.org/tr/kampanyalar/avukatim-meslekta%C5%9Fim-derh%C3%A2l-serbest-birakilsin-release-my-lawyer-colleague-right-now?share_id=AOnXKtziOQ&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
The second calls for justice for journalists in Turkey and is one the European Federation of Journalists’ (EFJ) many efforts in the last two years to oppose government repression of journalists and media workers in Turkey:
Justice for Journalists in Turkey
Journalists are not terrorists. The justice system in Turkey has failed its journalists. https://avaaz.org/en/petition/Justice_for_Journalists_in_Turkey/
Please sign the petitions and share widely!
In solidarity,
Melanie
--
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish QuestionEmail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Conor Murphy MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
This week we received information about two important petitions that need your support.
The first is a Change.org petition for Selçuk Kozağaçlı and his colleagues at the Progressive Lawyers’ Association in Turkey who have been in detention without bail since their arrest in January this year:
AVUKATIM/MESLEKTAŞIM DERHÂL SERBEST BIRAKILSIN! RELEASE MY LAWYER/COLLEAGUE RİGHT NOW! http://www.change.org/tr/kampanyalar/avukatim-meslekta%C5%9Fim-derh%C3%A2l-serbest-birakilsin-release-my-lawyer-colleague-right-now?share_id=AOnXKtziOQ&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition
The second calls for justice for journalists in Turkey and is one the European Federation of Journalists’ (EFJ) many efforts in the last two years to oppose government repression of journalists and media workers in Turkey:
Justice for Journalists in Turkey
Journalists are not terrorists. The justice system in Turkey has failed its journalists. https://avaaz.org/en/petition/Justice_for_Journalists_in_Turkey/
Please sign the petitions and share widely!
In solidarity,
Melanie
--
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish QuestionEmail: estella24@tiscali.co.uk <mailto:estella24@tiscali.co.uk>
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Sirinathsingh - Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Elfyn Llwyd MP, Conor Murphy MP, John Austin, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, John Berger, Edward Albee, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Mark Thomas
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 2 - 8 November 2013
1. OK: The AKP will be the loser
3 November 2013 / ANFSpeaking to ANF about the democratic resolution process Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan initiated on 21 March 2013, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council member Sabri Ok said that this process has been led by significant unilateral steps by the Kurdish side, such as the ceasefire and the guerrillas displacement into South Kurdistan, but no single step from the Turkish state and government's side. Ok remarked that the Turkish state and government have also ignored the Wise People's reports that highlighted proposals for the provision of mother tongue education, improvement of leader Öcalan's conditions and his freedom.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ok-the-akp-will-be-the-loser.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ok-the-akp-will-be-the-loser.htm>
2. PKK: Three conditions to move the Turkish-Kurdish peace process forward
7 November 2013 / eKurdThe deputy leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK Cemil Bayık has put forward three conditions in order for the continuation of the democratic resolution process in search of a peaceful question to the Kurdish question; improvement of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's situation, a change in legal arrangements and the participation of a third party in the negotiations. Speaking to journalist Faruk Balıkçı, Bayık remarked that the democratic resolution process was initiated by Öcalan and advanced by the unilateral steps of the Kurdish side. Bayık pointed out that the AKP government has on the other hand taken no steps intended for a solution and wanted to break the will of the Kurdish people by following policies deepening the war in the country.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4824.htm 3. New Pro-Kurdish Party in Turkey Hopes to Unite Opposition
6 November 2013 / Rudaw Turkey’s newly-emerged People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which was reportedly formed at the suggestion of the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, is out to change the Turkish political scene. As an umbrella party for the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and with hopes of collecting all leftist groups under its wing, the HDP aims to win over voters from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in upcoming local and parliamentary elections. “The HDP can take the votes of the CHP, which has been pretty unsuccessful as an opposition party and has no policy at all to come to power,” said Bircan Yorulmaz, a member of the new party’s assembly. “Many people voted for the CHP out of necessity because of lack of an alternative,” said Yorulmaz, whose party wants to fill what it sees as a vacuum in Turkey’s political left.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/06112013
4. European officials gather in Istanbul to discuss top terror threats
5 November 2013 / SETimesSecurity officials in Turkey joined with their counterparts from Europe recently to express the need for improved communication and information sharing in the on-going battle against terrorism. Turkey and the Council of Europe co-organised the International Conference on National and International Co-ordination in Counter Terrorism, which drew representatives from the Council of Europe's 47 member states and five observer states to Istanbul on October 24th-25th. The conference included discussions of the threat posed by home-grown terrorism, radicalisation, and global terror organisations like al-Qaeda. Tunc Ugdul, director for security and intelligence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told SETimes that the country "has serious experience" in dealing with terrorism during the past four decades.
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2013/11/05/feature-03
5. Separation between Kurds and Kurds: Turkey mayor protests against Syria wall
5 November 2013 / Middle East OnlineA Kurdish mayor on hunger strike in Turkey to protest the building of a barrier on the border with Syria accused Ankara on Tuesday of putting up a "wall of shame".
Ayse Gokkan of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (BDP), who has been on hunger strike for seven days, says the wall will divide the Kurdish people and has called it a "black stain on history". The government has denied it is building a "fully-fledged wall" but local sources said construction began last month in the town of Nusaybin in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast. The move reflects Ankara's growing fears of a spillover of the Syrian conflict along the 910 kilometre (560 mile) border, they said. Nusaybin faces the northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli, which has seen clashes between jihadists and Kurdish militants.
But Gokkan, whose town has a large Kurdish population many of whom have relatives on the other side of the border, said the barrier would divide people.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62406 <http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62406>
6. Kurds protest against wall along Turkey's border with Syria
7 November 2013 / Chicago TribuneThousands of Kurds protested on Thursday against Turkish plans to build a wall along the Syrian border, calling it a move to stop Kurdish communities strengthening cross-frontier ties as Syria splinters from civil war. The rally underscored the sectarian strains spilling over from Syria's war, which grew out of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has fragmented into a patchwork of antagonistic ethnic and sectarian pockets that risk destabilizing neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Riot police tolerated the protests, organized by Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), for much of the day but fired tear gas to disperse groups of demonstrators as a sit-down protest began following the main speeches.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-turkey-kurds-20131107,0,3232103.story
7. Turkish police fire tear gas as Kurds protest against Syria wall
7 November 2013 / ReutersTurkish riot police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse Kurdish protesters demonstrating against government plans to build a wall along part of the border with Syria. Thousands of mostly young men, many waving red, yellow and green Kurdish flags, had earlier gathered to protest the plans in the Turkish town of Nusaybin, separated from the Syrian town of Qamishli by a strip of no-man's land and barbed wire fencing. Officials said last month Turkey was building a two-meter high wall to stop people bypassing checkpoints and prevent smuggling near Qamishli, where Kurdish fighters, Syrian rebel units and Arab tribes have regularly clashed.
Kurdish groups have decried the move as a government effort to prevent Kurdish communities on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border from strengthening ties.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-syria-crisis-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE9A60SG20131107
8. Syrian Kurds take full control of Ras al-Ain
6 November 2013 / Tehran TimesKurdish fighters in northern Syria expelled al-Qaeda-linked militants from the majority Kurdish area of Ras al-Ain on the Turkish border, an opposition monitoring group says. "The Committees for the Protection of the Kurds (YPG) have taken over the Manajeer area, scene of battles with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups," the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday, according to media reports. The capture of Manajeer left the whole of the area around the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain in Kurdish control, the group said. The advance came a day after reports that Kurdish fighters had driven terrorist groups out of 19 towns and villages across northeastern Syria, and a week after they captured the key Iraqi border crossing at Yaarubiyeh.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/middle-east/111975-syrian-kurds-take-full-control-of-ras-al-ain- 9. Syrian Kurds Complain Their Fight against Al-Qaeda Going Unnoticed
7 November 2013 / Rudaw Kurds in Syria complain that their fight against al-Qaeda is going unnoticed and unsupported, while international attention remains focused on rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad. "We are fighting America's war on terror right here on the ground," Dijwar Osman, a Kurdish fighter, recently told US based Foreign Policy magazine. "Our enemies are those al-Qaeda fighters who want to destroy our 4,000-year-old Kurdish culture.” From the beginning of the Syrian civil war more than two years ago, the Kurds have chosen neutrality and tried to keep their areas out of the conflict. But now that they find themselves in a fierce battle with radical Islamic groups, they believe they deserve some recognition.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/061120131
10. Kurds drive Islamist militants from more of northeast Syria
5 November 2013 / Daily StarSyrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria, a Kurdish militant group said on Monday, tightening their grip on an area where they have been setting up autonomous rule. The Kurds said they had routed their rivals in three days of battles, while Islamist sources spoke of a tactical retreat. Syria, tugged by various regional conflicts, has frayed into a patchwork of warring ethnic and sectarian pockets, tilting the balance of power in some of its Middle Eastern neighbors. Kurdish assertiveness has posed a quandary for Ankara as it tries to make peace on its own soil with militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a rebel group which has fought for greater Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-05/236853-kurds-drive-islamist-militants-from-more-of-northeast-syria.ashx#axzz2jmthxi9M
11. Syrian Kurdish Front Divided as Geneva II Approaches
2 November 2013 / Al MonitorAs pressure intensifies for the Geneva II conference to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, cracks on the Kurdish front are getting deeper. The Kurdish National Council — controlled by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq — prefers to attend Geneva as an adjunct of the Syrian National Coalition. The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), however, wants to sit at the table as part of the Kurdish Supreme Council, which they had set up with the Kurdish National Council as a result of the Erbil Accord. The gap between them doesn’t appear to be manageable. Geneva may well see more than one Kurdish delegation. Kurdish parties are rapidly polarizing as KDP under Barzani and the PKK/PYD.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/11/kurds-syria-divide-geneva-ii.html <http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/11/kurds-syria-divide-geneva-ii.html>
12. News briefing from Western Kurdistan
8 November 2013 / Peace in Kurdistan CampaignLatest news update from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) West Kurdistan Media & Public Affairs Office –Europe.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/news-briefing-from-western-kurdistan/
13. Baghdad Moves on Kirkuk, as Kurds Advance on Pipelines Deal With Turkey
7 November 2013 / RudawIraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi arrived for a visit to Kirkuk just as the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which forbids oil developments in the disputed province, was finalizing its own pipeline deal with Turkey that Baghdad has vehemently opposed.
“The visit is to inspect BP’s progress in its oil discovery in the province,” said Luaybi, who was accompanied by Bob Dudley, CEO of the British energy giant.
The minister’s arrival is seen as a threat by Baghdad to go ahead with developing a major contested oil field in Kirkuk, unless Erbil desists in its growing cooperation with Turkey. In January, when Baghdad publicly announced the deal with BP, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called it “illegal.”
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/07112013
14. KONGRA GEL calls for solidarity against the PKK ban in Germany
8 November 2013 / ANFThe Co-Presidency of the KONGRA GEL has released a statement about the mass march to take place in German capital Berlin on 16 November to mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) ban by the German state. Pointing out that Turkey's persistence in security policies in relation to the Kurdish question was mainly because of the support it receives from international forces and from Germany in particular, KONGRA GEL said it was because of these policies that the German state introduced a ban on the PKK 20 years ago. Commenting this ban as an attitude against the solution of the Kurdish issue, KONGRA GEL underlined that PKK was the strongest organized power of the Kurdish people that has brought the Kurdish question to the agenda and imposed a solution for it.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kongra-gel-calls-for-solidarity-against-the-pkk-ban-in-germany.htm
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
15. Ankara’s Middle East Policy Post Arab Spring
November 2013 / Washington Institute of Near East PolicySoner Cagaptay: In 2002, Turkey’s Justice And Development Party (AKP) entered office and launched an ambitious plan to become a regional power. This effort was ultimately aided by phenomenal economic growth, which made Turkey the Middle East’s largest economy. In its foreign policy, the AKP government pursued a “zero problems with neighbors” policy based on wielding soft power to gain influence. This posture by the AKP marked a shift from the country’s former approach to foreign affairs. Following the republican ethos of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, its citizens—and especially its foreign policy elites had come to think of themselves as part of a European nation placed accidentally next to the Middle East. Given this mindset, they preferred to stay away from the region and its complicated problems. (pdf)
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyNote16_Cagaptay2.pdf
16. Turkey and its neighbours: A reset?
8 November 2013 / EconomistIT WAS widely expected to spark a fresh burst of anti-Israeli vitriol from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s increasingly paranoid prime minister. Last month an article in the Washington Post claimed that Hakan Fidan, the head of MIT, Turkey’s national spy agency, had outed ten Iranians working for Israel to his colleagues in Iran. In the eyes of Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party the allegations were part of a purported Zionist conspiracy to topple their government. Yet when Israel denied involvement in the leak, Mr Erdogan declared that Turkey must accept Israel’s words. The prime minister’s dovish pronouncements have been followed by surprise visits to Ankara by the foreign ministers of Iran and Iraq. Turkey now says it will not import oil from Iraq’s Kurds without the Iraqi central government’s consent, easing worries that Turkey is encouraging Kurdish independence.
www.economist.com/news/europe/21589494-new-tone-turkeys-foreign-policy-reset <http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21589494-new-tone-turkeys-foreign-policy-reset>
17. Syrian Kurdish leader: Turkey may end proxy war
7 November 2013 / Al MonitorSaleh Muslim, the co-chairman of Syria’s most powerful Kurdish party, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), has been holding talks in Geneva with Russian and Western officials in preparation for the planned Geneva II peace conference between the Syrian government and opposition groups. I caught Muslim in Paris on Nov. 7 to seek his views on what progress had been achieved and where his group stood on a solution to the two-year Syrian conflict. Muslim said the Geneva II talks were unlikely to take place in the near future. He blamed the lack of progress on the Istanbul-based Syrian National Coalition (SNC), and regional powers Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
All are demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down as a precondition for any peace agreement. Saudi Arabia is opposed to Iran’s participation. That position is expected to be reiterated when the SNC meets in Istanbul on Nov. 9 and 10.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-proxy-war-kurds-syria-pyd.html
18. Obstacles to Kurdish Autonomy
7 November 2013 / Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceSyrian Kurds proved successful in fighting an external enemy this past July when Kurdish fighters successfully pushed out al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists from the small border crossing town of Ras al-Ayn. But resolving intra-Kurdish disagreements and conflicts may prove a far more difficult task. However, a resolution to these disagreements is vital for Kurds, because although the outcome of Syria’s conflict is unclear, one thing is certain: Syrian Kurds have an unprecedented opportunity to establish political autonomy. However, major political divisions within the Syrian Kurdish community and their respective regional and political patrons may undermine their chance for autonomy. Rivalries between Syria’s main Kurdish factions—the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (KPDS), the Progressive Democratic Party (PDK), and the Democratic Union Party (PYD)—run deep and have stood in the way of a coherent vision for their future.
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2013/11/07/obstacles-to-kurdish-autonomy/gt0c
19. Erdogan's 'morality police' assume duty
6 November 2013 / Al MonitorIt all started with the leak of remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a closed meeting over the weekend. According to media reports, Erdogan said university students — boys and girls — were sharing flats in the western province of Denizli due to a shortage of dorms, and that this was unacceptable. “Students, boys and girls, are living together in the same homes because the dorms are insufficient. This is incompatible with our conservative democrat nature. I’ve seen this in Denizli. I’ve instructed the governor. Whatever is necessary will be done,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-morality-police-erdogan.html
20. For Kurdish Women, It’s a Double Revolution
4 November 2013 / IPS“I got married when I was 14 and I already had four children at 20,” recalls Nafia Brahim. In her fifties now, she is working hard so that no other woman loses control of her life.
Brahim is one of 12 members of the assembly that runs the Centre for Training and Empowerment of Women in Qamishli, 680 kilometres northeast of Damascus. Theirs is a multidisciplinary action. “We organise sewing and computer workshops for women but we also teach the illiterate to read and write in Kurdish language, we have gymnastics for the pregnant… all run by and for women,” Brahim tells IPS.
The most sought after course is called ‘women and rights’. “The emancipation of women begins when each of us finally understands that we actually have the right to emancipate, to be an individual capable of leading our own lives,” says Brahim, with all the enthusiasm of someone who has just been through the process.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/for-kurdish-women-its-a-double-revolution/ <http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/for-kurdish-women-its-a-double-revolution/>
21. Iraq’s fake democracy
5 November 2013 / Al AhramIraq’s political system after the US-led invasion in 2003 that triggered the end of the era of former president Saddam Hussein has long been touted as a nascent democracy and sometimes used as a kind of bumper sticker to trumpet democratisation throughout the Arab world. Yet in practice Iraq’s executive and legislative branches of government have been dysfunctional, deadlocked and trapped in ethno-sectarian strife. Moreover, Iraq’s decade-long failure of good governance has provided fodder to sceptics who have argued that there is no such thing as a successful Arab and Muslim democracy.
A row in recent weeks over amending the electoral law has now shown how entrenched political groups have made a mockery of democracy in the country and raised concerns that the new bill will produce another gridlocked parliament and a stalemated government.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4572/19/Iraq%E2%80%99s-fake-democracy.aspx
22. Iran’s Rouhani and the Kurds: Don’t Hold Your Breath
2 November 2013 / RudawAs the outside world expects Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani to mend Tehran’s relations with the international community, his country’s own ethnic groups – the Kurds, Azeris, Arabs and Baluchis -- expect him to redress their cultural and political grievances.
Rouhani was the ideal candidate for many Iranian Kurds, who backed his campaign and voted for him in the June polls. Abdullah Suhrabi, former Kurdish MP in the Iranian parliament, says that Rouhani has not kept any of the promises he made to the Kurds in the city of Sanandaj in the last days of his campaign.
“The first article of the 10-point statement (by Rouhani) that the minorities would be included in the cabinet as ministers and presidential deputies has been broken,” Suhrabi told Deutsche Welle’s Persian service in an interview.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/02112013 <http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/02112013>
23. Iranian Kurdistan: London Conference Addresses Plight Of Kurdish Women
6 November 2013 / UNPO“Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference. A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
http://www.unpo.org/article/16560
3 November 2013 / ANFSpeaking to ANF about the democratic resolution process Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan initiated on 21 March 2013, KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council member Sabri Ok said that this process has been led by significant unilateral steps by the Kurdish side, such as the ceasefire and the guerrillas displacement into South Kurdistan, but no single step from the Turkish state and government's side. Ok remarked that the Turkish state and government have also ignored the Wise People's reports that highlighted proposals for the provision of mother tongue education, improvement of leader Öcalan's conditions and his freedom.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ok-the-akp-will-be-the-loser.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ok-the-akp-will-be-the-loser.htm>
2. PKK: Three conditions to move the Turkish-Kurdish peace process forward
7 November 2013 / eKurdThe deputy leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK Cemil Bayık has put forward three conditions in order for the continuation of the democratic resolution process in search of a peaceful question to the Kurdish question; improvement of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's situation, a change in legal arrangements and the participation of a third party in the negotiations. Speaking to journalist Faruk Balıkçı, Bayık remarked that the democratic resolution process was initiated by Öcalan and advanced by the unilateral steps of the Kurdish side. Bayık pointed out that the AKP government has on the other hand taken no steps intended for a solution and wanted to break the will of the Kurdish people by following policies deepening the war in the country.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4824.htm 3. New Pro-Kurdish Party in Turkey Hopes to Unite Opposition
6 November 2013 / Rudaw Turkey’s newly-emerged People’s Democratic Party (HDP), which was reportedly formed at the suggestion of the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, is out to change the Turkish political scene. As an umbrella party for the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and with hopes of collecting all leftist groups under its wing, the HDP aims to win over voters from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) in upcoming local and parliamentary elections. “The HDP can take the votes of the CHP, which has been pretty unsuccessful as an opposition party and has no policy at all to come to power,” said Bircan Yorulmaz, a member of the new party’s assembly. “Many people voted for the CHP out of necessity because of lack of an alternative,” said Yorulmaz, whose party wants to fill what it sees as a vacuum in Turkey’s political left.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/06112013
4. European officials gather in Istanbul to discuss top terror threats
5 November 2013 / SETimesSecurity officials in Turkey joined with their counterparts from Europe recently to express the need for improved communication and information sharing in the on-going battle against terrorism. Turkey and the Council of Europe co-organised the International Conference on National and International Co-ordination in Counter Terrorism, which drew representatives from the Council of Europe's 47 member states and five observer states to Istanbul on October 24th-25th. The conference included discussions of the threat posed by home-grown terrorism, radicalisation, and global terror organisations like al-Qaeda. Tunc Ugdul, director for security and intelligence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told SETimes that the country "has serious experience" in dealing with terrorism during the past four decades.
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2013/11/05/feature-03
5. Separation between Kurds and Kurds: Turkey mayor protests against Syria wall
5 November 2013 / Middle East OnlineA Kurdish mayor on hunger strike in Turkey to protest the building of a barrier on the border with Syria accused Ankara on Tuesday of putting up a "wall of shame".
Ayse Gokkan of the pro-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (BDP), who has been on hunger strike for seven days, says the wall will divide the Kurdish people and has called it a "black stain on history". The government has denied it is building a "fully-fledged wall" but local sources said construction began last month in the town of Nusaybin in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast. The move reflects Ankara's growing fears of a spillover of the Syrian conflict along the 910 kilometre (560 mile) border, they said. Nusaybin faces the northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli, which has seen clashes between jihadists and Kurdish militants.
But Gokkan, whose town has a large Kurdish population many of whom have relatives on the other side of the border, said the barrier would divide people.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62406 <http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62406>
6. Kurds protest against wall along Turkey's border with Syria
7 November 2013 / Chicago TribuneThousands of Kurds protested on Thursday against Turkish plans to build a wall along the Syrian border, calling it a move to stop Kurdish communities strengthening cross-frontier ties as Syria splinters from civil war. The rally underscored the sectarian strains spilling over from Syria's war, which grew out of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and has fragmented into a patchwork of antagonistic ethnic and sectarian pockets that risk destabilizing neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Riot police tolerated the protests, organized by Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), for much of the day but fired tear gas to disperse groups of demonstrators as a sit-down protest began following the main speeches.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-turkey-kurds-20131107,0,3232103.story
7. Turkish police fire tear gas as Kurds protest against Syria wall
7 November 2013 / ReutersTurkish riot police fired tear gas on Thursday to disperse Kurdish protesters demonstrating against government plans to build a wall along part of the border with Syria. Thousands of mostly young men, many waving red, yellow and green Kurdish flags, had earlier gathered to protest the plans in the Turkish town of Nusaybin, separated from the Syrian town of Qamishli by a strip of no-man's land and barbed wire fencing. Officials said last month Turkey was building a two-meter high wall to stop people bypassing checkpoints and prevent smuggling near Qamishli, where Kurdish fighters, Syrian rebel units and Arab tribes have regularly clashed.
Kurdish groups have decried the move as a government effort to prevent Kurdish communities on both sides of the Turkish-Syrian border from strengthening ties.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/07/us-syria-crisis-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE9A60SG20131107
8. Syrian Kurds take full control of Ras al-Ain
6 November 2013 / Tehran TimesKurdish fighters in northern Syria expelled al-Qaeda-linked militants from the majority Kurdish area of Ras al-Ain on the Turkish border, an opposition monitoring group says. "The Committees for the Protection of the Kurds (YPG) have taken over the Manajeer area, scene of battles with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups," the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday, according to media reports. The capture of Manajeer left the whole of the area around the strategic border town of Ras al-Ain in Kurdish control, the group said. The advance came a day after reports that Kurdish fighters had driven terrorist groups out of 19 towns and villages across northeastern Syria, and a week after they captured the key Iraqi border crossing at Yaarubiyeh.
http://www.tehrantimes.com/middle-east/111975-syrian-kurds-take-full-control-of-ras-al-ain- 9. Syrian Kurds Complain Their Fight against Al-Qaeda Going Unnoticed
7 November 2013 / Rudaw Kurds in Syria complain that their fight against al-Qaeda is going unnoticed and unsupported, while international attention remains focused on rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad. "We are fighting America's war on terror right here on the ground," Dijwar Osman, a Kurdish fighter, recently told US based Foreign Policy magazine. "Our enemies are those al-Qaeda fighters who want to destroy our 4,000-year-old Kurdish culture.” From the beginning of the Syrian civil war more than two years ago, the Kurds have chosen neutrality and tried to keep their areas out of the conflict. But now that they find themselves in a fierce battle with radical Islamic groups, they believe they deserve some recognition.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/061120131
10. Kurds drive Islamist militants from more of northeast Syria
5 November 2013 / Daily StarSyrian Kurdish fighters have captured more territory from Islamist rebels in northeastern Syria, a Kurdish militant group said on Monday, tightening their grip on an area where they have been setting up autonomous rule. The Kurds said they had routed their rivals in three days of battles, while Islamist sources spoke of a tactical retreat. Syria, tugged by various regional conflicts, has frayed into a patchwork of warring ethnic and sectarian pockets, tilting the balance of power in some of its Middle Eastern neighbors. Kurdish assertiveness has posed a quandary for Ankara as it tries to make peace on its own soil with militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a rebel group which has fought for greater Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-05/236853-kurds-drive-islamist-militants-from-more-of-northeast-syria.ashx#axzz2jmthxi9M
11. Syrian Kurdish Front Divided as Geneva II Approaches
2 November 2013 / Al MonitorAs pressure intensifies for the Geneva II conference to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, cracks on the Kurdish front are getting deeper. The Kurdish National Council — controlled by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq — prefers to attend Geneva as an adjunct of the Syrian National Coalition. The Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), however, wants to sit at the table as part of the Kurdish Supreme Council, which they had set up with the Kurdish National Council as a result of the Erbil Accord. The gap between them doesn’t appear to be manageable. Geneva may well see more than one Kurdish delegation. Kurdish parties are rapidly polarizing as KDP under Barzani and the PKK/PYD.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/11/kurds-syria-divide-geneva-ii.html <http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/11/kurds-syria-divide-geneva-ii.html>
12. News briefing from Western Kurdistan
8 November 2013 / Peace in Kurdistan CampaignLatest news update from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) West Kurdistan Media & Public Affairs Office –Europe.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/news-briefing-from-western-kurdistan/
13. Baghdad Moves on Kirkuk, as Kurds Advance on Pipelines Deal With Turkey
7 November 2013 / RudawIraqi Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi arrived for a visit to Kirkuk just as the autonomous Kurdistan Region, which forbids oil developments in the disputed province, was finalizing its own pipeline deal with Turkey that Baghdad has vehemently opposed.
“The visit is to inspect BP’s progress in its oil discovery in the province,” said Luaybi, who was accompanied by Bob Dudley, CEO of the British energy giant.
The minister’s arrival is seen as a threat by Baghdad to go ahead with developing a major contested oil field in Kirkuk, unless Erbil desists in its growing cooperation with Turkey. In January, when Baghdad publicly announced the deal with BP, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called it “illegal.”
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/07112013
14. KONGRA GEL calls for solidarity against the PKK ban in Germany
8 November 2013 / ANFThe Co-Presidency of the KONGRA GEL has released a statement about the mass march to take place in German capital Berlin on 16 November to mark the 20th anniversary of the introduction of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) ban by the German state. Pointing out that Turkey's persistence in security policies in relation to the Kurdish question was mainly because of the support it receives from international forces and from Germany in particular, KONGRA GEL said it was because of these policies that the German state introduced a ban on the PKK 20 years ago. Commenting this ban as an attitude against the solution of the Kurdish issue, KONGRA GEL underlined that PKK was the strongest organized power of the Kurdish people that has brought the Kurdish question to the agenda and imposed a solution for it.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kongra-gel-calls-for-solidarity-against-the-pkk-ban-in-germany.htm
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
15. Ankara’s Middle East Policy Post Arab Spring
November 2013 / Washington Institute of Near East PolicySoner Cagaptay: In 2002, Turkey’s Justice And Development Party (AKP) entered office and launched an ambitious plan to become a regional power. This effort was ultimately aided by phenomenal economic growth, which made Turkey the Middle East’s largest economy. In its foreign policy, the AKP government pursued a “zero problems with neighbors” policy based on wielding soft power to gain influence. This posture by the AKP marked a shift from the country’s former approach to foreign affairs. Following the republican ethos of modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, its citizens—and especially its foreign policy elites had come to think of themselves as part of a European nation placed accidentally next to the Middle East. Given this mindset, they preferred to stay away from the region and its complicated problems. (pdf)
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/PolicyNote16_Cagaptay2.pdf
16. Turkey and its neighbours: A reset?
8 November 2013 / EconomistIT WAS widely expected to spark a fresh burst of anti-Israeli vitriol from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s increasingly paranoid prime minister. Last month an article in the Washington Post claimed that Hakan Fidan, the head of MIT, Turkey’s national spy agency, had outed ten Iranians working for Israel to his colleagues in Iran. In the eyes of Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party the allegations were part of a purported Zionist conspiracy to topple their government. Yet when Israel denied involvement in the leak, Mr Erdogan declared that Turkey must accept Israel’s words. The prime minister’s dovish pronouncements have been followed by surprise visits to Ankara by the foreign ministers of Iran and Iraq. Turkey now says it will not import oil from Iraq’s Kurds without the Iraqi central government’s consent, easing worries that Turkey is encouraging Kurdish independence.
www.economist.com/news/europe/21589494-new-tone-turkeys-foreign-policy-reset <http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21589494-new-tone-turkeys-foreign-policy-reset>
17. Syrian Kurdish leader: Turkey may end proxy war
7 November 2013 / Al MonitorSaleh Muslim, the co-chairman of Syria’s most powerful Kurdish party, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), has been holding talks in Geneva with Russian and Western officials in preparation for the planned Geneva II peace conference between the Syrian government and opposition groups. I caught Muslim in Paris on Nov. 7 to seek his views on what progress had been achieved and where his group stood on a solution to the two-year Syrian conflict. Muslim said the Geneva II talks were unlikely to take place in the near future. He blamed the lack of progress on the Istanbul-based Syrian National Coalition (SNC), and regional powers Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
All are demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad step down as a precondition for any peace agreement. Saudi Arabia is opposed to Iran’s participation. That position is expected to be reiterated when the SNC meets in Istanbul on Nov. 9 and 10.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-proxy-war-kurds-syria-pyd.html
18. Obstacles to Kurdish Autonomy
7 November 2013 / Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceSyrian Kurds proved successful in fighting an external enemy this past July when Kurdish fighters successfully pushed out al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists from the small border crossing town of Ras al-Ayn. But resolving intra-Kurdish disagreements and conflicts may prove a far more difficult task. However, a resolution to these disagreements is vital for Kurds, because although the outcome of Syria’s conflict is unclear, one thing is certain: Syrian Kurds have an unprecedented opportunity to establish political autonomy. However, major political divisions within the Syrian Kurdish community and their respective regional and political patrons may undermine their chance for autonomy. Rivalries between Syria’s main Kurdish factions—the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria (KPDS), the Progressive Democratic Party (PDK), and the Democratic Union Party (PYD)—run deep and have stood in the way of a coherent vision for their future.
http://carnegieendowment.org/sada/2013/11/07/obstacles-to-kurdish-autonomy/gt0c
19. Erdogan's 'morality police' assume duty
6 November 2013 / Al MonitorIt all started with the leak of remarks made by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a closed meeting over the weekend. According to media reports, Erdogan said university students — boys and girls — were sharing flats in the western province of Denizli due to a shortage of dorms, and that this was unacceptable. “Students, boys and girls, are living together in the same homes because the dorms are insufficient. This is incompatible with our conservative democrat nature. I’ve seen this in Denizli. I’ve instructed the governor. Whatever is necessary will be done,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-morality-police-erdogan.html
20. For Kurdish Women, It’s a Double Revolution
4 November 2013 / IPS“I got married when I was 14 and I already had four children at 20,” recalls Nafia Brahim. In her fifties now, she is working hard so that no other woman loses control of her life.
Brahim is one of 12 members of the assembly that runs the Centre for Training and Empowerment of Women in Qamishli, 680 kilometres northeast of Damascus. Theirs is a multidisciplinary action. “We organise sewing and computer workshops for women but we also teach the illiterate to read and write in Kurdish language, we have gymnastics for the pregnant… all run by and for women,” Brahim tells IPS.
The most sought after course is called ‘women and rights’. “The emancipation of women begins when each of us finally understands that we actually have the right to emancipate, to be an individual capable of leading our own lives,” says Brahim, with all the enthusiasm of someone who has just been through the process.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/for-kurdish-women-its-a-double-revolution/ <http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/11/for-kurdish-women-its-a-double-revolution/>
21. Iraq’s fake democracy
5 November 2013 / Al AhramIraq’s political system after the US-led invasion in 2003 that triggered the end of the era of former president Saddam Hussein has long been touted as a nascent democracy and sometimes used as a kind of bumper sticker to trumpet democratisation throughout the Arab world. Yet in practice Iraq’s executive and legislative branches of government have been dysfunctional, deadlocked and trapped in ethno-sectarian strife. Moreover, Iraq’s decade-long failure of good governance has provided fodder to sceptics who have argued that there is no such thing as a successful Arab and Muslim democracy.
A row in recent weeks over amending the electoral law has now shown how entrenched political groups have made a mockery of democracy in the country and raised concerns that the new bill will produce another gridlocked parliament and a stalemated government.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4572/19/Iraq%E2%80%99s-fake-democracy.aspx
22. Iran’s Rouhani and the Kurds: Don’t Hold Your Breath
2 November 2013 / RudawAs the outside world expects Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani to mend Tehran’s relations with the international community, his country’s own ethnic groups – the Kurds, Azeris, Arabs and Baluchis -- expect him to redress their cultural and political grievances.
Rouhani was the ideal candidate for many Iranian Kurds, who backed his campaign and voted for him in the June polls. Abdullah Suhrabi, former Kurdish MP in the Iranian parliament, says that Rouhani has not kept any of the promises he made to the Kurds in the city of Sanandaj in the last days of his campaign.
“The first article of the 10-point statement (by Rouhani) that the minorities would be included in the cabinet as ministers and presidential deputies has been broken,” Suhrabi told Deutsche Welle’s Persian service in an interview.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/02112013 <http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/02112013>
23. Iranian Kurdistan: London Conference Addresses Plight Of Kurdish Women
6 November 2013 / UNPO“Kurdish women in Iran face a double-whammy: They are a minority ethnicity and they are women in an unequal society,” according to Margaret Owen, an activist and speaker at the third annual conference in London on Kurdish women in Iranian Kurdistan.
“In countries other than Iran, Kurdish women are slightly better off, because they have been able to fight for and hold onto their freedoms,” the human rights activist with long-standing expertise on Kurds, told Rudaw on the sidelines of last weekend’s two-day conference. A range of speakers including Nazaneen Rashid, a women's rights activist discussing the problem of self-immolation among Kurdish women, and Soraya Fallah, an activist, victim of torture and former Ms Exoti-Lady Kurdistan 2011, participated at the conference. It was held at Colet House, a grand building in west London built as a studio for artists and now owned by the Study Society, an association known for its whirling dervishes and mystical meditation.
http://www.unpo.org/article/16560
Please find the briefing news and activities in West Koerdistan and Syria
News Briefing Regarding Events in West Kurdistan (Northern Syria)
Head Lines · People Protection Units (YPG) campaign · Mercenary groups of the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL)Shame wall between Rojava and north Kurdistan· Shame Wall!· Cultural & educational activities
Details:People Protection Units (YPG) campaign Serê Kaniyê – Til Halaf, Hamo, Twaimiyeh, Hardan, Aziziah and Til Arqam villages have all been liberated by YPG & YPJ units, the liberation campaign (named: loyalty to the Serê Kaniyê martyrs) is continuing. So far 19 villages in the Serê Kaniyê region have been liberated from Al Nusra and the Islamic state in Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
Efrîn- YPG fighters have carried out two special operations against the armed groups affiliated to ISIL in the villages of Marin and Yazibag (Qastal Jindo surrounding). 17 ISIL-members were killed.Mercenary groups of the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL)According to NRT TV, last week 500 mercenaries have joined the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) via the South Kurdistan boarder. The same source confirms that these groups secretly settled in South Kurdistan in Al Musil, Kekuk, Diala, Daquq, Rashad, Ryaz, Houaija, Hamrin mountain and that they are equipped with heavy weapons.
Girkê Legê – Two children died in Rumilan Basha village as a mine buried by the ISIL and Al Nusra exploded. During the ISIL/AN occupation of the village several mines were planted.
Shame Wall!Derbasiyê – The reactions against the building of a wall of shame are strong in Turkey, the Kurds of North Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey) are strongly condemning Turkey for trying to separate Rojava from North Kurdistan.
Qamishlo - The building of a wall separating Rojava from North Kurdistan have likewise been met with condemnation by the people of Qamishlo. The people of Qamishlo have expressed their support for Mrs. Ayse Gokkan (mayor of Nusaybin city) protest to the wall and her hunger strike now entering its sixth day.
Serê Kaniyê – the Kurdish student confederation has released a signature gathering camping for solidarty with Ayse Gokkan under the slogan: ‘’ we are all Ayse Gokkan’’.
Hundreds of people come back to their home in RojavaEfrin (Afrin) – In the recent days, hundreds of people have come back from Turkey to the Efrin region due to dire living conditions.
It is noteworthy that they mentioned that they were blackmailed by Turkish army guards and smugglers together. Turkish guards refused to let them through the border and smugglers were asking them for money to let them cross.
Cultural & educational activitiesQamishlo-The poet Taha Xelin recited poems in Arabic and Kurdish at the Bahar forum for culture and art, several prominent figures attended the Evening of poetry.
Al Hasake – A meeting was held in the Al Mofti district by the artists union, dozens of artists attended the meeting. A committee was formed to supervise activities regarding the arts.
SZK – the Kurdish Language institution (SZK) has distributed Kurdish language certificates for 350 students in Al-hasake city and 250 students in Kocharat region in Derik city. The Health committee have also distributed nursery certificate for 30 trainees at the youth center in Al Hasake and 45 trainees in Kocharat region.
Head Lines · People Protection Units (YPG) campaign · Mercenary groups of the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL)Shame wall between Rojava and north Kurdistan· Shame Wall!· Cultural & educational activities
Details:People Protection Units (YPG) campaign Serê Kaniyê – Til Halaf, Hamo, Twaimiyeh, Hardan, Aziziah and Til Arqam villages have all been liberated by YPG & YPJ units, the liberation campaign (named: loyalty to the Serê Kaniyê martyrs) is continuing. So far 19 villages in the Serê Kaniyê region have been liberated from Al Nusra and the Islamic state in Iraq and Levant (ISIL).
Efrîn- YPG fighters have carried out two special operations against the armed groups affiliated to ISIL in the villages of Marin and Yazibag (Qastal Jindo surrounding). 17 ISIL-members were killed.Mercenary groups of the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant ( ISIL)According to NRT TV, last week 500 mercenaries have joined the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) via the South Kurdistan boarder. The same source confirms that these groups secretly settled in South Kurdistan in Al Musil, Kekuk, Diala, Daquq, Rashad, Ryaz, Houaija, Hamrin mountain and that they are equipped with heavy weapons.
Girkê Legê – Two children died in Rumilan Basha village as a mine buried by the ISIL and Al Nusra exploded. During the ISIL/AN occupation of the village several mines were planted.
Shame Wall!Derbasiyê – The reactions against the building of a wall of shame are strong in Turkey, the Kurds of North Kurdistan (Southeast Turkey) are strongly condemning Turkey for trying to separate Rojava from North Kurdistan.
Qamishlo - The building of a wall separating Rojava from North Kurdistan have likewise been met with condemnation by the people of Qamishlo. The people of Qamishlo have expressed their support for Mrs. Ayse Gokkan (mayor of Nusaybin city) protest to the wall and her hunger strike now entering its sixth day.
Serê Kaniyê – the Kurdish student confederation has released a signature gathering camping for solidarty with Ayse Gokkan under the slogan: ‘’ we are all Ayse Gokkan’’.
Hundreds of people come back to their home in RojavaEfrin (Afrin) – In the recent days, hundreds of people have come back from Turkey to the Efrin region due to dire living conditions.
It is noteworthy that they mentioned that they were blackmailed by Turkish army guards and smugglers together. Turkish guards refused to let them through the border and smugglers were asking them for money to let them cross.
Cultural & educational activitiesQamishlo-The poet Taha Xelin recited poems in Arabic and Kurdish at the Bahar forum for culture and art, several prominent figures attended the Evening of poetry.
Al Hasake – A meeting was held in the Al Mofti district by the artists union, dozens of artists attended the meeting. A committee was formed to supervise activities regarding the arts.
SZK – the Kurdish Language institution (SZK) has distributed Kurdish language certificates for 350 students in Al-hasake city and 250 students in Kocharat region in Derik city. The Health committee have also distributed nursery certificate for 30 trainees at the youth center in Al Hasake and 45 trainees in Kocharat region.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tel : + 32 2 230 34 02 kib@skynet.be <mailto:kib@skynet.be> www.facebook.com/kibrussels <http://www.facebook.com/kibrussels> www.kurdishinstitute.beHet Koerdisch Instituut van Brussel ontvangt subsidies van de COCOF. Deze zijn echter niet geheel kostendekkend. Wij zijn zeer blij met uw financiële steun zodat het Koerdisch Instituut van Brussel zich in de toekomst kan blijven inzetten voor een open en eerlijke samenleving, in België en in het Midden-Oosten. Alle giften zijn welkom op : BE89 4263 1440 7185, met de vermelding ‘steun’. Vanaf 150 EUR wordt u opgenomen in de lijst met « Vrienden van het Koerdisch Instituut/Amis de l’Institut Kurde » en als dusdanig vermeld op de website en in onze publicaties. Ook krijgt u een jaarlang ons tijdschrift toegestuurd ‘DE KOERDEN’
ONE WOMAN'S REVOLT AGAINST THE WALL OF SHAME, KNK statement
Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
ONE WOMAN'S REVOLT AGAINST THE WALL OF SHAMEThe female mayor of Nusaybin, Ayse Gokkan, has started a death fast among the mines between the border of Turkey and Syria.
Ayşe Gökkan said: "by building if this wall of shame Turkey is not upholding the Ottowa Agreement which it is a signatory of. The wall is being constructed to maintain the minefield. The building of this wall is a crime. Despite the fact that I am the local mayor, I was not informed of this construction. The decision to build this wall is a political decision. This wall is being constructed to further divide the people of Kurdistan. This wall is not being built for 'security reasons' or 'to prevent trafficking', it is being built to separate the Kurdish people".
The KNK statement points out that "if it is not enough for the AKP government to put in place an embargo against the people of Rojava, the building of this wall will further victimise the people of Rojava by cutting off the supply of medicine and humanitarian aid. This is a human rights infringement. This is an open attack against the will of the Kurdish people, who are engaged in a struggle to gain more rights and freedoms".
The co-chair of the Mardin branch of the BDP Resat Kaymaz said: "our mayor is on a death fast in a minefield. If our mayor loses her life, none other than the Turkish prime minister Erdogan will be responsible. Our mayor's demands, are the demands of the Kurdish people".
"The building of this wall - says the KNK statement - is a clear indication of the Turkish government's support for the al-Qaeda linked organisations such as the al-Nusra Front who are continuing their terroristic activities against the Kurdish people".
The KNK call upon "all international social movements, NGO's and human rights associations to take a stance against this wall of shame. Only a stance towards this end can help save the life of Nusaybin's mayor and stop the construction of the wall of shame that is once again aiming to divide the Kurdish people".
01 Nov 2013
ONE WOMAN'S REVOLT AGAINST THE WALL OF SHAMEThe female mayor of Nusaybin, Ayse Gokkan, has started a death fast among the mines between the border of Turkey and Syria.
Ayşe Gökkan said: "by building if this wall of shame Turkey is not upholding the Ottowa Agreement which it is a signatory of. The wall is being constructed to maintain the minefield. The building of this wall is a crime. Despite the fact that I am the local mayor, I was not informed of this construction. The decision to build this wall is a political decision. This wall is being constructed to further divide the people of Kurdistan. This wall is not being built for 'security reasons' or 'to prevent trafficking', it is being built to separate the Kurdish people".
The KNK statement points out that "if it is not enough for the AKP government to put in place an embargo against the people of Rojava, the building of this wall will further victimise the people of Rojava by cutting off the supply of medicine and humanitarian aid. This is a human rights infringement. This is an open attack against the will of the Kurdish people, who are engaged in a struggle to gain more rights and freedoms".
The co-chair of the Mardin branch of the BDP Resat Kaymaz said: "our mayor is on a death fast in a minefield. If our mayor loses her life, none other than the Turkish prime minister Erdogan will be responsible. Our mayor's demands, are the demands of the Kurdish people".
"The building of this wall - says the KNK statement - is a clear indication of the Turkish government's support for the al-Qaeda linked organisations such as the al-Nusra Front who are continuing their terroristic activities against the Kurdish people".
The KNK call upon "all international social movements, NGO's and human rights associations to take a stance against this wall of shame. Only a stance towards this end can help save the life of Nusaybin's mayor and stop the construction of the wall of shame that is once again aiming to divide the Kurdish people".
01 Nov 2013
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 26 October - 1 November 2013
1. KCK: Three conditions to move process forward
29 October 2013 / ANFKurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council co-president Cemil Bayık has put forward three conditions in order for the continuation of the democratic resolution process in search of a peaceful question to the Kurdish question; improvement of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's situation, a change in legal arrangements and the participation of a third party in the negotiations. Speaking to journalist Faruk Balıkçı, Bayık remarked that the democratic resolution process was initiated by Öcalan and advanced by the unilateral steps of the Kurdish side. Bayık pointed out that the AKP government has on the other hand taken no steps intended for a solution and wanted to break the will of the Kurdish people by following policies deepening the war in the country.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-three-conditions-to-move-process-forward.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-three-conditions-to-move-process-forward.htm>
2. As Election Cycle Nears, Turkey’s Kurds Warn of Peace Talk Risks
25 October 2013 / Wall Street JournalTurkey’s much-vaunted Kurdish peace process has had a tough few months. Beset by mounting risks, both sides have accused one another of failing to honor pledges as they come under increasing pressure from their constituencies to take a tougher stance.
On Friday, Turkey’s Kurdish leaders flagged what promises to be yet another risk to the peace process: an election cycle that tends to see Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turn into a nationalist hawk to boost his party’s support at the ballot box.
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/10/25/as-election-cycle-nears-turkeys-kurds-warn-of-peace-talk-risks/<http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/10/25/as-election-cycle-nears-turkeys-kurds-warn-of-peace-talk-risks/>
3. Thirteen PKK prisoners on hunger strike
29 October 2013 / ANFThirteen PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) prisoners have started indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in Van F Type prison. After 18 PKK inmates in Bingöl M Type Closed Prison escaped from the jail on 25 September, 17 were arrested in an expansive military operation while the whereabouts of the other one still remains unknown. 13 of the fugitives were transferred to Van F Type prison where they have reportedly been subjected to arbitrary practices and orders during and after their transfer to Van F Type prison. Speaking about the protest of the fugitive prisoners, TUYAD-DER (Association of Solidarity with Prisoners' Relatives) Van Branch Chair Ahmet Aygün said that the fugitives were placed in cells away from those of political prisoners.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/thirteen-pkk-prisoners-on-hunger-strike.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/thirteen-pkk-prisoners-on-hunger-strike.htm>
4. Ethnicity, sexual orientation excluded in hate crime draft presented to Turkish Cabinet
27 October 2013 / HurriyetA draft presented to the Cabinet concerning hate crimes does not include provisions for those targeted because of their sexual orientation or ethnic identity. The draft, which designates “hate and prejudice” as an aggravation cause for crimes, was presented as one of the reforms that government vowed to implement as part of its “democracy package.” However, hate and prejudice crimes are defined in the draft as “crimes committed based on someone’s or some group’s language, race, nationality, skin color, gender, disability, political views, philosophical beliefs or religion,” excluding those based on ethnicity and sexual orientation, different to many European countries.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ethnicity-sexual-orientation-excluded-in-hate-crime-draft-presented-to-turkish-cabinet.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56925&NewsCatID=339 <http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ethnicity-sexual-orientation-excluded-in-hate-crime-draft-presented-to-turkish-cabinet.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56925&NewsCatID=339>
5. New hearing of journalists trial
28 October 2013 / ANFThe seventh hearing of the so-called “KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Press Committee case” has resumed at Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court on Monday. 46 Kurdish press workers, 20 of whom are in prison, are tried in the KCK press case.
Speaking during the hearing, DIHA former reporter Ülkem Evrim Kepenek said that it was the journalism profession that was being tried in the KCK press case, and called on the court to either recognize or prohibit the freedom of press rather than trying journalists performing their works.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/new-hearing-of-journalists-trial.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/new-hearing-of-journalists-trial.htm>
6. Facebook Censures BDP Again
29 October 2013 / BianetFacebook closed down the page of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) General Headquarters. 5 days ago, the social network also closed down the page of BDP Istanbul Administration. “Facebook’s censure policy on our party is similar to the oppression policies in the political field,” BDP said in a statement. Facebook reportedly reasoned the closure with the word “Kurdistan” in the page content. BDP officials then said they spoke with Facebook Europe Director Richard Allan who said that the close was due to several factors. They added that Facebook is to return to their inquiries in 24-36 hours. BDP’s statement continued as follows:
“Facebook, as it appeared on the media, allowed video and image content where heads were chopped, saying that such content could not be banned for condemning purposes. They chose to allow this content and left a black stain in the history of social media.”
http://www.bianet.org/english/politics/150904-facebook-censures-bdp-again <http://www.bianet.org/english/politics/150904-facebook-censures-bdp-again>
7. City of Selmas under siege
28 October 2013 / ANFIranian police and soldiers have surrounded the city of Selmas and forbidden entry to area following the execution of the Kurdish political activist İlham Mamed yesterday, October 26th. The execution came on the same day that the Iranian regime executed another Kurdish prisoner, Habibullah Gulperipur, in Urmiye prison.
The city is in lock-down owing to regime fears of a public backlash following the execution. İlham Mamedi was born in Selmas, in the province of Western Azerbaijan, in 1978. The city is home to a mix of Kurds, Azeris, Assyrians, Armenians, and Persians, and the city has played an important role in the history of Eastern Kurdistan. Mamedi was known to have been from a family that was active in the Kurdish movement. Before his arrested he had worked in border trade, and had been married with two children. However his family was killed in a fire that broke out because of a tear-gas bomb in 2006.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/city-of-selmas-under-siege.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/city-of-selmas-under-siege.htm>
8. Al-Qaeda recruits entering Syria from Turkey safehouses
30 October 2013 / Daily TelegraphHundreds of al-Qaeda recruits are being kept in safe houses in southern Turkey, before being smuggled over the border to wage “jihad” in Syria, The Daily Telegraph has learned. The network of hideouts is enabling a steady flow of foreign fighters - including Britons - to join the country’s civil war, according to some of the volunteers involved.
These foreign jihadists have now largely eclipsed the “moderate” wing of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is supported by the West. Al-Qaeda’s ability to use Turkish territory will raise questions about the role the Nato member is playing in Syria’s civil war.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10415935/Al-Qaeda-recruits-entering-Syria-from-Turkey-safehouses.html<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10415935/Al-Qaeda-recruits-entering-Syria-from-Turkey-safehouses.html>
9. Syria Kurdish Leader: Solution Must Include Assad
26 October 2013 / Al MonitorSalih Muslim, co-chairman of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said a solution in Syria without President Bashar al-Assad is not easy. “A solution without Assad means the death of 2 million Alawites," he said. Muslim, who gave an exclusive interview in Rojava to Hilmi Hacioglu of the popular Turkish TV news program The 32nd Day, said his party wanted to participate in the Geneva meeting not as part of the Syrian National Coalition but as an independent Kurdish movement. Yet, some countries, including Turkey, were trying to block this. Muslim said a solution without Assad would have been possible two years ago, but it was now impossible. "All Alawites now support Assad. Insisting on a solution without Assad means the death of 2 million Alawites in the country,” he added.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurds-assad-solution-salih-muslim.html <http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurds-assad-solution-salih-muslim.html>
10. Kurds rout Syrian militants on Iraq border
27 October 2013 / The Nation Fierce clashes raged Saturday after Syrian Kurds seized from militants a crossing on the Iraqi border, a key supply route for weapons and fighters in the 31-month war, activists said. Meanwhile, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Iran as he presses efforts to build a consensus for a Geneva conference aimed at ending the conflict.
Fighters from both sides were killed in the border clashes, which came a day after Syria’s regime and its opponents traded blame for a car bomb attack on a mosque that left dozens dead. The Kurds “took control of the Al-Yaarubia border crossing with Iraq at dawn after clashes with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Al-Nusra Front and other rebels,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing activists.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/27-Oct-2013/kurds-rout-syrian-militants-on-iraq-border<http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/27-Oct-2013/kurds-rout-syrian-militants-on-iraq-border>
11. Kurdish militants tighten grip on Syria's northeast
27 October 2013 / ReutersKurdish militants sought to consolidate their control of an oil-producing region in northeastern Syria on Sunday after seizing a border crossing with Iraq from Islamist rebels, activists said. Fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought in neighbouring Turkey for decades, were clearing pockets of resistance of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham in the border town of Yarubiya, Syrian opposition sources said. "The Kurds are now in control of the Yarubiya border post. They now have a clear route to market the region's oil, which should belong to all Syrians. Thousands of Arabs have fled," said Yasser Farhan, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/27/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE99P02D20131027 <http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/27/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE99P02D20131027>
12. Assad: Foreign powers must end rebel support
31 October 2013 / Al JazeeraThe Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has said he is open to peace talks but insisted that they would not go ahead unless foreign nations stopped supporting rebel fighters. The comments came during a meeting on Wednesday with peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Damascus. "The Syrian people are the only ones who have the right to decide on Syria's future, and any solution or agreement must have the acceptance of the Syrian people, and reflect their desires," Assad told Brahimi. The meeting came as part of a regional tour aimed at garnering support for a US-Russian peace initiative for Syria planned next month in Geneva. Assad also warned there must not be "any foreign intervention" in seeking a solution to Syria's civil war, in which an estimated 115,000 people have died in 31 months. "Putting an end to support for the terrorists and pressuring the states that support them is the most important step to prepare... for dialogue," Assad said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/assad-foreign-powers-must-end-rebel-support-20131031272366309.html
13. Rebels conduct new chemical weapons attack in Syria near Turkish border – report
29 October 2013 / RTThe rebels used chemical weapons in north-eastern Syria near the border with Turkey on Tuesday, a Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen reported. The toxic shell exploded near a Kurdish defense forces’ checkpoint close to the border with Turkey in the city of Ras al-Ayn al-Hasakah. The attack was reported by Kurdish defense forces who are conducting military operations against the rebels in the region. They are quoted as saying they saw toxic yellow smoke that followed the shell explosion, while some of them had symptoms of severe chemical intoxication accompanied by nausea. The reported chemical attack comes amid the second day of fierce fighting in the town.
http://rt.com/news/rebels-chemical-weapons-syria-927/ <http://rt.com/news/rebels-chemical-weapons-syria-927/>
14. Iraqi Kurdistan plans second oil pipeline via Turkey
31 October 2013 / eKurdIraq's northern Kurdistan region plans to build a second new oil export pipeline to Turkey within the next two years as it ramps up output independently of Baghdad, Kurdistan's natural resources minister said on Thursday. Speaking at an energy conference in Istanbul, Ashti Hawrami, a member of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), outlined an ambitious oil export growth strategy for the autonomous region, whose growing independence has angered Baghdad. Construction of the first pipeline to Turkey is complete, and it is being tested in preparation for the start of commercial shipments in the first quarter of 2014, officials said. Kurdistan will track the volumes of its sharply rising crude oil exports on the pipeline, independently of the central government,www.Ekurd.net Hawrami told the conference, adding that the region ultimately aimed to produce 3 million barrels per day of oil for export.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/10/state7443.htm <http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/10/state7443.htm>
15. Kurdish Leaders and Academics Propose New Model for Middle East in Washington
29 October 2013 / Rojava ReportIn a historic conference entitled “The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East,” which took place yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, prominent Kurdish leaders and academics joined with American politicians and regional experts to discuss the future of the Middle East and the changing place of Kurds in the region. The conference consisted of four separate panels, each of which addressed a different topic.
Salih Muslim, who was scheduled to attend the conference in person but was unable to for reasons that were unclear, reaffirmed his desire to establish relations with the United States and to cooperate in the building of a democratic Syria. When a representative of the KRG, Karwan Zebari, was asked about Muslim’s absence at the conference and the role that the KRG had played in the matter, he said he had no information and declined to comment.
http://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/kurdish-leaders-and-academics-propose-new-model-for-middle-east-in-washington/<http://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/kurdish-leaders-and-academics-propose-new-model-for-middle-east-in-washington/>
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
16. Fixing a broken Turkish democracy
30 October 2013 / Open DemocracySeptember 30, 2013 was a historic milestone in Turkey's political life and that of its so-called 'youthful' democracy. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a democracy package including some reforms regarding the rights of different groups within society. This declaration was broadcast live by several television stations, a kind of habit in Turkey, whenever the Prime Minister declares anything much at all. However, this time, Erdoğan’s message was really important. Some deputies in the Peace and Democracy Party (the pro-Kurdish Party in Turkey) even went to Qandil Mountain to watch the declaration being made alongside PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leaders.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/sarphan-uzuno%C4%9Flu/fixing-broken-turkish-democracy
17. Turkey Must Refocus On Kurdish Peace Process
24 October 2013 / Al MonitorFor years, at every national and international platform, I have stressed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey wants a solution to the Kurdish issue, especially when I was addressing Kurdish audiences who didn’t want to believe me. Mind you, I was never sure that the AKP government had fully understood the Kurdish issue and that it would come up with an appropriate solution. Nevertheless, I kept supporting any step that would bring Turkey nearer to a solution, and I will not stop doing so. This should not stop us from seeing the gaps in the solution process that arise from the government’s lack of grasping the core of the Kurdish issue, or perhaps its unwillingness to understand it. Such gaps could in time widen and derail the solution process.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/turkey-kurdish-peace-process-syria.html
18. From HDP convention: We are the remedy
29 October 2013 / HurriyetAt the Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Sports Hall, where their convention was held in Ankara, with banners on all sides of the stands the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) described itself with these adjectives: Democratic, populist, liberal, colorful, youngest, pro-autonomy, peaceful, ecologist, egalitarian, laborer, LGBTI and a female party… As the idea matured, the HDP generated several debates. From the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and even to the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). This is also related to its formula. What kind of a formula is this?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/from-hdp-convention-we-are-the-remedy-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56992&NewsCatID=396<http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/from-hdp-convention-we-are-the-remedy-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56992&NewsCatID=396>
19. New Kurdish Party Could Impact Local Turkish Elections
31 October 2013 / Al MonitorAt a party convention in Ankara on Oct. 27, participants shouted intriguing chants. One of them — “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance” — was the hallmark slogan of the protests that broke out in Istanbul on May 30 over the cutting of trees at Gezi Park and then spread nationwide. Do the chants, shouted at the convention of the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), indicate that a party is emerging to fill Turkey’s “democratic opposition” vacuum, which the Gezi protests themselves had underscored? A party that has allocated a 10% quota for LGBT individuals and a 50% quota for women, could the HDP have a say in Turkey’s future? To find the answers, let’s first see how the HDP was born.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/new-kurdish-party-could-impact-turkey-elections.html
20. The International Media Turns the Spotlight on Turkey
31 October 2013 / IFJAfter seven years behind bars, Turkish journalist Füsun Erdoğan was still not released when she appeared in an Istanbul court on Wednesday. However, international and Turkish media are now really turning the spotlight on the case of the dozens of imprisoned Turkish journalists. Pressure, from the IFJ/EFJ and others, is growing against the regime's treatment of journalists - including on the square in front of Europe's largest courthouse. Twenty-five relatives, friends, and human rights activists form a wall in front of the courthouse. They are carrying signs and wearing vests emblazoned with the words 'Waiting for Justice'. The peaceful - and completely silent - demonstration is filmed by the BBC, Dutch television and a number of Turkish media. The message of the human wall is clear: the fifty imprisoned Turkish journalists must be released.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/the-international-media-turns-the-spotlight-on-turkey <http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/the-international-media-turns-the-spotlight-on-turkey>
21. Turkish Kurds hope for linguistic freedom
26 October 2013 / Deutsche Welle"Roj bas" means "Good day" in Kurdish. The greeting marks the start of a language lesson at the premises of the Kurdi-Der association in Diyarbakir, a city with a large population of ethnic Kurds. The participants seated at the desks are all Kurdish, aged between 24 and 30. One of them is Derya Can, a student of medicine, who is doing an internship at a local hospital. "Working there I noticed how limited my knowledge of Kurdish was," said Can, adding that this made communication with patients more difficult and created larger problems in the patient-care system. "This is why I decided to learn Kurdish really well and become a doctor who can communicate properly with her patients."
http://www.dw.de/turkish-kurds-hope-for-linguistic-freedom/a-17184968 <http://www.dw.de/turkish-kurds-hope-for-linguistic-freedom/a-17184968>
22. Fragile Peace Holds on a Syrian Island
31 October 2013 / IPS“The whole region is under control but be careful in the city centre,” says a Kurdish militiaman at the eastern gate of Qamishli, 600 km northeast of capital Damascus, confirming rumours about breaches in Syria’s relatively stable northeast. Sandwiched between Turkey and Syria, this city of 200,000 is known for its large Christian processions at Easter, held almost simultaneously with the mass celebration of Newroz, the Kurdish and Persian new year. Qamishli is not only a melting pot of Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds and Arabs but also the place where the Syrian Kurd uprising had its origins. It was March 2004 when rioting after a football match in Qamishli led to days of dissident protests in the Kurdish regions, as well as in Damascus and other cities with a significant Kurdish population.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/fragile-peace-holds-on-a-syrian-island/ <http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/fragile-peace-holds-on-a-syrian-island/>
23. The Kurds Get a Second Chance in Syria
30 October 2013 / BloombergMore than 200,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees have moved into Iraqi Kurdistan. They have crossed an international border to be sure, yet it is, in the Kurdish world view, a passage from one part of their homeland to another. The Kurds disregard these frontiers, imposed on the Fertile Crescent almost a century ago by Anglo-French power.
No Kurd is lamenting the erosion of the borders in this tangled geography. The partition of the successor states of the Ottoman Empire brought the Kurds grief and dispossession. The Persians, Turks and Arabs secured their own states. Indeed, the Arabs were bequeathed several states in the geography of “Turkish Arabia” that runs from the Iraqi border with Iran to the Mediterranean.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-30/the-kurds-get-a-second-chance-in-syria.html
24. Five Reasons US Should Change Policies Toward Syria’s Kurds
31 October 2013 / Al MonitorSyria’s most influential Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has been running a belt of mainly Kurdish settlements along the Turkish border since July 2012, has been knocking on Washington’s door for some time, but it remains firmly shut. The situation was driven home on Oct. 28 when Kurds from across the globe gathered for a groundbreaking conference called “The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East” held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Organized by Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the event offered Washington pundits and policy makers a rare chance to take part in a conversation about the world’s largest ethnic minority, which despite not having a state of its own, has become a key player in the Middle East.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/us-change-policy-syria-kurds.html
25. The Road to Geneva 2 and the Challenges to a Negotiated Political Solution in Syria
28 October 2013 / Institute for National Security StudiesThe Syrian conflict has long since descended into a protracted and bloody civil war, with the regime and the diverse groups that comprise the opposition locked in a painful stalemate, unable to tip the military balance of power in anyone’s favor. The Geneva 2 negotiations, reportedly scheduled to take place in late November 2013, should be seen in light of this reality, underscoring the importance of ending the conflict through a political deal. Indeed, the notion of renewing the efforts launched in Geneva in June 2012 has gained additional traction in the weeks following the US-Russia entente on Syria’s chemical weapons, with the UN Security Council endorsing the implementation of the June 2012 plan in Resolution 2128 on Syria’s chemical arsenal. But even with these renewed international efforts, the challenges ahead are monumental.
http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=5894 <http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=5894>
26. Geneva II Talks: Are Kurds the Solution to the Syrian Puzzle?
25 October 2013 / International Business TimesWhile the world holds its breath awaiting the Geneva II peace talks, scheduled for 23 November, analysts are beginning to wonder whether a minor player may shed new light on the Syrian puzzle. Together with the Syrian opposition, Syrian Kurds are preparing themselves to take to the negotiating table. While their hope is to gain recognition of the historical northern Kurdish region of Rojava, deeper regional and international interests may currently be at stake. A tangled web of divisions and mistrusts is preventing both Kurds and international actors from considering the potential of their participation. Should they overcome these suspicions, however, the international community may dispose of a key piece in the Syrian puzzle.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516984/20131025/syria-geneva-kurds-assad-al-qaida-puzzle.htm<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516984/20131025/syria-geneva-kurds-assad-al-qaida-puzzle.htm>
27. Meet the Kurdish Female Freedom Fighters of Syria
29 October 2013 / ViceAvesta, a female sniper, sits smoking a cigarette in Ras al-Ayn, Syria. A cross hangs from black string around her neck. Other women, clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles, smoke Gauloises cigarettes and sip coffee, sitting beside a car camouflaged by a thick layer of dried mud. “If I see a commander, I will shoot him,” says the 27-year-old sniper, Avesta, her long brown hair coming down to her shoulders. “Otherwise, I pick whoever is closest to me.” Avesta and her companions are fighters with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia defending Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.
For much of the past year, the YPG’s fighters have battled al-Qaeda-linked militants—notably the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra (JN)—and Free Syrian Army militants for control of the oil-producing province.
http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-kurdish-female-freedom-fighters-of-syria <http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-kurdish-female-freedom-fighters-of-syria>
28. 'Geneva II is last opportunity to oust Assad'
30 October 2013 / Deutsche WelleGebrail Kourie is the President of the Assyrian Democratic Organization.
DW: Can you describe the Assyrian Democratic Organization and how it works? Gebrail Kourie: The Assyrian Democratic Organization is a national, political and democratic movement which was founded in 1957 in Qamishli (around 700 kilometers northeast of Damascus - the ed.) and we've been working underground ever since. We are the first political organization of the Assyrian people in Syria and we have branches in the US, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey. The Assyrians are the living descendants of the people and the civilization of Mesopotamia, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Aramean, Syriac…Our people has been known in Mesopotamia throughout history under all these denominations.
http://www.dw.de/geneva-ii-is-last-opportunity-to-oust-assad/a-17183235
29. As Syria disintegrates, so too does Iraq
28 October 2013 / IndependentThe civil war in Syria is reigniting the sectarian civil war in Iraq. A vast area of eastern Syrian and western Iraq is turning into a zone of war. Well-armed and well-organised al-Qa’ida-linked movements are launching attacks with suicide bombers from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Tigris River. They may also be over-playing their hand and risk provoking a counter-reaction by all those with a reason to fear al-Qa’ida and its fanatical Sunni fundamentalism. No doubt groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) are growing stronger by the day. Its advance in Syria has been well publicised and has done enough to frighten the US and its allies into doubting how far they want to see President Bashar al-Assad replaced by Sunni fanatics.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-syria-disintegrates-so-too-does-iraq-8909348.html<http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-syria-disintegrates-so-too-does-iraq-8909348.html>
30. Iraqi Kurdistan: State-in-the-making?
28 October 2013 / BBC NewsWherever you are in the world it takes nerve to invest in the amusement park industry - roller coasters can go down as well as up. But the Chavy Land Park in the Iraqi-Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah offers a particularly challenging balance of risk and reward.
On the one hand there isn't much competition for the leisure dollar in the Iraqi tourism industry - not yet at least. On the other, the violence and chaos of the last few decades is still a painfully recent memory. You get an echo of that in the recorded announcement at the gate which reminds you that you're not allowed to bring weapons into the park.
But Chavy Land is an impressive achievement. The neon lights of an imposing Ferris Wheel and an eye-wateringly high roller coaster gleam against the inky night sky like precious stones on a jeweller's cushion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24708736 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24708736>
31. WADI’s ground-breaking campaign against FGM: interview
27 October 2013 / Hivos Falah Moradhkin is WADI’s project coordinator in Iraq. He was one of the few who survived a poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein in Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan, in 1988. Now part of WADI, a German-Iraqi NGO working in the region since 1993, he fights against other such crimes against humanity. His colleague Suad Abdul Rahman leads the women's programme, with which Hivos has worked closely for years.
Since WADI helped open the first women’s safe house in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1999, its local staff have focused on empowering and assisting women and invested much time and effort in the fight against female circumcision (also referred to as female genital mutilation, or FGM). This was no easy task, according to Falah: "Even my friends and acquaintances zapped away when I was on television. They found it embarrassing to hear me – a man – discuss such an intimate subject as FGM!" Initially, WADI emphasised the medical angle of the story by having doctors talk about the health risks of FGM.
http://westasia.hivos.org/news/wadis-ground-breaking-campaign-against-fgm-interview <http://westasia.hivos.org/news/wadis-ground-breaking-campaign-against-fgm-interview>
32. EU Proposal to Monitor "Intolerant" Citizens
28 October 2013 / Gatestone Institute While European leaders are busy expressing public indignation over reports of American espionage operations in the European Union, the European Parliament is quietly considering a proposal that calls for the direct surveillance of any EU citizen suspected of being "intolerant." Critics say the measure -- which seeks to force the national governments of all 28 EU member states to establish "special administrative units" to monitor any individual or group expressing views that the self-appointed guardians of European multiculturalism deem to be "intolerant" -- represents an unparalleled threat to free speech in a Europe where citizens are already regularly punished for expressing the "wrong" opinions, especially about Islam.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4036/eu-intolerant-citizens <http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4036/eu-intolerant-citizens>
33. Double standards on tolerance promoted in European Parliament
20 September 2013 / European Dignity WatchA proposed Framework National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance was presented to members of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on the 17th of September. It called for direct surveillance of supposedly intolerant behavior of individual citizens and groups by Governmental bodies. Put forward by an NGO, the ideas contained in the policy proposal would not only create double standards on the issue of tolerance but would severely limit freedom of speech and expression. It is part of a broader trend of such ideas becoming official EU policy. A prominent 45-minute slot was given to the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR), to present their policy proposal at a recent meeting of LIBE this week.
http://www.europeandignitywatch.org/pl/codzienny/detail/article/double-standards-on-tolerance-promoted-in-european-parliament.html<http://www.europeandignitywatch.org/pl/codzienny/detail/article/double-standards-on-tolerance-promoted-in-european-parliament.html>
29 October 2013 / ANFKurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council co-president Cemil Bayık has put forward three conditions in order for the continuation of the democratic resolution process in search of a peaceful question to the Kurdish question; improvement of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan's situation, a change in legal arrangements and the participation of a third party in the negotiations. Speaking to journalist Faruk Balıkçı, Bayık remarked that the democratic resolution process was initiated by Öcalan and advanced by the unilateral steps of the Kurdish side. Bayık pointed out that the AKP government has on the other hand taken no steps intended for a solution and wanted to break the will of the Kurdish people by following policies deepening the war in the country.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-three-conditions-to-move-process-forward.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-three-conditions-to-move-process-forward.htm>
2. As Election Cycle Nears, Turkey’s Kurds Warn of Peace Talk Risks
25 October 2013 / Wall Street JournalTurkey’s much-vaunted Kurdish peace process has had a tough few months. Beset by mounting risks, both sides have accused one another of failing to honor pledges as they come under increasing pressure from their constituencies to take a tougher stance.
On Friday, Turkey’s Kurdish leaders flagged what promises to be yet another risk to the peace process: an election cycle that tends to see Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turn into a nationalist hawk to boost his party’s support at the ballot box.
http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/10/25/as-election-cycle-nears-turkeys-kurds-warn-of-peace-talk-risks/<http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/10/25/as-election-cycle-nears-turkeys-kurds-warn-of-peace-talk-risks/>
3. Thirteen PKK prisoners on hunger strike
29 October 2013 / ANFThirteen PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) prisoners have started indefinite and irreversible hunger strike in Van F Type prison. After 18 PKK inmates in Bingöl M Type Closed Prison escaped from the jail on 25 September, 17 were arrested in an expansive military operation while the whereabouts of the other one still remains unknown. 13 of the fugitives were transferred to Van F Type prison where they have reportedly been subjected to arbitrary practices and orders during and after their transfer to Van F Type prison. Speaking about the protest of the fugitive prisoners, TUYAD-DER (Association of Solidarity with Prisoners' Relatives) Van Branch Chair Ahmet Aygün said that the fugitives were placed in cells away from those of political prisoners.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/thirteen-pkk-prisoners-on-hunger-strike.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/thirteen-pkk-prisoners-on-hunger-strike.htm>
4. Ethnicity, sexual orientation excluded in hate crime draft presented to Turkish Cabinet
27 October 2013 / HurriyetA draft presented to the Cabinet concerning hate crimes does not include provisions for those targeted because of their sexual orientation or ethnic identity. The draft, which designates “hate and prejudice” as an aggravation cause for crimes, was presented as one of the reforms that government vowed to implement as part of its “democracy package.” However, hate and prejudice crimes are defined in the draft as “crimes committed based on someone’s or some group’s language, race, nationality, skin color, gender, disability, political views, philosophical beliefs or religion,” excluding those based on ethnicity and sexual orientation, different to many European countries.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ethnicity-sexual-orientation-excluded-in-hate-crime-draft-presented-to-turkish-cabinet.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56925&NewsCatID=339 <http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ethnicity-sexual-orientation-excluded-in-hate-crime-draft-presented-to-turkish-cabinet.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56925&NewsCatID=339>
5. New hearing of journalists trial
28 October 2013 / ANFThe seventh hearing of the so-called “KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Press Committee case” has resumed at Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court on Monday. 46 Kurdish press workers, 20 of whom are in prison, are tried in the KCK press case.
Speaking during the hearing, DIHA former reporter Ülkem Evrim Kepenek said that it was the journalism profession that was being tried in the KCK press case, and called on the court to either recognize or prohibit the freedom of press rather than trying journalists performing their works.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/new-hearing-of-journalists-trial.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/new-hearing-of-journalists-trial.htm>
6. Facebook Censures BDP Again
29 October 2013 / BianetFacebook closed down the page of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) General Headquarters. 5 days ago, the social network also closed down the page of BDP Istanbul Administration. “Facebook’s censure policy on our party is similar to the oppression policies in the political field,” BDP said in a statement. Facebook reportedly reasoned the closure with the word “Kurdistan” in the page content. BDP officials then said they spoke with Facebook Europe Director Richard Allan who said that the close was due to several factors. They added that Facebook is to return to their inquiries in 24-36 hours. BDP’s statement continued as follows:
“Facebook, as it appeared on the media, allowed video and image content where heads were chopped, saying that such content could not be banned for condemning purposes. They chose to allow this content and left a black stain in the history of social media.”
http://www.bianet.org/english/politics/150904-facebook-censures-bdp-again <http://www.bianet.org/english/politics/150904-facebook-censures-bdp-again>
7. City of Selmas under siege
28 October 2013 / ANFIranian police and soldiers have surrounded the city of Selmas and forbidden entry to area following the execution of the Kurdish political activist İlham Mamed yesterday, October 26th. The execution came on the same day that the Iranian regime executed another Kurdish prisoner, Habibullah Gulperipur, in Urmiye prison.
The city is in lock-down owing to regime fears of a public backlash following the execution. İlham Mamedi was born in Selmas, in the province of Western Azerbaijan, in 1978. The city is home to a mix of Kurds, Azeris, Assyrians, Armenians, and Persians, and the city has played an important role in the history of Eastern Kurdistan. Mamedi was known to have been from a family that was active in the Kurdish movement. Before his arrested he had worked in border trade, and had been married with two children. However his family was killed in a fire that broke out because of a tear-gas bomb in 2006.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/city-of-selmas-under-siege.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/city-of-selmas-under-siege.htm>
8. Al-Qaeda recruits entering Syria from Turkey safehouses
30 October 2013 / Daily TelegraphHundreds of al-Qaeda recruits are being kept in safe houses in southern Turkey, before being smuggled over the border to wage “jihad” in Syria, The Daily Telegraph has learned. The network of hideouts is enabling a steady flow of foreign fighters - including Britons - to join the country’s civil war, according to some of the volunteers involved.
These foreign jihadists have now largely eclipsed the “moderate” wing of the rebel Free Syrian Army, which is supported by the West. Al-Qaeda’s ability to use Turkish territory will raise questions about the role the Nato member is playing in Syria’s civil war.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10415935/Al-Qaeda-recruits-entering-Syria-from-Turkey-safehouses.html<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10415935/Al-Qaeda-recruits-entering-Syria-from-Turkey-safehouses.html>
9. Syria Kurdish Leader: Solution Must Include Assad
26 October 2013 / Al MonitorSalih Muslim, co-chairman of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said a solution in Syria without President Bashar al-Assad is not easy. “A solution without Assad means the death of 2 million Alawites," he said. Muslim, who gave an exclusive interview in Rojava to Hilmi Hacioglu of the popular Turkish TV news program The 32nd Day, said his party wanted to participate in the Geneva meeting not as part of the Syrian National Coalition but as an independent Kurdish movement. Yet, some countries, including Turkey, were trying to block this. Muslim said a solution without Assad would have been possible two years ago, but it was now impossible. "All Alawites now support Assad. Insisting on a solution without Assad means the death of 2 million Alawites in the country,” he added.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurds-assad-solution-salih-muslim.html <http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/syria-kurds-assad-solution-salih-muslim.html>
10. Kurds rout Syrian militants on Iraq border
27 October 2013 / The Nation Fierce clashes raged Saturday after Syrian Kurds seized from militants a crossing on the Iraqi border, a key supply route for weapons and fighters in the 31-month war, activists said. Meanwhile, UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was in Iran as he presses efforts to build a consensus for a Geneva conference aimed at ending the conflict.
Fighters from both sides were killed in the border clashes, which came a day after Syria’s regime and its opponents traded blame for a car bomb attack on a mosque that left dozens dead. The Kurds “took control of the Al-Yaarubia border crossing with Iraq at dawn after clashes with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Al-Nusra Front and other rebels,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing activists.
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/27-Oct-2013/kurds-rout-syrian-militants-on-iraq-border<http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/27-Oct-2013/kurds-rout-syrian-militants-on-iraq-border>
11. Kurdish militants tighten grip on Syria's northeast
27 October 2013 / ReutersKurdish militants sought to consolidate their control of an oil-producing region in northeastern Syria on Sunday after seizing a border crossing with Iraq from Islamist rebels, activists said. Fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought in neighbouring Turkey for decades, were clearing pockets of resistance of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, al-Nusra Front, and Ahrar al-Sham in the border town of Yarubiya, Syrian opposition sources said. "The Kurds are now in control of the Yarubiya border post. They now have a clear route to market the region's oil, which should belong to all Syrians. Thousands of Arabs have fled," said Yasser Farhan, a member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/27/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE99P02D20131027 <http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/27/uk-syria-crisis-idUKBRE99P02D20131027>
12. Assad: Foreign powers must end rebel support
31 October 2013 / Al JazeeraThe Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has said he is open to peace talks but insisted that they would not go ahead unless foreign nations stopped supporting rebel fighters. The comments came during a meeting on Wednesday with peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Damascus. "The Syrian people are the only ones who have the right to decide on Syria's future, and any solution or agreement must have the acceptance of the Syrian people, and reflect their desires," Assad told Brahimi. The meeting came as part of a regional tour aimed at garnering support for a US-Russian peace initiative for Syria planned next month in Geneva. Assad also warned there must not be "any foreign intervention" in seeking a solution to Syria's civil war, in which an estimated 115,000 people have died in 31 months. "Putting an end to support for the terrorists and pressuring the states that support them is the most important step to prepare... for dialogue," Assad said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/assad-foreign-powers-must-end-rebel-support-20131031272366309.html
13. Rebels conduct new chemical weapons attack in Syria near Turkish border – report
29 October 2013 / RTThe rebels used chemical weapons in north-eastern Syria near the border with Turkey on Tuesday, a Lebanese TV channel Al-Mayadeen reported. The toxic shell exploded near a Kurdish defense forces’ checkpoint close to the border with Turkey in the city of Ras al-Ayn al-Hasakah. The attack was reported by Kurdish defense forces who are conducting military operations against the rebels in the region. They are quoted as saying they saw toxic yellow smoke that followed the shell explosion, while some of them had symptoms of severe chemical intoxication accompanied by nausea. The reported chemical attack comes amid the second day of fierce fighting in the town.
http://rt.com/news/rebels-chemical-weapons-syria-927/ <http://rt.com/news/rebels-chemical-weapons-syria-927/>
14. Iraqi Kurdistan plans second oil pipeline via Turkey
31 October 2013 / eKurdIraq's northern Kurdistan region plans to build a second new oil export pipeline to Turkey within the next two years as it ramps up output independently of Baghdad, Kurdistan's natural resources minister said on Thursday. Speaking at an energy conference in Istanbul, Ashti Hawrami, a member of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), outlined an ambitious oil export growth strategy for the autonomous region, whose growing independence has angered Baghdad. Construction of the first pipeline to Turkey is complete, and it is being tested in preparation for the start of commercial shipments in the first quarter of 2014, officials said. Kurdistan will track the volumes of its sharply rising crude oil exports on the pipeline, independently of the central government,www.Ekurd.net Hawrami told the conference, adding that the region ultimately aimed to produce 3 million barrels per day of oil for export.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/10/state7443.htm <http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/10/state7443.htm>
15. Kurdish Leaders and Academics Propose New Model for Middle East in Washington
29 October 2013 / Rojava ReportIn a historic conference entitled “The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East,” which took place yesterday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, prominent Kurdish leaders and academics joined with American politicians and regional experts to discuss the future of the Middle East and the changing place of Kurds in the region. The conference consisted of four separate panels, each of which addressed a different topic.
Salih Muslim, who was scheduled to attend the conference in person but was unable to for reasons that were unclear, reaffirmed his desire to establish relations with the United States and to cooperate in the building of a democratic Syria. When a representative of the KRG, Karwan Zebari, was asked about Muslim’s absence at the conference and the role that the KRG had played in the matter, he said he had no information and declined to comment.
http://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/kurdish-leaders-and-academics-propose-new-model-for-middle-east-in-washington/<http://rojavareport.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/kurdish-leaders-and-academics-propose-new-model-for-middle-east-in-washington/>
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
16. Fixing a broken Turkish democracy
30 October 2013 / Open DemocracySeptember 30, 2013 was a historic milestone in Turkey's political life and that of its so-called 'youthful' democracy. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a democracy package including some reforms regarding the rights of different groups within society. This declaration was broadcast live by several television stations, a kind of habit in Turkey, whenever the Prime Minister declares anything much at all. However, this time, Erdoğan’s message was really important. Some deputies in the Peace and Democracy Party (the pro-Kurdish Party in Turkey) even went to Qandil Mountain to watch the declaration being made alongside PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leaders.
http://www.opendemocracy.net/sarphan-uzuno%C4%9Flu/fixing-broken-turkish-democracy
17. Turkey Must Refocus On Kurdish Peace Process
24 October 2013 / Al MonitorFor years, at every national and international platform, I have stressed that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey wants a solution to the Kurdish issue, especially when I was addressing Kurdish audiences who didn’t want to believe me. Mind you, I was never sure that the AKP government had fully understood the Kurdish issue and that it would come up with an appropriate solution. Nevertheless, I kept supporting any step that would bring Turkey nearer to a solution, and I will not stop doing so. This should not stop us from seeing the gaps in the solution process that arise from the government’s lack of grasping the core of the Kurdish issue, or perhaps its unwillingness to understand it. Such gaps could in time widen and derail the solution process.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/10/turkey-kurdish-peace-process-syria.html
18. From HDP convention: We are the remedy
29 October 2013 / HurriyetAt the Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Sports Hall, where their convention was held in Ankara, with banners on all sides of the stands the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) described itself with these adjectives: Democratic, populist, liberal, colorful, youngest, pro-autonomy, peaceful, ecologist, egalitarian, laborer, LGBTI and a female party… As the idea matured, the HDP generated several debates. From the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and even to the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). This is also related to its formula. What kind of a formula is this?
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/from-hdp-convention-we-are-the-remedy-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56992&NewsCatID=396<http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/from-hdp-convention-we-are-the-remedy-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56992&NewsCatID=396>
19. New Kurdish Party Could Impact Local Turkish Elections
31 October 2013 / Al MonitorAt a party convention in Ankara on Oct. 27, participants shouted intriguing chants. One of them — “Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance” — was the hallmark slogan of the protests that broke out in Istanbul on May 30 over the cutting of trees at Gezi Park and then spread nationwide. Do the chants, shouted at the convention of the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP), indicate that a party is emerging to fill Turkey’s “democratic opposition” vacuum, which the Gezi protests themselves had underscored? A party that has allocated a 10% quota for LGBT individuals and a 50% quota for women, could the HDP have a say in Turkey’s future? To find the answers, let’s first see how the HDP was born.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/new-kurdish-party-could-impact-turkey-elections.html
20. The International Media Turns the Spotlight on Turkey
31 October 2013 / IFJAfter seven years behind bars, Turkish journalist Füsun Erdoğan was still not released when she appeared in an Istanbul court on Wednesday. However, international and Turkish media are now really turning the spotlight on the case of the dozens of imprisoned Turkish journalists. Pressure, from the IFJ/EFJ and others, is growing against the regime's treatment of journalists - including on the square in front of Europe's largest courthouse. Twenty-five relatives, friends, and human rights activists form a wall in front of the courthouse. They are carrying signs and wearing vests emblazoned with the words 'Waiting for Justice'. The peaceful - and completely silent - demonstration is filmed by the BBC, Dutch television and a number of Turkish media. The message of the human wall is clear: the fifty imprisoned Turkish journalists must be released.
http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/the-international-media-turns-the-spotlight-on-turkey <http://europe.ifj.org/en/articles/the-international-media-turns-the-spotlight-on-turkey>
21. Turkish Kurds hope for linguistic freedom
26 October 2013 / Deutsche Welle"Roj bas" means "Good day" in Kurdish. The greeting marks the start of a language lesson at the premises of the Kurdi-Der association in Diyarbakir, a city with a large population of ethnic Kurds. The participants seated at the desks are all Kurdish, aged between 24 and 30. One of them is Derya Can, a student of medicine, who is doing an internship at a local hospital. "Working there I noticed how limited my knowledge of Kurdish was," said Can, adding that this made communication with patients more difficult and created larger problems in the patient-care system. "This is why I decided to learn Kurdish really well and become a doctor who can communicate properly with her patients."
http://www.dw.de/turkish-kurds-hope-for-linguistic-freedom/a-17184968 <http://www.dw.de/turkish-kurds-hope-for-linguistic-freedom/a-17184968>
22. Fragile Peace Holds on a Syrian Island
31 October 2013 / IPS“The whole region is under control but be careful in the city centre,” says a Kurdish militiaman at the eastern gate of Qamishli, 600 km northeast of capital Damascus, confirming rumours about breaches in Syria’s relatively stable northeast. Sandwiched between Turkey and Syria, this city of 200,000 is known for its large Christian processions at Easter, held almost simultaneously with the mass celebration of Newroz, the Kurdish and Persian new year. Qamishli is not only a melting pot of Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds and Arabs but also the place where the Syrian Kurd uprising had its origins. It was March 2004 when rioting after a football match in Qamishli led to days of dissident protests in the Kurdish regions, as well as in Damascus and other cities with a significant Kurdish population.
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/fragile-peace-holds-on-a-syrian-island/ <http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/fragile-peace-holds-on-a-syrian-island/>
23. The Kurds Get a Second Chance in Syria
30 October 2013 / BloombergMore than 200,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees have moved into Iraqi Kurdistan. They have crossed an international border to be sure, yet it is, in the Kurdish world view, a passage from one part of their homeland to another. The Kurds disregard these frontiers, imposed on the Fertile Crescent almost a century ago by Anglo-French power.
No Kurd is lamenting the erosion of the borders in this tangled geography. The partition of the successor states of the Ottoman Empire brought the Kurds grief and dispossession. The Persians, Turks and Arabs secured their own states. Indeed, the Arabs were bequeathed several states in the geography of “Turkish Arabia” that runs from the Iraqi border with Iran to the Mediterranean.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-30/the-kurds-get-a-second-chance-in-syria.html
24. Five Reasons US Should Change Policies Toward Syria’s Kurds
31 October 2013 / Al MonitorSyria’s most influential Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has been running a belt of mainly Kurdish settlements along the Turkish border since July 2012, has been knocking on Washington’s door for some time, but it remains firmly shut. The situation was driven home on Oct. 28 when Kurds from across the globe gathered for a groundbreaking conference called “The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East” held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Organized by Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish party, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), the event offered Washington pundits and policy makers a rare chance to take part in a conversation about the world’s largest ethnic minority, which despite not having a state of its own, has become a key player in the Middle East.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/us-change-policy-syria-kurds.html
25. The Road to Geneva 2 and the Challenges to a Negotiated Political Solution in Syria
28 October 2013 / Institute for National Security StudiesThe Syrian conflict has long since descended into a protracted and bloody civil war, with the regime and the diverse groups that comprise the opposition locked in a painful stalemate, unable to tip the military balance of power in anyone’s favor. The Geneva 2 negotiations, reportedly scheduled to take place in late November 2013, should be seen in light of this reality, underscoring the importance of ending the conflict through a political deal. Indeed, the notion of renewing the efforts launched in Geneva in June 2012 has gained additional traction in the weeks following the US-Russia entente on Syria’s chemical weapons, with the UN Security Council endorsing the implementation of the June 2012 plan in Resolution 2128 on Syria’s chemical arsenal. But even with these renewed international efforts, the challenges ahead are monumental.
http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=5894 <http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=5894>
26. Geneva II Talks: Are Kurds the Solution to the Syrian Puzzle?
25 October 2013 / International Business TimesWhile the world holds its breath awaiting the Geneva II peace talks, scheduled for 23 November, analysts are beginning to wonder whether a minor player may shed new light on the Syrian puzzle. Together with the Syrian opposition, Syrian Kurds are preparing themselves to take to the negotiating table. While their hope is to gain recognition of the historical northern Kurdish region of Rojava, deeper regional and international interests may currently be at stake. A tangled web of divisions and mistrusts is preventing both Kurds and international actors from considering the potential of their participation. Should they overcome these suspicions, however, the international community may dispose of a key piece in the Syrian puzzle.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516984/20131025/syria-geneva-kurds-assad-al-qaida-puzzle.htm<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516984/20131025/syria-geneva-kurds-assad-al-qaida-puzzle.htm>
27. Meet the Kurdish Female Freedom Fighters of Syria
29 October 2013 / ViceAvesta, a female sniper, sits smoking a cigarette in Ras al-Ayn, Syria. A cross hangs from black string around her neck. Other women, clutching Kalashnikov assault rifles, smoke Gauloises cigarettes and sip coffee, sitting beside a car camouflaged by a thick layer of dried mud. “If I see a commander, I will shoot him,” says the 27-year-old sniper, Avesta, her long brown hair coming down to her shoulders. “Otherwise, I pick whoever is closest to me.” Avesta and her companions are fighters with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia defending Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province.
For much of the past year, the YPG’s fighters have battled al-Qaeda-linked militants—notably the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra (JN)—and Free Syrian Army militants for control of the oil-producing province.
http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-kurdish-female-freedom-fighters-of-syria <http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-kurdish-female-freedom-fighters-of-syria>
28. 'Geneva II is last opportunity to oust Assad'
30 October 2013 / Deutsche WelleGebrail Kourie is the President of the Assyrian Democratic Organization.
DW: Can you describe the Assyrian Democratic Organization and how it works? Gebrail Kourie: The Assyrian Democratic Organization is a national, political and democratic movement which was founded in 1957 in Qamishli (around 700 kilometers northeast of Damascus - the ed.) and we've been working underground ever since. We are the first political organization of the Assyrian people in Syria and we have branches in the US, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey. The Assyrians are the living descendants of the people and the civilization of Mesopotamia, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Aramean, Syriac…Our people has been known in Mesopotamia throughout history under all these denominations.
http://www.dw.de/geneva-ii-is-last-opportunity-to-oust-assad/a-17183235
29. As Syria disintegrates, so too does Iraq
28 October 2013 / IndependentThe civil war in Syria is reigniting the sectarian civil war in Iraq. A vast area of eastern Syrian and western Iraq is turning into a zone of war. Well-armed and well-organised al-Qa’ida-linked movements are launching attacks with suicide bombers from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Tigris River. They may also be over-playing their hand and risk provoking a counter-reaction by all those with a reason to fear al-Qa’ida and its fanatical Sunni fundamentalism. No doubt groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) are growing stronger by the day. Its advance in Syria has been well publicised and has done enough to frighten the US and its allies into doubting how far they want to see President Bashar al-Assad replaced by Sunni fanatics.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-syria-disintegrates-so-too-does-iraq-8909348.html<http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-syria-disintegrates-so-too-does-iraq-8909348.html>
30. Iraqi Kurdistan: State-in-the-making?
28 October 2013 / BBC NewsWherever you are in the world it takes nerve to invest in the amusement park industry - roller coasters can go down as well as up. But the Chavy Land Park in the Iraqi-Kurdish city of Sulaymaniyah offers a particularly challenging balance of risk and reward.
On the one hand there isn't much competition for the leisure dollar in the Iraqi tourism industry - not yet at least. On the other, the violence and chaos of the last few decades is still a painfully recent memory. You get an echo of that in the recorded announcement at the gate which reminds you that you're not allowed to bring weapons into the park.
But Chavy Land is an impressive achievement. The neon lights of an imposing Ferris Wheel and an eye-wateringly high roller coaster gleam against the inky night sky like precious stones on a jeweller's cushion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24708736 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24708736>
31. WADI’s ground-breaking campaign against FGM: interview
27 October 2013 / Hivos Falah Moradhkin is WADI’s project coordinator in Iraq. He was one of the few who survived a poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein in Halabja, Iraqi Kurdistan, in 1988. Now part of WADI, a German-Iraqi NGO working in the region since 1993, he fights against other such crimes against humanity. His colleague Suad Abdul Rahman leads the women's programme, with which Hivos has worked closely for years.
Since WADI helped open the first women’s safe house in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1999, its local staff have focused on empowering and assisting women and invested much time and effort in the fight against female circumcision (also referred to as female genital mutilation, or FGM). This was no easy task, according to Falah: "Even my friends and acquaintances zapped away when I was on television. They found it embarrassing to hear me – a man – discuss such an intimate subject as FGM!" Initially, WADI emphasised the medical angle of the story by having doctors talk about the health risks of FGM.
http://westasia.hivos.org/news/wadis-ground-breaking-campaign-against-fgm-interview <http://westasia.hivos.org/news/wadis-ground-breaking-campaign-against-fgm-interview>
32. EU Proposal to Monitor "Intolerant" Citizens
28 October 2013 / Gatestone Institute While European leaders are busy expressing public indignation over reports of American espionage operations in the European Union, the European Parliament is quietly considering a proposal that calls for the direct surveillance of any EU citizen suspected of being "intolerant." Critics say the measure -- which seeks to force the national governments of all 28 EU member states to establish "special administrative units" to monitor any individual or group expressing views that the self-appointed guardians of European multiculturalism deem to be "intolerant" -- represents an unparalleled threat to free speech in a Europe where citizens are already regularly punished for expressing the "wrong" opinions, especially about Islam.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4036/eu-intolerant-citizens <http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4036/eu-intolerant-citizens>
33. Double standards on tolerance promoted in European Parliament
20 September 2013 / European Dignity WatchA proposed Framework National Statute for the Promotion of Tolerance was presented to members of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) on the 17th of September. It called for direct surveillance of supposedly intolerant behavior of individual citizens and groups by Governmental bodies. Put forward by an NGO, the ideas contained in the policy proposal would not only create double standards on the issue of tolerance but would severely limit freedom of speech and expression. It is part of a broader trend of such ideas becoming official EU policy. A prominent 45-minute slot was given to the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR), to present their policy proposal at a recent meeting of LIBE this week.
http://www.europeandignitywatch.org/pl/codzienny/detail/article/double-standards-on-tolerance-promoted-in-european-parliament.html<http://www.europeandignitywatch.org/pl/codzienny/detail/article/double-standards-on-tolerance-promoted-in-european-parliament.html>
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