Kurds could help shift course of war in Syria
29 July 2013 / ReutersThe head of Turkey's main Kurdish party has welcomed contacts between the Ankara government and Syria's Kurds, saying it could step up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and help change the course of the civil war. Turkish intelligence officers met in Istanbul last week with Saleh Muslim, head of Syria's Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Kurdish group whose militias have been fighting for control of parts of Syria's north near the Turkish border.The meeting followed Muslim's declaration that Kurdish groups would set up an independent council to run Kurdish areas of Syria until the war ends. Ankara fears that kind of autonomy could rekindle separatist sentiment among its own, much larger Kurdish population as it seeks to end a 30-year-old insurgency.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/29/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE96S0FW20130729
Salih Muslim’s Ankara Visit Marks Major Policy Change
29 July 2013 / RudawThe Democratic Union Party (PYD) has reassured Ankara that his group’s call for a local administration in Syria’s Kurdish regions does not mean that the group is looking to divide Syria. Salih Muslim, leader of the PYD, met with Turkish officials last week, marking a major policy change between two sides deeply suspicious of each other. Muslim who flew to Turkey from Erbil, told the media that he was in Turkey to allay Ankara’s concerns over Kurdish separatism, and to explain why the Syria’s Kurdish regions needed a local administration to run their own affairs.
"Kurds will need to have a status in the new order in Syria,” Muslim told Anadolu News Agency. “But what's in question now is a provisional arrangement until we arrive at that phase. It's not about making a constitution, but practical rules are necessary.”
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/29072013
Muslim visit to Turkey proficouos
27 July 2013 / ANFDemocratic Union Party (PYD) co-chair, Salih Muslim, who is currently in Turkey, underlined that Syrian Kurds will seek a "new status" in the new political system to be established in Syria. Muslim added that there is a need for a provisional council in the territory controlled by Kurds in northern Syria, which could also include Arabs, Syriacs and Turkmens, to guarantee governance until the two-year-long conflict reaches a settlement. "By all means,- said Muslim - Kurds will need to have a status in the new order in Syria. But what's in question now is a provisional arrangement until we arrive at that phase. It's not about making a Constitution, but practical rules are necessary."
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/muslim-visit-to-turkey-proficouos.htm
Syrian Kurd Leader: Turkey Changes Position, Vows Aid
28 July 2013 / al ManarThe head of the main Syrian Kurdish party said on Sunday that Turkey has changed its position and will provide the Kurds in Syria with humanitarian aid.
"A promise has been made. Turkey is going to help our people in all areas. That is to say it will provide humanitarian aid," said Saleh Muslim, co-president of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), in an interview published Sunday in the Turkish daily Milliyet.
"I can say that Turkey has changed its attitude towards the PYD. The simple fact that I am here already shows the biggest change," said Muslim, who was invited to Istanbul by Turkey's foreign ministry and met Turkish officials on Friday.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=103871&frid=23&seccatid=20&cid=23&fromval=1
Head of Syrian Kurdish group in Turkey for talks – sources
26 July 2013 / ReutersThe head of a Syrian Kurdish group with links to militants in Turkey was in Istanbul on Friday for talks with government officials after an upsurge in fighting near the border, Kurdish political sources said. Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose militias have seized control of districts in northern Syria over the past year, arrived in Turkey late on Thursday, the sources told Reuters. Turkey is keen to extract assurances from the PYD that it will not seek to carry out actions on Turkish soil, will not try to carve out an autonomous region on the border, and that it will maintain a stance of firm opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/uk-syria-crisis-kurds-idUKBRE96P09620130726
Lawyers in Turkey seek retrial for Kurdish rebel leader Ocalan
26 July 2013 / ReutersLawyers for Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, serving a life sentence in Turkey for treason, on Friday filed a request for his retrial, arguing recent legislative changes pave the way for new legal proceedings and a fairer trial. Ocalan, 64, is viewed by nationalist Turks as responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people in a 29-year war between the army and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) before his capture and conviction in 1999. But for many Kurds, who make up an estimated 20 percent of the population, Ocalan embodies their struggle for greater political and cultural rights in Turkey. Any retrial could prove deeply polarizing as the government seeks to negotiate an end to the long-running conflict with the PKK. A Justice Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, in Ankara said retrying Ocalan now was "impossible".
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/26/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE96P0QO20130726
Turkish Foreign Ministry recruits Kurdish Diplomats
27 July 2013 / Kurdish GlobeFollowing the changes made in the police of Turkey toward Kurds and after the attempts made for promoting peace process between Turkey and Kurds, the Turkish government has started taking practical steps. According to Press Turk website, Turkey?s Foreign Affairs Ministry has appointed ten Kurdish diplomats as the government representative in the Kurdish areas. The Foreign Ministry is looking for Kurdish-speaking personnel to appoint as diplomats to regions where the Kurdish language is spoken, such as northern Iraq. These individuals not only have to speak an advanced level of English, French or German but also must speak Kurdish.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=B2C886339A3759BB958DE62B2E36ADAF
Al-Qaeda Militants Travel To Syria Via Turkey
28 July 2013 / Al MonitorDuring the 2½ years of clashes in Syria, there has been constant debate about how Turkey’s borders were crossed. There were reports that Islamic groups going to fight regime of President Bashar al-Assad — first and foremost al-Qaeda, which has supporters in Turkey — were crossing over the Turkish border.To find out more, we met with people close to al-Qaeda in Istanbul. These people are shopkeepers who live in the Fatih district of Istanbul, but who won’t give their names. They have interesting things to say about the Syrian war. These sources told us that following the eruption of war in Syria, al-Qaeda elements from Europe, the Caucasus, Afghanistan and North Africa began crossing into Syria via Turkey. These sources also had interesting things to say about the clashes with the Kurdish PYD and how the border is crossed.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/07/al-qaeda-militants-syria-turkey-border.html
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Kurdish ‘nationhood’
29 July 2013 / HurriyetThe main problem with Turkish politics concerning Kurds is that “Turks” cannot accept any prospect of Kurds ruling themselves. Turks in general and the present government in particular resist the idea of Kurdish “nationhood” and that is it. The Kurds may be latecomers but the Kurdish problem is a “national problem,” and first of all, this reality has to be acknowledged. Otherwise, Turkey’s domestic and regional politics concerning the Kurds will not lead anywhere positive. Recently it has been the Kurds of Syria and their Democratic Union Party (PYD) that became the focus of controversy. In the very beginning, a year ago, Turkey expressed a very harsh reaction when the PYD declared some sort of self-rule in Kurdish regions. As Turkey lowered its tone against the PYD of northern Syrian Kurds, the basic idea that Kurds should not form any political identity has not changed.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kurdish-nationhood.aspx?pageID=238&nID=51576&NewsCatID=406
Turkish Protests, Syria Crisis Will Boost Turkey-PKK Peace Process
29 July 2013 / Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceOP-ED - The Gezi Park protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which shook Turkey at the end of May, represent a turning point in Turkey’s contemporary political history. Although their main target was Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his style of government, the protests, in combination with developments in Syria’s civil war, will have significant consequences for the ongoing peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, the need to effectively address the Kurdish issue could accelerate recent shifts in Turkey’s stance on the Syrian crisis.
http://carnegieendowment.org/2013/07/29/turkish-protests-syria-crisis-will-boost-turkey-pkk-peace-process/ggqq
What Does the PYD Want From Turkey?
27 July 2013 / OrsamSince the Democratic Union Party (PYD) took over most the Kurdish-dominated regions of Syria since July 19th 2012, there have been worries in Turkey over a de-facto Kurdish autonomy in Syria and fears this could threat the territorial integrity of Turkey. On 12 July, the pro-Kurdish Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported for the first time, that the PYD had plans to form an interim government, constitution and parliament. Despite of this, most people seem to forget that a Kurdish autonomy in Syria would be difficult to achieve, since the Kurdish areas are fragmented into three Kurdish regions Afrin (Efrîn), Ayn al-Arab (Kobanê), and the Hasakah (Hesîçe) province. [1] Therefore, a small minority of Syrian Kurds think it’s easier to have three Kurdish ‘autonomous’ small regions in Syria.
http://www.orsam.org.tr/en/showArticle.aspx?ID=2385&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
STRATFOR REPORT – TURKEY’S LOSSES
26 July 2013 / MesopRoughly two years ago, the region and wider international community welcomed Turkey’s geopolitical resurgence — guided by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or AKP — as a check on Iranian influence. Then the Arab spring came, bringing with it a major opportunity for Ankara to expand its geopolitical footprint in the Middle East, a key Turkish objective that had been blocked by Iranian influence. Now, however, it appears that Ankara has lost more than it sought to gain, in areas stretching from the Levant to the Persian Gulf region to North Africa.
Saleh Muslim, the leader of the main Syrian Kurdish separatist movement Democratic Union Party, or PYD, arrived in Istanbul on Thursday for what is being described by the Turkish press as “unexpected” talks with Turkey’s national security leadership. The visit comes a day after Erdogan held an emergency meeting with his top associates to discuss developments in northern Syria.
http://www.mesop.de/2013/07/26/stratfor-report-turkeys-losses/
Turkey’s Missed Opportunities With the Kurds
28 July 2013 / Al MonitorThe idea of convening a Kurdish National Congress of Kurds from "four parts" in the Iraqi Kurdistan — or South Kurdistan — town of Erbil that has become the Kurdish national center goes back four years. What is meant by "four parts" are the four countries Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, where the Kurds have been forced to live without their own state despite their sizable populations and geographical continuity. An important element in the injustices heaped on the Kurds occurred after World War I, when Western colonial powers reshaped the region on the rubble of the Ottoman Empire with the creation of Persian, Arab and Turkish nation states (Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey). But this doesn’t mean one should overlook the Kurdish social structures that are vulnerable to divisions, tribal rivalries, internal conflicts and their feeble national consciousness that enhances such injustices.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/07/kurdish-nationalism-turkey-foreign-policy.html
Foreign policy implications of the Kurdish peace for Turkey
26 July 2013 / Al JazeeraAs the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) continues its relocation across the border into northern Iraq, analysts in Turkey have written extensively on the potential domestic benefits. For decades, the conflict in Turkey has hindered democratisation, stifled free expression, hampered economic progress and attenuated the bonds between state and society. Crafting a peace settlement would remove the biggest impediment to increased democratisation, more robust civil liberties, and economic development. This in return would improve state-society relations. Thus, the domestic gains of peace with the PKK are evident. However, little discussed, but no less important, are the foreign policy implications of the peace.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/07/2013725121452974827.html
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