KURDISH NEWS UPDATE, 19 November 2013‏

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>