1. Ocalan to Receive Delegation; Turkey Rejects Retrial
1 June 2014 / RudawA delegation from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) is expected to arrive on Turkey’s Imrali island today and meet with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Pervin Buldan, Idris Baluken and Sirri Sureyya Onder, who are members of the Turkish parliament, are to deliver to Ocalan the outcome of their meetings with PKK leaders in the Qandil mountains and Turkish officials. It is also reported that the delegation will consult Ocalan about HDP’s next convention and the party’s candidate for Turkey’s presidential elections.
Meanwhile, Ocalan’s lawyers say they are stonewalled by the Turkish high court in their efforts to push for a “retrial” for Ocalan. Rezan Sarica, Cengiz Yurekli and Mezlum Dinc, Ocalan’s three lawyers, had prepared a 26-page report, hoping to reopen the case of the PKK leader and persuade the Turkish judicial authorities for a retrial.http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/01062014#sthash.vXC7aB6L.GbjqwLA9.dpuf<http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/01062014%23sthash.vXC7aB6L.GbjqwLA9.dpuf>
2. Öcalan: In the next 2 or 3 weeks there will be important talks
2 June 2014 / ANFHDP MP Önder said that at yesterday’s meeting Öcalan told them there would be significant developments in the process in the coming period, adding: "in this time there will be political delegations and also talks he will have with the state delegation.” Önder said that Öcalan had listed the principles of ‘inclusiveness', ‘belief in democratic politics’ and ‘peace development’ as key for the Presidential elections. Öcalan had warned Erdoğan, who has threatened the HDP-BDP, saying: “don’t make a war plan”.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-in-the-next-2-or-3-weeks-there-will-be-important-talks.htm<http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-in-the-next-2-or-3-weeks-there-will-be-important-talks.htm>
3. Öcalan: Hope for peace must be protected
2 June 2014 / ANFHDP group chairs İdris Baluken and Pervin Buldan and HDP deputy co-chair Sırrı Süreyya Önder visited PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan at İmralı today.
After the meeting the HDP delegation issued a written statement. It reads as follows:
“At the meeting with Mr Öcalan the latest situation in the process and recent developments were evaluated. Mr Öcalan said: ‘the most significant reality is the fact the process has reached a new phase,’ adding that: ‘at the point reached there was hope for a serious beginning, and this hope must be protected and developed.’ Öcalan drew attention to the compelling factors emanating from both sides, urging them both to behave responsibly and sensitively in order to avoid provocative positions.
Öcalan said the two sides should concentrate on making realistic and sincere proposals for a genuine beginning, and on finding ways and methods of putting these into practice.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-hope-for-peace-must-be-protected.htm
4. Turkey, Kurds see peace talks progress despite southeast unrest
2 June 2014 / World BulletinTurkey's peace talks with Kurdish rebels are advancing despite recent unrest in the southeast, representatives of both sides said, and could boost Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of becoming president. A parliamentary delegation from Turkey's Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) visited the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on Sunday. According to a statement released by HDP, Abdullah Ocalan told the delegation that the government initiative called "the solution process" entered a new phase. "At the point reached, there was a significant hope for a serious beginning and this hope must be protected and developed," Ocalan said, according to a statement. "In the previous state of affairs, there was a hope for a new, serious beginning. This hope must be protected and enhanced."
http://www.worldbulletin.net/general/137942/turkey-kurds-see-peace-talks-progress-despite-southeast-unrest<http://www.worldbulletin.net/general/137942/turkey-kurds-see-peace-talks-progress-despite-southeast-unrest>
5. Gezi Anniversary Protests: 126 Detained, 13 Wounded
2 June 2014 / BianetA great number of people have been detained and many people were injured during the demonstrations in Istanbul on the first anniversary of Gezi Resistance last Saturday.
Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) announced that at least 126 demonstrators were detained and Human Rights Association (IHD) declared that 13 were injured.
“Today, we had a good day. İstanbul looks better thanks to peace and security,” Istanbul Provincial Police Chief Selami Altınok said during his visit to the police who were on duty.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/156117-gezi-anniversary-protests-126-detained-13-wounded<http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/156117-gezi-anniversary-protests-126-detained-13-wounded>
6. Six Journalists Targeted By Turkish Police
2 June 2014 / IFJThe European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has criticised a new wave of violence against journalists covering the anniversary of the Gezi Park protests in Istanbul on 1 June. Journalists covering the Gezi protests’ anniversary in Istanbul and Ankara have again been beaten, intimidated, insulted and injured by the Turkish police forces while doing their job. According to figures gathered by the EFJ affiliate, the Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi (TGS - Journalists' Union of Turkey), several journalists have been attacked by the Turkish police forces while reporting the peaceful protest taking place in Taksim square (Istanbul) and Ankara.
http://www.ifj.org/nc/news-single-view/backpid/1/article/six-journalists-targeted-by-turkish-police/
7. BDP Victory in Ağrı Local Election
2 June 2014 / ANFAfter the official statement of the High Election Council declaring the victory of BDP in Ağrı, people poured into the streets and started celebrating the result until the early hours of the morning in their cars and with fireworks. After the BDP won the election with 23.393 votes, tens of thousands of people started to chant in favour of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. A huge flag of yellow, red and green and posters of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan were raised. HDP deputies, mayors of the region and members of the BDP party executive who came to Ağrı to celebrate the result, greeted the citizens.
BDP executive Ferhat Tarhan said: “Agirî is not bleeding anymore, Agirî became the fortress of the struggle, and the reality of Kurdistan is in struggle here.”
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/bdp-victory-in-agri-local-election.htm <http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/bdp-victory-in-agri-local-election.htm>
8. BDP wins election in Norsin
3 June 2014 / The Kurdish QuestionThe official election result has been announced in Norsin. The BDP finished 1,178 votes clear of its nearest rival, the AKP.
The District Election Council has announced the official results, which are as follows:
The BDP was first with 5,464 votes, the AKP was second with 4,286 votes, while 413 votes cast were declared invalid.
The local elections held across Turkey and Kurdistan on the 30th of March earlier this year were re-held in some towns and cities amid allegations of fraud.
http://kurdishquestion.com/north-kurdistan/news/bdp-wins-election-in-norsin.html
9. Turkish Troops Attacked People in Lice
4 June 2014 / ANFurkish military forces once again attacked people in Lice (in the province of Amed) in the early hours of the morning. People in Lice have been resisting the building of a new military post for ten days. Heavy clashes occurred this morning when over a thousand soldiers surrounded the village of Çelik (which has become the centre of the people's resistance) and attached the people with water cannons and tear gas.
Villagers responded to the attacks by throwing stones and molotov cocktails.
The protest in Lice and surrounding villages has been going on since 24 May.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/turkish-troops-attacked-people-in-lice.htm
10. Turkey puts Nusra Front on 'terror list'
3 June 2013 / World BulletinTurkey has designated Al Nusra Front - a branch of Al-Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon - as a terrorist organization after the decision was announced by the Turkish Council of Ministers on Tuesday. The decision, which was published in Turkey's Official newspaper, states that individuals and organizations linked to the group may now have their assets frozen. The Nusra Front, which operates as Al-Qaeda's official wing in Syria under the command of Abu Muhammad al-Golani, has been fighting against Bashar al-Assad's regime in the three-year civil war, often alongside other local brigades.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/general/138058/turkey-puts-nusra-front-on-terror-list <http://www.worldbulletin.net/general/138058/turkey-puts-nusra-front-on-terror-list>
12. Gerger: When it comes to the Kurds the world is silent
3 June 2014 / ANFMiddle East expert Professor Haluk Gerger talked to ANF about the silence of the world after the massacre of women and children carried out by ISIS in Rojava last week. Gerger pointed out that the Kurds are surrounded on all sides, and that when it comes to them the whole world remains silent. Gerger added: “On the one side, Turkey, on another the Ba’ath regime, on another, Al Qaeda. Then there are the Arab nationalists, and the imperialists, the West. As the Kurds are besieged, when there is a massacre everyone is silent and they ignore it.”
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/gerger-when-it-comes-to-the-kurds-the-world-is-silent.htm#.U42Duq1DPr0.facebook<http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/gerger-when-it-comes-to-the-kurds-the-world-is-silent.htm#.U42Duq1DPr0.facebook>
13. Syria’s ISIS takes scores hostage in ongoing battle with Kurdish militia
2 June 2014 / McClatchy DCA rogue al Qaida offshoot abducted nearly 200 Kurdish villagers over the weekend in Syria’s Aleppo province, the latest sign of the growing conflict between primarily Arab Islamist rebels and an ethnic Kurdish militia that has established a de facto Kurdish state in northeastern Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, drawing on reports from a network of activists in the area, said that fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria entered the village of al Qbasin and began abducting residents. Qbasin is on the outskirts of the ISIS-controlled town of al Bab in northeastern Syria.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/02/229121/syrias-isis-takes-scores-hostage.html?sp=%2F99%2F117%2F<http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/02/229121/syrias-isis-takes-scores-hostage.html?sp=%2F99%2F117%2F>
14. Syria's Kurdish region to boycott presidential elections
2 June 2014 / Al MonitorThe newly established canton administrations in Syria will not allow the Syrian government to place election ballot boxes in Kurdish-controlled cities in northern Syria on June 3. Only in the cities of Qamishli and Hasakah, where there is still a regime presence, will the government be able to install ballot boxes. The Syrian government sent 350 ballot boxes to Qamishli's airport and 70 to Hasakah. Syrian citizens will be allowed to vote with their identity cards in regime-controlled security areas in Hasakah and Qamishli city, and in the military base and airport of Qamishli.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/syria-kurds-assad-presidential-elections-pyd.html
15. Syria Kurds from local council to hold elections
1 June 2014 / KurdpressThe Syrian Kurds that are controlling the northern region of the country have formed an election council to hold polls in the three cantons they have formed after they took control of the regions due to civil war in the country.
According to Hawar News the Kurds' elections' independent high council unveiled in Amuda, a Kurdish city in the northern Syria, the symbol and the logo of the polls and said an-18-member committee has been established to hold the elections. The report is at a time that Syria is preparing its self for the June 3 presidential elections.
The logo is in three languages of Kurdish, Arabic and Syriani.
According to the recently formed law in the three cantons, only parties are allowed to take part in the polls that have officially accepted the cantons that are under the control of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
http://www.kurdpress.com/En/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=7481#Title=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Syria%20Kurds%20from%20local%20council%20to%20hold%20elections%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09<http://www.kurdpress.com/En/NSite/FullStory/News/?Id=7481#Title=%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09%09Syria%20Kurds%20from%20local%20council%20to%20hold%20elections%0A%09%09%09%09%09%09%09>
16. RSF: Syrian conflict leads to Barzani's KDP reprisals against pro-PKK media in Iraqi Kurdistan
4 June 2014 / eKurdournalists, news media and freedom of information in Iraqi Kurdistan have been hit by a recent increase in the traditional tension between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), whose leader, Massoud Barzani, is Iraqi Kurdistan’s president, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Turkish armed separatist group that has many fighters based in Iraqi Kurdistan. The friction between the rival groups has been exacerbated by the war in neighbouring Syria, where the PKK’s Syrian wing, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), is the leading political force in the mainly Kurdish areas in the north [Syrian Kurdistan region] and has been harassing pro-KDP institutions and expelling pro-Barzani politicians.http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2014/6/state8054.htm
17. Rudaw’s 2014 Person of the Year
30 May 2014 / RudawOne year has passed since the Rudaw Media Network was launched. Starting this year, Rudaw will celebrate its anniversary by promoting the works of those who have contributed to the Kurdish cause, and have inspired others to do so. To this end, every year Rudaw will have the honor to announce and award its Person of the Year.
We are happy to announce that this year’s laureate will be the renowned Turkish sociologist and scholar, Dr. Ismail Beşikçi, honored for his “52 years of support for freedom and the Kurdish cause.” After careful considerations and with the consent of Dr. Beşikçi, Rudaw proudly announces that Dr. Ismail Beşikçi is the 2014 Person of the Year. Therefore, Rudaw will dedicate itself to publishing and promoting the works of Dr. Beşikçi, which are written in defense of equality among nations and freedom for the Kurdish people.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/30052014
18. Freed Iranian rights lawyer: 'I've a bad feeling about the women I left behind'
2 June 2014 / GuardianNasrin Sotoudeh's seven-year-old son, Nima, wants to go out to play. His mother, the leading Iranian human rights lawyer whose arbitrary imprisonment in 2010 sparked an international campaign to free her, has been talking for ages. Nima is bored.
At the door to their apartment in north-west Tehran, Nasrin takes Nima in her arms. The boy stands on tip-toe to embrace his mother. They hold each other for a minute or more. It is as though the two cannot bear to be separated.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/01/iran-rights-lawyer-nasrin-sotoudeh
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
19. The “Freedom for Ocalan” Campaign June 2014 / The Kurdish Question
Duran Kalkan: The Kurds and their friends have been running a "Freedom for Ocalan" campaign for some time now. This campaign has been running in all parts of Kurdistan, the Middle East and the rest of the World. Signatures are being collected, the situation in Kurdistan is being put across, information on the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Ocalan is being given books and flyers are being distributed... Until now, millions of signatures have been collected demanding for the freedom of Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Ocalan. A lot of interest has been shown to the campaign in Kurdistan and the Middle East. It has been said that the campaign is targeting 10 million signatures. The campaign is nearing the end. According to those running the campaign, it will be ended on the 1st of September.
http://kurdishquestion.com/dossiers/the-freedom-for-ocalan-campaign.html
20. Latest Developments and Arising Questions Regarding the Paris Murders
June 2014 / The Kurdish QuestionThe 9th of January is a cold and dark day for all Kurds. On this night, the bodies of three Kurdish women revolutionaries Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez were found. The Kurdish people took this act of brutality to be a provocation towards the peace meetings that were taking place between the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Ocalan and a delegation from the Turkish state. Rather expectedly, the Turkish state and its allies preferred to put a spin on the murders, and claimed that it was an internal reckoning within the PKK.
http://kurdishquestion.com/dossiers/latest-developments-and-arising-questions-regarding-the-paris-murders.html
21. Kurdish Women and the Peace Process in Turkey
31 May 2014 / Fair ObserverKurdish women are getting involved in the peace process to promote a free, equal and democratic society. For more than eight decades, the Kurdish people have been pushing for cultural recognition and territorial independence. The Kurds are another contemporary example of a people without a land. After the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1924, the Middle East was divided into several countries and the territorial region known as Kurdistan was split between Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
As a response, Kurdish political organizations and military factions were created across the region to defend the Kurdish cause. However, they have met fierce resistance from the central governments in all four countries, which has often resulted in armed conflict and violence such as the Halabja chemical attack in Iraq in 1988.
http://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/kurdish-women-and-the-peace-process-in-turkey-69410/
22. Gezi Park 2014: A People Rising Up For Their Freedom
31 May 2014 / Free Turkish MediaToday is the first anniversary of Gezi Park demonstrations that happened a year ago and lasted for months spreading all across Turkey. Ordinary citizens who protested first at demolishing a park in Taksim Square İstanbul turned into anti-government protests that included some 3.4 million people. The events coincided with similar events that deposed Mohamad Mursi, the elected dictator of Egypt. Turkish government and its neo-conservative absolutist PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan resorted to mass police tactics fearing a similar fate would fall upon him.
http://freeturkishmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/gezi-park-2014-people-rising-up-for.html<http://freeturkishmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/gezi-park-2014-people-rising-up-for.html>
23. Interview with Frederike Geerdink, The Only Foreign Journalist Based in Diyarbakir
June 2014 / The Kurdish QuestionA fearless and brave reporter, even before travelling to Amed, Geerdink wrote an article in the summer of 2011 arguing that the labeling of the PKK as a 'terrorist' organisation was hampering a political settlement of the Kurdish issue and worse justified violence against the Kurdish movement "Time for a new political signal: strike the PKK off the list of terrorist organizations." She wrote. It was an honest and fresh approach that we had not seen voiced by many reporters writing from Turkey. And it was an approach that was to continue and dominate her writing! Settling in Amed, Geerdink began a media project that was to be funded from crowd sourcing that she had set up and organised herself through social media to look at the Kurdish Question in greater depth and from a Kurdish perspective.
http://kurdishquestion.com/north-kurdistan/interview-with-frederike-geerdink-the-only-foreign-journalist-based-in-diyarbakir/104-interview-with-frederike-geerdink-the-only-foreign-journalist-based-in-diyarbakir.html
24. The Kurds and the Future of Assad
2 June 2014 / Atlantic CouncilPresident Bashar al-Assad’s recent victories in Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus could pose a threat to Kurdish gains in the future. In the run-up to the Syrian presidential elections taking place on June 3, clashes increased between Kurds and government. If the stalemate continues, the Kurds will benefit, but if one side wins—either Assad, or the fragmented opposition—the Kurds will have to make difficult choices. Initially, the opponents of Assad and regional rivals of the Syrian government expected a quick downfall of the regime. But Iran and Russia’s almost unconditional support for Assad and the refusal of the Western countries to intervene in Syria, ensured the survival of the Assad regime.
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-kurds-and-the-future-of-assad
25. Surprising Ties between Israel and the Kurds
Summer 2014 / Middle East QuarterlyIn 1966, Iraqi defense minister Abd al-Aziz al-Uqayli blamed the Kurds of Iraq for seeking to establish "a second Israel" in the Middle East. He also claimed that "the West and the East are supporting the rebels to create [khalq] a new Israeli state in the north of the homeland as they had done in 1948 when they created Israel. It is as if history is repeating itself." An Arab commentator had warned earlier that if such a thing should happen, "the Arabs will face within two decades their second nakba [catastrophe] after Palestine." These contentions speak volumes regarding Iraq's threat perceptions of the Kurds more than four decades after the establishment of the Iraqi state. They also conceptualize Israel as the ultimate evil in the region. Such accusations are echoed today by some Arab media, which claim that Kurdistan is following in the footsteps of "Yahudistan" ("Land of the Jews").
http://www.meforum.org/3838/israel-kurds#_ftnref54 <http://www.meforum.org/3838/israel-kurds%23_ftnref54>
26. Jordan and the Syria Crisis: Mitigating the 'Known Unknowns'
30 May 2014 / The Washington InstituteOn May 27, Jordan expelled Bahjat Suleiman -- Syria's ambassador to Amman and the Assad regime's former general security director -- for "repeated insults and offenses" against the kingdom. The decision came after Suleiman crashed the Hashemite royal court's Independence Day celebrations, and in response to his track record of propagandistic social media posts. Meanwhile, a week before Suleiman's ouster, Jordanian armed forces clashed with a group of twelve Jordanian and foreign fighters from al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) who were attempting to cross into the kingdom from Syria's southern Deraa region. These measures against two polar opposites in the Syrian war highlight the difficult situation in which Jordan finds itself as the crisis escalates, with potentially dire consequences emerging no matter which course of action it takes.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/jordan-and-the-syria-crisis-mitigating-the-known-unknowns
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