I SALUTE THE FREEDOM NEWROZ OF THE OPPRESSED
I salute the people of the Middle East and Central Asia celebrating this awakening, revival and resurgence day of Newroz with the most extensive participation and unity.
I salute all the fraternal peoples celebrating Newroz, the day of enlightenment and a turning point of a new era, with great enthusiasm and democratic tolerance.
I salute all those who are travelling on this grand path who have democratic rights, freedom and equality as their guides.
I salute you the Kurdish people from the Zagros and Taurus mountain sides, to the Euphrates and Tigris river valleys. I salute the Kurdish people who are one of the oldest peoples in the cradle of human civilisation and birthplace of agriculture in the sacred Mesopotamian and Anatolian lands to the pastoral, village and urban civilisations.
The Kurds have taken part in the thousands of year old civilisation together with different races, religions, creeds in fraternity and friendship and have built this civilisation together. For Kurds the Euphrates and Tigris share kinship with Sakarya and Maritsa. Ararat and Judi are the friends Kaçkars and Erciyes. Halay[1] and Delilo[2], are the relatives of Horon[3] and Zeybek[4].
This great civilisation and these fraternal communities have been played off against each other through political pressure, external interventions and vested interests. Thus there was an attempt to build systems that were not based upon rights, law, equality and freedom.
The last two hundred years of wars of conquest, Western imperialist interventions, repressive and denialist doctrines have tried to bury the Arabian, Turkic, Persian and Kurdish communities to nation statehoods, to imaginary borders and artificial problems.
The time of exploitative regimes, repressive and denialist doctrines is now coming to an end. The people of the Middle East and those of the Central Asia are awakening. They are returning to themselves and to their roots. They demand a halt to the senseless and provocative wars and conflicts waged against one another.
Those thousands, indeed millions of people who have occupied and filled the squares burning with the fire of Newroz are crying out for peace, fraternity and demands for a solution.
This struggle, which for my own part began as my individual rebellion against the despair, ignorance and slavery that I was born into, aimed to create a consciousness, an understanding and a new spirit. Today I see that this upsurge has reached a new level.
Our fight has not been and can never be against any race, religion, sect or group. Our fight has been against repression, ignorance, injustice and against enforced underdevelopment as well as all forms of repression and oppression.
Today we are waking up to a new Turkey and a new Middle East.
The youth who have welcomed my call, the most respected women who heed my call, friends who have accepted my arguments and all the people who take note of my voice; today a new era is beginning.
The door is opening from the armed struggle period to that of democratic politics.
We have reached the point where weapons can fall silent and ideas and democratic politics will have the chance to speak.
A new phase in our struggle is beginning. Now a door is opening to a phase where we are moving from armed resistance to an era of democratic political struggle.
A process with more weight on political, social and economic aspects is beginning; a perception based on democratic rights, freedoms, equality is developing.
We have sacrificed decades of our lives for the people and we paid a high price. None of these sacrifices nor the struggle were in vain because as a result the Kurdish people have rediscovered their own identity and heritage.
The modernist paradigm that has disregarded, denied and excluded us has been razed to the ground. Regardless of whether they are Turkish, Kurdish, Laz or Circassian – the blood is flowing from the human being and from the bosom of this land.
Witnessed by the millions of people who heed my call I say a new era is beginning, politics gain prominence over weapons. We have now come to the stage of the withdrawal of our armed forces outside the borders. I believe that all those who have believed in this cause and me shall be alert to the dangers of the process. This is not an end, but a new beginning. This is not abandoning the struggle but to start a different struggle. The establishment of lands based on ethnicity and one-nation is an inhuman fabrication intended by a modernity that denies our roots and origins.
A great responsibility falls on everyone so that an equal, free and democratic country of all peoples and cultures can be founded befitting the history of Kurdistan and Anatolia. On this occasion of Newroz I call on the Armenians, Turkomans, Assyrians, Arabs and all the other peoples just as much as the Kurdish people to observe the flames of freedom and equality – due to the fire lit here today – as their own.
To the distinguished people of Turkey;
The Turkish people who are living in the ancient Anatolia today known as Turkey should know that the common life they have lived with the Kurds under the flag of Islam rests on the principles of fraternity and solidarity. In its true sense, in this law of fraternity there can be no room for conquest, denial, rejection, forced assimilation and annihilation.
The repressive, annihilationist and assimilationist policies of the last century based on capitalist modernity demonstrates only efforts to deny the whole history and law of fraternity by a ruling elite that does not represent the will of the people. It is now very clear that this grip of tyranny is in contradiction with history and law of fraternity. In order to be able to jointly break free from this I call on all of us, the two strategic power of the Middle East, to build a democratic modernity befitting our culture and civilisations.
It is time for alliance, unity, embracing one another and to give and receive blessings not that of dispute, conflict and despising one another. The Turks and Kurds who together fell martyr at Çanakkale; also went through the War of Independence together and opened the 1920 assembly jointly. The reality our common past puts before us the need to establish a common future. The spirit that established the Turkish Grand Assembly today points the way into this new era.
I call on all the oppressed peoples, representatives of classes and cultures; the women who are the oldest colony and oppressed class, all oppressed creeds, religions and all others of different cultural backgrounds, representatives of the working class and everyone who has been excluded from the system, to take up their position in the Democratic Modernity which is the new route out of this tyranny and to establish it in reality and as a way of life.
The Middle East and Central Asia are in search of a contemporary modernity and a democratic order that befits its own history. The quest for a new model where all can live and coexist freely and in fraternity has become an essential need like bread and water.
It is just as if we were experiencing a more current, more complicated and more profound version of the War of Independence that developed within the framework of the [1920] National Pact in our recent history.
Despite all the mistakes, shortcomings and errors of the past ninety years we are once again trying to build a model together with all the peoples, classes, and cultures who have become victims and been through terrible disasters. I call on all these circles to come and realise the creation of an egalitarian, free and democratic manner of expression.
I call on the Kurds, Turkoman, Assyrians and Arabs who were partitioned against the National Pact and today have been condemned to live under grave problems and conflicts within the Syrian and Iraqi Arab Republic to discuss, become aware and reassess their reality on the basis of a “National Solidarity and Peace Conference”.
The breadth and comprehensiveness of the “WE” concept holds an important place within the history of this land. However it has been reduced to a “ONE” in the hands of the narrow and ruling elite. It is time to give the "WE" concept its old spirit and implementation.
We shall unite in the face of those who want to divide and make us fight. We shall unite in the face of those who want to separate us.
Those who cannot understand the spirit of the age are thrown in the dustbin of history. Those who resist the water flow are dragged into the abyss.
The peoples of the region are witnessing the birth of new dawns. The peoples of the Middle East who have become tired of wars, conflicts and separations want to return to their roots and to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder.
This Newroz is a new herald to us all.
The truth in the messages of Prophet Moses, Jesus and Mohammed is now being implemented in life today and the human being is trying to regain what it has lost. We do not deny the values of the contemporary civilisation of the West as a whole. We indeed take the enlightenment, equal, free and democratic values and synthesise them with our own existential values and universal living forms in order to implement them.
The basis of the new struggle is thought, ideology and democratic politics, to be able to start a great democratic leap forward.
Greetings to all those who have given strength to this process and to those who have supported the democratic-peaceful solution!
I salute all those who have taken on the responsibility for the fraternity, equality and democratic freedom of peoples!
Long Live Newroz, Long Live the Fraternity of Peoples!
Imralı Prison 21 March 2013
Abdullah ÖCALAN
[translation from Turkish: International Initiative "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan"]
[1] Anatolian folk dance
[2] Kurdish folk dance
[3] Blacksee fold dance
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Thursday, 14 March 2013
FREE ADEM UZUN! Take part in the FREE ADEM UZUN campaign!
Adem Uzun is a Kurdish peace activist, politician and member of the Kurdish National Congress (KNK). He was arrested in Paris last October and
remains in detention without having been granted bail. Adem was a key negotiator in the Oslo Peace Talks with high level Turkish government representatives, but was arrested just a matter of weeks before the latest peace talks – now known as the Imrali Process – were announced at the beginning of this year.
His arrest, which was made on Turkey’s request, appears to simply be an attempt to undermine the search for a peaceful and political settlement to the Kurdish question. This criminalisation of the Kurdish political movement is shameful and must be stopped.
Peace in Kurdistan campaign and Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) are campaigning for Adem’s release, and have designed and printed postcards to be sent to the Justice Minister of France, Christiane Taubira, demanding that they FREE ADEM UZUN.
We want her to see that Adem has many supporters and that his arrest will not be tolerated by those of us who seek peace!
But we need YOU to sign and send them off to her!
To request a postcard, please write to estella24@tiscali.co.uk with your name, address and the number of cards you need, and we will send them out to you.
Find out more here: http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/activities/free-adem-uzun/
Postcard text:
Dear Mme Christiane Taubira,
Adem Uzun is a prominent Kurdish peace activist and leading politician with the Kurdistan National Congress, KNK. Adem is well-known throughout Europe for his political work and supporting a political solution to the Kurdish question, and has been a key Kurdish negotiator in the so-called “Oslo Process” with high-level Turkish Government’s representatives.
Adem’s arrest in Paris on 6 October came as a shock in view of the constructive and positive role that he had been playing in the ongoing search for a peace settlement acceptable to both sides.
Talks between Turkey and Kurdish leaders have since restarted as of early 2013 and we believe that it is essential that Adem Uzun be immediately released to enable him to continue his positive role as a peace negotiator.
His continued imprisonment can only undermine progress in these talks.
We urge you to free Adem Uzun; drop the charges against him and thereby give peace a chance.
--
remains in detention without having been granted bail. Adem was a key negotiator in the Oslo Peace Talks with high level Turkish government representatives, but was arrested just a matter of weeks before the latest peace talks – now known as the Imrali Process – were announced at the beginning of this year.
His arrest, which was made on Turkey’s request, appears to simply be an attempt to undermine the search for a peaceful and political settlement to the Kurdish question. This criminalisation of the Kurdish political movement is shameful and must be stopped.
Peace in Kurdistan campaign and Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) are campaigning for Adem’s release, and have designed and printed postcards to be sent to the Justice Minister of France, Christiane Taubira, demanding that they FREE ADEM UZUN.
We want her to see that Adem has many supporters and that his arrest will not be tolerated by those of us who seek peace!
But we need YOU to sign and send them off to her!
To request a postcard, please write to estella24@tiscali.co.uk with your name, address and the number of cards you need, and we will send them out to you.
Find out more here: http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/activities/free-adem-uzun/
Postcard text:
Dear Mme Christiane Taubira,
Adem Uzun is a prominent Kurdish peace activist and leading politician with the Kurdistan National Congress, KNK. Adem is well-known throughout Europe for his political work and supporting a political solution to the Kurdish question, and has been a key Kurdish negotiator in the so-called “Oslo Process” with high-level Turkish Government’s representatives.
Adem’s arrest in Paris on 6 October came as a shock in view of the constructive and positive role that he had been playing in the ongoing search for a peace settlement acceptable to both sides.
Talks between Turkey and Kurdish leaders have since restarted as of early 2013 and we believe that it is essential that Adem Uzun be immediately released to enable him to continue his positive role as a peace negotiator.
His continued imprisonment can only undermine progress in these talks.
We urge you to free Adem Uzun; drop the charges against him and thereby give peace a chance.
--
Kurdish News Update, 9 - 12 March 2013
1. High Stakes for Erdogan In Turkish Talks With PKK
8 March 2013 / Al Monitor
The leaking of the “Imrali minutes” has not dampened Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to press on with the peace talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who is serving a life sentence on the Island of Imrali. Erdogan has vowed to “drink poison hemlock” for the sake of peace. Meanwhile, the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which some see as the political wing of the PKK, and which is acting as an intermediary between Ocalan and PKK elements in Europe and the Kandil Mountains in Northern Iraq, has said it is willing to go the full distance for the success of the talks.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/erdogan-talks-ocalan-pkk-kurdish-peace-process-turkey.html
2. Women of Rojava building a free society
9 March 2013 / ANF
Kurdish women in Rojava intend to build a new society in the political, economic, social and diplomatic areas as well. Just like in all parts of Kurdistan and the Middle East, the freedom struggle of women has been led by Kurdish women in Syria and West Kurdistan as well. The long-lasting and challenging struggle of Kurdish women, for which they have paid great prices, have led to the creation of a great organization as well as the establishment of a democratic society. The history of the organized struggle of women in Lebanon, West Kurdistan and Syria began with Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan's arrival at the Syrian territory. They carried out significant works in the areas of life, society and philosophy within the period of 20 years when Öcalan stayed in this territory where he took significant steps concerning the reality of women and described women as the “leading power of life”.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/women-of-rojava-building-a-free-society.htm
3. Two party assembly members resign, press officer fired for leak, BDP says
12 March 2012 / Hurriyet
Two members of the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) party assembly have resigned while a press officer has been dismissed following the leakage of the content of talks with the head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the party said today. M. Rauf Kocaman and Resul Baykara, both members of the BDP party assembly, resigned from their posts in self-criticism over the responsibility for the leaking of documents, the party said in a statement to the Hürriyet Daily News. At the same time, press officer Ali Özgüç was dismissed from his post for sharing the contents of the talks without first notifying the party.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/two-party-assembly-members-resign-press-officer-fired-for-leak-bdp-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=42826&NewsCatID=338
4. HPG: Prisoners to be released tomorrow
12 March 2013 / ANF
People's Defense Forces (HPG) has announced that the eight prisoners it is holding will be released and handed over to the delegation on Wednesday.
A six-person delegation which left Diyarbakır on Monday has arrived in Hewler on Tuesday. The delegation includes Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies Sebahat Tuncel, Hüsamettin Zenderlioğlu and Adil Kurt, as well as Human Rights Association (IHD) President Öztürk Türkdoğan, IHD Diyarbakır Branch Chair Raci Bilici and MAZLUMDER Chairman Ahmet Faruk Ünsal.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/hpg-prisoners-to-be-released-tomorrow-flash.htm
5. Hearing of Kurdish politicians going on in Istanbul
12 March 2013 / Dicle News Agency
The sixth session of the fourth hearing of "KCK" Istanbul main lawsuit of 205 Kurdish politicians of them 118 arrested including politicians, academicians, writers, human rights defenders, is going on. The hearing is going on with the TRT reporter's reading of 2400-papered averment. The sixth of session of the fourth hearing of "KCK" Istanbul main lawsuit of 205 Kurdish politicians, of them 118 arrested, who were taken into custody in the military raids to lots of BDP buildings, politicy academies, homes and other foundations related to Kurds on 5-28 October 2011 in Istanbul, is going on in Istanbul 15th High Penalty Courthouse. 111 arrested indictees, families and lawyers stood by in the hearing.
http://www.diclehaber.com/2/22/1/viewNews/343836
6. Kurds welcome British genocide statement
8 March 2013 / UPI
Britain established its reputation as an international leader by formally recognizing Saddam Hussein's regime committed genocide in Iraq, a Kurdish leader said.
The British Parliament last week voted unanimously to recognize the genocide of the Kurdish people by Iraq's government under Saddam.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, an Iraqi defense minister under the former Baathist regime, was executed in January 2010 for ordering chemical weapons attacks on the Kurdish population in 1988 as part of the so-called Anfal campaign. An estimated 5,000 people were killed during the assault, earning Majid the nickname Chemical Ali.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/03/08/Kurds-welcome-British-genocide-statement/UPI-63351362762605/
7. Syrian Kurdish Militia Takes Over Oil Fields
7 March 2013 / Al Monitor
In the beginning of March, a Kurdish militia took over oil fields and installations in northeastern Syria, declaring their willingness to share the resources with the Syrian opposition if the Kurds would get their own share. With the ongoing civil war between Syrian government forces and Arab rebels, a Syrian Kurdish party called the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia, the Kurdish People’s Defence Units (YPG), are increasingly using the power vacuum to create a form of Kurdish autonomy similar to that which Iraqi Kurds enjoy. The PYD has set up local councils, security forces and Kurdish-language schools, creating a parallel government in the north of Syria.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/power-vacuum-oil-fields-syria-kurdish-militia-pyd.html
8. Mohsen Rezaee officially announced to be a candidate for the Iranian presidential election in eastern Kurdistan
10 March 2013 / Roj Helat
The secretary general of Expediency Discernment Council addressed the people of Divandareh in the city’s Grand Mosque: “I have been asked several time whether I will participate in the scene of presidential election or not, and I had postponed the answer to this question to the appropriate time and place, and today, among the people of Divandareh in Kurdistan province I announce that I will participate in the forthcoming presidential election.”
http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=5436
9. Over 50 Kurdish activists arrested in Iran
12 March 2013 / ANF
Based on official statistics more than 50 civil and political activists have been arrested by Iranian security forces during last two months. In recent days a new wave of arrest has been started specially in cities such as Pawe, Mehabad and Sne (Sanandaj). Iran’s Islamic Regime has intensified its pressure on Kurdish activists by illegal and mass arrests, issuing death penalty and abusing families of prisoners.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/over-50-kurdish-activists-arrested-in-iran.htm
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
10. The Democratic Union Party (PYD) Factor Forces Turkey to Have a Peace Process with the PKK
11 March 2013 / Kurdish Aspect
Let me be clear. I am for peace, and I support any step toward the peace process, because innocent people are paying the price. Therefore, I salute the BDP (Kurdish Peace Democratic Party), the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), and even the Turkish government for their courage in trying to end violence and bloodshed, but let’s be honest and not delude ourselves. Based on what we have seen and what has been done in the past, this recent fanfare is an effort to discredit the BDP and to encourage division between the Kurdish parties or groups such as the BDP, the PKK, the KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan), and the new Kurdish religious party, the Huda-Par Party.
http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc031113AM.html
11. Unprecedented Turns On Turkey's Kurdish Question
11 March 2013 / Al Monitor
Cengiz Candar: Turkey is a dazzling country. For years, I have been saying that nobody can claim to be an “expert on Turkey." Developments in the last couple of months have proven how right I was. Actually anyone can reach the same conclusion by looking at two photographs I saw. A photograph printed on the first pages of Turkish dailies in July caused a furor. Two women members of the parliament from the Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] known to be following the line of the notorious PKK and accepted as a Kurdish party in the parliament that is perceived as "Turkey’s Sinn Fein” were in the photograph. One of them is the current co-chair of BDP and the other was the previous co-chair. They were photographed embracing armed PKK militants who had cut off a road and were checking identifications at a point near the Iraqi border.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/kurdish-issue-turkey-developments-ocalan-bdp-pkk-ceasefire.html
12. The Kurds Are for the Kurds: Syria’s other combatants
8 March 2013 / The Weekly Standard
In northeast Syria, from the border with Iraq to the disputed town of Seri Kaniyah, a de facto Kurdish autonomous region has emerged. The area, known to the Kurds as western Kurdistan, is ruled by the Democratic Union party (PYD). This is the Syrian franchise of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which has been waging a military campaign against Turkey since 1984. The Kurds’ creation and successful defense of this area has largely been ignored in media coverage of Syria, with attention focused farther south and west, on the battle between the forces of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and the rebel insurgency.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/kurds-are-kurds_706670.html
13. Turkey and the Kurds: the era of mass hypnosis is over
7 March 2013 / Guardian
Since the start of this year, the Justice and Development party (AKP) has emerged from what looked like an impasse over Turkey's three-decade-long Kurdish conflict. The pace of change has been intense. But slow-motion progress in the background has often been overlooked: over the course of 15 years the public debate, backed by small-scale reforms, has evolved from the archaic militarist jargon of "there are no Kurds here, only mountain Turks". Ankara is now conducting direct negotiations with the jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan – once demonised as a baby killer and chief terrorist by a venomously nationalist "mainstream" media.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/07/turkey-kurds-recep-tayyip-erdogan
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 1-7 March 2013
1. Turkish PM berates media for coverage of Kurdish peace process
4 March 2013 / Reuters
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has accused the country's media of trying to undermine a nascent Kurdish peace process and called on journalists to censor themselves if they love their nation, prompting a rare rebuke from a normally compliant press. In a heated public speech over the weekend, Erdogan condemned an article in the daily Milliyet newspaper, which published a transcript of a meeting last month between militant chief Abdullah Ocalan and Kurdish politicians.
Ocalan, head of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been holding peace talks with Turkey since October on his island prison and met a delegation of Kurdish politicians late last month to discuss the negotiations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/04/us-turkey-kurds-media-idUSBRE9230PI20130304
2. BDP Executive Board gathers in Ankara
4 March 2013 / ANF
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) central executive board and parliamentary group have gathered at the BDP head office in Ankara on Monday.
The meeting, closed to the press, will reportedly handle Öcalan's letters and recent developments in the process of talks with the Kurdish leader for a solution to the Kurdish problem. Among the letters written by Öcalan, one was sent to Kandil, one to Europe and one to BDP and HDK (People's Democratic Congress). After BDP received the letters on 26 February, the letters to Kandil and Europe were delivered to both addresses on the 27th. Following the Party Council and Central Executive Board meeting of BDP, a delegation of the BDP and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) went to Federal Kurdistan Region on the 27th to have talks with relevant political authorities here about Öcalan's letter. The delegation's most siginificant meeting was that with Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council President Murat Karayılan and other KCK executives on Saturday.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/bdp-executive-board-gathers-in-ankara.htm
3. Kışanak: We are working for the release of Turkish prisoners
4 March 2013 / ANF
Speaking after the central executive board and parliamentary group meeting of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) at the BDP head office in Ankara on Monday, co-chair Gültan Kışanak said that they had held the meeting to form opinions in order to make contribution to the ongoing process of talks for a solution to the Kurdish problem.
Kışanak pointed out that they were facing the responsibility of coming up with a solution for a vital issue, adding; “We have come up to this point by going through challenging times which made Kurds suffer great difficulties and pains as well as violations of their rights and freedoms. Well aware of the fact that we are witnessing a historic phase now, the executives of our party are trying to develop practical proposals and debates concerning the steps necessary for the process of talks to advance and to lead to a democratic life. We will continue to hold meetings and to focus our works on this purpose”.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kisanak-we-are-working-for-the-release-of-turkish-prisoners.htm
4. PKK's Captives Interviewed
6 March 2013 / Bianet
Firat News Agency has released a series of interviews with 8 state workers - including Turkish army officers, a prospective governor and policeman - who are being held as captives by PKK since 2011. Family members of captive workers expressed their concerns to Hürriyet newspaper. On February 23, during the meeting with Kurdish deputies on peace talks, PKK leader Öcalan said "both PKK and Turkish state held captives". On the same day, Kurdish deputies reportedly received a letter from Öcalan which appealed the release of PKK's captives in Qandil Mountain in 10 days.
On Saturday, Peace and Democracy Party Co-Chairperson Gültan Kışanak confirmed Öcalan's statement in a press conference.
Firat News Agency also cited the caption dates of aforementioned Turkish state workers.
http://www.bianet.org/english/other/144880-pkk-s-captives-interviewed
5. PM Erdogan's Remarks on Imrali Process Are Concerning, IPI Says
6 March 2013 / Bianet
The International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), released a statement yesterday, expressing its concerns overPM Erdogan's critical remarks on the publishing of Imrali peace process talks outlines by Milliyet newspaper.
“The job of journalists is to report on matters of public interest, which we believe include information on the potential resolution of a conflict that has dragged on for nearly three decades and claimed more than 40,000 lives," Anthony Mills, IPI Deputy Director, said.
http://www.bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/144897-pm-erdogan-s-remarks-on-imrali-process-are-concerning-ipi-says
6. KCK to respond to Öcalan within ten days
2 March 2013 / ANF
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and Democratic Society Congress (DTK) delegation have returned to Hewler, capital city of Federal Kurdistan Region, after paying a visit to Kandil where they met Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council President Murat Karayılan and other KCK executives on Saturday.
Following the visit to Media Defense Areas, the delegation, consisting of BDP co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Gültan Kışanak, Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chairs Ahmet Türk and Aysel Tuğluk, BDP deputies Altan Tan and Sırrı Süreyya Önder, held a press conference at the BDP office in Hewler.
Speaking here, Kışanak said that they had to make their visit to Kandil one day later than they had planned because of the heavy bombing by the Turkish army.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-to-respond-to-ocalan-within-ten-days.htm
7. In pictures: Kurds mourn slain activists
4 March 2013 / Al Jazeera
Thousands of Kurdish women have marched in the southeastern region of Turkey, commemorating three Kurdish women assassinated in France in January. The rallies on Sunday were part of a series of events planned for the week to observe the upcoming International Women's Day. The largest demonstration was held in Diyarbakir, the region's biggest city, which has been torn apart by clashes between the army and pro-Kurdish armed group Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) for more than 30 years.
Thousands of women shouted slogans protesting the death of the three women.
PKK members Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were shot dead at the Kurdistan Information Bureau in Paris on January 10.
Gultan Kisanak, the female co-leader of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), also attended the demonstration initiated by Democratic Free Women Movement, a Kurdish NGO. BDP has 29 members in parliament.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2013/03/20133493827926482.html
8. KCK main trial resumes in Istanbul
4 March 2013 / ANF
The fourth hearing of Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Istanbul main trial has begun this morning at Istanbul 15th High Criminal Court in Silivri Prison Complex.
205 politicians (118 are in prison), are tried in the scope of the so called KCK Istanbul case. The politicians, academics and human rights defenders on trial were arrested in a KCK operation which targeted BDP provincial and district offices, politics academies and institutions in Istanbul between 5 and 28 September 2011. Speaking at today's hearing, defendant lawyer Ercan Kanar asked the court board to allow three days time for the defense of suspects, defending that very litte time is allocated to the defense of a number of defendants. The chief judge rejected Kanar's request, saying that the court will act in line with its own program, according to which 205 suspects will be allowed to defend themselves one day long, from 14 to 15 March.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/kck-main-trial-resumes-in-istanbul.htm
9. 10 Associations Face Closure Trial in Van Province
28 February 2013 / Bianet
A chief prosecutor has filed closure lawsuits on 10 local associations in Van province, charging them for their linkages with PKK.
Among these associations, women rights advocacy teams, sick inmate solidarity groups and Kurdish language culture centers were listed.
In the declaration of charges accepted by a local district court this morning, Chief Prosecutor Canip Cihangir charged the aforementioned associations for their linkages with PKK according to secret witness testimonies.
"This is the first time that KCK prosecutions are targeting local associations. It always aimed individuals before," Murat Timur, Van Bar Association Chairperson, said.
Timur also added that there has been an ambivalence on which association activities were related to PKK linkages.
http://www.bianet.org/english/local-goverment/144764-10-associations-face-closure-trial-in-van-province <http://www.bianet.org/english/local-goverment/144764-10-associations-face-closure-trial-in-van-province>
10. Set journalists free in Turkey: EFJ campaign update
7 March 2013 / Peace in Kurdistan campaign
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) pursues its international campaign to Set Free all Journalists in Turkey.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/set-journalists-free-in-turkey-efj-campaign-update-13/
11. 164 Human Rights Organizations to Meet in Istanbul in May
6 March 2013 / Bianet
International Federation for Human Rights will host its 38th international conference in Istanbul. Alongside with representatives from Turkey, 164 human rights organizations from more than 100 countries will gather in Istanbul between May 23 and 27 to discuss human rights challenges, Turkey's new constitution and the ongoing peace process on the Kurdish problem. On May 23-24, a public international forum on "Political Transitions and Human Rights: Experiences and Challenges” will address issues of institutional reforms, challenges to fighting impunity, the negative consequences of economic crises or of globalization on human rights, challenges to women's rights, to freedom of religion, opinion or conscience, and to discrimination against minorities On May 25-27, the internal congress of FIDH will enable its 164 member organizations from more than 100 countries, to exchange best practices and define FIDH strategic orientations, as well as elect its international board.
http://www.bianet.org/english/world/144867-164-human-rights-organizations-to-meet-in-istanbul-in-may
12. Barzani: We are ready to play our role for peace in Turkey
5 March 2013 / ANF
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has said it is ready to do what it can in order to support the process of dialogue in Turkey.
KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told the press in Hewler/Erbil that its government "support this peace process. We are ready to play every role reserved for us. We hope that the problem will be solved in peace and democracy.” The press conference was joined by Ahmet Türk, deputy and co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK). The two met at Barzani’s house in Selahaddin. Türk said the meeting was part of the ongoing solution process. All parties should act sensitively in a bid to finalize the process through peace, Türk said. “Belief in peace will solve everything,” he said.
“We want Kurdish parties to play their part. Kurds are working for peace, but peace is not simply unilateral. Turks and Kurds need each other in the Middle East.”
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/barzani-we-are-ready-to-play-our-role-for-peace-in-turkey.htm
13. On the Ground Activities in western Kurdistan
28 Feruary 2013 / PYD Info
Girkê Legê: the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria held a meeting in the city
The Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party in Syria held an expanded meeting yesterday in the town of Girke Lege in order to discuss the recent developments in the region.
Ahmed Suleiman of the Central Committee, pointed out the role of the Kurdish people in the Syrian revolution, and condemned the reaction of some of the opposition parties which are ignoring the Kurdish cause.
Suleiman stressed the role of the Supreme Kurdish Council in representing the Kurdish will and that it should play an active role in voicing the Kurdish cause in the Syrian opposition.
He also praised the role of the military committee, supervised by the Supreme Kurdish Council and called on all parties to join them to protect western Kurdistan. […]
http://pydinfo.com/field-reports/75-on-the-ground-activities-in-western-kurdistan
14. Basque parliament urges Turkey to work for peace with Kurds
5 March 2013 / ANF
The Basque Parliament has condemned today, with the votes of Euskal Herria Bildu y Partito Nacionalista Vasco, the killing in Paris of Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement on 9 January. The original text presented by Euskal Herria Bildu addressed three main points. Besides condemning the three deaths and show solidarity with the families of the three militants and Kurdish people, it asks Turkey to commit to a negotiated solution to end the "suffering the people of Kurdistan and Turkey have endured for so many year". It also calls for the recognition of the Kurdish national reality and urges the Council of Europe to intervene in the conflict.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/basque-parliament-urges-turkey-to-work-for-peace-with-kurds.htm
15. Prison sentences asked for Kurdish politicians in France
1 March 2013 / ANF
Three to five years in prison has been asked for 18 Kurdish politicians whose trial is going on since their detention in 2007 in France.
The action of objection in the trial was held from 11 to 27 February. The court decision on Kurdish politicians will be announced on 23 April 2013.
Speaking in court following the two-days lasting defense statements by lawyers, Kurdish politician Nedim Seven demanded light beeing shed on the execution of Sakine Cansız, Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez in Paris on 9 January. Seven remarked that the French court trying them was a political act, adding; "None of the trials of Kurds will go beyond making a political decision unless the 30 years-old war between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), Kurds and the Turkish state is taken to trial at an international and independent court. Just like the former decision, the new decision to be made will also be a political one because of the political character of the case".
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/prison-sentences-asked-for-kurdish-politicians-in-france.htm
16. Protecting Workers Rights - Gerry Adams
3 March 2013 / ANF
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD speaking on Saturday's Sinn Féin organised conference ‘A century of workers in struggle 1913 -2013’said:
“100 years after the Lockout this state is only one of three EU member states in which workers have no legislated right to workplace representation – have no right to sit across from their employers and negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment. Workers have no right to collective bargaining. The government claimed that current legislation provides adequate protection. Workers deserve protection and they don’t have that. They deserve the legal protection of the government, particularly a government which has a Labour party component.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/out-there/protecting-workers-rights-gerry-adams.htm
17. From Rosa to Sakine: the International Women’s Movement and the Struggle of Kurdish Women
6 March 2013 / Roj Women
Roj Women Association organized a panel for International Women Solidarity Day at the Kurdish Community Center in North London in the evening of Sunday 3 March. Our slogan, “From the Mirabal Sisters to Rosa, from Rosa to Sakine: your words are our words, your ways are our ways” reflected how the Kurdish Women see their struggle as connected to the struggle of women across the world.
http://rojwomen.com/2013/03/06/from-rosa-to-sakine-the-international-womens-movement-and-the-struggle-of-kurdish-women/
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
18. Ocalan Signals Openness to Talks With Turkey on Kurdish Issue
3 March 2013 / Al Monitor
Milliyet, one of the most influential dailies of Turkey, rattled public opinion last Thursday. Milliyet headlined the notes of the meeting between three parliamentarians from the Peace and Democracy Party [BDP] and the PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan at the prison on Imrali island where he is serving a life sentence. In journalism jargon, Milliyet scored a true scoop. But in Turkey’s fragile and even volatile political climate, it is impossible for such a news report to be received as pure news. The opposition immediately went on the offensive. Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Action Party [MHP], the rigid and passionate representative of Turkish nationalism, alluded to the notes of the meeting with Ocalan, accusing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of “treason” because of the steps he had taken for a solution to the Kurdish issue.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/03/turkey-ocalan-pkk-akp-kurdish-peace-hope.html
19. Turks and Kurds look to Good Friday accords as template for peace
1 March 2013 / Guardian
While Turkish and Kurdish leaders wait for the music to start in their fragile "peace process", they have already jointly taken to the dance floor, warily exploring whether enemies can become partners. Two places they have been doing this are Britain and Ireland, with politicians from both sides visiting London, Belfast and Dublin to learn about the methodology and psychology of negotiations that led to the breakthrough Good Friday accords under Tony Blair. "Although there are historical differences between Northern Ireland and Turkey, it was very important. I learned a lot," said Ayla Akat, a Kurdish MP who took part. She recalled meetings Jonathan Powell, Blair's chief of staff, and learning of his "bicycle theory" of conducting negotiations. "You've got to keep pedalling or you fall over."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/turk-kurd-good-friday-accord
20. Locked in a fateful embrace: Turkey's PM and his Kurdish prisoner
1 March 2013 / Guardian
A couple of hours south of the marinas of Istanbul in the middle of the Sea of Marmara sits Imrali island, a no-go area sealed off by the Turkish state. The island is Turkey's most high-security prison – its the equivalent of Alcatraz or Robben Island in South Africa – adapted to incarcerate one man, Abdullah Öcalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) – an armed group of Kurdish fighters engaged in an insurrection against the Turkish state for 30 years.
Public enemy No 1 to the Turks, lionised by the Kurds, Öcalan has been demonised by Ankara for most of the 14 years he has been in solitary confinement on the island. The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even said recently he would have liked to have seen Öcalan executed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/01/turkey-pm-kurdish-prisoner-peace
21. PKK leader’s reading of the Arab Spring and ‘new’ Mideast
2 March 2013 / Hurriyet
The fledgling peace efforts between the leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish state have taken a new turn with the second visit by deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the leak of the alleged “official prison records” of their meeting. The daily, which published the records, said the records were not “served” to them, and the source of the leakage remained a mystery as this article was being penned.
The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) pointed at the BDP for the release of the documents and labeled the disclosure as “an attempt to sabotage” the peace talks. There is quite many who think otherwise, suggesting the leakage is part of the “transparency” of the ongoing process. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkk-leaders-reading-of-the-arab-spring-and-new-mideast.aspx?pageID=449&nID=42154&NewsCatID=470
22. The message of Sinop
22 February 2013 / Kurdish Matters
‘Kurdistan does not exist!’ When you write about the Kurdish issue, now and then Turks feel the need to tell you with exclamation marks that a place called ‘Kurdistan’ doesn’t exist. Not only when I use the term – which I don’t do so often – but also just randomly. Sometimes, I take the trouble to answer that countries are not only defined by official borders, and that Kurdistan definitely does exist in the hearts, minds and dreams of many Kurds. Since this week’s events in the Black Sea Coast cities of Sinop and Samsun, I think it even exists in the minds of nationalist Turks. Unconsciously but unmistakably.
http://kurdishmatters.com/nationalism/turkce-sinopta-verilen-mesaj/
23. Turkey’s Negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and Armed Drones
26 February 2013 / Turkey Wonk
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recently re-intiated peace talks with Abdullah Ocalan and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). Erdogan’s AKP, like Turgut Ozal’s Motherland Party, has sought to address Turkey’s Kurdish Issue – or the Kurds’ Turkey Problem – by focusing on the two groups’ shared muslim identity, rather than the previous policy of forced ethnic assimilation. Erdogan has previously engaged the PKK in peace talks, however, these efforts were unsuccessful. During the previous round of negotiations, Erdogan opted to hold the talks in secret, rather than subject himself to the inevitable backlash from Turkish nationalists (An important AKP voting bloc by the way).
http://turkeywonk.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/turkeys-negotiations-with-the-kurdistan-workers-party-and-armed-drones/
24. Turkey Renews Focus on Ending Its Long Conflict With Kurds
5 March 2013 / New York Times
When three prominent Kurdish women activists were murdered in Paris in January, analysts worried that the killings would derail the fledgling peace talks, begun late last year. Just the opposite appears to have happened, as both sides have moved forward with more determination to end one of the region’s most intractable conflicts, which has claimed almost 40,000 lives over nearly three decades. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become such a forceful advocate for peace that he said he would drink “hemlock poison” if it meant an end to hostilities.
His nominal opponent, Abdullah Ocalan, the Kurdish militant leader, recently released a letter from his jail cell calling for a cease-fire by March and the withdrawal of fighters from Turkish territory by August.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/world/europe/turkey-renews-focus-on-peace-with-kurds.html?_r=0
25. Turkey and the Kurds: the era of mass hypnosis is over
7 March 2013 / Guardian
Since the start of this year, the Justice and Development party (AKP) has emerged from what looked like an impasse over Turkey's three-decade-long Kurdish conflict. The pace of change has been intense.
But slow-motion progress in the background has often been overlooked: over the course of 15 years the public debate, backed by small-scale reforms, has evolved from the archaic militarist jargon of "there are no Kurds here, only mountain Turks". Ankara is now conducting direct negotiations with the jailed PKK leader, Abdullah Ocalan – once demonised as a baby killer and chief terrorist by a venomously nationalist "mainstream" media.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/07/turkey-kurds-recep-tayyip-erdogan
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign solidarity statement for International Women¹s Day, 8 March 2013
At the forefront of the struggle
7 March 2013
On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2013, Peace in Kurdistan campaign stands alongside all Kurdish women, across Kurdistan and in the diaspora, who are engaged with the struggle for Kurdish liberation and democratic rights. Peace in Kurdistan campaign also wishes to express solidarity with the millions of women fighting for social justice, women’s rights and freedom from state violence who are so often at the forefront of global liberation movements.
At this critical historical juncture in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict and with peace talks ostensibly ongoing between the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government, the struggle of the Kurdish people for their genuine liberation remains as urgent as ever. In the face of systematic violence and oppression, Kurdish women’s voices are among the loudest and most fearless of the movement.
Sakine Cansiz, brutally murdered in Paris on 9 January this year, was one such woman. As a founder member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), she was a leader in the Kurdish women’s movement’s dual fight, against patriarchy and against the Turkish state’s repression of Kurdish language, culture, and political rights.
This week thousands of women from across North Kurdistan gathered to demonstrate against Sakine’s assassination and that of Fidan Digan and Leyla Soylemez, both of whom were also active in the Kurdish Women’s movement in Europe before they were callously slain. When Gultan Kisanak, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) addressed the crowd at the largest rally in Amed (Diyarbakir), she represented a long line of Kurdish women politicians who have forced the issue of Kurdish rights onto the political agenda in Turkey.
She follows in the footsteps of Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish National Assembly and who famously spoke in Kurdish when giving her parliamentary oath. She was subsequently arrested and subjected to ten years in prison. The message has always been clear - with the vote or with the bullet, in the National Assembly or in the mountains, Kurdish women calling for justice will be accused of terrorism and treated as terrorists.
In Abdullah Ocalan’s view, sexism is an instrument of power that has been utilised throughout history to reinforce and exploit social hierarchies. He reminds us that the freedom of the Kurdish people rests on the freedom of women from patriarchal domination. Putting this ideology into practice, women have played a central role in every area of the liberation movement. (See greetings message from Ocalan below, 3 March 2013).
We know that confronting both state and gender violence takes great courage, and the Kurdish women’s movement has shown nothing less. Our sisters in the movement continue to inspire our efforts for peace, justice and self-determination for the Kurdish people, and we gladly honour them today.
7 March 2013
On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2013, Peace in Kurdistan campaign stands alongside all Kurdish women, across Kurdistan and in the diaspora, who are engaged with the struggle for Kurdish liberation and democratic rights. Peace in Kurdistan campaign also wishes to express solidarity with the millions of women fighting for social justice, women’s rights and freedom from state violence who are so often at the forefront of global liberation movements.
At this critical historical juncture in the Kurdish-Turkish conflict and with peace talks ostensibly ongoing between the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan and the Turkish government, the struggle of the Kurdish people for their genuine liberation remains as urgent as ever. In the face of systematic violence and oppression, Kurdish women’s voices are among the loudest and most fearless of the movement.
Sakine Cansiz, brutally murdered in Paris on 9 January this year, was one such woman. As a founder member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), she was a leader in the Kurdish women’s movement’s dual fight, against patriarchy and against the Turkish state’s repression of Kurdish language, culture, and political rights.
This week thousands of women from across North Kurdistan gathered to demonstrate against Sakine’s assassination and that of Fidan Digan and Leyla Soylemez, both of whom were also active in the Kurdish Women’s movement in Europe before they were callously slain. When Gultan Kisanak, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) addressed the crowd at the largest rally in Amed (Diyarbakir), she represented a long line of Kurdish women politicians who have forced the issue of Kurdish rights onto the political agenda in Turkey.
She follows in the footsteps of Leyla Zana, the first Kurdish woman to win a seat in the Turkish National Assembly and who famously spoke in Kurdish when giving her parliamentary oath. She was subsequently arrested and subjected to ten years in prison. The message has always been clear - with the vote or with the bullet, in the National Assembly or in the mountains, Kurdish women calling for justice will be accused of terrorism and treated as terrorists.
In Abdullah Ocalan’s view, sexism is an instrument of power that has been utilised throughout history to reinforce and exploit social hierarchies. He reminds us that the freedom of the Kurdish people rests on the freedom of women from patriarchal domination. Putting this ideology into practice, women have played a central role in every area of the liberation movement. (See greetings message from Ocalan below, 3 March 2013).
We know that confronting both state and gender violence takes great courage, and the Kurdish women’s movement has shown nothing less. Our sisters in the movement continue to inspire our efforts for peace, justice and self-determination for the Kurdish people, and we gladly honour them today.
Lawyers on Trial in Turkey: Implications for Establishing Peace and Justice, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Report of the public meeting held in Parliament by David Morgan, Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
4 March 2013
In Turkey today lawyers are being locked up simply for doing their job of representing their clients. The abuse of legality has gone so far that lawyers seeking to represent imprisoned lawyers are themselves being prosecuted. At present more than 50 lawyers in Turkey are in jail, of whom the majority are former members of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s legal team.
These and other deeply worrying facts were discussed at a briefing meeting, hosted by Lord Kennedy, which was held in the Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, on 28 February.
The meeting was organised by Peace in Kurdistan supported by Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and CAMPACC and it was addressed by a distinguished panel of human rights lawyers including Michael Mansfield QC, Professor Bill Bowring and Margaret Owen OBE.
The speakers highlighted numerous abuses in the Turkish legal system and discussed the wider political implications, including similarities between what was taking place inside Turkey and in many other cases throughout the world where people were struggling for legitimate democratic rights.
In the case of the Kurdish lawyers, the meeting was informed that the evidence used against them had been obtained through the recording of what should have been confidential meetings with Ocalan during their prison visits to Imrali Island. The lawyers now stand accused of acting as go-betweens for Ocalan and the wider Kurdish movement, including the guerrillas.
Speakers stressed that it was not only lawyers that were facing arrest. Since the Turkish authorities launched the KCK operations over 8,000 people from various social stratas, including politicians, academics, writers, journalists and trade unionists, had been arrested as Turkey attempts to silence the Kurdish people and weaken their political organisations. The clampdown had been launched in the wake of the electoral gains of the main pro-Kurdish political party, the BDP, stated solicitor Ali Has, who chaired the meeting.
Sadly, Turkey was far from alone in this practise, the meeting heard; in fact, there are cases around the world of lawyers targeted for persecution wherever popular movements exist which threaten to disrupt the interests of governments and their global allies among which are multinational corporations, many British owned.
Michael Mansfield, who is President of the Haldane Society, put the arrest of lawyers in the wider context of a deep global crisis which he described as an economic, environmental and political ‘’meltdown’’ with serious implications for the future of human rights.
As the crisis deepened, we were witnessing a desperate scramble for territory, energy resources and power among the world’s major states acting in concert with multinational corporations. Anyone who stood in the way of these powerful interests were being criminalised and because those threatened were not simply lawyers, Mansfield said he preferred to describe them as ‘’human rights defenders’’.
The persecuted included the miners in South Africa who were shot for standing up for their rights as well as indigenous peoples around the world who were confronting the impact of development policies on their lands such as the Kurds who faced criminalisation under anti-terrorism laws.
Mr Mansfield described similar cases in which he had been involved over the years such as the struggle of the people of the Niger Delta in the 1990s to resist oil exploration which was destroying their environment.
People in Europe were not exempt from the criminalisation for the simple fact that Europe was right at the heart of it, he said. Multinationals carrying out development projects in Africa represented European interests along with those of China and the US.
He argued that the need to defend human rights defenders remained an urgent priority of groups like the Haldane Society and called for the setting up an instant response unit of lawyers in order to respond to cases as they emerge. This could organise protest actions and hold states to account when they abused their power.
Mr Mansfield warned that lawyers in the UK were not free from attack and cited the cases of lawyers in Northern Ireland who had been murdered by assassins thought to be linked to security forces.
Bill Bowring described the work of the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers which was established in 1946 and had a record of support for national liberation movements.
Professor Bowring looked at the threats to lawyers in Turkey over many decades and how they had courageously sought to resist criminalisation including going on hunger strike against the notorious F-Type prisons. The appalling conditions of detention in Turkish prisons had later been probed in a Haldane Society report, he said.
The trial of the 46 lawyers which had been adjourned until 28 March had inspired a UK delegation which had produced a witness report and details of the trial had been circulated all over the world. It was vitally important to get the message to the media, he said, when human rights defenders were continuing to be arrested in Turkey, as in the case of the 85 people who were detained on 18 January.
Finally, Margaret Owen, who had acted as a witness at previous trials in Turkey, gave a vivid description of the bizarre situation within Turkish courts where the judge sat alongside the prosecuting counsel and seemingly cared little about conveying an impression of impartiality.
Ms Owen condemned the routine refusal to grant bail to lawyers facing prosecution as an example of the injustice of the Turkish legal system which also prevented Kurdish defendants from speaking in the Kurdish language and consistently breached confidentiality by listening in on conversations between lawyers and clients.
She situated the trials within the context of Turkey’s ongoing criminalisation of the Kurds with the introduction of more draconian anti-terrorism laws at an international level post-9/11. Human rights breaches in Turkey were rarely raised by European politicians or in the media despite Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.
She warned that Turkey was killing its own people and engaging in a cultural genocide against the Kurds and its atrocious record needed to be highlighted more in the international arena.
For this reason, Margaret Owen indicated her intention to join the forthcoming delegation to witness the resumption of the lawyers’ trial when it opens on 28 March.
The public meeting urged support for the delegation as an urgent priority and saw it as an important means of raising the continuing abuses by the Turkish authorities of fundamental civil and human rights of the Kurdish people. It also made a call for support for the initiative to set up an Alliance to Defend Human Rights Defenders in Turkey.
4 March 2013
In Turkey today lawyers are being locked up simply for doing their job of representing their clients. The abuse of legality has gone so far that lawyers seeking to represent imprisoned lawyers are themselves being prosecuted. At present more than 50 lawyers in Turkey are in jail, of whom the majority are former members of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan’s legal team.
These and other deeply worrying facts were discussed at a briefing meeting, hosted by Lord Kennedy, which was held in the Wilson Room, Portcullis House, Westminster, on 28 February.
The meeting was organised by Peace in Kurdistan supported by Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and CAMPACC and it was addressed by a distinguished panel of human rights lawyers including Michael Mansfield QC, Professor Bill Bowring and Margaret Owen OBE.
The speakers highlighted numerous abuses in the Turkish legal system and discussed the wider political implications, including similarities between what was taking place inside Turkey and in many other cases throughout the world where people were struggling for legitimate democratic rights.
In the case of the Kurdish lawyers, the meeting was informed that the evidence used against them had been obtained through the recording of what should have been confidential meetings with Ocalan during their prison visits to Imrali Island. The lawyers now stand accused of acting as go-betweens for Ocalan and the wider Kurdish movement, including the guerrillas.
Speakers stressed that it was not only lawyers that were facing arrest. Since the Turkish authorities launched the KCK operations over 8,000 people from various social stratas, including politicians, academics, writers, journalists and trade unionists, had been arrested as Turkey attempts to silence the Kurdish people and weaken their political organisations. The clampdown had been launched in the wake of the electoral gains of the main pro-Kurdish political party, the BDP, stated solicitor Ali Has, who chaired the meeting.
Sadly, Turkey was far from alone in this practise, the meeting heard; in fact, there are cases around the world of lawyers targeted for persecution wherever popular movements exist which threaten to disrupt the interests of governments and their global allies among which are multinational corporations, many British owned.
Michael Mansfield, who is President of the Haldane Society, put the arrest of lawyers in the wider context of a deep global crisis which he described as an economic, environmental and political ‘’meltdown’’ with serious implications for the future of human rights.
As the crisis deepened, we were witnessing a desperate scramble for territory, energy resources and power among the world’s major states acting in concert with multinational corporations. Anyone who stood in the way of these powerful interests were being criminalised and because those threatened were not simply lawyers, Mansfield said he preferred to describe them as ‘’human rights defenders’’.
The persecuted included the miners in South Africa who were shot for standing up for their rights as well as indigenous peoples around the world who were confronting the impact of development policies on their lands such as the Kurds who faced criminalisation under anti-terrorism laws.
Mr Mansfield described similar cases in which he had been involved over the years such as the struggle of the people of the Niger Delta in the 1990s to resist oil exploration which was destroying their environment.
People in Europe were not exempt from the criminalisation for the simple fact that Europe was right at the heart of it, he said. Multinationals carrying out development projects in Africa represented European interests along with those of China and the US.
He argued that the need to defend human rights defenders remained an urgent priority of groups like the Haldane Society and called for the setting up an instant response unit of lawyers in order to respond to cases as they emerge. This could organise protest actions and hold states to account when they abused their power.
Mr Mansfield warned that lawyers in the UK were not free from attack and cited the cases of lawyers in Northern Ireland who had been murdered by assassins thought to be linked to security forces.
Bill Bowring described the work of the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers which was established in 1946 and had a record of support for national liberation movements.
Professor Bowring looked at the threats to lawyers in Turkey over many decades and how they had courageously sought to resist criminalisation including going on hunger strike against the notorious F-Type prisons. The appalling conditions of detention in Turkish prisons had later been probed in a Haldane Society report, he said.
The trial of the 46 lawyers which had been adjourned until 28 March had inspired a UK delegation which had produced a witness report and details of the trial had been circulated all over the world. It was vitally important to get the message to the media, he said, when human rights defenders were continuing to be arrested in Turkey, as in the case of the 85 people who were detained on 18 January.
Finally, Margaret Owen, who had acted as a witness at previous trials in Turkey, gave a vivid description of the bizarre situation within Turkish courts where the judge sat alongside the prosecuting counsel and seemingly cared little about conveying an impression of impartiality.
Ms Owen condemned the routine refusal to grant bail to lawyers facing prosecution as an example of the injustice of the Turkish legal system which also prevented Kurdish defendants from speaking in the Kurdish language and consistently breached confidentiality by listening in on conversations between lawyers and clients.
She situated the trials within the context of Turkey’s ongoing criminalisation of the Kurds with the introduction of more draconian anti-terrorism laws at an international level post-9/11. Human rights breaches in Turkey were rarely raised by European politicians or in the media despite Ankara’s bid to join the European Union.
She warned that Turkey was killing its own people and engaging in a cultural genocide against the Kurds and its atrocious record needed to be highlighted more in the international arena.
For this reason, Margaret Owen indicated her intention to join the forthcoming delegation to witness the resumption of the lawyers’ trial when it opens on 28 March.
The public meeting urged support for the delegation as an urgent priority and saw it as an important means of raising the continuing abuses by the Turkish authorities of fundamental civil and human rights of the Kurdish people. It also made a call for support for the initiative to set up an Alliance to Defend Human Rights Defenders in Turkey.
Friday, 22 February 2013
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 15 - 21 February 2013
1. Police Rounds Up Workers Union Members
20 February 2013 / Bianet
Turkish police have carried out an operation across 28 cities yesterday morning, detaining 167 individuals suspected for being a leftist DHKP-C organization member.
Police operations also targeted the headquarters of a major workers union, KESK, located in Ankara. "I'm calling to police forces here. We know that you have been unlawfully monitoring our activities for several years. You don't need to do that. We can provide anything if asked. We think you are launching this operation to denigrate and criminalize our struggle," Lami Özgen, KESK chairperson, said in a statement.
Özgen reminded that 59 active members of KESK have recently been jailed for being a KCK organization member. "They were only involved in workers union related activities," Özgen said.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/144515-police-rounds-up-workers-union-members
2. Turkish jets strike Kurd rebels in Iraq: military source
21 February 2013 / The Daily Star
Turkey sent jets across its border with Iraq to strike separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a local military source said Thursday.
The jets bombed 12 targets in the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq on Wednesday, the source told AFP without providing any casualty figures.
Pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency confirmed the raid, saying it targeted two villages and destroyed many farms and orchards.
The raid comes amid nascent peace talks between Ankara and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in prison.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-21/207375-turkish-jets-strike-kurd-rebels-in-iraq-military-source.ashx#axzz2LYWWRfu8
3. Turkey agrees Kurdish delegation to meet jailed militant leader
21 February 2013 / Reuters
The Turkish government approved on Thursday a list of pro-Kurdish politicians to visit jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, a justice ministry official said, a long-awaited step to advance peace talks on ending a 28-year-old insurgency. Turkey launched tentative negotiations with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Ocalan in his jail on Imrali island near Istanbul in October, drawing up a framework to end a conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people. But there has been little sign of progress since two Kurdish politicians met Ocalan on January 3 to discuss ways to end violence which has destabilised Turkey and stunted development of the mainly Kurdish southeast since the PKK took up arms in 1984. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made clear that prominent Kurdish deputies who were filmed embracing militants would be barred from meeting the head of the PKK, deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Bowing to that pressure, parliament's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said it proposed three MPs, rather than the party leaders they had initially intended, "so that the process does not become deadlocked".
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/21/uk-turkey-kurds-idUKBRE91K0JC20130221
4. Öcalan: Our proposal for a solution conveyed to the government
19 February 2013 / ANF
Mehmet Öcalan, brother of Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), spoke to Dicle News Agency (DİHA) about the details of the meeting he had with his brother on Imralı Island on Monday. Öcalan said that the Kurdish leader had asked him about the feelings in the country and what the public opinion thought of the process of talks. "I told him that 70 percent of the public opinion sided with a genuine and real process of negotiations”, he said. Mehmet Öcalan quoted the Kurdish leader as saying the followings; “I am a prisoner and I therefore don't have the opportunity to deal and come up with a solution. Here I have had talks with intelligence officers (referring to National Intelligence Organization, MIT officers) who treat me with honesty but the truth is there are some other people and powers involved in this issue. I do not know to what extent those powers will support the process.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-our-proposal-for-a-solution-conveyed-to-the-government.htm
5. Turkey's Kurds Protest Öcalan Arrest Anniversary
15 February 2013 / Bianet
Kurdish demonstrators rallied in almost every major city in Turkey, protesting the 14th anniversary of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's arrival to Turkey in 1999 after a military operation led by the U.S. Local businesses except pharmacies and bakeries were reportedly kept shut in Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa, Batman, Şırnak, Van, Hakkari, Ağrı, Muş, Kars, Iğdır, Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye and Hatay provinces. In Istanbul, a masked group attacked a commuter bus with molotov cocktails, police reported. In Diyarbakır province, thousands of demonstrators launched a protest walk, which was intervened by the police.
http://www.bianet.org/english/crisis/144428-turkeys-kurds-protest-ocalan-arrest-anniversary
6. Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish police
16 February 2013 / Press TV
Kurdish protesters have clashed with police in Turkey during demonstrations marking the 14th anniversary of the arrest of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. The clashes broke out in several southeastern provinces and in the city of Istanbul on Friday. Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse protesters in two towns in Hakkari province, while in Mardin three demonstrators and a police officer were injured in clashes. Security forces also arrested dozens of protesters in Sirnak and Sanilufra. Demonstrations were also held in Istanbul, in which protesters set two buses on fire.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/16/289161/propkk-kurds-clash-with-turkish-police/
7. Erdogan Seeks Kurdish Allies For New Turkish Constitution
13 February 2013 / Al Monitor
All four political parties represented in the Turkish parliament want a new “civilian” constitution to replace the one imposed by a putchist military 31 years ago. The problem is that the same four parties that agree to "no’’ on the September 12 military constitution cannot agree to "yes" on a new draft constitution. There are two main reasons for the discord. The first is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to replace the Turkish parliamentary regime with an executive presidential regime on his own terms. A proposal for Erdogan’s “à la carte” authoritarian presidential system has been submitted to the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/kurds-turkish-constitution-akp-chp-mhp-factions.html
8. Turkey frees Kurdish ex-mayors, Ocalan warns on peace process
19 February 2013 / Yahoo News
Turkey freed a group of Kurdish former mayors accused of links to militants on Tuesday in a further small step towards halting a Kurdish insurgency, but the rebels' jailed leader was reported as saying he could not stem the violence single-handedly. After more than three years in prison, 10 Kurdish defendants including six former mayors hugged family members as they emerged from jail at dawn in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and were greeted by the city's mayor. Their release coincided with fledgling peace talks between Turkey and the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, aimed at ending a 28-year-old conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people.
http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-frees-kurdish-ex-mayors-ocalan-warns-peace-144354858.html
9. Turkey frees Kurdish ex-mayors, peace process edges forward
19 February 2013 / Reuters
Ten Kurdish defendants, including six former mayors, were released from jail on Tuesday in a trial of 175 people accused of links to militants, a further small step in Turkey's efforts to end a Kurdish insurgency. After more than three years in prison the defendants hugged family members as they emerged from the prison gates at dawn in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and were greeted by the city's mayor. Their release coincided with fledgling peace talks between Turkey and the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, aimed at ending a 28-year-old conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people. "We will move hand-in-hand and shoulder-to-shoulder to advance this developing process and, with this responsibility, get on with our lives," Firat Anli, former mayor of the Diyarbakir district of Yenisehir, told reporters after his release.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE91I0GV20130219
10. Turkey frees 10 pro-Kurdish politicians in mass trial
19 February 2013 / The Daily Star
A Turkish court released on Tuesday 10 pro-Kurdish politicians who were among hundreds, possibly thousands of people on trial accused of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir freed the politicians on the grounds that the time they spent in custody had now exceeded any prison term they would serve if convicted, court sources told AFP. Turkish authorities first launched a major campaign of arrests in 2009 against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) which is considered a terrorist organisation and an urban wing of the PKK. Critics of the crackdown say the number of people arrested pending trial in the KCK case tops 3,500 while official figures from late 2011 say over 600 people had been arrested.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-19/207084-turkey-frees-10-pro-kurdish-politicians-in-mass-trial.ashx#axzz2LU5FOGMK
11. UN to debate Paris killings
21 February 2013 / ANF
The execution of three Kurdish politicians in Paris on 9 January will be debated at the United Nations Human Rights Council's twenty-second regular session at the UN Office at Geneva from 25 February to 22 March. Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, were killed in Paris on 9 January. No light has been shed yet by French authorities on the execution of three Kurdish women, Sara, Rojbin and Ronahi. Gianfranco Fattorini, UN Representative of French NGO, Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) will be directing questions to the UN mechanisms on the issue.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/un-to-debate-paris-killings-1.htm
12. Turkey meddling in Syria stirs clashes with Kurds: Analyst
17 February 2013 / Press TV
Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian crisis will backfire by putting Ankara at the risk of a new series of violent confrontations with its minority Kurdish population, a political analysts tells Press TV. Since Ankara opened the lid to the conflict in Syria, the crisis has been “dragging [Turkey] in, in a very direct way,” William Jones from the Executive Intelligence Review weekly newsmagazine told Press TV in an interview. He described the prospect of new clashes with Kurds as “a definite threat to Turkey,” which Ankara can only contain through “the use of police and military force.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/17/289367/ankara-opened-pandoras-box-in-syria/
13. Syrian Kurds who fled to Iraq have mixed feelings about Syria, in no rush to go home
18 February 2013 / Washington Post
Syrian Kurds who fled their country’s civil war have mixed feelings about a future without Bashar Assad: They hope to win a measure of autonomy after the fall of the regime, but fear chaos and the rise of Islamists could instead make their lives worse.
More than 81,000 Syrian Kurds have found refuge in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region in recent months and hundreds more arrive every day. Few seem in a rush to go home. The Kurdistan Regional Government allows fellow Kurds from Syria to work and move freely in the three provinces of northern Iraq it controls. Some 30,000 refugees still live in a camp of tents and cinderblock shacks near the Syrian border, while the rest have found jobs and homes in towns across the autonomous region, some staying with relatives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-kurds-who-fled-to-iraq-have-mixed-feelings-about-syria-in-no-rush-to-go-home/2013/02/18/29098e1e-7a04-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html
14. Islamists and Kurds End Hostilities, to Fight Syria Regime
19 February 2013 / Naharnet
Islamist rebels and Kurdish militias have ceased hostilities in the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain after sealing an accord that will see them fight together against the regime, activists said Tuesday. Intermittent and sometimes deadly clashes have taken place between the two sides since rebels entered the majority Kurdish city, located on the border with Turkey, several months ago. A statement was issued at the weekend detailing the terms of the final accord between the rebel Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish popular committees. A Kurdish activist from Ras al-Ain confirmed to Agence France Presse over the Internet on Tuesday that "there have been no confrontations following the agreement."
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/72608-islamists-and-kurds-end-hostilities-to-fight-syria-regime
15. Iraqi Kurdistan: Genocide To Be Discussed In British Parliament
20 February 2013 / UNPO
Concerted efforts over the last year by Kurdish and British campaigners have scored a major result. The British Parliament will discuss the genocide against the Iraqi Kurds in a special and historic debate from about 2.15-5pm on Thursday 28 February. The title of the debate is "the 25th anniversary of the Kurdish genocide and its contemporary relevance." The motion says that Parliament "formally recognises the Genocide against the people of Iraqi Kurdistan and encourages governments, the EU and UN to do likewise. It adds that "that this will enable Kurdish people, many in the UK, to achieve justice for their considerable loss" and also enable Britain, the home of democracy and freedom, to send out a message of support for international conventions and human rights, which is made even more pressing by the slaughter in Syria and the possible use of chemical arsenals."
http://www.unpo.org/article/15532
16. Tens of thousands protest 15 February conspiracy in Strasbourg
16 February 2013 / Mesop
Tens of thousands people across Europe have gathered early Saturday in the French city of Strasbourg to mark the 14th anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), on 15 February 1999. Kurds coming from different European countries started to gather at Rue de Nancy as of early morning hours for the march which is organized by FEYKA (Federation of Kurdish Associations in France). Demonstrators will also call on the French state to shed light on the execution of three Kurdish politicians, Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, in Paris on 9 January. French police has taken intense security measures in the area. Some buses were stopped and searched before entering the meeting area.
http://www.mesop.de/2013/02/16/tens-of-thousands-protest-15-february-conspiracy-in-strasbourg/ <http://www.mesop.de/2013/02/16/tens-of-thousands-protest-15-february-conspiracy-in-strasbourg/>
17. Abertzale Left condemn repression of Kurdish activists
21 February 2013 / ANF
The Abertzale Left would like to denounce the harassment of Kurdish activists by the
French and Spanish authorities. We call both states to stop any collaboration with
Turkish government´s war strategy and to put an end to all detentions and
imprisonments. While the investigation on the killing of three Kurdish relevant activists last January in Paris has no yet any clarification, the French government continues with a strategy of criminalisation of the Kurdish Diaspora. 16 Kurdish people have been arrested following the political pressure of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan last weeks.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/abertzale-left-condemn-repression-of-kurdish-activists.htm
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
18. A Woman, a Kurd, and an Optimist
19 February 2013 / New York Times
At 51, she is petite yet powerful. Arriving at a cafe in a crowded shopping mall, she sits only after her brother has checked out the locale. Generally reluctant to speak to journalists, Leyla Zana has come by caution the hard way but has lost none of her determination to fight for the rights of Kurds, and of women. Born in the province of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey in 1961, she dropped out of elementary school because she could not understand the language of instruction — Turkish — and was forbidden to speak her own. Married at 14 to Mehdi Zana, a political Kurd some 20 years her senior who became mayor of Diyarbakir and spent 16 years in jail after the 1980 military coup, she found herself the single mother of two children. Learning Turkish with them as they were schooled, she also found her political voice — and went on to become, in 1991, the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish Parliament. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/world/europe/20iht-letter20.html?_r=2&
19. Ocalan goes from enemy No 1 to potential peacemaker in Turkey
19 February 2013 / The National
He is the founder and leader of the main Kurdish separatist group, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). He was long regarded as Turkey's public enemy number one for leading a war of independence against the Turkish state. Yet now, from his jail cell in on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul, he is poised to become the key to ending a three-decade war between the army and the PKK that has killed more than 40,000 people. In December, the Turkish intelligence service started talks with Ocalan on the island, where he has been held since Turkish agents snatched him in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1999 and smuggled him back to Turkey.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/europe/ocalan-goes-from-enemy-no-1-to-potential-peacemaker-in-turkey
20. What does Öcalan want?
16 February 2013 / Hurriyet
Friday, Feb. 15th, was the 14th anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On that date in 1999 he was forced to leave the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in a joint operation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Four months earlier in October 1998, following an ultimatum by the Turkish government, endorsed by Egypt and Iran, Hafez (the father of Bashar) al-Assad had to end his long stay in Syria. After spending months on the run between European capitals such as Athens, Moscow and Rome, he was brought to and jailed in Turkey on Feb. 16, 1999. For the last 14 years he has been in a room that is slightly larger than 11 square meters.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/what-does-ocalan-want.aspx?pageID=449&nID=41243&NewsCatID=409
21. Another Kurdish Initiative in Turkey: Is Peace Finally Achievable?
15 February 2013 / Informed Comment
The last year saw a significant escalation in the armed conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish insurgency (PKK) fighting for autonomy. 2012 was the most violent year since the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. At least 541 individuals lost their lives, a significant increase from the previous years. As the meetings between the representatives of the Turkish government and the insurgents came to an end in summer 2011, the Turkish security forces and the PKK militants engaged in frequent skirmishes. The gains of the Syrian Kurds led by the PYD, an affiliate of the PKK, further aggravated the threat perception of the AK Party, which has been in power since 2002. The Turkish government responded by sponsoring Islamist Arab militants that who engaged in heavy clashes with the PYD militia for the control of Ras al-Ayn (Sêrekaniyê) since November 2012.
http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/another-initiative-achievable.html
22. The Kurds: Surprise Victors of the Iraq War (For Now)
19 February 2013 / Counterpunch
The Kurds of Iraq are the big winners in the 10 years since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. They have also been lucky. Up to a few weeks before the invasion in 2003, the US was intending to invade northern Iraq from Turkey, along with 40,000 Turkish troops. The Kurds were horrified at this, suspecting that once the Turks were in northern Iraq it would be impossible to get them out. I remember the Kurdish relief and jubilation when the Turkish parliament voted against participating in the US invasion.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/19/the-kurds-surprise-victors-of-the-iraq-war-for-now/
20 February 2013 / Bianet
Turkish police have carried out an operation across 28 cities yesterday morning, detaining 167 individuals suspected for being a leftist DHKP-C organization member.
Police operations also targeted the headquarters of a major workers union, KESK, located in Ankara. "I'm calling to police forces here. We know that you have been unlawfully monitoring our activities for several years. You don't need to do that. We can provide anything if asked. We think you are launching this operation to denigrate and criminalize our struggle," Lami Özgen, KESK chairperson, said in a statement.
Özgen reminded that 59 active members of KESK have recently been jailed for being a KCK organization member. "They were only involved in workers union related activities," Özgen said.
http://www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/144515-police-rounds-up-workers-union-members
2. Turkish jets strike Kurd rebels in Iraq: military source
21 February 2013 / The Daily Star
Turkey sent jets across its border with Iraq to strike separatists from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a local military source said Thursday.
The jets bombed 12 targets in the Kandil Mountains in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq on Wednesday, the source told AFP without providing any casualty figures.
Pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency confirmed the raid, saying it targeted two villages and destroyed many farms and orchards.
The raid comes amid nascent peace talks between Ankara and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in prison.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-21/207375-turkish-jets-strike-kurd-rebels-in-iraq-military-source.ashx#axzz2LYWWRfu8
3. Turkey agrees Kurdish delegation to meet jailed militant leader
21 February 2013 / Reuters
The Turkish government approved on Thursday a list of pro-Kurdish politicians to visit jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, a justice ministry official said, a long-awaited step to advance peace talks on ending a 28-year-old insurgency. Turkey launched tentative negotiations with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Ocalan in his jail on Imrali island near Istanbul in October, drawing up a framework to end a conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people. But there has been little sign of progress since two Kurdish politicians met Ocalan on January 3 to discuss ways to end violence which has destabilised Turkey and stunted development of the mainly Kurdish southeast since the PKK took up arms in 1984. Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made clear that prominent Kurdish deputies who were filmed embracing militants would be barred from meeting the head of the PKK, deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. Bowing to that pressure, parliament's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) said it proposed three MPs, rather than the party leaders they had initially intended, "so that the process does not become deadlocked".
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/21/uk-turkey-kurds-idUKBRE91K0JC20130221
4. Öcalan: Our proposal for a solution conveyed to the government
19 February 2013 / ANF
Mehmet Öcalan, brother of Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), spoke to Dicle News Agency (DİHA) about the details of the meeting he had with his brother on Imralı Island on Monday. Öcalan said that the Kurdish leader had asked him about the feelings in the country and what the public opinion thought of the process of talks. "I told him that 70 percent of the public opinion sided with a genuine and real process of negotiations”, he said. Mehmet Öcalan quoted the Kurdish leader as saying the followings; “I am a prisoner and I therefore don't have the opportunity to deal and come up with a solution. Here I have had talks with intelligence officers (referring to National Intelligence Organization, MIT officers) who treat me with honesty but the truth is there are some other people and powers involved in this issue. I do not know to what extent those powers will support the process.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-our-proposal-for-a-solution-conveyed-to-the-government.htm
5. Turkey's Kurds Protest Öcalan Arrest Anniversary
15 February 2013 / Bianet
Kurdish demonstrators rallied in almost every major city in Turkey, protesting the 14th anniversary of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's arrival to Turkey in 1999 after a military operation led by the U.S. Local businesses except pharmacies and bakeries were reportedly kept shut in Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa, Batman, Şırnak, Van, Hakkari, Ağrı, Muş, Kars, Iğdır, Adana, Mersin, Osmaniye and Hatay provinces. In Istanbul, a masked group attacked a commuter bus with molotov cocktails, police reported. In Diyarbakır province, thousands of demonstrators launched a protest walk, which was intervened by the police.
http://www.bianet.org/english/crisis/144428-turkeys-kurds-protest-ocalan-arrest-anniversary
6. Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish police
16 February 2013 / Press TV
Kurdish protesters have clashed with police in Turkey during demonstrations marking the 14th anniversary of the arrest of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan. The clashes broke out in several southeastern provinces and in the city of Istanbul on Friday. Police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse protesters in two towns in Hakkari province, while in Mardin three demonstrators and a police officer were injured in clashes. Security forces also arrested dozens of protesters in Sirnak and Sanilufra. Demonstrations were also held in Istanbul, in which protesters set two buses on fire.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/16/289161/propkk-kurds-clash-with-turkish-police/
7. Erdogan Seeks Kurdish Allies For New Turkish Constitution
13 February 2013 / Al Monitor
All four political parties represented in the Turkish parliament want a new “civilian” constitution to replace the one imposed by a putchist military 31 years ago. The problem is that the same four parties that agree to "no’’ on the September 12 military constitution cannot agree to "yes" on a new draft constitution. There are two main reasons for the discord. The first is Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s desire to replace the Turkish parliamentary regime with an executive presidential regime on his own terms. A proposal for Erdogan’s “à la carte” authoritarian presidential system has been submitted to the parliamentary Constitutional Reconciliation Commission.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/02/kurds-turkish-constitution-akp-chp-mhp-factions.html
8. Turkey frees Kurdish ex-mayors, Ocalan warns on peace process
19 February 2013 / Yahoo News
Turkey freed a group of Kurdish former mayors accused of links to militants on Tuesday in a further small step towards halting a Kurdish insurgency, but the rebels' jailed leader was reported as saying he could not stem the violence single-handedly. After more than three years in prison, 10 Kurdish defendants including six former mayors hugged family members as they emerged from jail at dawn in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and were greeted by the city's mayor. Their release coincided with fledgling peace talks between Turkey and the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, aimed at ending a 28-year-old conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people.
http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-frees-kurdish-ex-mayors-ocalan-warns-peace-144354858.html
9. Turkey frees Kurdish ex-mayors, peace process edges forward
19 February 2013 / Reuters
Ten Kurdish defendants, including six former mayors, were released from jail on Tuesday in a trial of 175 people accused of links to militants, a further small step in Turkey's efforts to end a Kurdish insurgency. After more than three years in prison the defendants hugged family members as they emerged from the prison gates at dawn in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast, and were greeted by the city's mayor. Their release coincided with fledgling peace talks between Turkey and the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, aimed at ending a 28-year-old conflict which has killed more than 40,000 people. "We will move hand-in-hand and shoulder-to-shoulder to advance this developing process and, with this responsibility, get on with our lives," Firat Anli, former mayor of the Diyarbakir district of Yenisehir, told reporters after his release.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/us-turkey-kurds-idUSBRE91I0GV20130219
10. Turkey frees 10 pro-Kurdish politicians in mass trial
19 February 2013 / The Daily Star
A Turkish court released on Tuesday 10 pro-Kurdish politicians who were among hundreds, possibly thousands of people on trial accused of ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir freed the politicians on the grounds that the time they spent in custody had now exceeded any prison term they would serve if convicted, court sources told AFP. Turkish authorities first launched a major campaign of arrests in 2009 against the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK) which is considered a terrorist organisation and an urban wing of the PKK. Critics of the crackdown say the number of people arrested pending trial in the KCK case tops 3,500 while official figures from late 2011 say over 600 people had been arrested.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Feb-19/207084-turkey-frees-10-pro-kurdish-politicians-in-mass-trial.ashx#axzz2LU5FOGMK
11. UN to debate Paris killings
21 February 2013 / ANF
The execution of three Kurdish politicians in Paris on 9 January will be debated at the United Nations Human Rights Council's twenty-second regular session at the UN Office at Geneva from 25 February to 22 March. Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, were killed in Paris on 9 January. No light has been shed yet by French authorities on the execution of three Kurdish women, Sara, Rojbin and Ronahi. Gianfranco Fattorini, UN Representative of French NGO, Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP) will be directing questions to the UN mechanisms on the issue.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/un-to-debate-paris-killings-1.htm
12. Turkey meddling in Syria stirs clashes with Kurds: Analyst
17 February 2013 / Press TV
Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian crisis will backfire by putting Ankara at the risk of a new series of violent confrontations with its minority Kurdish population, a political analysts tells Press TV. Since Ankara opened the lid to the conflict in Syria, the crisis has been “dragging [Turkey] in, in a very direct way,” William Jones from the Executive Intelligence Review weekly newsmagazine told Press TV in an interview. He described the prospect of new clashes with Kurds as “a definite threat to Turkey,” which Ankara can only contain through “the use of police and military force.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/17/289367/ankara-opened-pandoras-box-in-syria/
13. Syrian Kurds who fled to Iraq have mixed feelings about Syria, in no rush to go home
18 February 2013 / Washington Post
Syrian Kurds who fled their country’s civil war have mixed feelings about a future without Bashar Assad: They hope to win a measure of autonomy after the fall of the regime, but fear chaos and the rise of Islamists could instead make their lives worse.
More than 81,000 Syrian Kurds have found refuge in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region in recent months and hundreds more arrive every day. Few seem in a rush to go home. The Kurdistan Regional Government allows fellow Kurds from Syria to work and move freely in the three provinces of northern Iraq it controls. Some 30,000 refugees still live in a camp of tents and cinderblock shacks near the Syrian border, while the rest have found jobs and homes in towns across the autonomous region, some staying with relatives.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-kurds-who-fled-to-iraq-have-mixed-feelings-about-syria-in-no-rush-to-go-home/2013/02/18/29098e1e-7a04-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html
14. Islamists and Kurds End Hostilities, to Fight Syria Regime
19 February 2013 / Naharnet
Islamist rebels and Kurdish militias have ceased hostilities in the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain after sealing an accord that will see them fight together against the regime, activists said Tuesday. Intermittent and sometimes deadly clashes have taken place between the two sides since rebels entered the majority Kurdish city, located on the border with Turkey, several months ago. A statement was issued at the weekend detailing the terms of the final accord between the rebel Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish popular committees. A Kurdish activist from Ras al-Ain confirmed to Agence France Presse over the Internet on Tuesday that "there have been no confrontations following the agreement."
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/72608-islamists-and-kurds-end-hostilities-to-fight-syria-regime
15. Iraqi Kurdistan: Genocide To Be Discussed In British Parliament
20 February 2013 / UNPO
Concerted efforts over the last year by Kurdish and British campaigners have scored a major result. The British Parliament will discuss the genocide against the Iraqi Kurds in a special and historic debate from about 2.15-5pm on Thursday 28 February. The title of the debate is "the 25th anniversary of the Kurdish genocide and its contemporary relevance." The motion says that Parliament "formally recognises the Genocide against the people of Iraqi Kurdistan and encourages governments, the EU and UN to do likewise. It adds that "that this will enable Kurdish people, many in the UK, to achieve justice for their considerable loss" and also enable Britain, the home of democracy and freedom, to send out a message of support for international conventions and human rights, which is made even more pressing by the slaughter in Syria and the possible use of chemical arsenals."
http://www.unpo.org/article/15532
16. Tens of thousands protest 15 February conspiracy in Strasbourg
16 February 2013 / Mesop
Tens of thousands people across Europe have gathered early Saturday in the French city of Strasbourg to mark the 14th anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), on 15 February 1999. Kurds coming from different European countries started to gather at Rue de Nancy as of early morning hours for the march which is organized by FEYKA (Federation of Kurdish Associations in France). Demonstrators will also call on the French state to shed light on the execution of three Kurdish politicians, Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris, and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement, in Paris on 9 January. French police has taken intense security measures in the area. Some buses were stopped and searched before entering the meeting area.
http://www.mesop.de/2013/02/16/tens-of-thousands-protest-15-february-conspiracy-in-strasbourg/ <http://www.mesop.de/2013/02/16/tens-of-thousands-protest-15-february-conspiracy-in-strasbourg/>
17. Abertzale Left condemn repression of Kurdish activists
21 February 2013 / ANF
The Abertzale Left would like to denounce the harassment of Kurdish activists by the
French and Spanish authorities. We call both states to stop any collaboration with
Turkish government´s war strategy and to put an end to all detentions and
imprisonments. While the investigation on the killing of three Kurdish relevant activists last January in Paris has no yet any clarification, the French government continues with a strategy of criminalisation of the Kurdish Diaspora. 16 Kurdish people have been arrested following the political pressure of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan last weeks.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/abertzale-left-condemn-repression-of-kurdish-activists.htm
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
18. A Woman, a Kurd, and an Optimist
19 February 2013 / New York Times
At 51, she is petite yet powerful. Arriving at a cafe in a crowded shopping mall, she sits only after her brother has checked out the locale. Generally reluctant to speak to journalists, Leyla Zana has come by caution the hard way but has lost none of her determination to fight for the rights of Kurds, and of women. Born in the province of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey in 1961, she dropped out of elementary school because she could not understand the language of instruction — Turkish — and was forbidden to speak her own. Married at 14 to Mehdi Zana, a political Kurd some 20 years her senior who became mayor of Diyarbakir and spent 16 years in jail after the 1980 military coup, she found herself the single mother of two children. Learning Turkish with them as they were schooled, she also found her political voice — and went on to become, in 1991, the first Kurdish woman elected to the Turkish Parliament. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/world/europe/20iht-letter20.html?_r=2&
19. Ocalan goes from enemy No 1 to potential peacemaker in Turkey
19 February 2013 / The National
He is the founder and leader of the main Kurdish separatist group, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK). He was long regarded as Turkey's public enemy number one for leading a war of independence against the Turkish state. Yet now, from his jail cell in on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul, he is poised to become the key to ending a three-decade war between the army and the PKK that has killed more than 40,000 people. In December, the Turkish intelligence service started talks with Ocalan on the island, where he has been held since Turkish agents snatched him in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1999 and smuggled him back to Turkey.
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/europe/ocalan-goes-from-enemy-no-1-to-potential-peacemaker-in-turkey
20. What does Öcalan want?
16 February 2013 / Hurriyet
Friday, Feb. 15th, was the 14th anniversary of the capture of Abdullah Öcalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). On that date in 1999 he was forced to leave the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in a joint operation between the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Four months earlier in October 1998, following an ultimatum by the Turkish government, endorsed by Egypt and Iran, Hafez (the father of Bashar) al-Assad had to end his long stay in Syria. After spending months on the run between European capitals such as Athens, Moscow and Rome, he was brought to and jailed in Turkey on Feb. 16, 1999. For the last 14 years he has been in a room that is slightly larger than 11 square meters.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/what-does-ocalan-want.aspx?pageID=449&nID=41243&NewsCatID=409
21. Another Kurdish Initiative in Turkey: Is Peace Finally Achievable?
15 February 2013 / Informed Comment
The last year saw a significant escalation in the armed conflict between the Turkish state and Kurdish insurgency (PKK) fighting for autonomy. 2012 was the most violent year since the capture of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. At least 541 individuals lost their lives, a significant increase from the previous years. As the meetings between the representatives of the Turkish government and the insurgents came to an end in summer 2011, the Turkish security forces and the PKK militants engaged in frequent skirmishes. The gains of the Syrian Kurds led by the PYD, an affiliate of the PKK, further aggravated the threat perception of the AK Party, which has been in power since 2002. The Turkish government responded by sponsoring Islamist Arab militants that who engaged in heavy clashes with the PYD militia for the control of Ras al-Ayn (Sêrekaniyê) since November 2012.
http://www.juancole.com/2013/02/another-initiative-achievable.html
22. The Kurds: Surprise Victors of the Iraq War (For Now)
19 February 2013 / Counterpunch
The Kurds of Iraq are the big winners in the 10 years since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. They have also been lucky. Up to a few weeks before the invasion in 2003, the US was intending to invade northern Iraq from Turkey, along with 40,000 Turkish troops. The Kurds were horrified at this, suspecting that once the Turks were in northern Iraq it would be impossible to get them out. I remember the Kurdish relief and jubilation when the Turkish parliament voted against participating in the US invasion.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/19/the-kurds-surprise-victors-of-the-iraq-war-for-now/
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