1. The First Step is to Free all the Ahmet Kayas
25 November 2013/ ANFFormer BDP Diyarbakır MP and HDK administrative committee member Akın Birdal has spoken to ANF regarding PM Erdoğan’s comment to the effect that "we will see those in the mountains come down and the prisons' emptied” Akın Birdal emphasised that while hundreds of sick prisoners have been left to die or transferred to prisons far from their families these words had no credibility in the eyes of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples.
Birdal added that in an environment where thousands of people involved in legal democratic politics are in jail talk of coming down from the mountains amounted to nothing more than a call to surrender.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/the-first-step-is-to-free-all-the-ahmet-kayas.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/the-first-step-is-to-free-all-the-ahmet-kayas.htm>
2. Bese Hozat: PKK is a social system today
25 November 2013 / ANFThe Kurdish Liberation Movement made up of a group of Kurdish and Turkish youths, known as pro-Apo (Öcalan) and -national liberation groups till 1978, became a party following the first congress held in the house of the Zoğurlu family, which supported the organization since its formation, in the Fis village of Diyarbakır's Lice district on 26-27 November. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan) has become a public movement addressing millions during the 35 years that have passed since the first congress which had been attended by 22 delegates. Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-President Bese Hozat spoke to ANF about the struggle PKK has given for 35 years now, what it has achieved so far and what kind of a change and transformation it has introduced to the Kurdish people.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bese-hozat-pkk-is-a-social-system-today.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bese-hozat-pkk-is-a-social-system-today.htm>
3. 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' thousands said in Amed
25 November 2013 / ANFThousands of women have taken to the streets in the main Kurdish city Amed/Diyarbakır today to mark the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women. The march organized by Democratic Free Women's Movement (DÖKH) was joined by a large number of women and women's organizations.
"Jin Jiyan Azadi" [Women, Life, Freedom] read the banners they carried as they marched from Ofis to Bağlar district, chanting the slogan "We are not remaining silent but getting organized". In a statement on behalf of the women joining the rally, Kardelen Women's Shelter Spokesperson Yeliz Ayyıldız called attention to the increasing violence against women in Turkey and remarked that the male-dominant capitalist system was responsible for systematic violence and the slavery life women are being doomed to.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/jin-jiyan-azadi-thousands-said-in-amed.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/jin-jiyan-azadi-thousands-said-in-amed.htm>
4. Turkey Lawyers Denounce Conditions for Kurdish Prisoners
21 November 2013 / RudawPrisoners in Turkey’s Kurdish provinces of Van and Mus suffer torture and abuse and their trials are moved to distant cities where they can get no legal support, according to the Diyarbakir Bar Association. The association’s Prison Commission says that nothing has changed for Kurdish political prisoners in Turkish jails, despite a peace process underway between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to formally end three decades of conflict in which 40,000 people have been killed. “On 28 October 2013, the prisoners’ personal possessions (like books, diaries and photographs) were seized by force by the prison administration and prosecutor in Mus Prison,” the commission said in a report. In the meantime, the prisoners were exposed to physical violence, insults, threats and sexual abuse. “As some female prisoners were beaten heavily, they had vaginal bleeding and head traumas,” the report added.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/21112013
5. BDP to hold primary election in Diyarbakır today
24 November 2013 / ANFPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) has received over ten thousand applications for mayor and city council member candidateship for the approaching local elections which will be held next March. A total of 167 people have put down their names in the list for candidates from which the mayor candidates will be selected for Diyarbakır/Amed Municipality. The number of those who have stood for seat in the city council of Bağlar, Sur, Yenişehir and Kayapınar Municipalities has reached 299 by now.
According to the information obtained from the BDP electoral commission, 167 people have applied for mayor nomination candidacy so far, including 8 in Bağlar, 11 in Bismil, 6 in Çermik, 7 in Çınar, 1 in Çüngüş, 1 in Eğil, 10 in Dicle, 24 in Ergani, 9 in Hani, 12 in Hazro, 14 in Kayapınar, 15 in Kocaköy, 5 in Kulp, 8 in Lice, 11 in Silvan, 13 in Sur, 10 in Yenişehir and two for Amed metropolitan municipality.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bdp-to-hold-primary-election-in-diyarbakir-today.htm <http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bdp-to-hold-primary-election-in-diyarbakir-today.htm>
6. Pro-Kurdish party leader recommends HDP, CHP to discuss alliance
21 November 2013 / World BulletinPro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-chairperson Selahattin Demirtas stated that his party suggests the People's Democracy Party (HDP) -- which is considered to be the sister party of the BDP -- to be open to an alliance with main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) in the upcoming local elections.
In order to bring its potential out in the local elections, the HDP should consider an alliance with the CHP, Demirtas said in Diyarbakır on Thursday.
He added that there has not been any talk between the two parties on a possible alliance.
At the congress, the HDP started its municipal election campaign strategy with the slogan, “The BDP in the east, and the HDP in the west.”
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=123434 <http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=123434>
7. Solidarity with jailed journalists
29 November 2013 / ANFThe eight hearing of the trial against Kurdish journalists will be held at Silivri Prison Complex in Istanbul on 2 December.
Özgür Gündem, Dicle News Agency, Azadiya Welat, Demokratik Modernite and Fırat Distribution issued a joint statement before the trial and called for solidarity with the journalists on trial, and participation in the rally journalists will stage at Istanbul's central Galatasaray Square on 30 November to voice support for their colleagues.
The statement said journalists in prison were being held as hostage and tried because of the journaliststic works they performed, and the indictment against them was not grounded on any democratic law principles.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/solidarity-with-jailed-journalists.htm
8. Istanbul rally voices support for Syria's Kurds
24 November 2013 / Press TVThe Peace and Democracy Party --- one of the Kurdish parties in Turkey --- has held a mass rally in the city of Istanbul. Thousands, including representatives and supporters of about 20 more political parties and organizations also attended the rally at Kadikoy square. The demonstrators said the rally was in solidarity with the Kurdish resistance in neighboring Syria's Rojava region, and also to promote peace. The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of cross-border peace, after co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Union Party announced that his party is ready for renewed talks with Ankara.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336490/istanbul-rally-voices-support-for-syrias-kurds/<http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336490/istanbul-rally-voices-support-for-syrias-kurds/>
9. Suspicious Deaths Continue in Turkish Army
29 November 2013 / RudawActivists and the families and lawyers of many Turkish soldiers who reportedly committed suicide or were killed in accidents doubt the official version of the deaths, noting that many of the dead were either minority Kurds or Alevis.
“Most of the soldiers who lost their lives in the army were Kurdish or Alevis. Their families do not believe that it is a coincidence that all those accidents happen to their children,” said Ergin Dogru, head of the Dersim branch of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). “The deaths in the army are not investigated sufficiently and the military courts do not give just rulings about the cases,” Dogru complained to Rudaw.
The Turkish Ministry of Defence says that 2,221 soldiers lost their lives in suicides or accident deaths between 1992 and 2012.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/28112013
11. PHOTOS: Protests in Turkey over govt education policies
24 November 2013 / RThttp://rt.com/in-vision/turkey-education-protest-clashes/ <http://rt.com/in-vision/turkey-education-protest-clashes/>
12. Oppressed Kurds defend their lands in Syria civil war
The MilitantKurdish militias have routed al-Qaedist forces in northeast Syria, securing their control over more than 20 towns and villages. By late October, Kurdish forces had extended their control over most of Hasakah province. This ground, taken in the course of the Syrian civil war, is part of a broader rise in the struggle of the Kurdish people, an oppressed nationality of some 30 million concentrated in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Of the more than 2 million Kurds in Syria, the largest concentration resides in Hasakah province, which is 70 percent Kurdish. The other major concentration is in the district of Efrin in the northwest, where their numbers have doubled over the course of the civil war. These areas are commonly referred to by Kurds as Rojava (western Kurdistan). Kurds also comprise a significant minority in both Damascus and Aleppo.
http://www.themilitant.com/2013/7743/774304.html <http://www.themilitant.com/2013/7743/774304.html>
13. PYD Leader Warns of War with Arab Settlers in Kurdish Areas
24 November 2013 / Rudaw The leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, has warned that the Kurds' future war would be with Arabs who have settled in the Kurdish areas with the help of the Syrian regime. "One day those Arabs who have been brought to the Kurdish areas will have to be expelled," said Muslim in an interview with Serek TV. The PYD leader said that the situation in Qamishli and Hasakah is particularly explosive and that "if it continues the same way, there will be war between Kurds and Arabs."
Qamishli is the largest Kurdish city in Syria and Hasakah boasts most of the country’s oil wealth. Muslim's own armed forces known as People's Protection Units (YPG) have been in control of Syria's Kurdish areas for the past year and a half.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/24112013 <http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/24112013>
14. Salih Muslim joins conference in Brussels
28 November 2013 / Peace in Kurdistan CampaignLast week (22 November 2013) a joint conference by Centre Maurits Coppieters together with the Kurdish Institute of Brussels and Belgian Senator Karl Vanlouwe took place in Brussels on the situation of Kurds and the Syrian civil war.
You can see video clips from the main conference speakers here.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/salih-muslim-joins-conference-in-brussels/<http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/salih-muslim-joins-conference-in-brussels/>
15. Iranian Filmmaker Offers White Flag to Kurds
27 November 2013 / RudawMohammed Nourizad, a well-known activist, filmmaker and former journalist who has gone from supporting Iran’s clerical regime to turning into one of its fiercest critics, has visited the Kurdish areas of Iran with a white flag by way of apologizing for his earlier judgment of the country’s Kurds. “My view of the Kurdish areas was strictly journalistic,” Nourizad told Rudaw in an interview. “My reading was based on government statements of words of people who had visited the Kurdish areas.” Nourizad, 60, was once a fervent supporter of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He said his opinion has completely changed since he started his visit to the Kurdish areas of western Iran, including the city of Sardasht.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/27112013
16. Besieged town in disputed territories turns to Kurds for security
27 November 2013 / Iraqi Oil ReportExhausted by relentless bombings and exasperated by the federal government's inability to provide security, Tuz Khurmatu, one of the most fractious towns in Iraq's disputed territories, has voted to come under the protection of Kurdish Peshmerga security forces.Key Kurdish leaders indicated their intention to honor the request, despite the risk of raising tensions with authorities in Baghdad and Salahaddin province, who oppose the move.
http://www.iraqoilreport.com/security/national-security/besieged-town-disputed-territories-turns-kurds-security-11557/
17. Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan sign landmark energy contracts
29 November 2013 / eKurdTurkey and Iraqi Kurdistan signed a package of landmark contracts earlier this week that will see the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region's oil and gas exported via pipelines through Turkey, sources close to the deal told Reuters on Friday. The sources said the deals were signed during Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani's three hour-long meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday. The move is likely to further infuriate Baghdad, which claims the sole authority to manage Iraqi oil and which said late on Thursday that any energy deal with Kurdistan would be "an encroachment on the sovereignty of Iraq". The Turkish Energy Ministry declined to comment.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4860.htm
18. Erbil Hosts Major Energy Meet as Oil Exports Set to Begin
27 November 2013 / RudawMore than 100 international energy companies and 800 political and diplomatic figures are expected to attend the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil & Gas Conference 2013 in Erbil next month, notably coinciding with historic oil exports by the Kurds.
The four-day conference opens Sunday, just as the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq begins to export oil directly to Turkey through its newly-extended pipeline. “More than 100 international oil and gas companies have registered to participate in this conference,” said Nawar Abdul Hadi, deputy president of the CWC Group which organizes international energy events. “More than 800 politicians and diplomats will participate,” he added. With fundamental disagreements lingering for years between Erbil and the central government in Baghdad over oil issues, sources said that officials from the Iraqi oil ministry would not attend the conference. But the deputy prime minister of Iraq Roj Nuri Shawes, who is an ethnic Kurd, will participate.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/27112013
19. The long road to peace and reconciliation in Turkey
26 November 2013 / Peace in Kurdistan campaignA seminar on ‘’the long road to peace and reconciliation in Turkey’’ has taken place in London with guest speaker from South Africa, Judge Essa Moosa, who was on a brief visit to the UK. The seminar addressed the current opportunities for dialogue between the Turkish government and the Kurds within the context of the slow moving peace process which was in danger on stalling. The event organised by Peace in Kurdistan in association with SOAS Kurdish Society, was held at SOAS on the afternoon of 16 November and attended by students, academics and people from wide spectrum of organisations who take an interest in Kurdish issues. Judge Moosa, a distinguished law maker and a veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, was introduced by Birgul Yilmaz, Teaching Fellow at SOAS, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, who chaired the event. He was joined on the panel by Akif Wan, Kurdistan National Congress, UK Representative.
http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2013/11/26/the-long-road-to-peace-and-reconciliation-in-turkey/
20. 10th International Conference on EU, Turkey and The Kurds, 4-5 December
27 November 2013 / GUE/NGL Group
“Turkey, the Kurds and the Imrali Peace Process: An Historic Opportunity”A two-day conference with contributions from:
Ms. Leyla Zana, Member of the Turkish Parliament; MEP Mr. Jürgen Klute, Coordinator of the EP-Kurds Friendship Group, GUE/NGL Group, Germany; MeAntoine Comte, Lawyer, France; Professor Noam Chomsky, Writer, the USA; Mr. Yasar Kemal, Writer, Turkey; MEP Mr. Iñaki Irazabalbeitia Fernández, Greens-EFA Group; MP Ms. Gulten Kisanak, co-Chair, BDP, Turkey; MP Mr. Sezgin Tanrıkulu, CHP MP for Istanbul, Turkey; Ms. Emma Sinclair-Webb, Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch
and many more.
http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/events/10th-international-conference-on-the-eu-turkey-the-kurds
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
21. The PKK foundation in Sakine Cansız's words 27 November 2013 / ANFSakine Cansız, a co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) was killed in Paris, at the Kurdistan Information Office, on 9 January 2013. She was shot dead along with two other Kurdish women and political activists. Fidan Doğan, representative of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) in Paris and Leyla Şaylemez, member of the Kurdish youth movement. The Kurdish Liberation Movement made up of a group of Kurdish and Turkish youths, known as pro-Apo (Öcalan) and -national liberation groups till 1978, became a party following the first congress held in the house of the Zoğurlu family, which supported the organization since its formation, in the Fis village of Diyarbakır's Lice district on 26-27 November. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan) has become a public movement addressing millions during the 35 years that have passed since the first congress which had been attended by 22 delegates.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/the-pkk-foundation-in-sakine-cansiz-s-words.htm
22. Turkey’s Rapprochement With Iraqi Kurdistan: An Obstacle To Kurdish Peace Process? – Analysis
26 November 2013 / Eurasia ReviewWhen the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masood Barzani, visited Diyarbakir with Sivan Perwer, the famous Kurdish singer who was in exile for more than 37 years, many hailed it a turning point in Turkey’s mistreatment of its Kurdish population. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, got on the stage with Barzani and Perwer, declaring that it is time to celebrate the peace.
Successful peace processes need a few critical ingredients – a) inclusivity, b) trust and c) clarity about the end goal. Ever since the Erdogan launched the dialogue process with the PKK last spring, progress has been less than satisfactory.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/26112013-turkeys-rapprochement-iraqi-kurdistan-obstacle-kurdish-peace-process-analysis/
23. Turkey needing to rebuild Middle East bridges
24 November 213 / EncaTurkey's ambitions to become a regional leader with a "zero problems" foreign policy have been left in tatters by the Syrian civil war, rising sectarian tensions and a fresh diplomatic fallout with Egypt. The predominantly Sunni Muslim NATO member state is now seeking to mend fences with Shiite powers Iraq and Iran to restore its waning clout in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab spring uprisings. The Syrian conflict has upset the balance of power in Turkey's backyard and dealt a blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lofty regional goals, his stature on the international stage also tarnished by the wave of anti-government protests that gripped the country in June.
http://www.enca.com/world/turkey-needing-rebuild-middle-east-bridges <http://www.enca.com/world/turkey-needing-rebuild-middle-east-bridges>
24. Sivan Perwer, Kurdistan and Catalonia
19 November 2013 / RudawSongs and language have always gone hand-in-hand with nationalism, especially for nations aspiring to their own homeland and fighting to keep alive language and culture. This is true for a Kurd in Diyarbakir or a Catalan dreaming of independence in Spain.
For the Kurds, the foremost singer who for decades kept alive the Kurdish language and yearning for “Kurdistan” is Sivan Perwer, who returned from 37 years in exile to sing Sunday in Turkey’s Kurdish heartland of Diyarbakir. Perwer, 57, once said that he sings because it “alleviates my nation's pains and sharpens their rage." Before thousands of fans – and only a short distance from where he was born and went into exile for his songs – Perwer on Sunday performed one of his most famous songs, Megri, Daye Megri (Don’t cry, mother don’t cry), in a duet with Ibrahim Tatlises, another icon of Kurdish music.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/19112013
25. Interview with PYD Salih Muslim
26 November 2013 / ANFA new interview with Sahil Muslim by M. Ali Çelebi has been published in Özgür Gündem. Below is a translation of certain segments, in which Muslim talks about efforts to prevent inter-communal fighting, relations between Arabs and Kurds, and the current situation in Rojava more generally.
Q. On the subject of recent developments in Rojava a number of recent claims attributed to you are being debated; you said that the Arabs settled in Kurdish cities were certainly some day need to be removed and that Arab-Kurdish fighting will certainly break out.A. No, I took pains on that subject. It not like that. Some are asking about the situation in Qamişlo, and some are asking about the situation in Hesekê.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/interview-with-pyd-salih-muslim.htm
26. Amidst Syria's civil war, women are on the frontline fighting for Kurdish rights
27 November 2013 / PRIIt’s early evening at a farmhouse near Ras al-Ayn, Syria. The generator just ran out of fuel. The walkie-talkie starts buzzing and Sheelan grabs it in the pitch black darkness of the living room. On the other end of the static is Nooda, who’s on night duty with three other fighters. Nothing unusual here about two women in arms talking. There are nine women out of the 25 or so fighters positioned at this strategic outpost. The fighters all moved here three weeks ago when the YPG, the Kurdish militia fighting in Syria, forced radical Islamist groups to retreat from about two dozen villages. In the next room, a man and a woman chat over a huge pan of boiling oil. They’re fixing dinner: French fries, canned hummus and pickles.
http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-11-27/amidst-syrias-civil-war-women-are-frontline-fighting-kurdish-rights
27. Fighting their Corner
28 November 2013 / Asharq Al-AwsatAs the fat winter sun dropped sharply below the horizon, Rossiar pointed to a distant cluster of buildings silhouetted against the sunset. “That’s where they are,” she told us. It didn’t feel much like a front line, just acres of billowing farmland tinted orange in the glow of the fading dusk light. But the smallholding we were standing on, half an hour’s drive west of Ras Al-Ain along a road that hugs the Turkish border, now lies at the apex of a crucial new stage in Syria’s civil war. The Kurdish militias, the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the affiliated Women Protection Units (YPJ), are battling the radical Islamist forces of Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) along a front line that stretches 200 miles (330 kilometers) from here to the Yaaroubiyeh border crossing on Syria’s northeastern frontier with Iraq. The enemy that Rossiar pointed to was positioned just 2 miles (3 kilometers) away, across the rolling north Syrian plains.
http://www.aawsat.net/2013/11/article55323786
28. Syria’s Gaza Strip
28 November 2013 / RudawTurkey vehemently criticizes the Israeli and Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip, and many countries of the world supported the “freedom flotillas” that made successive trips to ostensibly try and bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. Turkey has made a lifting of the blockade on Gaza a precondition for resumption of diplomatic ties with Israel, and has vehemently criticized Egypt for also limiting traffic into Gaza from its border. The discourse focuses on the huge injustice of collective punishment of all of Gaza’s people for the politics of their Hamas rulers. Even though Hamas has launched thousands of rockets aimed at Israeli civilian centers, sent infiltrators to attack Israel and declares the destruction of Israel and complete liberation of Palestine to be its main goal, Tel Aviv is accused of overreacting with its blockade.
http://rudaw.net/english/opinion/29112013
29. Syria and Iraq: Planning for a Long War and a Long Recovery
28 November 2013 / Oxford Research GroupGlobal Security Briefing, November 2013: The re-escalation of sectarian conflict in Iraq over the last six months is closely tied to developments in the Syrian war, where Iraqi Shi’a militia are key to the Assad regime’s current offensive and Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida’s Iraq franchise occupy large areas close to the common border. Even if peace is agreed in Geneva next year, tackling the security and economic legacies of this growing sectarianism may take decades. Two developments in the Syrian war are likely to have an extended impact on the entire Middle East region. One is the increasingly close linkage now evident between the war in Syria and the evolving conflict in Iraq. They are in the process of coalescing into what may amount to a single conflict. The second development is that the severity and duration of the war means that the post-conflict economic recovery of Syria, when it finally comes, is likely to take decades unless there is massive external support.
http://oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/publications/middle_east/syria_and_iraq_planning_long_war_and_long_recovery
30. The Iran Nuclear Deal: Risks and Opportunities for the Region
25 November 2013 / Middle East InstituteThe nuclear deal with Iran, though still temporary and tentative, is ushering in a historic shift in the patterns of power, conflict, and diplomacy in the region. Like all historic shifts, it is laden with uncertainty and risk of new conflicts, but also carries with it potential opportunities for further diplomacy and finding common ground. Given the precedent of conflict and mistrust in the region, it is no surprise that the deal has raised concerns among many of America’s allies. Throughout most of the administration of George W. Bush, Iran was seen as an implacable enemy, a member of an “axis of evil.” When Obama tried to turn that posture around in 2009, he was met by the hard-line rebuffs of President Ahmadinejad. When President Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad in August of this year, the two “moderates”—Obama and Rouhani—with vigorous help from their engaged foreign secretaries, Kerry and Zarif, have managed to put the U.S.-Iranian relationship on a new course.
http://www.mei.edu/content/iran-nuclear-deal-risks-and-opportunities-region <http://www.mei.edu/content/iran-nuclear-deal-risks-and-opportunities-region>
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Kurdish News Update, 25 November 213
The First Step is to Free all the Ahmet Kayas
25 November 2013/ ANFFormer BDP Diyarbakır MP and HDK administrative committee member Akın Birdal has spoken to ANF regarding PM Erdoğan’s comment to the effect that "we will see those in the mountains come down and the prisons' emptied” Akın Birdal emphasised that while hundreds of sick prisoners have been left to die or transferred to prisons far from their families these words had no credibility in the eyes of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples.
Birdal added that in an environment where thousands of people involved in legal democratic politics are in jail talk of coming down from the mountains amounted to nothing more than a call to surrender.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/the-first-step-is-to-free-all-the-ahmet-kayas.htm
Bese Hozat: PKK is a social system today
25 November 2013 / ANFThe Kurdish Liberation Movement made up of a group of Kurdish and Turkish youths, known as pro-Apo (Öcalan) and -national liberation groups till 1978, became a party following the first congress held in the house of the Zoğurlu family, which supported the organization since its formation, in the Fis village of Diyarbakır's Lice district on 26-27 November. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan) has become a public movement addressing millions during the 35 years that have passed since the first congress which had been attended by 22 delegates. Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-President Bese Hozat spoke to ANF about the struggle PKK has given for 35 years now, what it has achieved so far and what kind of a change and transformation it has introduced to the Kurdish people.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bese-hozat-pkk-is-a-social-system-today.htm
'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' thousands said in Amed
25 November 2013 / ANFThousands of women have taken to the streets in the main Kurdish city Amed/Diyarbakır today to mark the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women. The march organized by Democratic Free Women's Movement (DÖKH) was joined by a large number of women and women's organizations.
"Jin Jiyan Azadi" [Women, Life, Freedom] read the banners they carried as they marched from Ofis to Bağlar district, chanting the slogan "We are not remaining silent but getting organized". In a statement on behalf of the women joining the rally, Kardelen Women's Shelter Spokesperson Yeliz Ayyıldız called attention to the increasing violence against women in Turkey and remarked that the male-dominant capitalist system was responsible for systematic violence and the slavery life women are being doomed to.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/jin-jiyan-azadi-thousands-said-in-amed.htm
BDP to hold primary election in Diyarbakır today
24 November 2013 / ANFPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) has received over ten thousand applications for mayor and city council member candidateship for the approaching local elections which will be held next March. A total of 167 people have put down their names in the list for candidates from which the mayor candidates will be selected for Diyarbakır/Amed Municipality. The number of those who have stood for seat in the city council of Bağlar, Sur, Yenişehir and Kayapınar Municipalities has reached 299 by now.
According to the information obtained from the BDP electoral commission, 167 people have applied for mayor nomination candidacy so far, including 8 in Bağlar, 11 in Bismil, 6 in Çermik, 7 in Çınar, 1 in Çüngüş, 1 in Eğil, 10 in Dicle, 24 in Ergani, 9 in Hani, 12 in Hazro, 14 in Kayapınar, 15 in Kocaköy, 5 in Kulp, 8 in Lice, 11 in Silvan, 13 in Sur, 10 in Yenişehir and two for Amed metropolitan municipality.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bdp-to-hold-primary-election-in-diyarbakir-today.htm
Pro-Kurdish party leader recommends HDP, CHP to discuss alliance
21 November 2013 / World BulletinPro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-chairperson Selahattin Demirtas stated that his party suggests the People's Democracy Party (HDP) -- which is considered to be the sister party of the BDP -- to be open to an alliance with main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) in the upcoming local elections.
In order to bring its potential out in the local elections, the HDP should consider an alliance with the CHP, Demirtas said in Diyarbakır on Thursday.
He added that there has not been any talk between the two parties on a possible alliance.
At the congress, the HDP started its municipal election campaign strategy with the slogan, “The BDP in the east, and the HDP in the west.”
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=123434
Istanbul rally voices support for Syria's Kurds
24 November 2013 / Press TVThe Peace and Democracy Party --- one of the Kurdish parties in Turkey --- has held a mass rally in the city of Istanbul. Thousands, including representatives and supporters of about 20 more political parties and organizations also attended the rally at Kadikoy square. The demonstrators said the rally was in solidarity with the Kurdish resistance in neighboring Syria's Rojava region, and also to promote peace. The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of cross-border peace, after co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Union Party announced that his party is ready for renewed talks with Ankara.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336490/istanbul-rally-voices-support-for-syrias-kurds/
PHOTOS: Protests in Turkey over govt education policies
24 November 2013 / RThttp://rt.com/in-vision/turkey-education-protest-clashes/
Oppressed Kurds defend their lands in Syria civil war
The MilitantKurdish militias have routed al-Qaedist forces in northeast Syria, securing their control over more than 20 towns and villages. By late October, Kurdish forces had extended their control over most of Hasakah province. This ground, taken in the course of the Syrian civil war, is part of a broader rise in the struggle of the Kurdish people, an oppressed nationality of some 30 million concentrated in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Of the more than 2 million Kurds in Syria, the largest concentration resides in Hasakah province, which is 70 percent Kurdish. The other major concentration is in the district of Efrin in the northwest, where their numbers have doubled over the course of the civil war. These areas are commonly referred to by Kurds as Rojava (western Kurdistan). Kurds also comprise a significant minority in both Damascus and Aleppo.
http://www.themilitant.com/2013/7743/774304.html
PYD Leader Warns of War with Arab Settlers in Kurdish Areas
24 November 2013 / Rudaw The leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, has warned that the Kurds' future war would be with Arabs who have settled in the Kurdish areas with the help of the Syrian regime. "One day those Arabs who have been brought to the Kurdish areas will have to be expelled," said Muslim in an interview with Serek TV. The PYD leader said that the situation in Qamishli and Hasakah is particularly explosive and that "if it continues the same way, there will be war between Kurds and Arabs."
Qamishli is the largest Kurdish city in Syria and Hasakah boasts most of the country’s oil wealth. Muslim's own armed forces known as People's Protection Units (YPG) have been in control of Syria's Kurdish areas for the past year and a half.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/24112013
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Turkey needing to rebuild Middle East bridges
24 November 213 / EncaTurkey's ambitions to become a regional leader with a "zero problems" foreign policy have been left in tatters by the Syrian civil war, rising sectarian tensions and a fresh diplomatic fallout with Egypt. The predominantly Sunni Muslim NATO member state is now seeking to mend fences with Shiite powers Iraq and Iran to restore its waning clout in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab spring uprisings. The Syrian conflict has upset the balance of power in Turkey's backyard and dealt a blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lofty regional goals, his stature on the international stage also tarnished by the wave of anti-government protests that gripped the country in June.
http://www.enca.com/world/turkey-needing-rebuild-middle-east-bridges
The Iran Nuclear Deal: Risks and Opportunities for the Region
25 November 2013 / Middle East InstituteThe nuclear deal with Iran, though still temporary and tentative, is ushering in a historic shift in the patterns of power, conflict, and diplomacy in the region. Like all historic shifts, it is laden with uncertainty and risk of new conflicts, but also carries with it potential opportunities for further diplomacy and finding common ground. Given the precedent of conflict and mistrust in the region, it is no surprise that the deal has raised concerns among many of America’s allies. Throughout most of the administration of George W. Bush, Iran was seen as an implacable enemy, a member of an “axis of evil.” When Obama tried to turn that posture around in 2009, he was met by the hard-line rebuffs of President Ahmadinejad. When President Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad in August of this year, the two “moderates”—Obama and Rouhani—with vigorous help from their engaged foreign secretaries, Kerry and Zarif, have managed to put the U.S.-Iranian relationship on a new course.
http://www.mei.edu/content/iran-nuclear-deal-risks-and-opportunities-region
25 November 2013/ ANFFormer BDP Diyarbakır MP and HDK administrative committee member Akın Birdal has spoken to ANF regarding PM Erdoğan’s comment to the effect that "we will see those in the mountains come down and the prisons' emptied” Akın Birdal emphasised that while hundreds of sick prisoners have been left to die or transferred to prisons far from their families these words had no credibility in the eyes of the Kurdish and Turkish peoples.
Birdal added that in an environment where thousands of people involved in legal democratic politics are in jail talk of coming down from the mountains amounted to nothing more than a call to surrender.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/the-first-step-is-to-free-all-the-ahmet-kayas.htm
Bese Hozat: PKK is a social system today
25 November 2013 / ANFThe Kurdish Liberation Movement made up of a group of Kurdish and Turkish youths, known as pro-Apo (Öcalan) and -national liberation groups till 1978, became a party following the first congress held in the house of the Zoğurlu family, which supported the organization since its formation, in the Fis village of Diyarbakır's Lice district on 26-27 November. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party, Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan) has become a public movement addressing millions during the 35 years that have passed since the first congress which had been attended by 22 delegates. Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council Co-President Bese Hozat spoke to ANF about the struggle PKK has given for 35 years now, what it has achieved so far and what kind of a change and transformation it has introduced to the Kurdish people.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bese-hozat-pkk-is-a-social-system-today.htm
'Jin, Jiyan, Azadi' thousands said in Amed
25 November 2013 / ANFThousands of women have taken to the streets in the main Kurdish city Amed/Diyarbakır today to mark the International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women. The march organized by Democratic Free Women's Movement (DÖKH) was joined by a large number of women and women's organizations.
"Jin Jiyan Azadi" [Women, Life, Freedom] read the banners they carried as they marched from Ofis to Bağlar district, chanting the slogan "We are not remaining silent but getting organized". In a statement on behalf of the women joining the rally, Kardelen Women's Shelter Spokesperson Yeliz Ayyıldız called attention to the increasing violence against women in Turkey and remarked that the male-dominant capitalist system was responsible for systematic violence and the slavery life women are being doomed to.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/jin-jiyan-azadi-thousands-said-in-amed.htm
BDP to hold primary election in Diyarbakır today
24 November 2013 / ANFPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) has received over ten thousand applications for mayor and city council member candidateship for the approaching local elections which will be held next March. A total of 167 people have put down their names in the list for candidates from which the mayor candidates will be selected for Diyarbakır/Amed Municipality. The number of those who have stood for seat in the city council of Bağlar, Sur, Yenişehir and Kayapınar Municipalities has reached 299 by now.
According to the information obtained from the BDP electoral commission, 167 people have applied for mayor nomination candidacy so far, including 8 in Bağlar, 11 in Bismil, 6 in Çermik, 7 in Çınar, 1 in Çüngüş, 1 in Eğil, 10 in Dicle, 24 in Ergani, 9 in Hani, 12 in Hazro, 14 in Kayapınar, 15 in Kocaköy, 5 in Kulp, 8 in Lice, 11 in Silvan, 13 in Sur, 10 in Yenişehir and two for Amed metropolitan municipality.
http://en.firatajans.com/news/news/bdp-to-hold-primary-election-in-diyarbakir-today.htm
Pro-Kurdish party leader recommends HDP, CHP to discuss alliance
21 November 2013 / World BulletinPro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Co-chairperson Selahattin Demirtas stated that his party suggests the People's Democracy Party (HDP) -- which is considered to be the sister party of the BDP -- to be open to an alliance with main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) in the upcoming local elections.
In order to bring its potential out in the local elections, the HDP should consider an alliance with the CHP, Demirtas said in Diyarbakır on Thursday.
He added that there has not been any talk between the two parties on a possible alliance.
At the congress, the HDP started its municipal election campaign strategy with the slogan, “The BDP in the east, and the HDP in the west.”
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=123434
Istanbul rally voices support for Syria's Kurds
24 November 2013 / Press TVThe Peace and Democracy Party --- one of the Kurdish parties in Turkey --- has held a mass rally in the city of Istanbul. Thousands, including representatives and supporters of about 20 more political parties and organizations also attended the rally at Kadikoy square. The demonstrators said the rally was in solidarity with the Kurdish resistance in neighboring Syria's Rojava region, and also to promote peace. The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of cross-border peace, after co-leader of the Syrian Democratic Union Party announced that his party is ready for renewed talks with Ankara.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/11/24/336490/istanbul-rally-voices-support-for-syrias-kurds/
PHOTOS: Protests in Turkey over govt education policies
24 November 2013 / RThttp://rt.com/in-vision/turkey-education-protest-clashes/
Oppressed Kurds defend their lands in Syria civil war
The MilitantKurdish militias have routed al-Qaedist forces in northeast Syria, securing their control over more than 20 towns and villages. By late October, Kurdish forces had extended their control over most of Hasakah province. This ground, taken in the course of the Syrian civil war, is part of a broader rise in the struggle of the Kurdish people, an oppressed nationality of some 30 million concentrated in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Of the more than 2 million Kurds in Syria, the largest concentration resides in Hasakah province, which is 70 percent Kurdish. The other major concentration is in the district of Efrin in the northwest, where their numbers have doubled over the course of the civil war. These areas are commonly referred to by Kurds as Rojava (western Kurdistan). Kurds also comprise a significant minority in both Damascus and Aleppo.
http://www.themilitant.com/2013/7743/774304.html
PYD Leader Warns of War with Arab Settlers in Kurdish Areas
24 November 2013 / Rudaw The leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, has warned that the Kurds' future war would be with Arabs who have settled in the Kurdish areas with the help of the Syrian regime. "One day those Arabs who have been brought to the Kurdish areas will have to be expelled," said Muslim in an interview with Serek TV. The PYD leader said that the situation in Qamishli and Hasakah is particularly explosive and that "if it continues the same way, there will be war between Kurds and Arabs."
Qamishli is the largest Kurdish city in Syria and Hasakah boasts most of the country’s oil wealth. Muslim's own armed forces known as People's Protection Units (YPG) have been in control of Syria's Kurdish areas for the past year and a half.
http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/24112013
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
Turkey needing to rebuild Middle East bridges
24 November 213 / EncaTurkey's ambitions to become a regional leader with a "zero problems" foreign policy have been left in tatters by the Syrian civil war, rising sectarian tensions and a fresh diplomatic fallout with Egypt. The predominantly Sunni Muslim NATO member state is now seeking to mend fences with Shiite powers Iraq and Iran to restore its waning clout in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab spring uprisings. The Syrian conflict has upset the balance of power in Turkey's backyard and dealt a blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's lofty regional goals, his stature on the international stage also tarnished by the wave of anti-government protests that gripped the country in June.
http://www.enca.com/world/turkey-needing-rebuild-middle-east-bridges
The Iran Nuclear Deal: Risks and Opportunities for the Region
25 November 2013 / Middle East InstituteThe nuclear deal with Iran, though still temporary and tentative, is ushering in a historic shift in the patterns of power, conflict, and diplomacy in the region. Like all historic shifts, it is laden with uncertainty and risk of new conflicts, but also carries with it potential opportunities for further diplomacy and finding common ground. Given the precedent of conflict and mistrust in the region, it is no surprise that the deal has raised concerns among many of America’s allies. Throughout most of the administration of George W. Bush, Iran was seen as an implacable enemy, a member of an “axis of evil.” When Obama tried to turn that posture around in 2009, he was met by the hard-line rebuffs of President Ahmadinejad. When President Rouhani replaced Ahmadinejad in August of this year, the two “moderates”—Obama and Rouhani—with vigorous help from their engaged foreign secretaries, Kerry and Zarif, have managed to put the U.S.-Iranian relationship on a new course.
http://www.mei.edu/content/iran-nuclear-deal-risks-and-opportunities-region
Kurdish News Weekly Briefing, 16 - 22 November 2013
1. Erdogan puts hopes for peace with Kurds in hands of Barzani
16 November 2013 / Middle East onlineTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.
Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Ankara hopes to use Barzani's influence as a respected figure among Turkey's Kurds to bring them back to the negotiating table.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62642
2. Iraqi Kurdish president in Turkey to back PM's peace effort
16 November 2013 / ReutersThe president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Masoud Barzani's trip to Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, comes as Ankara finalizes billions of dollars of energy deals with his semi-autonomous region and amid mutual concern over the ambitions of Kurdish militias in the chaos of neighboring Syria. Thousands gathered to hear Barzani and Erdogan speak, opening a day of ceremonies including a performance by Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer, who had fled Turkey in the 1970s, and a wedding of 400 couples.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/16/us-turkey-kurdistan-idUSBRE9AF05L20131116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/16/us-turkey-kurdistan-idUSBRE9AF05L20131116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews>
3. Erdogan launches peace talks with Iraqi Kurdish leader
16 November 2013 / Daily StarTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-16/238056-erdogan-launches-peace-talks-with-iraqi-kurdish-leader.ashx#axzz2kxQWpkM5<http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-16/238056-erdogan-launches-peace-talks-with-iraqi-kurdish-leader.ashx#axzz2kxQWpkM5>
4. Government should ensure Öcalan's contact with civil society
22 November 2013 / ANFPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş spoke to reporters about the visit Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani paid to the main Kurdish city Amed/Diyarbakır last weekend. Demirtaş said the Amed visit gave no messages concerning the language, identity and self governance of Kurds, and reminded that all the PM said was that “mountains and jails shall be emptied”. BDP co-chair underlined that “It seems this visit took place because of the deadlock Turkey is facing today in relation with the regional developments, and with an intention to overcome the obstacles it is facing in its foreign policy.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/government-should-ensure-ocalan-s-contact-with-civil-society.htm
5. ICG: Barzani’s visit to Diyarbakir challenged PKK
21 November 2013 / Bas NewsThe director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) Turkish Project, Hugh Pope, said that the visit of Kurdish president Massoud Barzani to Diyarbakir was a challenge to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Pope told BasNews that Barzani’s visit was not part of Erdoğan’s election propaganda as some media outlets have suggested. “This visit dramatically underlines a new push along two major progressive lines in Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) policy: normalization with the KRG, and the effort to find a more inclusive national narrative for Turkey, specifically in terms of the Kurds,” said Pope.http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/ICG--Barzani-s-visit-to-Diyarbakir-challenged-PKK/6299 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/ICG--Barzani-s-visit-to-Diyarbakir-challenged-PKK/6299>
6. 2 Day-Long Diyarbakır Meeting Aired For 142 Hours
21 November 2013 / BianetAccording to statistics released by Medya Takip Merkei (Media Monitoring Center), last weekend’s meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Masoud Barzani, Şirwan Perwer and Ibrahim Tatlıses has been reported in 1460 various news programs for 142 hours.
A Haber marked with 128 news highlights as the TV Network with the most coverage on the issue. It was also listed as the second TV network regarding the program durations (14 hours).
The second rank in the most coverage was Ülke TV with news highlights and 15 hours of program coverage.
http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/151472-2-day-long-diyarbakir-meeting-aired-for-142-hours<http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/151472-2-day-long-diyarbakir-meeting-aired-for-142-hours>
7. Diyarbakir meeting: Promise of emptying prisons, but when?
17 November 2013 / InfoturkDuring a joint rally with the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, in Diyarbakır, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the Kurdish population to support the ongoing resolution process. “We will witness a new Turkey where those in the mountains come down, the prisons empty and the 76 million [citizens of Turkey] become one,” Erdoğan said, hinting to a general amnesty demaned by many Kurdish groups, including the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). “In Diyarbakır, the city of brotherhood, we are brothers from time immemorial. We are not fellow travelers, we also share the same faith,” Erdoğan said.
http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#emptying <http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#emptying>
8. Öcalan: We are ready for negotiations
19 November 2013 / ANFMehmet Öcalan spoke to DIHA (Dicle News Agency) about the details of the meeting he had with his brother, Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı prison on Monday. Mehmet Öcalan said the Kurdish leader spoke during the meeting about the developments in the last one year of the resolution process, approaching local elections in Turkey and the recent developments in Rojava, western Kurdistan. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leader reacted to the reports of some Turkish media organs and government officials about the suspension of the dislocation of Kurdish guerrillas along the borders. Responding to the criticism over the suspension of the withdrawal process, the Kurdish leader said that; “This is a quite fragile subject. The withdrawal was suspended because of the fact that the Turkish state and government prepared no legal ground for this process. This is also the reason why the process is continuing this way now”.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-we-are-ready-for-negotiations.htm
9. Sick Hunger-Striker Ergin Aktaş Transferred to High Security Prison
22 November 2013 / ANFErgin Aktaş, who took part in a three-day warning hunger strike with paralysed inmate Ali Haydar Yıldız in protest at inhumane conditions in the Metris R Type Prison, has been transferred to the Ümraniye F Type Prison as a punishment. It has emerged that after the three-day hunger strike Ergin Aktaş was told by the prison governor that he was being punished for 'Disturbing the tranquillity of the prison' and was transferred on 14 November. Ergin Aktaş’s cousin Ahmet Aktaş spoke to ANF, saying that instead of being released sick prisoners were being transferred to other prisons. Aktaş added: “This cruelty of the state is a crime against humanity. Ergin said that in the event of the three-day hunger strike not achieving results they would launch an indefinite hunger strike."
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/sick-hunger-striker-ergin-aktas-transferred-to-high-security-prison.htm
10. Turkey has no plans to give Kurdish PKK rebels general amnesty
19 November 2013 / eKurdTurkey on Monday said it was not considering a general amnesty for Kurdish rebels as the government stepped up efforts to restart a stalled peace process with the outlawed Kurdish PKK group. The issue came to the fore on Saturday when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted in the country's Kurdish southeast [northern Kurdistan] that Turkish prisons would one day be emptied. Erdogan had welcomed at the weekend the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, to Turkey's own Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, in a landmark trip designed to revive the peace process between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish state. "We will witness a new Turkey where those in the mountains come down, the prisons empty and 76 million (citizens of Turkey) become united," Erdogan said in remarks which some local media saw as a veiled reference to a general amnesty, one of the key demands of the PKK.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4849.htm <http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4849.htm>
11. Father and son killed by police fire commemorated in Kızıltepe on 9th anniversary of death
21 November 2013 / HurriyetAhmet Kaymaz and his 12-year-old son, Uğur Kaymaz, who were shot dead by police while walking along a local street in the southeastern Mardin province's populated Kızıltepe district nine years ago, were commemorated on Nov. 21 by relatives and members of civil society. The event was also attended by the independent Mardin Deputy Ahmet Türk as well as his nephew and Kızıltepe's Mayor elected from the ranks of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Ferhan Türk.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/father-and-son-killed-by-police-fire-commemorated-in-mardin-on-9th-anniversary-of-death.aspx?pageID=238&nID=58342&NewsCatID=341
12. Laz community opens institute to save culture
21 November 2013 / InfoturkTurkey’s Laz community is establishing an institute in Istanbul to protect its culture and Lazuri language. The institute will be opened in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul on Nov. 23 under the leadership of politician and academic Prof. Mehmet Bekaroğlu. In 2010, the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger declares Lazuri as a language.
He said that even though he is the founding president, in reality late singer Kazım Koyuncu, who died of lung cancer at the age of 34 in 2005, is a founder of the institute. The artist, who was the leader of Turkey’s first ever Lazuri rock band Zuğaşi Berepe, took “the first step” for them, Bekaroğlu said. Bekaroğlu insisted they are not aiming at nationalism; they are just trying to protect their language and culture. He also added there is a lack of knowledge in society on Laz culture, and many people think the Laz people are just Black Sea Region residents, “speaking Turkish with a very bad accent.”
“This [perception] is totally meaningless, Laz people have centuries old culture and language,” he said.
http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#Laz <http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm%23Laz>
13. Iran pleased with PYD transitional administration
18 November 2013 /Bas NewsThe Iranian government is pleased with the PYD’s declaration of a local transitional administration in the Kurdish areas of Syria. Iranian Radio Fardareported that the Iranian government and President Bashar al-Assad are pleased with last week’s declaration of an interim government. Iranian media agencies are praising the efforts by the PYD in fighting extremists in northern Syria. According to these media outlets, the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) have defeated extremists in 16 villages of Syria’s Kurdish region. Due to the transitional government, Assad has now put his hopes in the revival of an Alawites government in the areas of Damascus, Homs and Lathikiya and up to the border with the Syrian Kurdish areas.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-pleased-with-PYD-transitional-administration/6113 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-pleased-with-PYD-transitional-administration/6113>
14. Iran arrests 180 Kurdish activists
20 November 2013 / Bas NewsOver the last two months 180 Kurds have been arrested in Iranian Kurdistan. This week, two Kurdish activists were arrested by Iranian intelligence forces in Kamyaran, after they crossed the border from the Kurdistan Region into Iranian Kurdistan. A source has told BasNews that two Kurdish activists, Mihrdad Saburi and Afshin Nadimi, from Kurdish cities Sina and Kamyaran, disappeared 10 days ago. It was recently announced that they were arrested on Nov. 17.Two siblings are also said to have mysteriously disappeared from Bokan city. There has been no information regarding the whereabouts of 28-year-old Afsana Bayazidi and her 25-year-old brother Shaho. Security agencies in that area have yet to release a statement regarding the disappearances. This week, an Iranian court sentenced Shahin Bayazidi, a Kurdish activist and former member of Bokan municipality council, to two years in jail.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-arrests-180-Kurdish-activists/6223 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-arrests-180-Kurdish-activists/6223>
15. Thousands protested against Massoud Barzani in Syrian Kurdistan
20 November 2013 / eKurdThousands in the Syrian Kurdistan city of Efrin [Afrin] staged a march to protest against Massoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan region, in relation with his statements against the revolution in Syrian Kurdistan and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) party. Referring to the statements of Barzani who claimed there was no Syrian Kurdistan revolution and spoke against the PYD, Behçet Berekat, deputy president of Efrin People's Assembly, said that “They are denying the revolution which has been attained with the blood of hundreds of youngsters. This denial is the denial of the blood of these youngsters and the denial of the labor of our people”.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/syriakurd950.htm<http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/syriakurd950.htm>
16. Three Syrian Kurds killed by Turkish Army
18 November 2013 / Bas NewsAt around 1.30am on Sunday, Turkish border guards killed three Kurdish Syrians trying to cross over the Turkish border. According to BasNews correspondent in Qamishlo, the Kurds were trying to cross the Turkish border illegally. The incident happen in the border village of Himo in Syrian Kurdistan. The bodies were taken to a local hospital in Malatya, a Turkish border town. Kurdish human rights organizations in Syrian Kurdistan have called for immediate investigation into the killings. Recent protests over Turkey’s plan to build a wall along the Syrian-Turkish border has caused tensions near the border areas. According to AFP, Turkey has taken in more than 600,000 Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war, of which 200,000 are living in about 10 camps along the border region.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Three-Syrian-Kurds-killed-by-Turkish-Army/6092 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Three-Syrian-Kurds-killed-by-Turkish-Army/6092>
17. 20,000 march in Berlin to demand PKK ban lifted
17 November 2013 / AFPSome 20,000 people marched through central Berlin on Saturday to demand the German government lift its 20-year ban on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), organisers said.
Under a heavy police presence, the protest passed off peacefully with demonstrators marching under the banner: "Support the peace process, lift the ban on the PKK."
Despite the ban on the PKK, in place in Germany since 1993, the organisation enjoys considerable support there, with an estimated 500,000 Kurds in the country -- the majority of Turkish origin. German authorities believe the PKK has around 11,500 active members. Organisers of the march said police had been stopping protesters to search for banners displaying imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and imposing fines on those possessing them. Police provided no estimate of turnout.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guST212mxdWHW0XFRZzjCcWDyrnA?docId=54dd5d03-1483-4652-b399-f87a83f2f1c5<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guST212mxdWHW0XFRZzjCcWDyrnA?docId=54dd5d03-1483-4652-b399-f87a83f2f1c5>
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
19. Erdogan-Barzani 'Diyarbakir encounter' milestone
20 November 2013 / Al MonitorLast weekend Turkey lived through many "firsts" at Diyarbakir, which is seen by all Kurds — not only the ones in Turkey — as their "spiritual center." The weekend meeting, labeled as the "Diyarbakir encounter," bringing together Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, was choreographed by Erdogan. It was, above all, a phenomenal public relations achievement for the prime minister.
The Diyarbakir encounter can also be considered a significant political comeback for Erdogan, whose image inside the country and abroad has suffered considerably after the Taksim-Gezi protests at the beginning of the summer.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/erdogan-barzani-kurdistan-diyarbakir-political-decision.html
20. Is Intra-Kurdish Strife the Price of Turkish-Kurdish Peace?
20 November 2013 / AINAIraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani's visit to Diyarbakir together with Kurdish singer Sivan Perwer is no doubt a development that has historic aspects.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for instance, made quite emotional remarks about Turkish-Kurdish fraternity. He broke a taboo by uttering the word "Kurdistan." He pointed to a new threshold in the peace process by saying, "God willing, we will see the day when those up in the mountains return and the prisons are emptied." He paid tribute to [Kurdish singer] Ahmet Kaya, saying he wished Kaya were there with them. The Kurdistan and Turkish flags flew side by side. Perwer returned home after 38 years, singing a requiem in Kurdish. Erdogan paid his first ever visit to the Diyarbakir municipality, which is run by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). No doubt, those were long-awaited moments that came with a heavy price.
http://www.aina.org/news/20131120163627.htm <http://www.aina.org/news/20131120163627.htm>
22. Kurdish leader makes historic Turkey visit
20 November 2013 / Al JazeeraIt was a breakthrough moment: Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, shouting messages of peace to thousands of spectators. It was an emotionally momentous day for Turkish Kurds for another reason as well. Iconic Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer, who fled Turkey in 1976, accompanied Barzani on his trip and returned to his homeland after decades of exile. Barzani's visit came at a complicated time: Talks continue between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed armed Kurdish group, and the Turkish state. Meanwhile, Syria's Kurds aim to seize autonomy in the north of the war-torn country. Turkey is set to hold local elections in early 2014. Finally, the KRG seeks to export oil through pipelines in Turkey.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/kurdish-leader-makes-historic-turkey-visit-201311208312697500.html<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/kurdish-leader-makes-historic-turkey-visit-201311208312697500.html>
23. Mixed Feelings Over Barzani’s Visit to Diyarbakir
16 November 2013 / Rudaw Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani is expected to arrive in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey, on Saturday. He will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; attend the inauguration of government projects and partake in some wedding celebrations.
Barzani’s invitation to Diyarbakir clearly marks a break from the traditional Turkish policy towards the Kurds in the whole region. It is true that provincial elections are coming in March next year and Erdogan wants to win Kurdish voters. But the story of the visit cannot only be read from this angle.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/151120131 <http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/151120131>
24. Social media responses to Barzani and Erdogan’s gathering
16 November 2013 / Alliance for Kurdish RightsThe President of Southern Kurdistan visited Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast for the first time in nearly two decades, and gave a speech alongside Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on prolonging the peace settlement. As a way of celebrating Kurdish culture and music, Şivan Perwer was invited to sing at the gathering in Kurdish, alongside Ibrahim Tatlisis. Perwer fled Turkey in 1976 because he was threatened, and Turkish authorities were demanding his arrest at the time for singing in Kurdish. His presence was symbolic of recognising Kurdish cultural differences, and music, which for decades was banned in Turkey.
http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/16/social-media-responses-to-barzani-and-erdogans-gathering/ <http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/16/social-media-responses-to-barzani-and-erdogans-gathering/>
25. Turkey’s draft constitution appears dead
20 November 213 / Al MonitorAfter more than two years of intense work, Turkey's hopes for a civilian constitution have been declared dead, ready to be buried. The announcement, coming from various parts of the so-called Conciliation Commission, brings new doubts to the fore about the future of the country's dragging, slow-motion democratization process, for it raises new questions on whether or not there are any options left for a badly needed social contract. Concerns are, with no progress noted, Turkey's wide-open Pandora's box may lead to sharper polarization and even riskier domestic tension.
The final deadlock in parliament came as a surprise to no one. In the past six months or so, the commission turned into a scene for daily tactics among the four parties which constitute it, and signs of a cul-de-sac became clear when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) insisted on the amendment which it hoped would empower the president — following the elections in August 2014 — as the head of the political executive.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-constitution-parliament-polarization-democratization.html
26. Can Sarigul, the hope of Turkey's left, unseat Erdogan?
20 November 2013 / Al MonitorTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents have pinned their hopes on Mustafa Sarigul, Turkey’s most popular center-left politician and the mayor of Sisli district, the “Manhattan” of Istanbul. Most anti-Erdogan media believe that Sarigul is the only person who could unseat Erdogan. It is interesting, though, that Sarigul, someone I know personally, has not uttered a single word targeting Erdogan. On the contrary, he has always praised him and accorded more attention to pro-Erdogan commentators than leftist ones.Sarigul has based his political strategy on standing close to liberals and pious Muslims. Despite his leftist background, he has always acted as a rightist and sometimes even as an Islamist politician, hence his attitude of not criticizing Erdogan. In his speeches Sarigul praises Erdogan as a great leader who has governed Turkey successfully but who is now tired and should hand over his post.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/sarigul-erdogan-unseat-elections-left.html
27. Turkey’s Alevi question
21 November 2013 / Al MonitorLike the Kurdish problem, predominantly Sunni Turkey has had an age-old Alevi problem. Like the Kurdish problem, there are efforts today by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to solve this problem, too. These efforts also tie in with Ankara’s steps aimed at appeasing the Shiites in the Middle East. Some Alevi organizations have welcomed these efforts by the government, which President Abdullah Gul has also been contributing to. But not all are convinced of their sincerity and, given past disappointments, appear justified. Turkey’s Alevi problem cuts deep — having a bloody history — and has resulted in tragic events in recent times. One tragic case was the “Kahramanmaras incidents” in 1978, when more than 100 Alevis — mostly poor Kurds, including women and children — were massacred by a politically manipulated nationalist Sunni rabble.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-erdogan-alevi-strengthen-relations-sectarian-policies.html
28. Upcoming Game Changer: Turkish-Kurdish Alliance?
17 November 2013 / On IslamRecently held regional Kurdish conference in Turkish capital Ankara may have surprised many in the Middle East and beyond but few realized that the event was a culmination of methodically crafted maneuvering of Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The smart move is aiming at forging an alliance with the Kurds of the region, divided in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria respectively. Kurdish leaders and intellectuals of all the four aforementioned regions have attended the two day long conferences on Nov. 9-10, and discussed the Kurdish solution process in Turkey and developments outside of Turkey.
http://www.onislam.net/english/politics/middle-east/466083-upcoming-game-changer-turkish-kurdish-alliance.html<http://www.onislam.net/english/politics/middle-east/466083-upcoming-game-changer-turkish-kurdish-alliance.html>
29. Judge Essa Moosa interview on Kurdish Question
18 November 2013 / Midori HouseLast week, Judge Essa Moosa, prominent South African human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in Cape Town, was in London to speak at a seminar about possibilities for peace and reconciliation in Turkey, and his work with the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative. The IPRI was launched after a call from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu last year for Turkey to reopen talks with the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. While here, Mr Moosa was interviewed by Monocle 24’s news show Midori House about the part he played in dismantling Apartheid in South Africa and his work in support of the Kurdish movement.
Midori House
Episode 534, 18 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534> Midori House
Episode 535, 19 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535>
30. Turkey Spotlight: The Kurds & Ankara’s Foreign Policy Dilemma
18 November 2013 / EA WorldviewIn recent months, Ankara has taken steps to reduce its isolation in the region, striving to boost its relations with Syria’s neighbors, hoping to replace the regional power struggles of the last two years with an active foreign policy through soft power.
The problem? given the Turkish ruling party’s limited perspective, which is conditioned on domestic gains, there is no second part of the would-be “zero problems with neighbors” policy. One of the central issues in Turkey’s attempts to reposition itself in the region is the Kurdish question. After lengthy disputes with Baghdad, with Damascus, and with Kurds outside Iraqi Kurdistan, Ankara has finally shown concrete signs of a shift in its tactical approach toward this issue.
http://eaworldview.com/2013/11/turkey-spotlight-kurds-ankaras-foreign-policy-dilemma/ <http://eaworldview.com/2013/11/turkey-spotlight-kurds-ankaras-foreign-policy-dilemma/>
31. Erdoğan and Barzani Cooperating Against the Rojava Revolution
19 November 2013 / ANFErdoğan, Barzani, Şivan Perwer and İbrahim Tatlises kicked off the AKP’s election campaign in Kurdistan [last weekend]. And when some intelligent (!) Kurdish politicians went on about how “it would be wrong to understand this meeting as support for Erdoğan in the election campaign” it can be clearly seen that this was a manipulation. The Erdoğan-Barzani meeting was fundamentally a reasonable and everyday affair. However this reasonableness was not a reasonableness related to the demands or preferences of the Kurdish people. What we are talking about is a reasonableness as relates to particular ideological-political preferences. The AKP and KDP are two “brothers” who take the same line on the subjects of statism, sexuality, family values and property. Both parties can be understood as having entered in the spirit of history as cogs in the wheel of capitalist hegemony relying on imperialist powers.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/erdogan-and-barzani-cooperating-against-the-rojava-revolution.htm<http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/erdogan-and-barzani-cooperating-against-the-rojava-revolution.htm>
32. Kurdish Political engagement and online activism
20 November 2013 / Alliance for Kurdish RightsWe have spoken about the plight and struggles of Kurdish people for decades. Numerous academic literature has been published, reports announced, and condemnations expressed of the horrific ordeal that many Kurdish people have been subjected to historically. Some of the horrendous historical accounts of Kurdish history includes (but not limited to) Kurdish women committing suicide in fear of being raped by Turkish soldiers during the Dersim massacre, to the banning of Kurdish music and culture that led to the exiling of Kurdish singers. While literature on the history of Kurdish people is limited, and embarrassingly few given that Kurds are the largest transnational stateless ethnic group because of the censorship Kurdish academics have faced by repressive regimes in Middle east.
http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/20/kurdish-political-engagement-and-online-activism/
33. Spectre of resource regionalism haunts the Middle East
17 November 2013 / The NationalIt’s remarkable how oil, this sticky black fluid, arouses ambitions – ranging from the quixotic to the Machiavellian. Entrepreneurs see it as a ticket to wealth; ambitious politicians, the tool to achieve nationalist dreams; local people, as a route out of poverty. These ambitions merge into a spectre that is haunting the wider Middle East – the spectre of resource regionalism. In Iraqi Kurdistan, recent oil and gas finds offer the region the prospect of independence – whether formal or factual – from Arab Iraq, and aspirations to leadership of the wider Kurdish community. But for now, the Kurdish budget still comes almost entirely from Baghdad, and independent exports require agreement with Turkey.
http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/energy/spectre-of-resource-regionalism-haunts-the-middle-east
34. Time for U.S. to embrace Kurdish self-determination
17 November 2013 / The Lawton ConstitutionBack in the fall of 2005, when the internecine warfare in Iraq was at its height, I argued in a column entitled "Acknowledging Honor And Interest In Iraq" that those obligations applied especially to American support of Iraq's Kurds, who alone among their neighbors seemed genuinely interested in building something resembling a peaceful democratic future. At the time, I pointed out, Kurdish Iraq was the most stable province of that war-torn country, thanks largely to the self-sacrifice and determination of the Kurds themselves. So it remains today, even while elsewhere in Iraq, sectarian violence has mounted to the point where an Iraqi government happy in 2010 to see America's back now pleads with us to reengage.
http://www.swoknews.com/news-top/miscellaneous/item/11767-time-for-us-to-embrace-kurdish-self-determination<http://www.swoknews.com/news-top/miscellaneous/item/11767-time-for-us-to-embrace-kurdish-self-determination>
35. A vastly changed Middle East
21 November 2013 / Jerusalem PostAweek and a half ago, Syria’s Kurds announced they are setting up an autonomous region in northeastern Syria. The announcement came after the Kurds wrested control over a chain of towns from al-Qaida in the ever metastasizing Syrian civil war. The Kurds’ announcement enraged their nominal Sunni allies – including the al-Qaida forces they have been combating – in the opposition to the Assad regime. It also rendered irrelevant US efforts to reach a peace deal between the Syrian regime and the rebel forces at a peace conference in Geneva. But more important than what the Kurds’ action means for the viability of the Obama administration’s Syria policy, it shows just how radically the strategic landscape has changed and continues to change, not just in Syria but throughout the Arab world.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/COLUMN-ONE-A-vastly-changed-Middle-East-332624
16 November 2013 / Middle East onlineTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.
Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Ankara hopes to use Barzani's influence as a respected figure among Turkey's Kurds to bring them back to the negotiating table.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62642
2. Iraqi Kurdish president in Turkey to back PM's peace effort
16 November 2013 / ReutersThe president of Iraqi Kurdistan called on Turkey's Kurds to back a flagging peace process with Ankara on Saturday, making his first visit to southeastern Turkey in two decades in a show of support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Masoud Barzani's trip to Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, comes as Ankara finalizes billions of dollars of energy deals with his semi-autonomous region and amid mutual concern over the ambitions of Kurdish militias in the chaos of neighboring Syria. Thousands gathered to hear Barzani and Erdogan speak, opening a day of ceremonies including a performance by Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer, who had fled Turkey in the 1970s, and a wedding of 400 couples.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/16/us-turkey-kurdistan-idUSBRE9AF05L20131116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/16/us-turkey-kurdistan-idUSBRE9AF05L20131116?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews>
3. Erdogan launches peace talks with Iraqi Kurdish leader
16 November 2013 / Daily StarTurkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.Barzani has visited the capital of Ankara many times but Saturday's meeting was described by Erdogan as "historic" and a "crowning moment" in overcoming a decades-old conflict with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-16/238056-erdogan-launches-peace-talks-with-iraqi-kurdish-leader.ashx#axzz2kxQWpkM5<http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/Nov-16/238056-erdogan-launches-peace-talks-with-iraqi-kurdish-leader.ashx#axzz2kxQWpkM5>
4. Government should ensure Öcalan's contact with civil society
22 November 2013 / ANFPeace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş spoke to reporters about the visit Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani paid to the main Kurdish city Amed/Diyarbakır last weekend. Demirtaş said the Amed visit gave no messages concerning the language, identity and self governance of Kurds, and reminded that all the PM said was that “mountains and jails shall be emptied”. BDP co-chair underlined that “It seems this visit took place because of the deadlock Turkey is facing today in relation with the regional developments, and with an intention to overcome the obstacles it is facing in its foreign policy.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/government-should-ensure-ocalan-s-contact-with-civil-society.htm
5. ICG: Barzani’s visit to Diyarbakir challenged PKK
21 November 2013 / Bas NewsThe director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) Turkish Project, Hugh Pope, said that the visit of Kurdish president Massoud Barzani to Diyarbakir was a challenge to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Pope told BasNews that Barzani’s visit was not part of Erdoğan’s election propaganda as some media outlets have suggested. “This visit dramatically underlines a new push along two major progressive lines in Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) policy: normalization with the KRG, and the effort to find a more inclusive national narrative for Turkey, specifically in terms of the Kurds,” said Pope.http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/ICG--Barzani-s-visit-to-Diyarbakir-challenged-PKK/6299 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/ICG--Barzani-s-visit-to-Diyarbakir-challenged-PKK/6299>
6. 2 Day-Long Diyarbakır Meeting Aired For 142 Hours
21 November 2013 / BianetAccording to statistics released by Medya Takip Merkei (Media Monitoring Center), last weekend’s meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Masoud Barzani, Şirwan Perwer and Ibrahim Tatlıses has been reported in 1460 various news programs for 142 hours.
A Haber marked with 128 news highlights as the TV Network with the most coverage on the issue. It was also listed as the second TV network regarding the program durations (14 hours).
The second rank in the most coverage was Ülke TV with news highlights and 15 hours of program coverage.
http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/151472-2-day-long-diyarbakir-meeting-aired-for-142-hours<http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/151472-2-day-long-diyarbakir-meeting-aired-for-142-hours>
7. Diyarbakir meeting: Promise of emptying prisons, but when?
17 November 2013 / InfoturkDuring a joint rally with the leader of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, in Diyarbakır, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked the Kurdish population to support the ongoing resolution process. “We will witness a new Turkey where those in the mountains come down, the prisons empty and the 76 million [citizens of Turkey] become one,” Erdoğan said, hinting to a general amnesty demaned by many Kurdish groups, including the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). “In Diyarbakır, the city of brotherhood, we are brothers from time immemorial. We are not fellow travelers, we also share the same faith,” Erdoğan said.
http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#emptying <http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#emptying>
8. Öcalan: We are ready for negotiations
19 November 2013 / ANFMehmet Öcalan spoke to DIHA (Dicle News Agency) about the details of the meeting he had with his brother, Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı prison on Monday. Mehmet Öcalan said the Kurdish leader spoke during the meeting about the developments in the last one year of the resolution process, approaching local elections in Turkey and the recent developments in Rojava, western Kurdistan. The PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leader reacted to the reports of some Turkish media organs and government officials about the suspension of the dislocation of Kurdish guerrillas along the borders. Responding to the criticism over the suspension of the withdrawal process, the Kurdish leader said that; “This is a quite fragile subject. The withdrawal was suspended because of the fact that the Turkish state and government prepared no legal ground for this process. This is also the reason why the process is continuing this way now”.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/ocalan-we-are-ready-for-negotiations.htm
9. Sick Hunger-Striker Ergin Aktaş Transferred to High Security Prison
22 November 2013 / ANFErgin Aktaş, who took part in a three-day warning hunger strike with paralysed inmate Ali Haydar Yıldız in protest at inhumane conditions in the Metris R Type Prison, has been transferred to the Ümraniye F Type Prison as a punishment. It has emerged that after the three-day hunger strike Ergin Aktaş was told by the prison governor that he was being punished for 'Disturbing the tranquillity of the prison' and was transferred on 14 November. Ergin Aktaş’s cousin Ahmet Aktaş spoke to ANF, saying that instead of being released sick prisoners were being transferred to other prisons. Aktaş added: “This cruelty of the state is a crime against humanity. Ergin said that in the event of the three-day hunger strike not achieving results they would launch an indefinite hunger strike."
http://en.firatnews.com/news/news/sick-hunger-striker-ergin-aktas-transferred-to-high-security-prison.htm
10. Turkey has no plans to give Kurdish PKK rebels general amnesty
19 November 2013 / eKurdTurkey on Monday said it was not considering a general amnesty for Kurdish rebels as the government stepped up efforts to restart a stalled peace process with the outlawed Kurdish PKK group. The issue came to the fore on Saturday when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hinted in the country's Kurdish southeast [northern Kurdistan] that Turkish prisons would one day be emptied. Erdogan had welcomed at the weekend the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, to Turkey's own Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, in a landmark trip designed to revive the peace process between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Turkish state. "We will witness a new Turkey where those in the mountains come down, the prisons empty and 76 million (citizens of Turkey) become united," Erdogan said in remarks which some local media saw as a veiled reference to a general amnesty, one of the key demands of the PKK.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4849.htm <http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/turkey4849.htm>
11. Father and son killed by police fire commemorated in Kızıltepe on 9th anniversary of death
21 November 2013 / HurriyetAhmet Kaymaz and his 12-year-old son, Uğur Kaymaz, who were shot dead by police while walking along a local street in the southeastern Mardin province's populated Kızıltepe district nine years ago, were commemorated on Nov. 21 by relatives and members of civil society. The event was also attended by the independent Mardin Deputy Ahmet Türk as well as his nephew and Kızıltepe's Mayor elected from the ranks of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Ferhan Türk.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/father-and-son-killed-by-police-fire-commemorated-in-mardin-on-9th-anniversary-of-death.aspx?pageID=238&nID=58342&NewsCatID=341
12. Laz community opens institute to save culture
21 November 2013 / InfoturkTurkey’s Laz community is establishing an institute in Istanbul to protect its culture and Lazuri language. The institute will be opened in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul on Nov. 23 under the leadership of politician and academic Prof. Mehmet Bekaroğlu. In 2010, the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger declares Lazuri as a language.
He said that even though he is the founding president, in reality late singer Kazım Koyuncu, who died of lung cancer at the age of 34 in 2005, is a founder of the institute. The artist, who was the leader of Turkey’s first ever Lazuri rock band Zuğaşi Berepe, took “the first step” for them, Bekaroğlu said. Bekaroğlu insisted they are not aiming at nationalism; they are just trying to protect their language and culture. He also added there is a lack of knowledge in society on Laz culture, and many people think the Laz people are just Black Sea Region residents, “speaking Turkish with a very bad accent.”
“This [perception] is totally meaningless, Laz people have centuries old culture and language,” he said.
http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm#Laz <http://www.info-turk.be/423.htm%23Laz>
13. Iran pleased with PYD transitional administration
18 November 2013 /Bas NewsThe Iranian government is pleased with the PYD’s declaration of a local transitional administration in the Kurdish areas of Syria. Iranian Radio Fardareported that the Iranian government and President Bashar al-Assad are pleased with last week’s declaration of an interim government. Iranian media agencies are praising the efforts by the PYD in fighting extremists in northern Syria. According to these media outlets, the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) have defeated extremists in 16 villages of Syria’s Kurdish region. Due to the transitional government, Assad has now put his hopes in the revival of an Alawites government in the areas of Damascus, Homs and Lathikiya and up to the border with the Syrian Kurdish areas.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-pleased-with-PYD-transitional-administration/6113 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-pleased-with-PYD-transitional-administration/6113>
14. Iran arrests 180 Kurdish activists
20 November 2013 / Bas NewsOver the last two months 180 Kurds have been arrested in Iranian Kurdistan. This week, two Kurdish activists were arrested by Iranian intelligence forces in Kamyaran, after they crossed the border from the Kurdistan Region into Iranian Kurdistan. A source has told BasNews that two Kurdish activists, Mihrdad Saburi and Afshin Nadimi, from Kurdish cities Sina and Kamyaran, disappeared 10 days ago. It was recently announced that they were arrested on Nov. 17.Two siblings are also said to have mysteriously disappeared from Bokan city. There has been no information regarding the whereabouts of 28-year-old Afsana Bayazidi and her 25-year-old brother Shaho. Security agencies in that area have yet to release a statement regarding the disappearances. This week, an Iranian court sentenced Shahin Bayazidi, a Kurdish activist and former member of Bokan municipality council, to two years in jail.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-arrests-180-Kurdish-activists/6223 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Iran-arrests-180-Kurdish-activists/6223>
15. Thousands protested against Massoud Barzani in Syrian Kurdistan
20 November 2013 / eKurdThousands in the Syrian Kurdistan city of Efrin [Afrin] staged a march to protest against Massoud Barzani, president of Iraqi Kurdistan region, in relation with his statements against the revolution in Syrian Kurdistan and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) party. Referring to the statements of Barzani who claimed there was no Syrian Kurdistan revolution and spoke against the PYD, Behçet Berekat, deputy president of Efrin People's Assembly, said that “They are denying the revolution which has been attained with the blood of hundreds of youngsters. This denial is the denial of the blood of these youngsters and the denial of the labor of our people”.
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/syriakurd950.htm<http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2013/11/syriakurd950.htm>
16. Three Syrian Kurds killed by Turkish Army
18 November 2013 / Bas NewsAt around 1.30am on Sunday, Turkish border guards killed three Kurdish Syrians trying to cross over the Turkish border. According to BasNews correspondent in Qamishlo, the Kurds were trying to cross the Turkish border illegally. The incident happen in the border village of Himo in Syrian Kurdistan. The bodies were taken to a local hospital in Malatya, a Turkish border town. Kurdish human rights organizations in Syrian Kurdistan have called for immediate investigation into the killings. Recent protests over Turkey’s plan to build a wall along the Syrian-Turkish border has caused tensions near the border areas. According to AFP, Turkey has taken in more than 600,000 Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war, of which 200,000 are living in about 10 camps along the border region.
http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Three-Syrian-Kurds-killed-by-Turkish-Army/6092 <http://basnews.net/en/News/Details/Three-Syrian-Kurds-killed-by-Turkish-Army/6092>
17. 20,000 march in Berlin to demand PKK ban lifted
17 November 2013 / AFPSome 20,000 people marched through central Berlin on Saturday to demand the German government lift its 20-year ban on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), organisers said.
Under a heavy police presence, the protest passed off peacefully with demonstrators marching under the banner: "Support the peace process, lift the ban on the PKK."
Despite the ban on the PKK, in place in Germany since 1993, the organisation enjoys considerable support there, with an estimated 500,000 Kurds in the country -- the majority of Turkish origin. German authorities believe the PKK has around 11,500 active members. Organisers of the march said police had been stopping protesters to search for banners displaying imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and imposing fines on those possessing them. Police provided no estimate of turnout.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guST212mxdWHW0XFRZzjCcWDyrnA?docId=54dd5d03-1483-4652-b399-f87a83f2f1c5<http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5guST212mxdWHW0XFRZzjCcWDyrnA?docId=54dd5d03-1483-4652-b399-f87a83f2f1c5>
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
19. Erdogan-Barzani 'Diyarbakir encounter' milestone
20 November 2013 / Al MonitorLast weekend Turkey lived through many "firsts" at Diyarbakir, which is seen by all Kurds — not only the ones in Turkey — as their "spiritual center." The weekend meeting, labeled as the "Diyarbakir encounter," bringing together Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani, was choreographed by Erdogan. It was, above all, a phenomenal public relations achievement for the prime minister.
The Diyarbakir encounter can also be considered a significant political comeback for Erdogan, whose image inside the country and abroad has suffered considerably after the Taksim-Gezi protests at the beginning of the summer.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/erdogan-barzani-kurdistan-diyarbakir-political-decision.html
20. Is Intra-Kurdish Strife the Price of Turkish-Kurdish Peace?
20 November 2013 / AINAIraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani's visit to Diyarbakir together with Kurdish singer Sivan Perwer is no doubt a development that has historic aspects.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for instance, made quite emotional remarks about Turkish-Kurdish fraternity. He broke a taboo by uttering the word "Kurdistan." He pointed to a new threshold in the peace process by saying, "God willing, we will see the day when those up in the mountains return and the prisons are emptied." He paid tribute to [Kurdish singer] Ahmet Kaya, saying he wished Kaya were there with them. The Kurdistan and Turkish flags flew side by side. Perwer returned home after 38 years, singing a requiem in Kurdish. Erdogan paid his first ever visit to the Diyarbakir municipality, which is run by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). No doubt, those were long-awaited moments that came with a heavy price.
http://www.aina.org/news/20131120163627.htm <http://www.aina.org/news/20131120163627.htm>
22. Kurdish leader makes historic Turkey visit
20 November 2013 / Al JazeeraIt was a breakthrough moment: Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey's predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, shouting messages of peace to thousands of spectators. It was an emotionally momentous day for Turkish Kurds for another reason as well. Iconic Kurdish poet and singer Sivan Perwer, who fled Turkey in 1976, accompanied Barzani on his trip and returned to his homeland after decades of exile. Barzani's visit came at a complicated time: Talks continue between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed armed Kurdish group, and the Turkish state. Meanwhile, Syria's Kurds aim to seize autonomy in the north of the war-torn country. Turkey is set to hold local elections in early 2014. Finally, the KRG seeks to export oil through pipelines in Turkey.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/kurdish-leader-makes-historic-turkey-visit-201311208312697500.html<http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/11/kurdish-leader-makes-historic-turkey-visit-201311208312697500.html>
23. Mixed Feelings Over Barzani’s Visit to Diyarbakir
16 November 2013 / Rudaw Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani is expected to arrive in Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city in Turkey, on Saturday. He will meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan; attend the inauguration of government projects and partake in some wedding celebrations.
Barzani’s invitation to Diyarbakir clearly marks a break from the traditional Turkish policy towards the Kurds in the whole region. It is true that provincial elections are coming in March next year and Erdogan wants to win Kurdish voters. But the story of the visit cannot only be read from this angle.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/151120131 <http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/151120131>
24. Social media responses to Barzani and Erdogan’s gathering
16 November 2013 / Alliance for Kurdish RightsThe President of Southern Kurdistan visited Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast for the first time in nearly two decades, and gave a speech alongside Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on prolonging the peace settlement. As a way of celebrating Kurdish culture and music, Şivan Perwer was invited to sing at the gathering in Kurdish, alongside Ibrahim Tatlisis. Perwer fled Turkey in 1976 because he was threatened, and Turkish authorities were demanding his arrest at the time for singing in Kurdish. His presence was symbolic of recognising Kurdish cultural differences, and music, which for decades was banned in Turkey.
http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/16/social-media-responses-to-barzani-and-erdogans-gathering/ <http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/16/social-media-responses-to-barzani-and-erdogans-gathering/>
25. Turkey’s draft constitution appears dead
20 November 213 / Al MonitorAfter more than two years of intense work, Turkey's hopes for a civilian constitution have been declared dead, ready to be buried. The announcement, coming from various parts of the so-called Conciliation Commission, brings new doubts to the fore about the future of the country's dragging, slow-motion democratization process, for it raises new questions on whether or not there are any options left for a badly needed social contract. Concerns are, with no progress noted, Turkey's wide-open Pandora's box may lead to sharper polarization and even riskier domestic tension.
The final deadlock in parliament came as a surprise to no one. In the past six months or so, the commission turned into a scene for daily tactics among the four parties which constitute it, and signs of a cul-de-sac became clear when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) insisted on the amendment which it hoped would empower the president — following the elections in August 2014 — as the head of the political executive.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-constitution-parliament-polarization-democratization.html
26. Can Sarigul, the hope of Turkey's left, unseat Erdogan?
20 November 2013 / Al MonitorTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s opponents have pinned their hopes on Mustafa Sarigul, Turkey’s most popular center-left politician and the mayor of Sisli district, the “Manhattan” of Istanbul. Most anti-Erdogan media believe that Sarigul is the only person who could unseat Erdogan. It is interesting, though, that Sarigul, someone I know personally, has not uttered a single word targeting Erdogan. On the contrary, he has always praised him and accorded more attention to pro-Erdogan commentators than leftist ones.Sarigul has based his political strategy on standing close to liberals and pious Muslims. Despite his leftist background, he has always acted as a rightist and sometimes even as an Islamist politician, hence his attitude of not criticizing Erdogan. In his speeches Sarigul praises Erdogan as a great leader who has governed Turkey successfully but who is now tired and should hand over his post.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/sarigul-erdogan-unseat-elections-left.html
27. Turkey’s Alevi question
21 November 2013 / Al MonitorLike the Kurdish problem, predominantly Sunni Turkey has had an age-old Alevi problem. Like the Kurdish problem, there are efforts today by the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to solve this problem, too. These efforts also tie in with Ankara’s steps aimed at appeasing the Shiites in the Middle East. Some Alevi organizations have welcomed these efforts by the government, which President Abdullah Gul has also been contributing to. But not all are convinced of their sincerity and, given past disappointments, appear justified. Turkey’s Alevi problem cuts deep — having a bloody history — and has resulted in tragic events in recent times. One tragic case was the “Kahramanmaras incidents” in 1978, when more than 100 Alevis — mostly poor Kurds, including women and children — were massacred by a politically manipulated nationalist Sunni rabble.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/11/turkey-erdogan-alevi-strengthen-relations-sectarian-policies.html
28. Upcoming Game Changer: Turkish-Kurdish Alliance?
17 November 2013 / On IslamRecently held regional Kurdish conference in Turkish capital Ankara may have surprised many in the Middle East and beyond but few realized that the event was a culmination of methodically crafted maneuvering of Turkish government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The smart move is aiming at forging an alliance with the Kurds of the region, divided in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria respectively. Kurdish leaders and intellectuals of all the four aforementioned regions have attended the two day long conferences on Nov. 9-10, and discussed the Kurdish solution process in Turkey and developments outside of Turkey.
http://www.onislam.net/english/politics/middle-east/466083-upcoming-game-changer-turkish-kurdish-alliance.html<http://www.onislam.net/english/politics/middle-east/466083-upcoming-game-changer-turkish-kurdish-alliance.html>
29. Judge Essa Moosa interview on Kurdish Question
18 November 2013 / Midori HouseLast week, Judge Essa Moosa, prominent South African human rights lawyer and chairperson of the Kurdish Human Rights Action Group (KHRAG) in Cape Town, was in London to speak at a seminar about possibilities for peace and reconciliation in Turkey, and his work with the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative. The IPRI was launched after a call from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu last year for Turkey to reopen talks with the Kurdish leader, Abdullah Ocalan. While here, Mr Moosa was interviewed by Monocle 24’s news show Midori House about the part he played in dismantling Apartheid in South Africa and his work in support of the Kurdish movement.
Midori House
Episode 534, 18 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/534> Midori House
Episode 535, 19 November 2013http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535 <http://monocle.com/radio/shows/midori-house/535>
30. Turkey Spotlight: The Kurds & Ankara’s Foreign Policy Dilemma
18 November 2013 / EA WorldviewIn recent months, Ankara has taken steps to reduce its isolation in the region, striving to boost its relations with Syria’s neighbors, hoping to replace the regional power struggles of the last two years with an active foreign policy through soft power.
The problem? given the Turkish ruling party’s limited perspective, which is conditioned on domestic gains, there is no second part of the would-be “zero problems with neighbors” policy. One of the central issues in Turkey’s attempts to reposition itself in the region is the Kurdish question. After lengthy disputes with Baghdad, with Damascus, and with Kurds outside Iraqi Kurdistan, Ankara has finally shown concrete signs of a shift in its tactical approach toward this issue.
http://eaworldview.com/2013/11/turkey-spotlight-kurds-ankaras-foreign-policy-dilemma/ <http://eaworldview.com/2013/11/turkey-spotlight-kurds-ankaras-foreign-policy-dilemma/>
31. Erdoğan and Barzani Cooperating Against the Rojava Revolution
19 November 2013 / ANFErdoğan, Barzani, Şivan Perwer and İbrahim Tatlises kicked off the AKP’s election campaign in Kurdistan [last weekend]. And when some intelligent (!) Kurdish politicians went on about how “it would be wrong to understand this meeting as support for Erdoğan in the election campaign” it can be clearly seen that this was a manipulation. The Erdoğan-Barzani meeting was fundamentally a reasonable and everyday affair. However this reasonableness was not a reasonableness related to the demands or preferences of the Kurdish people. What we are talking about is a reasonableness as relates to particular ideological-political preferences. The AKP and KDP are two “brothers” who take the same line on the subjects of statism, sexuality, family values and property. Both parties can be understood as having entered in the spirit of history as cogs in the wheel of capitalist hegemony relying on imperialist powers.
http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/erdogan-and-barzani-cooperating-against-the-rojava-revolution.htm<http://en.firatnews.com/news/features/erdogan-and-barzani-cooperating-against-the-rojava-revolution.htm>
32. Kurdish Political engagement and online activism
20 November 2013 / Alliance for Kurdish RightsWe have spoken about the plight and struggles of Kurdish people for decades. Numerous academic literature has been published, reports announced, and condemnations expressed of the horrific ordeal that many Kurdish people have been subjected to historically. Some of the horrendous historical accounts of Kurdish history includes (but not limited to) Kurdish women committing suicide in fear of being raped by Turkish soldiers during the Dersim massacre, to the banning of Kurdish music and culture that led to the exiling of Kurdish singers. While literature on the history of Kurdish people is limited, and embarrassingly few given that Kurds are the largest transnational stateless ethnic group because of the censorship Kurdish academics have faced by repressive regimes in Middle east.
http://kurdishrights.org/2013/11/20/kurdish-political-engagement-and-online-activism/
33. Spectre of resource regionalism haunts the Middle East
17 November 2013 / The NationalIt’s remarkable how oil, this sticky black fluid, arouses ambitions – ranging from the quixotic to the Machiavellian. Entrepreneurs see it as a ticket to wealth; ambitious politicians, the tool to achieve nationalist dreams; local people, as a route out of poverty. These ambitions merge into a spectre that is haunting the wider Middle East – the spectre of resource regionalism. In Iraqi Kurdistan, recent oil and gas finds offer the region the prospect of independence – whether formal or factual – from Arab Iraq, and aspirations to leadership of the wider Kurdish community. But for now, the Kurdish budget still comes almost entirely from Baghdad, and independent exports require agreement with Turkey.
http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/energy/spectre-of-resource-regionalism-haunts-the-middle-east
34. Time for U.S. to embrace Kurdish self-determination
17 November 2013 / The Lawton ConstitutionBack in the fall of 2005, when the internecine warfare in Iraq was at its height, I argued in a column entitled "Acknowledging Honor And Interest In Iraq" that those obligations applied especially to American support of Iraq's Kurds, who alone among their neighbors seemed genuinely interested in building something resembling a peaceful democratic future. At the time, I pointed out, Kurdish Iraq was the most stable province of that war-torn country, thanks largely to the self-sacrifice and determination of the Kurds themselves. So it remains today, even while elsewhere in Iraq, sectarian violence has mounted to the point where an Iraqi government happy in 2010 to see America's back now pleads with us to reengage.
http://www.swoknews.com/news-top/miscellaneous/item/11767-time-for-us-to-embrace-kurdish-self-determination<http://www.swoknews.com/news-top/miscellaneous/item/11767-time-for-us-to-embrace-kurdish-self-determination>
35. A vastly changed Middle East
21 November 2013 / Jerusalem PostAweek and a half ago, Syria’s Kurds announced they are setting up an autonomous region in northeastern Syria. The announcement came after the Kurds wrested control over a chain of towns from al-Qaida in the ever metastasizing Syrian civil war. The Kurds’ announcement enraged their nominal Sunni allies – including the al-Qaida forces they have been combating – in the opposition to the Assad regime. It also rendered irrelevant US efforts to reach a peace deal between the Syrian regime and the rebel forces at a peace conference in Geneva. But more important than what the Kurds’ action means for the viability of the Obama administration’s Syria policy, it shows just how radically the strategic landscape has changed and continues to change, not just in Syria but throughout the Arab world.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/COLUMN-ONE-A-vastly-changed-Middle-East-332624
Turkey: Ongoing judicial harassment against Mr. Ramazan Demir, FIDH Statement
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Turkey.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources of the ongoing judicial harassment faced by Mr. Ramazan Demir, a lawyer known for his participation in the defence of journalists prosecuted within the framework of a broad-ranging anti-terrorist operation intended to dismantle an alleged terrorist network known as KCK[1], and more particularly the “KCK Press Trial”, but also his mobilisation in favour of lawyers prosecuted under two mass anti-terrorism trials[2].
According to the information received, Mr. Ramazan Demir is facing charges in relation to defence speeches made during KCK trials. On July 16, 2013, he was charged for “insulting or (…) offending the dignity of a public authority in the performance of his duties”, pursuant to Section 125 of the Criminal Code which provides for up to two years of imprisonment. According to Articles 58 and 59 of the Law on Attorneyship (Law No. 1136 adopted on March 19, 1966), a lawyer may be charged only upon the authorisation of the Criminal Affairs Department of the Justice Ministry.
The charges follow a complaint filed on May 13, 2013 by the Special Prosecutor of the 15th Heavy Criminal Court, after, during a hearing held on November 16, 2012, Mr. Demir challenged the capacity of the Prosecutor to determine in the indictment that a group of journalists facing charges were conducting activities that are not “normal” nor “independent”. Mr. Demir also requested the court to call and hear an expert to testify before the Court on what can constitute normal and independent journalistic activities. The Silivri Prosecutor conducted an investigation, decided to charge lawyer Ramazan Demir and, on September 9, 2013, obtained authorisation from the Justice Ministry to file the indictment.
On November 7, 2013, the Istanbul Bar Association also initiated a disciplinary investigation against Mr. Ramazan Demir in relation to the same incident pursuant to Article 141 of the Internal Rules on Attorneyship, following the complaint filed by the Special Prosecutor of the 15th Heavy Criminal Court. Mr. Demir may face an official warning, a fine, suspension from the exercise of attorneyship or may even be disbarred.
According to the same information, this case of harassment of lawyers is not unique. Several other lawyers would be facing the same charges for defence speeches made in KCK trials.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by this new pattern of judicial harassment facing lawyers in Turkey, as it seems to merely aim at curtailing the legitimate exercise of their profession and their peaceful efforts towards the defence of human rights principles, and calls upon the Turkish judicial authorities to unconditionally drop the charges against Mr. Ramazan Demir.
The Observatory further recalls that dozens of human rights defenders are currently subjected to prolonged judicial harassment for trumped-up and abusive terrorism charges in Turkey. The KCK Press Trial is one of dozens of ongoing mass trials of Kurdish intellectuals and activists in Turkey. Since 2009, over 8,000 people have been arrested in the context of the KCK investigations - counter-terrorism operations that in reality have little to do with countering terrorism, but rather have been used as a means of criminalising peaceful dissent and Kurdish political and cultural expression.
Actions required:
Please write to the Turkish authorities, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Ramazan Demir as well as all human rights defenders in Turkey;
ii. Drop charges pending against Mr. Ramazan Demir immediately and unconditionally as the charges are clearly aimed at curtailing the legitimate exercise of their professions and their peaceful human rights activities;
iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mr. Ramazan Demir and ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iv. Comply with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Turkey.
Addresses:
· President of Turkey, Mr. Abdullah Gül, Cumhurbaskanligi 06100 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 468 5026; Email: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr<mailto:cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr>
· Prime Minister, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Office of the Prime Minister Basbakanlik 06573 Ankara, Turkey, Fax: + 90 312 417 0476; Email:receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr <mailto:receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr>
· Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, Mr. Beşir Atalay, Email: besir.atalay@tbmm.gov.tr<mailto:besir.atalay@tbmm.gov.tr> , Fax: 00 90 (312) 422 13 98
· Interior Minister, Mr. Idris Naim Şahin, 06644 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95 / +90 312 418 7696,
· Justice Minister, Mr. Sadullah Ergin, Ministry of Justice/ Adalet Bakanligi, 06659 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 414 62 26
· Foreign Minister, Mr. Ahmed Davudoglu, Office of the Prime Minister, Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 287 88 11
·President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, Prof. Dr. Metin Feyzioğlu, Türkiye Barolar Birliği Başkanliği, Oğuzlar Mahallesi Bariş Manço Caddesi Av. Özok Sokak No: 8 06650 Balgat – Ankara, Turkey; email: barobirlik@barobirlik.org.tr; Fax: +90 312 286 31 00 / +90 312 286 55 65
· Ambassador, Mr. Oğuz Demiralp, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Ch. du Petit-Saconnex 28b - CP 271, CH-1211, Geneva 19, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 734 08 59
· Ambassador, Mr. Izzet Selim Yenel, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Avenue des Arts 36-38, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50
***
Paris-Geneva, November 20, 2013
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
· Email : Appeals@fidh-omct.org <mailto:Appeals@fidh-omct.org>
·Tel et fax FIDH : + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
·Tel et fax OMCT : +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources of the ongoing judicial harassment faced by Mr. Ramazan Demir, a lawyer known for his participation in the defence of journalists prosecuted within the framework of a broad-ranging anti-terrorist operation intended to dismantle an alleged terrorist network known as KCK[1], and more particularly the “KCK Press Trial”, but also his mobilisation in favour of lawyers prosecuted under two mass anti-terrorism trials[2].
According to the information received, Mr. Ramazan Demir is facing charges in relation to defence speeches made during KCK trials. On July 16, 2013, he was charged for “insulting or (…) offending the dignity of a public authority in the performance of his duties”, pursuant to Section 125 of the Criminal Code which provides for up to two years of imprisonment. According to Articles 58 and 59 of the Law on Attorneyship (Law No. 1136 adopted on March 19, 1966), a lawyer may be charged only upon the authorisation of the Criminal Affairs Department of the Justice Ministry.
The charges follow a complaint filed on May 13, 2013 by the Special Prosecutor of the 15th Heavy Criminal Court, after, during a hearing held on November 16, 2012, Mr. Demir challenged the capacity of the Prosecutor to determine in the indictment that a group of journalists facing charges were conducting activities that are not “normal” nor “independent”. Mr. Demir also requested the court to call and hear an expert to testify before the Court on what can constitute normal and independent journalistic activities. The Silivri Prosecutor conducted an investigation, decided to charge lawyer Ramazan Demir and, on September 9, 2013, obtained authorisation from the Justice Ministry to file the indictment.
On November 7, 2013, the Istanbul Bar Association also initiated a disciplinary investigation against Mr. Ramazan Demir in relation to the same incident pursuant to Article 141 of the Internal Rules on Attorneyship, following the complaint filed by the Special Prosecutor of the 15th Heavy Criminal Court. Mr. Demir may face an official warning, a fine, suspension from the exercise of attorneyship or may even be disbarred.
According to the same information, this case of harassment of lawyers is not unique. Several other lawyers would be facing the same charges for defence speeches made in KCK trials.
The Observatory is deeply concerned by this new pattern of judicial harassment facing lawyers in Turkey, as it seems to merely aim at curtailing the legitimate exercise of their profession and their peaceful efforts towards the defence of human rights principles, and calls upon the Turkish judicial authorities to unconditionally drop the charges against Mr. Ramazan Demir.
The Observatory further recalls that dozens of human rights defenders are currently subjected to prolonged judicial harassment for trumped-up and abusive terrorism charges in Turkey. The KCK Press Trial is one of dozens of ongoing mass trials of Kurdish intellectuals and activists in Turkey. Since 2009, over 8,000 people have been arrested in the context of the KCK investigations - counter-terrorism operations that in reality have little to do with countering terrorism, but rather have been used as a means of criminalising peaceful dissent and Kurdish political and cultural expression.
Actions required:
Please write to the Turkish authorities, urging them to:
i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Ramazan Demir as well as all human rights defenders in Turkey;
ii. Drop charges pending against Mr. Ramazan Demir immediately and unconditionally as the charges are clearly aimed at curtailing the legitimate exercise of their professions and their peaceful human rights activities;
iii. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mr. Ramazan Demir and ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Turkey are able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
iv. Comply with the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its Article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”, as well as Article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Turkey.
Addresses:
· President of Turkey, Mr. Abdullah Gül, Cumhurbaskanligi 06100 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 468 5026; Email: cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr<mailto:cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr>
· Prime Minister, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Office of the Prime Minister Basbakanlik 06573 Ankara, Turkey, Fax: + 90 312 417 0476; Email:receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr <mailto:receptayyip.erdogan@basbakanlik.gov.tr>
· Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, Mr. Beşir Atalay, Email: besir.atalay@tbmm.gov.tr<mailto:besir.atalay@tbmm.gov.tr> , Fax: 00 90 (312) 422 13 98
· Interior Minister, Mr. Idris Naim Şahin, 06644 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95 / +90 312 418 7696,
· Justice Minister, Mr. Sadullah Ergin, Ministry of Justice/ Adalet Bakanligi, 06659 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: + 90 312 414 62 26
· Foreign Minister, Mr. Ahmed Davudoglu, Office of the Prime Minister, Basbakanlik, 06573 Ankara, Turkey; Fax: +90 312 287 88 11
·President of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, Prof. Dr. Metin Feyzioğlu, Türkiye Barolar Birliği Başkanliği, Oğuzlar Mahallesi Bariş Manço Caddesi Av. Özok Sokak No: 8 06650 Balgat – Ankara, Turkey; email: barobirlik@barobirlik.org.tr; Fax: +90 312 286 31 00 / +90 312 286 55 65
· Ambassador, Mr. Oğuz Demiralp, Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva, Ch. du Petit-Saconnex 28b - CP 271, CH-1211, Geneva 19, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.turkey@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 734 08 59
· Ambassador, Mr. Izzet Selim Yenel, Diplomatic Mission of Turkey to the European Union in Brussels, Avenue des Arts 36-38, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 511 04 50
***
Paris-Geneva, November 20, 2013
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
· Email : Appeals@fidh-omct.org <mailto:Appeals@fidh-omct.org>
·Tel et fax FIDH : + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / 33 1 43 55 18 80
·Tel et fax OMCT : +41 22 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29
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