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محتوای ارائه شده توسط MedyaNews. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط MedyaNews یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
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Action Academy | Replace The Job You Hate With A Life You Love
Alex (@alex_kamenca) and Carley (@carleymitus) are both members of our Action Academy Community that purchased TWO small businesses last thursday! Want To Quit Your Job In The Next 6-18 Months Through Buying Commercial Real Estate & Small Businesses? 👔🏝️ Check Out Our Action Academy Community Schedule A Free 15 Minute Coaching Call With Our Team Here To Get "Unstuck"! Check Out Our Bestselling Book : From Passive To Passionate : How To Quit Your Job - Grow Your Wealth - And Turn Your Passions Into Profits Want A Free $100k+ Side Hustle Guide ? Follow Me As I Travel & Build: IG @brianluebben ActionAcademy.com…
Fréderike Geerdink : Long way to go to score the Grey Wolves into oblivion
Manage episode 455460099 series 3624302
محتوای ارائه شده توسط MedyaNews. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط MedyaNews یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
The Grey Wolves, founded in the 1960s, and the hand gesture that emerged in the early 1990s, could only become as influential as they did because there was a fertile soil in which the seed was planted. That fertile soil is Turkish fascism since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
…
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171 قسمت
Manage episode 455460099 series 3624302
محتوای ارائه شده توسط MedyaNews. تمام محتوای پادکست شامل قسمتها، گرافیکها و توضیحات پادکست مستقیماً توسط MedyaNews یا شریک پلتفرم پادکست آنها آپلود و ارائه میشوند. اگر فکر میکنید شخصی بدون اجازه شما از اثر دارای حق نسخهبرداری شما استفاده میکند، میتوانید روندی که در اینجا شرح داده شده است را دنبال کنید.https://fa.player.fm/legal
The Grey Wolves, founded in the 1960s, and the hand gesture that emerged in the early 1990s, could only become as influential as they did because there was a fertile soil in which the seed was planted. That fertile soil is Turkish fascism since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
…
continue reading
171 قسمت
همه قسمت ها
×1 EREM KANSOY - Jino Victoria Diano: Defending Rojava, confronting Turkey’s aggression, shaping Syria’s democratic future 18:46
In a compelling episode of Political Dialogue with Erem Kansoy, Danish-based political scientist Jino Victoria Doabi sheds light on Turkey’s aggression towards Rojava and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). She highlights the failure of international powers to act decisively, calls for the establishment of a no-fly zone, and discusses the transformative potential of Rojava's democratic experiment for the broader Middle East. Doabi also highlights the need for Kurdish unity and solidarity among oppressed groups to counter growing regional threats. This podcast provides an urgent appeal for action to protect Rojava and its unique democratic vision.…
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is under existential attack from Turkey and their mercenaries. This has been a week of broken ceasefire agreements and of difficult negotiations. The Administration has put forward proposals and compromises, but is ready for total resistance, while Erdoğan has restated his neo-Ottoman ambitions. The United States is in the middle, but political solutions are not helped by the lack of public awareness and so of public pressure.…
Debbie Bookchin, Salih Muslim and Jeremy Corbyn took part in an online panel on Wednesday 18 December. The speakers discussed the escalation of violence against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), and the stance of political actors and forces operating in the post-Assad Syria. The panel analysed the relationship between Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and AANES, as well as self-defense, the re-emergence of ISIS, the Rojava revolution and the coexistence of peoples.…
Sinam Mohamad, US Representative of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), analyses the humanitarian situation amid fighting in Aleppo (Heleb) and Shabha (Şehba), with thousands, many already displaced Kurds, forced to flee. She stresses the need for a dialogue for peace involing all parties in Syria, including representatives of the region's minorities, and urges international support for Kurdish self-defence forces.…
Turkey has continued their attack on democracy by ousting the DEM Party Mayor of Tunceli (Dersim) and the CHP Mayor of nearby Ovacık (Pulur), provoking mass resistance and employing heavy policing. A BBC documentary has highlighted Turkey’s weaponising of water against the people of North and East Syria. And Öcalan has again been refused access to his lawyers. Yet discussion about a resolution to the Kurdish Question refuses to die down.…
1 Sarah GLYNN - Turkey’s 'state initiative' is no solution to the Kurdish Question – a weekly news review 21:01
Erdoğan’s chief advisor has declared that what is happening is not a “solution process”, but a "state initiative towards a terror-free Turkey". So far, this “state initiative” doesn’t look very different from the previous approach of eliminating the PKK through state violence, and the crushing of Kurdish politics. Elected mayors are being removed, and Erdoğan continues to talk about, effectively, occupying the north of Syria and Iraq. Meanwhile, the election of Trump adds a new layer of uncertainty.…
1 X SPACE PANEL - Negotiators, MPs, ex-combatants: tough road ahead for Turkey-Kurdish talks 1:30:33
1:30:33
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1:30:33Is the Turkish government genuinely open to negotiations with the Kurds? Or was Öcalan's fleeting prison visit just a war tactic? Tune in to listen to our panel of experts from various freedom movements around the world, to discuss the real prospects for peace. Sinn Fein MP Dáire Hughes, joining our panel of freedom fighters from various conflicts, points to the success of Northern Ireland's Good Friday Agreement, urging hope that the Kurdish issue can be resolved through inclusive dialogue and international solidarity. Fazela Mohamed, a former combatant with the African National Congress (ANC) shares insights from the the long struggle to end apartheid in South Africa during our expert panel on the prospect for renewed peace talks between Turkey and the PKK. Tanja Nijmeijer shares first-hand experience of peace negotiations between Colombia and communist guerilla FARC-EP. Listen to our panel as the share insights into the long road to peace, and challenges ahead to open dialogue between Turkey and the PKK. EH Bildu MP Igor Zulaika joins our panel from the Basque Country, highlighting the need for continued communication and mutual understanding between a party’s leadership and its popular base. What is in store for Kurdish parties and the road to peace?…
Turkey’s political drama continues with the arrest of the Mayor of Esenyurt and his replacement by a government trustee - the first time these tactics have been used against the mainstream opposition CHP. The rationale for recent government actions is still unclear, but the movement for a solution to the Kurdish Question has taken on a certain momentum of its own; and the CHP’s response has been generally encouraging. Meanwhile Turkish bombardment has ravaged North and East Syria, Zionists are trying to woo Kurds on social media, and Erdoğan’s hypocrisy over Palestine has been further exposed.…
1 Sarah Glynn - A chink of light in İmralı prison, as lights go out in Syria – a weekly news review 23:50
After a momentous and rollercoaster week, today’s review sets out the key events – talks about a possible new peace process; the PKK attack on an Ankara arms producer; Turkish bombardment of North and East Syria; and the long-desired visit to Abdullah Öcalan after his 43 months of total isolation. It looks at comments by some of the key players, including the PKK, and includes background observations that can help make sense of it all.…
While all eyes have been on Gaza and Beirut, tensions in Syria have become increasingly violent, as well as complicated by the variety of different countries all jostling for position and ready to take advantage of any opening that they can use to increase their own power and influence. This week’s review also looks at the run-up to tomorrow’s important election in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, hopes for peace amidst continued oppression in Turkey, and news from Iran’s prisons.…
Rumours of peace appear to be belied by Turkey’s continued aggression towards the Kurds both inside and outside their borders. Meanwhile, actions have been carried out across the world calling Öcalan’s freedom; and an acrimonious election campaign may be the first step towards a new uncertain chapter for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.…
Fréderike Geerdink discusses the recent rescue of a young Yazidi woman from ISIS captivity in Gaza and reflects on the divisive reactions to the story within the Kurdish community. She warns against blaming Palestinians collectively for the girl's ordeal and urges Kurds not to fall into the trap of divisions that serve the interests of oppressive states such as Israel and Turkey.…
In their principled support of Julian Assange, the Council of Europe have acted according to their founding purpose. At the same time, they have proved incapable of meeting the challenges of the spreading war, or even of disciplining Council members who flout their own rules. The week’s review looks at the situation of Kurdish politics in a fast-changing Middle East, through the prism of the Council.…
Kurdish activist Elif Genç discusses the shared history of Kurdish and Palestinian solidarity, and how state leaders like Erdoğan and Netanyahu have pitted the two communities against each other.
Fréderike Geerdink’s article examines the Kurdish political reactions to the assassination of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah and the broader geopolitical implications. She highlights the PKK's unique analysis, suggesting the murder could fuel regional conflicts and advance Turkey’s strategic ambitions.…
As the world lurches towards further destruction, no one should dispute the validity of Erdoğan’s UN criticism of Western hypocrisy, but he can match the West with a hypocrisy of his own. This week’s Turkish authoritarianism focussed on the suppression of Kurdish culture – while a letter from a political prisoner described the reality of solitary confinement in Turkey’s prisons.…
Musa Anter summed it up brilliantly when he said: “When my mother tongue is shaking the foundations of your state, it probably means that you built your state on my land.” He shook the foundations of the state by thinking this radically different. He shook the foundations so profoundly, that he was not only murdered but also denied a proper burial.…
Eric Hobsbawm’s “Age of Empire” covers the four decades that led up to the first world war. There are frightening parallels between that period and the imperial rivalry of the world today. This politics has no time for minority peoples unless they can be used as pawns in the bigger game, and Kurds find themselves again caught up in other people’s wars. Kurds are also facing a new hostility in Europe, where racism and deference to Turkey distort asylum decisions.…
While experts debate the significance of Iraq’s recent memorandum with Turkey, Iran’s newly elected president has visited Baghdad, where he has signed 15 co-operation agreements with Iraq. Such agreements are rarely good news for Kurds, who suffer at the hands of both Turkey and Iran. Although Turkey would also like an agreement with Syria, Assad has again made it clear that this is not on the horizon so long as Turkey occupies parts of Syria. Meanwhile the Turkish news is dominated by the murder of 8-year-old Narin Güran and its possible political implications, and Iran prepares for the second anniversary of the death of Jina Amini.…
As human rights lawyers in Turkey proclaim, “There is no justice here”, this week’s review focuses on Turkish authoritarianism. It looks especially at its impact on political prisoners, but also at other abuses in the politicised justice system, and at the oppression of trade unionists and environmental activists…
Kurds face attacks on all fronts, including targetd assassinations in Iraq and Syria, but the world seems indifferent. In Turkey, journalists and political prisoners face oppression as the government attempts to distract citizens from dire economic circumstances. In Syria, Russian and Turkish joint patrols have resumed, to be confronted by resistance from local residents. In Iraq, people debate the significance of the shooting down of a Turkish drone, to a background of corruption and arms smuggling.…
Fréderike Geerdink criticises the media's lack of coverage on Turkey's expanding occupations in Kurdish regions of Iraq and Syria, where Turkification and forced demographic changes are occurring. She argues that this neglect enables political inaction and shields Turkey from accountability, urging a new journalistic approach to better highlight the struggles of oppressed peoples.…
Forty years after the PKK took up the right of resistance, the Kurdish Freedom Movement has established an autonomous administration in northern Syria, and the PKK’s philosophy is inspiring people across the world; but the Turkish state continues their anti-Kurdish oppression, denying the Kurds a peaceful route to freedom.…
On the 40th anniversary of 15 August 1984, journalist Fréderike Geerdink reflects on the PKK's shift from seeking a Kurdish state to combating patriarchal nation-states, emphasising ideological evolution and guerrilla tactics to counter Turkey's advanced warfare while advocating for community and diversity.…
This week’s review from Sarah Glynn focuses on two places where civilians are fleeing for their lives: the IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where Yazidi genocide survivors are fearful of a new attack by their Sunni Muslim neighbours; and Deir ez-Zor in North and East Syria, where Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias are carrying out attacks, and where eleven civilians were killed by a Syrian Army bombardment on Thursday night.…
After a brief look at the new threats facing the Kurds following Israel’s assassinations in Beirut and Tehran, this week’s news review focuses on Turkey’s attempt to grind away Kurdish culture and identity and wear down Kurdish resistance – and at the even stronger determination to resist that this fosters. It also examines the report of the United Nations Committee Against Torture, which emphasises concerns about the treatment of Abdullah Ocalan and the other prisoners in İmralı.…
1 Sarah GLYNN - The Rules-Based International Order and Turkey’s invasions – a weekly news review 21:34
What is the Rules-Based International Order, and how does it relate to international law? How does it affect international responses to Turkish aggression in Syria and Iraq, and to Iran? What is the role of the United States?
1 PODCAST| Jody Williams on signing Nobel laureate letter expressing concern over Öcalan's isolation 22:04
In a recent podcast interview with Medya News, Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner. and chair of the Nobel Women's Initiative, speaks about the recent letter by 69 Nobel Peace Prize laureates to European and international human rights bodies expressing their “deep concern” about the conditions in which Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan is being held.…
Fréderike Geerdink reflects on the commemoration of the Suruç bombing, emphasising the way dreams and struggles for a better future continue to inspire resistance and hope, exemplified by the Suruç victims and the Rojava revolution.
What might a Trump presidency mean for North and East Syria; what are the prospects for the much talked about reconciliation between Erdoğan and Assad; what is the situation with Turkey’s invasion into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq? Plus, Turkey’s normalising of human rights violations, and their attempt to barter Öcalan’s human rights.…
Turkey is carrying out an invasion and “de facto annexation” in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and waging a low intensity war against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. They also oppress Kurds within Turkey’s borders. So, how did destruction of Kurdish identity come to dominate Turkish politics?…
Academic Amy Austin Holmes has published 'Statelet of Survivors', exploring the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The book highlights regional minority collaborations against threats and urges the US to support AANES's democratic processes and postponed elections.…
The Grey Wolves, founded in the 1960s, and the hand gesture that emerged in the early 1990s, could only become as influential as they did because there was a fertile soil in which the seed was planted. That fertile soil is Turkish fascism since the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
Sarah Glynn examines the context of the attacks on Syrian refugees in Turkey and of the unrest in Turkish-occupied Syria, and catches up with new developments in Turkey’s ongoing invasion of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
As Turkey and Syria contemplate renewed diplomatic ties, the Kurdish perspective remains conspicuously absent from media coverage. Fréderike Geerdink explores why the Kurdish quest for liberation and autonomy is crucial to understanding the region's future, challenging readers to consider the broader implications of excluding Kurdish voices from peace negotiations.…
Turkish tanks and soldiers are pouring into the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Turkey and Syria have moved a step closer to a rapprochement based on a joint attack against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, and Turkey continues to oppress Kurdish politicians. Meanwhile the Council of Europe fails in its fundamental purpose of protecting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.…
A relatively quiet week in Kurdish politics is still full of many ongoing problems, but it also allows us time to step back and look at the broader geopolitical context, and the new alliances that are forming with the decline of US hegemony and with the catalysts of war in Ukraine and genocide in Gaza.…
Fréderike Geerdink reflects on understanding the Kurdish issue, recalling a villager's remark that the state killed them "because we are Kurds" after the Roboskî massacre. This sentiment is paralleled with Palestinian experiences of Israeli aggression. Understanding suppression requires viewing from the perspective of the oppressed.…
This week, the news from Diyarbakır serves as an illustration of the wider Kurdish condition. Here we find threats facing Kurdish co-mayors, the anger of those no longer getting perks from the government trustee system, state impunity in the deeply flawed trial of three police officers for the murder of Human Rights lawyer Tahir Elçi, the whipping up of religious hatred - and also many organisations of resistance. Other news this week includes the latest protests against the imprisonment of the co-mayor of Hakkâri, and his replacement by a trustee, and the changing dynamics between the AKP, the CHP, and the MHP.…
Burhan Sönmez: ‘the Kurdish language is my home’
1 sarah- ‘The palace and the judiciary have declared war on the people’ – a weekly news review 23:03
As Turkey once again imprisons an elected Kurdish mayor and puts a government trustee in their place, there have been strong and persistent protests. The CHP has also condemned the government’s actions, but the international response has been shockingly weak, and there are fears that this is just the beginning of another purge.…
Another week brings another round of bellicose statements from the Turkish government. And in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the KDP is preparing to help Turkey continue their de facto occupation in the north. The KDP-dominated Kurdistan Regional Government has long since come to the end of its term and is now without official recognition, but the KDP has manoeuvred to get the elections delayed a fourth time, allowing them to hang onto what power they have.…
1 Riot police in US universities raise questions of power and democracy – a weekly news review 21:42
As American universities are taken over by riot police, this week’s review looks at questions about the nature of power and liberal democracy; and at how some issues create world-defining moments while others fail to get picked up by international radar. It looks at the silence over Turkey’s ongoing and relentless attacks on the Kurds; and it looks at the importance of Abdullah Öcalan’s critique of liberal democracy in favour of direct democracy, and at attempts to put this into practice in North and East Syria.…
1 Sarah Glynn Through war and law Turkey aims to make no country safe for Kurds – a weekly news review 21:28
Turkey is preparing to invade northern Iraq and northern Syria, and the “international community” remains silent. This week’s review focuses on Turkish plans for Iraq, where the Development Road Project may be used as an excuse to destroy autonomous administration in Makhmour and Şengal; on fears of Turkish invasion and ISIS revival in North and East Syria; and on the growing criminalisation of Kurds in Europe, where international power games are trumping basic rights and freedoms.…
Fréderike Geerdink notes how recent protests in Turkey are influencing government actions, notably the reinstatement of Abdullah Zeydan as Van's mayor. However, scepticism arises over Turkey's claimed suspension of trade with Israel amid allegations of ongoing ties, highlighting transparency concerns and political manoeuvring. These events underscore broader issues of accountability and manipulation within Turkey's leadership.…
Acclaimed journalist Fréderike Geerdink warns that the oppressive shroud cast over Kurdish politics in Turkey continues to suffocate democracy and minority representation despite shards of light breaking through in the southeast during the country's recent local elections. Discussing her experience of the liberated atmosphere in Kurdish-run municipalities in comparison to constrints under AKP rule, Geerdink says the Kurdish struggle is set to continue.…
In her weekly news review, Sarah Glynn takes a dive into Turkey’s local elections, which took place last Sunday, exposing the undemocratic practices which took place as well as highlighting the hard-won victories of Pro-Kurdish Dem Party.
Since the 1940s, the KDP, led by the Barzani family, has prioritised its interests, leveraging power and wealth. Geerdink argues that the KDP's election withdrawal is intricately linked to these broader regional dynamics, indicating a continued alliance with Turkey against the PKK, and by extension, an alignment with Turkey's political and economic interests.…
1 The world is silent as Turkey prepares a new offensive against the Kurds – a weekly news review 23:42
Turkey has announced that they will launch a new offensive against the Kurds in Iraq and that they still plan to take control of a 30-40 km corridor in Syria, but the world says nothing. Meanwhile, Turkish ministers have been trying to get wider support for these attacks. They have persuaded Iraq to define the PKK as a “banned organisation”, and they have got the United States to ignore reality and describe Turkey as a country committed to the fight against ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Meanwhile Turkey continues to destroy the environment and breach human rights, and international organisations produce reports but no action.…
A press conference in Cologne on 1 March marked the launch of the second phase of the “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question” campaign, expanding the movement’s scope and extending the call for international solidarity. German politician Jörg Detjen attended the conference, and spoke there, highlighting the urgent need to release Öcalan.…
Fréderike Geerdink confronts the weaponization of rape accusations in conflict zones, particularly spotlighting a recent UN report implicating Hamas in alleged sexual violence during the 7 October attack in Israel. Geerdink scrutinises the broader context, drawing parallels between Israel's tactics and those employed by Turkey in Kurdistan, emphasising the need to dismantle patriarchal systems to truly liberate women from exploitation in propaganda wars.…
A new Kurdish music video in the tradition of national mythmaking provides both a Kurdish myth and a universal story of the fight against patriarchy. In contrast to its optimism, this news review examines the failure of the CPT to visit Öcalan; Turkish attacks on North and East Syria and the situation in areas under Turkish occupation, including the lack of international response; continued ISIS attacks and arrests; Turkey’s diplomatic and military campaign in Iraq; the election in Iran; and judicial turmoil in Turkey…
In her latest piece, journalist Fréderike Geerdink delves into the alarming human rights abuses documented in a new report by Human Rights Watch, shedding light on the Turkish army and its proxies' actions in occupied territories of Syria. Geerdink scrutinises the international response, particularly from the EU and US, highlighting accusations of complicity and indifference towards the plight of victims and refugees.…
"The PKK poses no threat to the USA or the European Union. Nor does it threaten Turkey's territorial integrity. There is no longer any reason why the PKK should not finally be removed from the US terror list and the EU terror list, opening the door to the revival of an urgently needed peace process in Turkey and ultimately in the entire Middle East. The destabilising effect of this conflict would come to an end."…
1 After 25 years in prison, Öcalan has become a leader for a new generation – a weekly news review 16:32
As we pass the 25th anniversary of Öcalan’s incarceration, this week’s review looks back on the events that led up to his abduction in an international plot, and at the reaction of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. It then returns to the present to discuss campaigns for Öcalan’s freedom, interference in Turkish electoral politics, Turkey’s latest environmental disaster, and events in other parts of Kurdistan.…
Sarah Glynn returns to the earthquakes that devastated Turkey last year, focusing on how only a fraction of the promised new homes have been built, and planning is guided solely by profit. Read her latest weekly news review:
"Running with Başak Demirtaş would have made AKP's Murat Kurum’s victory too easy. By running with another candidate, both AKP and CHP will have to make an effort to please Kurds to vote for them. Thanks to Demirtaş, who showed the establishment that Kurds are ultra eager to vote for ‘one of their own’."…
"Hajir Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi didn’t die, they never will: they will be remembered and live on. The regime will die. The regime is weak, surviving just because of their brutality, but without a spine and without any popular support: they couldn’t be weaker."
1 Colonial powers and international institutions, the cases of Syria and Gaza – a weekly news review 19:58
Celebrated journalist and Kurdistan expert Fréderike Geerdink addresses the deep and open wounds left after entire neighbourhoods of Kurdish cities were razed by the Turkish Armed Forces in 2015 and 2016.
"What needs to be done, is to stop the occupation, both of Palestine and of Kurdistan. Land can be shared with humanity and equality. It can. And it must be. Because the alternative is permanent annexation and the oblivion of Palestinians and Kurds. We can never allow that to be the end of the occupation."…
This week, Israel has been on trial at the International Court of Justice, and the International Court has been on trial before the world. The case is of universal importance, including for the Kurds, who are threatened with being trapped in the centre of an expanding Middle East war, and who are suffering their own persecution at the hands of Turkey. Meanwhile, in contrast to the debates about genocide in the Hague, Selahattin Demirtaş finished his defence speech in Turkey by talking about peace and living together, and North and East Syria continues to try and work for a positive future despite growing frustrations with the role of the United States.…
Turkey's attacks in North and East Syria impact not only the present but also play into the hands of active ISIS cells. Sarah Glynn discusses the dangerous repercussions.
This week saw the first provincial elections in Iraq in ten years. The ethno-sectarian nature of Iraqi politics seems to be taken for granted, but how did it get this way and what are the implications? What is the background and significance of the Kurdish vote in Kirkuk, and how did the Yazidis vote in Nineveh? This review also looks at recent diplomatic meetings between Iraq and Turkey, and between Turkey and Iran; at the Syrian Democratic Council conference; and at the forces trying to destabilise North and East Syria. It looks at attempts to disrupt democracy in Turkey, and at two positive rulings from Turkey’s Constitutional Court; at anti-immigrant legislation in Europe; and at a Christmas greeting in Syriac…
Sırrı Süreyya Önder, the deputy speaker for the Turkish parliament, has restored human dignity to the parliament, allowing everyone to breathe, argues Fréderike Geerdink. "Even if you were to threaten my life, I would not interfere with a person’s mother tongue,” Önder had said, after arguments over DEM MP George Aslan's use of the Syriac language in parliament.…
The PKK, founded 45 years ago on Monday, has given birth to all the different organisations that make up the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Terrorist listing allowed the London celebrations of this anniversary to be attacked by the police. By contrast, Japan has shortened their list of international terrorist organisations to exclude the PKK – along with other groups such as Hamas. This week’s review also looks at the nature of Hamas; the hypocrisy of Turkey’s words of support for Palestine while they continue to trade with Israel; the impact of current events on North and East Syria - especially as described by the SDF’s Commander in Chief, Mazloum Abdi; judicial corruption in Turkey; and some frightening statistics from Iran.…
"How to struggle? It’s an extremely important but also an extremely difficult question. And I can’t answer it. I can only share my thoughts about struggle – thoughts for which I am indebted to the Kurdish political movement. Educate, organise, analyse, are the three words that I have learned are key."…
Attempts by the new leader of the CHP to build bridges with Kurdish voters demonstrate the huge gulf still to be crossed by Turkish politics; while recent news provides many examples of the deliberate erosion of Kurdish lives and culture by the Turkish state. This week’s review also looks at the role of Hüda Par, attacks on North and East Syria, Germany’s thirty-year ban on the PKK, and the campaign for Öcalan’s freedom.…
During its ongoing invasion of Gaza, Israel has so far killed over 13,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and forcibly displaced 1.7 million of the region's 2.3 million Palestinian residents. Almost 1,300 Israelis were also killed by Hamas and other militant, Islamist groups during the 7 October attack on southern Israel which sparked the invasion, while the crisis has also led to geopolitical ramifications throughout the Middle East and across the globe.…
“All the bans, on demonstrations, meetings [...] are nothing but the denial of basic democratic rights. Democratic meetings are denied, banned, and often at the request of the secret service, and this means nothing but the abolition of democratic rights.”
Turkey has detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan under total incommunicado isolation since March 2021 on the tiny island of Imralı, set in the Marmara Sea. The air is thick, humidity high, and doctors have noted the detrimental effects of the intense climatic range on his health. In an article published by Özgür Politika, physician and Kurdish academic Dersim Dağdeviren compares the environmental and political pressures experienced by Öcalan, to the wider, pressing need for climate action and international peace.…
With so much talk about war crimes and crimes against humanity, this week’s review looks at what is meant by these terms. It illustrates them with examples from Turkey’s actions in Syria and Iraq, and discusses the limits of the international mechanisms set up to address them. It goes on to look at the constitutional crisis besetting Turkey, as the Court of Cassation challenges the Constitutional Court, and at the attempts by the new leader of the Republican People’s Party to woo Kurdish voters. It ends with the biggest crime against humanity – though not one recognised by the International Court - the systematic crushing of every attempt at progressive opposition to the status quo.…
It would be difficult to argue that in a conflict, as in Gaza, which has killed approximately 4,000 Palestinians, of which 3,420 are civilians, that Israel is ‘distinguishing between civilians and combatants’. Or indeed that the Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, who directly said all infrastructure connected to the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) is ‘from now on… the legitimate target of our security forces’, is operating with respect for international law and conventions…
Palestine is occupied, and so is Kurdistan. Yes, also the part of Kurdistan that is situated in Turkey. The Turkish army has violently suppressed the Kurds’ aspirations for self-determination for many decades, massacred the population in large numbers and implemented a policy of forced assimilation starting a century ago this month. That’s longer than Palestine has been occupied, actually...…
Öcalan’s isolation is of course not a judicial matter but a political one. Turkey has once again reduced the Kurdish issue to a military problem instead of treating it as the human rights issue that it is. The isolation of Öcalan, who can and should play a crucial role in negotiations to end the Kurdish issue and with that het violence of the PKK, fits that Turkish approach.…
Noted academic Michael Gunter reflects on his first meetings with Kurdish political leader Öcalan during the 1990s, and argues that the Kurdish political leader can still pay a role as a key interlocutor in a negotiated peace process - if he’s first released from solitary confinement.
Amed Dicle looks at the three key reasons why Abdullah Öcalan should be freed, pointing to his vital role in resolving conflict in the Middle East and beyond, and the unlawfulness of his absolute isolation on Turkey's prison island
Over the last fortnight, a limited but lethal insurgency has rocked Deir ez-Zor - part of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the last region to be liberated from ISIS. Now that the immediate danger has been contained, it is important to look at the combination of factors that allowed this to happen, from political miscalculation and mismanagement to economic pressures, and at the roles played by the Syrian regime and by the different powers that attempt to direct Syria’s future to their own advantage. This week’s review also looks at deadly political machinations in Kirkuk, the Kurdish parties from Iran, and solidarity from Sweden.…
Did I know who *this woman* was?, one person asked me, adding a picture of an Instagram post of one of the players who paid tribute to Sabiha Gökçen. Of course I know who Sabiha Gökçen is: she is the adopted daughter of Turkey’s founding father Atatürk, who was the world’s first female combat pilot who – and this is what many Turks don’t know or refuse to acknowledge – bombed Kurds to smithereens and used chemical weapons to do that, for example during the Dersim massacres in the late 1930s.…
One of the most important things about political struggle I have learned in the last decade or so, is that it is the home of hope. Hope is not just some superficial or even void concept about the fulfilment of petty wishes for tomorrow or the day after, but an important driver in the social movement for change. Big changes for the better have always come from people who gave their lives to the struggle, from the abolishment of slavery and apartheid to the struggle of the suffragettes and the LGBT community.…
Two Turkish-backed military groups operating within the occupied region of Afrin in Syria’s northwest have been targeted recently by United States sanctions. However, until the US admits that Turkey is the planner, bankroller, and the one who stands to benefit from the human rights abuses and demographic change in Afrin, actions like the recent sanctions will never go far enough.…
Turkey is continuing the violent occupation of autonomous Kurdish lands that it started one and a half century ago. Framing it as a war against terrorism, effectively shuts the international community up about it. The Kurdistan Regional Government, autonomous is name only, cooperates with Turkey in a desperate effort to hang on to its own power and to contain Iran’s influence.…
Turkey is attacking the Zap region, citing PKK as pretext, to eliminate all Kurdish gains. Their aim is to gain military superiority and eliminate the Federal Kurdistan Region completely or control it. The most effective weapon in this plan is [Barzani's] KDP... Political observers believe that Barzani is willing to let Turkey take control of Kurdistan in order to protect his family dynasty.…
In her latest analysis, Fréderike Geerdink explores the symbolic significance of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan's isolation, drawing parallels with the broader Kurdish struggle in Turkey. She underscores the strategic importance of focusing on Öcalan's freedom as a catalyst for a democratic resolution to the Kurdish issue, likening his situation to Nelson Mandela's.…
What Kurdish feudal and religious leaders had not expected was the rapid secularization measures that Atatürk embarked upon. The most important was the formal abolition of the caliphate in March 1924. These measures were a reason for one now legendary Kurdish leader to join a resistance that had been plotted against the new government by Kurdish nationalists, who were united in the secret movement Azadî (Freedom). His name was Shaykh Said. The Azadî nationalists were caught plotting and were either arrested or backed out, but Shaykh Said had the support of the people and decided to rise up without Azadî.…
Why is the Lausanne Treaty still so important? - read the latest article for Medya News by Robin Fleming.
For Erdoğan, Sweden’s desperation to join NATO is a gift that keeps on giving. Every moment that he keeps Sweden waiting provides the opportunity for him to squeeze further concessions from the Swedish government and from other countries that are also desperate to see Sweden’s accession – notably the United States. This week’s news review focuses on the NATO summit, but also looks, among other things, at threats to Öcalan, developments in the Turkish courts, the dominance of religious cults, Iranian attacks on Kurds in Iraq, and continued pressure from Turkey on North and East Syria.…
At first glance, it may look like this stress will be over once Sweden is admitted to NATO, but that is wishful thinking. Sweden will then comply more than ever to the rules of the international alliances that dance to Turkey’s anti-terrorism tune. Giving up neutrality doesn’t lead to a new kind of neutrality, it leads to compliance.…
In Lavrio camp, near Athens, Kurdish refugees had established a system of autonomous organisation inspired by the ideas of Abdullah Öcalan. Beginning with the final clearance of the camp, under Turkish pressure, Sarah Glynn’s weekly news review looks at the many ways Kurds are being oppressed in different parts of Kurdistan, often – but by no means only – by the Turkish government.…
As journalist Merdan Yanardağ is imprisoned for criticising the illegal isolation of Abdullah Öcalan, Sarah Glynn examines the human rights issues concerning Öcalan’s incarceration, and how the brutal regime of his İmralı Island prison has been used as a model for an increasingly punitive and sadistic Turkish Legal system. Every opportunity is also being taken to try and force other countries to shape their judiciary according to Turkish government wishes, notably in Sweden.…
In a world plagued by conflicts and political unrest, the choices made by individuals to join armed movements often spark curiosity and controversy. Fréderike Geerdink delves into the lives and motivations of German individuals who have become members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), shedding light on their stories and challenging the common narrative that portrays them as deceived. Instead, Geerdink presents these individuals as conscious decision-makers driven by their ideological beliefs and a desire to challenge the status quo.…
Turkey carries out targeted assassinations and promotes the revival of ISIS. In Russian-sponsored talks, the misrepresentation of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria allows regional powers to bond over calls for its destruction. Turkey’s citizens face a bleak economic future. Disputes over oil exports and party rivalry impact the Kurdistan Regional Government’s autonomy. And Iran’s war against the Kurds sees intra-opposition violence and a government scorched earth policy. Sarah Glynn looks at another busy week of Kurdish politics.…
Several Kurds have told me that it’s not really a choice. It’s a necessity to fight against oppression, to defend the life of yourself, your family, your people. Self-defence is, you could say, a reflex inextricably tied to being alive. Kurds, and other oppressed nations, know from a very young age on that their lives are constantly threatened, and resistance has become part of their existence. Berxwedan jiyanê, the slogan of the Kurdish movement meaning ‘Resistance is life’, has this very deep meaning.…
A general problem is undoubtedly to win voters for left-of-centre politics in a society with a conservative basic attitude. This actually requires very long-term strategies. Jumping on conservative issues in the short term, as the CHP [Republican People's Party] candidate did before the run-off election, is risky. On the one hand, it reinforces and confirms conservative positions. On the other hand, one must then also make a corresponding policy in the event of an election victory.…
We are currently in the worst situation since ISIS attacked, facing the biggest danger since then. Since then, more than ten Turkish airstrikes have hit the camp. And yet neither Iraqi government, nor KRG, nor the UN condemned these attacks. They say nothing about this. The Iraqi government approaches this place as though there is a danger from the PKK, but the real danger is from Turkish airstrikes.…
Medya News columnist Fréderike Geerdink uses the youths in Istanbul who recently got in trouble for dancing to Kurdish music as a starting point for looking at the stage of Turkish politics and the various "dancers".
Erdoğan boasts of his independence from the United States and portrays his rival as in America’s pocket, but it is America’s world-wide fight against communism and socialism and their readiness to resort to any means in order to make the world safe for US capitalism that has made space for the growth of neo-fascism and intolerant religious extremism. Erdoğan owes his position to America and her allies who have systematically attacked Turkey’s left movements for decades.…
Turkey has experienced all kinds of rule in its hundred-year history. The only thing that has not been tried is a consistent democracy. Now and in coming years, Turkey must overcome its fears and dare to be democratic.
Turkish ethnic nationalism has been a core belief of the Turkish Republic throughout its century-old existence. It has increasingly been defined against a Kurdish “other” that refuses to deny Kurdishness and assimilate into a monolithic Turkish identity. Since Erdoğan ended peace talks with the PKK and, following the 2015 election, was forced to rely on the support of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), he has increasingly used populist politics of prejudice and hatred to build and energise his support. As election day approaches the populist rhetoric from Erdogan and from leading figures in his People’s Alliance has descended to a new level.…
Citizens living abroad, who could play a key role in Turkey's coming polls if the vote at home is close, have already started voting. Jürgen Klute looks at this and other aspects of the elections.
"Why should Erdogan suddenly follow democratic rules of the game when he has not done so far? Therefore Kurds must stand up as one and vote for the opposition – the Green Left Party / HDP." -Westrheim
Ertuğrul Kürkçü looks at Turkey's coming elections: "Peoples of Turkey stand on the verge of repelling the most perennial and comprehensive attempt at dictatorship in the history of Turkey."
Accompanied by stirring music, convoys of armed vehicles and police vans roar into the cities, and groups of fully armed soldiers make their way into the alleys and storm unmarked doorways. This is not the latest TV drama but the official film of the detention of 128 politicians and activists of the pro-Kurdish leftist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), now running under the banner of the Green Left, less than three weeks before the Turkish election.…
Fréderike Geerdink looks at Turkey's coming elections in the light of of the historic resistance of the Kurds in conjunction with the spirit of the Gezi protests.
British anti-terror police found themselves in the headlines this week after using a controversial power to detain a French publisher at the British border and quiz him about his opposition to the French government. The case shone a spotlight on a little-known but widely-abused power, Schedule 7 of the Terror Act (2000), which equips British police with the ability to detain, search and interrogate anyone they claim is entering or leaving the country for reasons related to the commission of acts of terrorism – without needing to formally charge the individual in question, and without the right to silence.…
Journalist Sedat Yılmaz urges "all press professional organisations to read Turkey’s press card regulation from the perspective of Kurdish journalists and put our 25 imprisoned colleagues on their agenda."
Fréderike Geerdink's latest column is out now! Her ruthless pursuit of the truth once again hits Medya News as she looks at the realities faced by Kurds in Turkey ahead of the country's critical elections.
Abdi commented that Erdoğan might do anything to get re-elected. One thing he is already doing is using the politicised judicial system to pursue his opponents. The case file for the closure of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has now been handed over to the court rapporteur to prepare his opinion before the judges make their decision. A ban would have to be supported by 10 of the 15 judges, and if the party is banned, up to 451 named members could be banned from party politics for five years. Because of the possibility of the ban, HDP members are standing in the election under the banner of the Green Left.…
Germany’s history is supposed to have made German society sensitive to repression of minority groups and of freedom of speech, but only, it seems, for some groups and some ideas. Germany has a long record of repressing its Kurdish community – much the largest Kurdish community outside Kurdistan. They also attempt to silence Palestinian voices and even voices of Jews critical of Israel, demonstrating a failure to embrace the real meaning of “never again”, which has to apply to all peoples.…
"Political change is needed. No Kurd is free until Öcalan is free," says Fréderike Geerdink in her latest article, focused on Abdullah Öcalan’s 'right to hope'.
"Much remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the road to political reform in Turkey is long and arduous," says Matt Broomfield in his latest article looking at the upcoming Turkish elections.
The conditions of isolation in a quarter century of imprisonment have still not made it possible, philosophically, to destroy the bridges between Öcalan and his organisation.
"It is fundamentally right to insist on the observance of human rights, women's rights, minority rights, and climate protection measures. But if these demands are made out of an attitude of arrogance ... then European politicians will not find an audience with their African colleagues." - Jürgen Klute…
Across the world, there is a ramping up of authoritarian oppression as ruling elites defend a political system that generates growing inequality and destroys the planet and that is facing a rising tide of resistance. Even here, in picturesque Strasbourg, I have got used to seeing riot police and tear gas, and while the situation in France is hardly of the same order as that in Turkey, both arise from the suppression of challenges to elite power, and oppressors in different countries learn and take encouragement from each other.…
Fréderike Geerdink explains why the suggestion that Turkish President Erdoğan's alliance with Hüda-Par is to win Kurdish votes is ludicrous in her latest article for Medya News.
The UN’s expanded guidelines for the protection of prisoners are known as the ‘Nelson Mandela laws’, in honour of the celebrated political prisoner. They enshrine crucial rights as to prisoners’ inherent dignity and value, prohibiting torture, ill-treatment, and various forms of degradation and restraint, notably restricting the use of solitary confinement, to Mandela “the most forbidding aspect of prison life.” In Öcalan’s case, it is clear these guidelines are not being observed.…
The question of democracy in Turkey has never been more important as it is now in 2023. Erdoǧan’s AKP government has been in power since 2002, but the elections this year bring hope of a change. Will that change, if there is one, simply be turning from one autocratic ruling party to another, or will democracy have a chance now?…
On Monday, at the Turkish Parliament, the presidential candidate of the main opposition alliance, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) visited the leaders of the pro-Kurdish leftist Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) for a much-anticipated discussion; and on Wednesday, the Labour and Freedom Alliance, centred on the HDP, which has been described as the potential king-maker of the forthcoming election, announced that they would not be putting up their own presidential candidate, thus encouraging speculation that Kılıçdaroğlu could achieve a decisive first round victory.…
In a particularly depressing article on their website, the HDP list the history of Kurdish political parties in Turkey. Turkey’s first pro-Kurdish party, the People’s Labour Party (HEP), was established in 1990 and managed to survive three years before being banned. Subsequent pro-Kurdish parties lasted even shorter, just six months in the case of HEP successor the Freedom and Democracy Party (OZDEP). To adapt a phrase from Oscar Wilde, to ban one Kurdish political party might be regarded as authoritarian zeal; to ban nine begins to look like fascism.…
"The problem is not the fact that SDF fighters are in a chopper close to Duhok, the problem is that Kurds can’t move easily in their own lands anymore while trying to defend it against assorted aggressors," says Fréderike Geerdink.
The statement concludes with a clear call for revolution: “We are at a point in history where if we want our society to be a bit better than the day before, we have only one solution and that is "revolution". We need this nationwide unity in order to be triumphant in our revolution for "women, life and freedom"! No to forced headscarf, no to oppression! Yes to freedom and equality!”…
Apparently the violently sexist, and terror approach of the Islamic state are more compatible with the Turkish government than NES’ principles of direct democracy and women’s rights. Think back to what the Turkish prison system did to Garibe Gezer, and what ISIS did to their own captives.
For Erdoğan needs the Kurds – or, more precisely, needs a perpetual war against their democratic political project to distract voters from domestic economic woes and increasing securitization which has decimated both civil society and legitimate political opposition in the country. What is less often recalled is that Erdoğan also benefits from his love-hate relationship with the US political administration.…
Releasing Nedim Türfent and others is not enough. What is needed, is for them to be recognised as political prisoners and their names to be cleared. The communities where they come from already recognise that, but the state has to acknowledge that too. Eventually, that is what the struggle is all about: Getting people out of jail, and celebrating their contribution to bringing down fascism.…
1 Drone war the ground invasion: Why is Erdoğan targeting the Kurds now? 1:01:20
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1:01:20On Monday 28 November , Medya News convened an online panel via Twitter Spaces to bring together expert voices to analys the latest development whether now is the time that president Erdoğan will make his next move to seize and occupy swathes of land in Kurdish-Led north and East Syria (NES,and How he is benefiting from shits in the region geopolitical reality.…
Now it seems this ugly, recent history is repeating itself. A Turkish invasion will not only mean the chaos of air strikes and subsequent opportunities for ISIS cell members to spread further havoc. It will mean creating new swathes of territory for ISIS to operate in. It will mean humanitarian disaster as Turkey strikes power stations, hospitals and other vital infrastructure, creating the perfect conditions for ISIS to make back the ground which the Kurds and their local allies wrested from them on behalf of the world across many years of bitter warfare.…
The false image that the Turkish president Erdoğan paints of Turkey as a victim of terrorism works incredibly well. The international community seems to be swallowing whole the bait laid at their feet. Turkey must be stopped. Someone must reverse the current developments affecting the Kurds. Ethnic cleansing is underway.…
That’s how Erdoğan re-enforced the power he was about to lose: he cooperated with ISIS to incite a spiral of violence, mainly against Kurds because Kurds and their political demands and well-organized and undestroyable opposition are the nightmare of every Turkish nationalist. If anybody would have predicted that in the summer of 2015 to somebody not following Turkey closely, they possibly would have reacted with: “Ah, so that’s the conspiracy?” But it happened.…
The NGO does call on international actors such as the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and states with residents still in the camp to provide more resources, training and support to the authorities in North and East Syria. But the solution to the crisis in Hol cannot be solely technical. Along with more direct aid and support, political steps must be taken to improve the situation of the region as a whole.…
From an analyst’s perspective, it is not difficult to understand the threat that Erdoğan's regime perceives. Kurdish women have proven that they can successfully resist under the harshest conditions and unite women across ethnic and religious lines in the struggle for women’s freedom. In doing so, they have become a potent threat to autocrats and fundamentalists in the region.…
In reality, ISIS remain a serious threat in Syria and Iraq despite their loss of territory. Moreover, Turkey’s attacks against Kurdish-led autonomous regions in northern Syria serve exactly the same ends as ISIS’ attempts to establish their caliphate. We should not draw a distinction between those who oppose ISIS, those who oppose Turkey’s autocratic Islamist project, and those who support the Kurdish movement as a whole.…
It will come as no surprise to Medya News readers to learn that Turkey has seemingly blocked access to our website. Any coverage of the Kurdish struggle for rights, self-determination and democracy is likely to incur a swift and aggressive response from the Erdoğan government. But Turkey’s programme of censorship and liquidation of free expression and open criticism is not limited to the Kurdish media.…
Kurds are once again feeling that they were abandoned in the face of yet another manifestation of tyranny. These young Kurds were running from front to front to counter the barbarity of ISIS, for the sake of all of humanity. Today, they fell victim to a similar barbarity. Relations among states necessitate the world be disinterested in the matter, but civilian bodies outside of state structures are also not sufficiently interested. Kurds are told to prove they are being murdered. Amed Dicle, Medya News.…
"Now that the ones who do call for respect for human rights are being targeted, it has become even more urgent for international organisations and governments to dust off their morals, strengthen their spines, act in the spirit of the convention and ask Turkey some serious questions. Lives of both guerrilla fighters fighting for a just cause and lives of civilians are at stake." Fréderike Geerdink, Medya News…
1 Is complicity behind West’s deathly silence on Turkey’s use of brutal unconventional weapons against Kurds? 5:53
The shocking video released by Kurdish freedom fighters of their friends killed with chemical weapons used by the Turkish military -- in open sight -- in the mountains of south Kurdistan has been met with a deathly silence from Western “democratic” states and the international organisations that are charged with monitoring such crimes against humanity.…
If the public in Turkey was well informed, if the public in Turkey would let it sink in that they have been fooled by state-produced actual fake news for decades, for even a century, would that instill fear and disturb public order? Definitely, but fear is what the state thrives on. What they are actually afraid of, is not that it instills fear, but that it breaks the fear. Just as the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the ‘morality police’ in Iran broke the fear of women and girls in Rojhilat (Kurdistan in Iran) and Iran, causing them to rise up against the dictatorship’s public order.…
Sunday 9 October marked the third anniversary of Operation Peace Spring, Turkey’s 2019 cross-border incursion into northeast Syria. With the operation, Turkey occupied the cities of Serê Kaniyê (Ras al-Ayn) and Tell Abyad (Girê Spî), and caused disastrous humanitarian consequences. According to the Rojava Information Centre (RIC), the occupied territory is 130 km long and 25 km deep, and over 200,000 people were displaced due to the conflict.…
"It would have great importance if an investigation concluded that that the destruction of the agricultural bank in Zirgan in the spring of 2022 was a war crime. Even if the outcome does not include a case in court, such a conclusion would be stating that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was directly responsible for war crimes. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg would be left indirectly responsible. He had knowledge of the incidents, but did not intervene." Erling Folkvold…
Nagihan Akarsel, a Kurdish scholar, activist, journalist and co-founder of the feminist Jineology Research Centre, was shot dead earlier this week in an armed attack in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan. Her death, which recalls previous extrajudicial killings of Kurdish women’s activists by the Turkish intelligence services, has sparked protests in Kurdistan and around the world. Here, her friend and colleague Haskar Kırmızıgül shares some reflections on her life, work and untimely death. The audio version is read by Rahila Gupta.…
"It is a painful reality that the government calling itself ‘autonomous’ is in fact fully dependent on Iran and Turkey. In other words: Kurd-murdering dictatorial states define the Kurdistan region’s economic and security situation, and Kurdish leaders let it happen and don’t protect their people because they are more dedicated to protecting their own financial interests."…
The global collective uprising following the Jîna Amini-case carries within it the seeds of something new, a solidarity that extends beyond self-interest, in which women across different backgrounds, ethnicities and borders are empowered to make a common cause to improve women's situation.
“Unfortunately, the resulting report clearly illustrates “the world is facing a wave of autocratization. Powerful autocratic states, former democracies, and political movements within democracies increasingly present ideological challenges to the principles of democratic governance”. Turkey sticks out as a poster-boy example of this negative phenomenon.”…
1 ERDOĞAN’S TRAIN TO AUTOCRACY: A COMMENTARY BASED ON THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG VARIETIES OF DEMOCRACY STUDY, 2022 7:46
"In other words, one can use democratic means to achieve autocracy. Analyzing Erdoğan’s imaginary train journey, one must conclude that the Turkish leader never intended to reach democracy. Indeed, now that he largely has achieved his actual goal of autocracy, he has jumped off the train!"
“That little urchin with the gold-red hair, whom I have just watched toddling past my house, she shall not be lopped and lamed and altered; her hair shall not be cut short like a convict's; no, all the kingdoms of the earth shall be hacked about and mutilated to suit her. She is the human and sacred image; all around her the social fabric shall sway and split and fall; the pillars of society shall be shaken, and the roofs of ages come rushing down, and not one hair of her head shall be harmed.” -G.K. Chesterton…
'Given his lack of options, Erdoğan may pretend to swallow Putin’s bait. Nevertheless, Putin’s strategy bluntly underestimates the vigilance, the Kurdish people’s historical consciousness of the right to self-determination and war-hardened capacity to survive a prolonged struggle. If Putin’s “wisdom” were of any good in resolving national problems, it should have already guided the Kremlin to pick a “wiser” option to handle its issues with Ukraine than occupying the country and leading Russia to the brink of a nuclear confrontation.' Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Medya News.…
"KOBANÊ shows how fast the advance of Daesh was suddenly going, how quickly decisions had to be made about how to defend the city, how Turkey’s support for Daesh wasn’t superficial, but really impacted the battle. How brave individual fighters were and how that bravery strengthened the whole fighting force of the YPG and YPJ. The sacrifices, the destruction, the absolute determination not to give up against all odds."…
'The greatest fear of the Turkish state is that the Kurds should achieve power in the political arena. The only thing they want is to leave the Kurds no option but the armed struggle. The Kurds keep calling for a political solution to extricate themselves from this position they have been forced into, but the administration is pressing for unconditional surrender, while the Kurds unconditionally reject the isolation of Öcalan.' Amed Dicle, Medya News…
"Though it has been ten years since the establishment of self-rule in the regions of North and East Syria, the first university of the Autonomous Administration was founded only seven years ago; seven years marred by Turkish invasion and threats, continuous ISIS attacks and poor economic conditions. The road ahead for the administration remains full of challenges."…
'The murder of Musa Anter is symbolic of the ongoing effort by the state to annihilate the Kurdish movement, Kurdish culture, the Kurdish language and the whole Kurdish community in Turkey by murder, oppression, prosecution, disenfranchisement and forced assimilation, and the brutal suppression of the legitimate armed insurgency against it. An attempted genocide, you could argue. When the case ends without having even remotely been cleared up, the implications are equally profound: the state will not just get away with murder, but with attempted genocide as well.' Fréderike Geerdink, Medya News.…
Matt Broomfield reflects on the legacy of Queen Elizabeth in regards to how British people are viewed in the Middle East and comments on how the world will not forget the history of empire and colonialism quickly.
"Leyla Zana was the first in a long line of Kurdish women jailed by the Turkish state for their involvement in the Kurdish political struggle for justice and equality, in the early 1990s, after she spoke Kurdish when she took her parliamentary oath, wearing a hairband in the Kurdish colours: green, red and yellow. While she was deservedly awarded the Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament in 1995, the women who followed in her footsteps receive nothing but a deafening silence from Europe."…
In her latest column for MedyaNews, Fréderike Geerdink compares and contrasts the situations of two stateless communities, the Tamils and the Kurds, and argues against laying down arms before a political settlement is reached.
“The cruel realities of life under Turkey’s authoritarian government continue to bite, both in Turkey itself and in the areas under Turkish military attack. Like all authoritarian regimes, Turkey’s ruling class pursues popular support and working-class division through the promotion of virulent racism. But Turkey is far from unique. Both within countries and in international relations, there is a dangerous tolerance of intolerance.”…
Journalist Fréderike Geerdink looks at the SDF's armed defence of its people against Turkish attacks in Syria, equating their principled stance and clear vision with that of the unarmed political party HDP.
We see the staged handshakes in front of national flags, and read the official communiqués, but the life and death deals made behind closed doors we can only guess at. What was negotiated between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan? How have the dynamics been impacted by the war in Ukraine? And what possibilities may have been opened for cooperation between Erdoğan and Bashar al-Assad? Circumstances have conspired to ensure that both Putin and Erdoğan have a lot to offer the other, and both are practised at driving a bargain. International negotiation is always about self-interest, and in this case that didn’t even need to be dressed up in the hypocritical language of liberal democracy.…
"Little did the visitors know that the excursion they had planned on this fateful Wednesday in the Duhok Governorate of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, would turn into a picnic of death. Out of nowhere, the peace was suddenly shattered by the sound of explosions in the background and the calm transformed into a nightmarish chaos when unsuspecting people suddenly found themselves being attacked by Turkish explosive shells."…
As Turkish invasion threats continue to cast their shadow over northern Syria, and pundits dissect the latest statements to speculate on whether either the United States or Russia will do a deal to stand aside and let Turkish ground forces go in; as Turkish forces continue to pound the mountains of northern Iraq, and the PKK reports plans by the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to provide even greater assistance to the Turkish takeover of their region.…
“For everyone who cares about the Kurds, this is a worrying time, but how much more worrying for those who expect their homes and their hard-won freedoms to come under violent attack at any moment. The situation cannot be made any easier by the knowledge that most of the world seems supremely indifferent to their plight – even to its potential world-changing importance.”…
-"For Erdoğan, attacking the Kurds has become synonymous with building popular support, and, as the next election looms, his foreign policy is being increasingly driven by the domestic agenda."
-The extraordinary swing of support behind NATO in western countries is based around a carefully constructed image of NATO as standing up for a people under attack, and as preventing capitulation to bully-boy tactics. It was an image that never had any substance, but now Turkey is very publicly tearing it to shreds.…
Sarah Glynn looks at the EU Conference on supporting Syria, noting the presence of Turkey, Iran and the US, all party to Syria's troubles, and the absence of AANES, the only ones trying to build a real democracy there.
The most alarming military developments this week were the intensified attacks on the Yazidis in Şengal (Sinjar), in northwest Iraq. These were carried out by the Iraqi army, but it is Turkey that is most insistent on destroying Yazidi autonomy, and Turkey was behind the scenes, pulling strings.
Sarah Glynn's weekly news review: "For those challenging Turkish aggression, opportunities for high level diplomacy are distinctly limited, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t get international support, nor that that support doesn’t matter."
-On Sunday night, the northern mountains of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq came under heavy bombardment from Turkish warplanes and howitzers, and Turkish helicopters ferried in soldiers as Turkey launched its anticipated attack on the PKK’s guerrilla bases. But it is not only the guerrillas in their mountain tunnels that are under attack. The Kurds and the Kurdish freedom movement are under attack across all parts of Kurdistan. And although Turkey is their biggest enemy, it is not their only enemy in what has become a complex battleground of competing powers.…
Sarah Glynn takes a look at this week's ongoing brutal campaigns against the Kurds in Syria, Turkey and Iraq as Turkey gears up for fresh military actions in N. Iraq and Assad targets Kurds in Aleppo.
Last Sunday, as progressives tried to come to terms with Viktor Orbán’s decisive re-election as prime minister of Hungary, Turkey’s President Erdoğan telephoned his congratulations and discussed hopes for further enhancing bilateral relations, including in the defence industries. Orbán and Erdoğan are members of a growing group of right-wing authoritarian populists, and both Erdoğan’s supporters and those hoping to see him defeated have been examining the Hungarian example for clues about what could happen in Turkey’s next election, which has to take place by June 2023. That the Hungarian opposition – like the main opposition in Turkey – consisted of an alliance of six different parties has given Erdoğan’s camp a revived confidence.…
Another HDP MP loses parliamentary immunity for exercising their freedom of expression.
Sarah Glynn looks at how the US displays a complete absence of support for NE Syria in fighting ISIS, noting that they still remain silent about Turkey's continued attacks on the region although it is clear Turkey itself supports ISIS.
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