For all of the latest Kurdish news, see these sources:
ANF English: https://anfenglishmobile.com/
Hawar News: https://www.hawarnews.com/en/
Rojava Information Center: https://rojavainformationcenter.com
Women Defend Rojava: http://womendefendrojava.net/en/
Rojhelat: http://rojhelat.info/en/
Rojava Centre for Strategic Studies
Komun Academy:
NEWS
- 42nd anniversary message from the PKK
- Internal dialogue enhancement conference issues key calls
- Shengal Autonomous Assembly warns against a new massacre
- Kurds ‘oppressed’ in Turkey: top Erdogan aide
- Turkey conducts raids against group linked to Kurdish militants, 24 lawyers among people detained
- Release of Kurdish opposition politicians long overdue – Human Rights Watch
- Former HDP MP Leyla Guven faces 30 years in jail on trumped-up terror charges
- Kurdish asylum seekers face deportation to Turkey from Romania
- Syrian Kurds Optimistic About Continued US Support Under Biden Presidency
- Erdogan’s new appointment could help toward resolving Kurdish conflict
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- Turkey hired the KDP to complete the ‘Collapse Plan’
- KJK: It is time to get to the roots of patriarchal violence
- Is Turkey gearing up to attack the Syrian Kurds again?
- Kurdish National Conflicts in the Reality of Multilateralism
- US commissioner impressed by Rojava religious freedom, ethnic equality
- Turkey expands crackdown on pro-Kurdish activists with dozens of raids
- Former political prisoner under Saddam urges people to raise voices against war in Iraqi Kurdistan
- Presidential advisory board member urges release of Kavala, Demirtaş
- Pro-Erdoğan think tank’s survey shows child soldiers among Turkish-backed Syrian opposition
- What does Barzani’s statement mean for South Kurdistan?
- Karayilan: Turkey relies on psychological warfare
- Fratricide in South Kurdistan?
- ‘They destroyed our life’: Iraqi Kurds fear Turkey’s drones in PKK mountain war
- Could Turkey’s Kurdish peace process be back on track?
- Anti-war protesters urge Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling party to avoid a deadly intra-Kurdish conflict
- Civil war looms closer after Turkish air strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan
- Close confidantes in the fight against the PKK
- How Syria’s Afrin became hell for Kurds
- Art as resistance: exiled Kurdish artist’s daring Istanbul show
- Najmaldin Karim, ‘one-man lobby’ for Kurdish interests on Capitol Hill, dies at 71
- Turkey turns up heat on PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan
- World Kobane Day: Why we should all know what Kobane Day means
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NEWS
1. 42nd anniversary message from the PKK
26 Nov 2020|ANF
“The 43rd year of the PKK will be a year of great struggle and achievement during which AKP-MHP fascism will be destroyed, Imrali torture and isolation system will be removed, and the occupation of the Turkish Republic will be stopped,” said the PKK.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/42nd-anniversary-message-from-the-pkk-48239
2. Internal dialogue enhancement conference issues key calls
25 Nov 2020|ANF
The final declaration of the conference to develop internal dialogue between Kurds was published. The conference was jointly organized by the KNK and the South Kurdistan Parliamentary Union.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/internal-dialogue-enhancement-conference-issues-key-calls-48208
3. Shengal Autonomous Assembly warns against a new massacre
23 Nov 2020|ANF
Shengal Democratic Autonomous Assembly evaluated the developments following the agreement made by the Baghdad and Hewler governments for Shengal and warned that Shengal is facing a new massacre.
4. Kurds ‘oppressed’ in Turkey: top Erdogan aide
21 November 2020|Rudaw
A top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Kurds are oppressed in Turkey, criticizing the ongoing prosecution of Kurdish politicians and activists.
https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/201120201
5. Turkey conducts raids against group linked to Kurdish militants, 24 lawyers among people detained
20 November 2020|RT
Turkish officials have issued arrest warrants for 101 people suspected of having ties to Kurdish militants. A group of lawyers was detained by security forces during the ensuing raid.
https://www.rt.com/news/507294-lawyers-detained-turkey-pkk/
6. Release of Kurdish opposition politicians long overdue – Human Rights Watch
19 November 2020|Ahval
Selahattin Demirtaş, the former co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, remains behind bars despite several court orders for his release, both by Turkish courts and the European Court of Human Rights.
7. Former HDP MP Leyla Guven faces 30 years in jail on trumped-up terror charges
19 November 2020|Morning Star
Former Peoples Democratic Party MP Leyla Guven faces more than 30 years in jail after Turkish prosecutors accused her today of a string of offences, including membership of a terrorist organisation.
8. Kurdish asylum seekers face deportation to Turkey from Romania
19 November 2020|Stockholm Center for Freedom
One of the asylum seekers, Mr Akman, was sentenced to six years, three months in prison in Turkey for alleged membership in a terrorist organization. His journalistic work in Kobani, a Kurdish majority city in northern Syria, was used as evidence against him.
https://stockholmcf.org/kurdish-asylum-seekers-face-deportation-to-turkey-from-romania/
9. Syrian Kurds Optimistic About Continued US Support Under Biden Presidency
13 November 2020|Voice of America
Syrian Kurdish leaders are expressing optimism about continued U.S. support for their forces following former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory in last week’s U.S. presidential election.
10. Erdogan’s new appointment could help toward resolving Kurdish conflict
12 November 2020|Arab News
Amid the political quakes currently rocking Turkey, one relatively “quiet” appointment to a key post could turn out to have a major impact on the country’s approach to its decades-long unresolved Kurdish conflict.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1762181/middle-east
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. Turkey hired the KDP to complete the ‘Collapse Plan’
24 Nov 2020|ANF
The essence of the Collapse Plan, a plan of the Turkish state and the United States to eliminate the PKK, incorporates the complete annihilation of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement by attacking it with a genocidal method inspired by the Sri Lanka Model.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/turkey-hired-the-kdp-to-complete-the-collapse-plan-48175
2. KJK: It is time to get to the roots of patriarchal violence
24 Nov 2020|ANF
The KJK calls on women of the world to unite their fight against all forms of patriarchal violence and to build the resistance front of world women.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/women/kjk-it-is-time-to-get-to-the-roots-of-patriarchal-violence-48183
3. Is Turkey gearing up to attack the Syrian Kurds again?
26 November 2020|Ahval News
Amidst the ongoing transition disarray in the United States, Turkey might calculate that the next few weeks are an opportune moment for it to once again strike the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.
https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-syrian-kurds/turkey-gearing-attack-syrian-kurds-again
4. Kurdish National Conflicts in the Reality of Multilateralism
24 November 2020|Medya News
Since the beginning of 2020, the Kurdish people have been concerned by the threat of intra-Kurdish conflict. This began in spring with the deployment of military forces affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party to Zini Werte and continued with the deployment of KDP forces to other regions of South Kurdistan where Kurdistan Workers’ Party forces had been based since 1981.
https://medyanews.net/kurdish-national-conflicts-in-the-reality-of-multilateralism/
5. US commissioner impressed by Rojava religious freedom, ethnic equality
21 November 2020|Rudaw
Nadine Maenza, United States commissioner for religious freedom, said she was surprised to see how consistent conditions in northeast Syria (known to Kurds as Rojava) were in terms of religious freedom and gender equality during her weeks-long trip to the region.
https://www.rudaw.net/english/interview/21112020
6. Turkey expands crackdown on pro-Kurdish activists with dozens of raids
21 November 2020|Al-Monitor
The prospect for promises of sweeping reform looked bleak in the wake of more than 70 arrests that targeted politicians, doctors, lawyers, journalists and civil society activists.
7. Former political prisoner under Saddam urges people to raise voices against war in Iraqi Kurdistan
20 November 2020|Morning Star
Kurdish farmworker Zakia Hama-Amin urged people to raise their voices against war in Iraqi Kurdistan today, saying that the region’s population want a peaceful life and their right to exist to be recognised.
8. Presidential advisory board member urges release of Kavala, Demirtaş
20 November 2020|Hurriyet Daily News
Bülent Arınç, a member on the Presidential High Advisory Board and a former deputy prime minister, has criticized indictments that have jailed philanthropist and businessman Osman Kavala and former Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, urging their release.
9. Pro-Erdoğan think tank’s survey shows child soldiers among Turkish-backed Syrian opposition
20 November 2020|Ahval
The Turkey-backed Syrian National Army’s ranks may include some four percent child soldiers, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research, an Ankara-based research company known for its close relations with the Turkish government.
10. What does Barzani’s statement mean for South Kurdistan?
18 Nov 2020|ANF
First came the occupation of the strategically important region of Zînê Wêrte by military forces of the KDP, then further troop deployments in the South Kurdish regions of Heftanîn, Xinêre, Goşîne and Helgûrt. Now came the encirclement of the Gare region.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/what-does-barzani-s-statement-mean-for-south-kurdistan-47993
11. Karayilan: Turkey relies on psychological warfare
18 Nov 2020|ANF
“The guerrilla has neither gone to Armenia nor is it on the verge of disbanding,” said Murat Karayilan (PKK). Today war is waged through intelligence services, the Turkish state focuses on psychological warfare, he added.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/karayilan-turkey-relies-on-psychological-warfare-48037
12. Fratricide in South Kurdistan?
17 Nov 2020|ANF
It would be wrong to call the current developments in Kurdistan and the acute danger we find ourselves in a ‘fratricide’. Because this time it’s not siblings who kill each other.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/fratricide-in-south-kurdistan-48011
13. ‘They destroyed our life’: Iraqi Kurds fear Turkey’s drones in PKK mountain war
17 November 2020|Middle East Eye
Scores of villages have been evacuated as Ankara strikes Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. A reign of fear has spread along the Bradost mountains which run alongside the border stretching from the Tigris river to Iran. Local shepherds and travellers have frequently been targeted and directly shot at by Turkish soldiers holding positions in high ground.
14. Could Turkey’s Kurdish peace process be back on track?
17 November 2020|Arab News
Political changes, shifting voting intentions and trouble along the southern border with Iraq and Syria, experts suggest, might all be playing a part in moves by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to alter his stance on issues surrounding the country’s largest ethnic minority group
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1764171/middle-east
15. Anti-war protesters urge Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling party to avoid a deadly intra-Kurdish conflict
16 November 2020|Morning Star
Anti-war protests continued across Iraqi Kurdistan today as all opposition forces urged the main ruling party to stop its provocations and avoid a deadly intra-Kurdish conflict.
16. Civil war looms closer after Turkish air strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan
15 November 2020|Morning Star
Civil war loomed even closer in Iraqi Kurdistan today after a series of air strikes launched by Turkey over the weekend targeted Kurdistan Workers Party positions in the mountainous border area.
17. Close confidantes in the fight against the PKK
15 Nov 2020 | ANF
Turkey’s preparations for war in southern Kurdistan continue unabated. The aim is to extend the last Turkish military operation, which began in the Heftanin region in June, to other areas along the Turkish-Iraqi border, writes Ferda Çetin.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/close-confidantes-in-the-fight-against-the-pkk-47966
18. How Syria’s Afrin became hell for Kurds
11 November 2020|Open Democracy
Turkish backed militias have turned life in Afrin into one of constant fear of torture, kidnapping, and death.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/how-syrias-afrin-became-hell-for-kurds/
19. Art as resistance: exiled Kurdish artist’s daring Istanbul show
8 November 2020|The Guardian
An exiled artist who spent almost three years in jail in Turkey is shining a light on Kurdish feminism with a daring exhibition of works she created while behind bars. Zehra Doğan out her works as dirty laundry.
20. Najmaldin Karim, ‘one-man lobby’ for Kurdish interests on Capitol Hill, dies at 71
2 November 2020|The Washington Post
Najmaldin Karim, a Kurdish neurosurgeon and political activist who served as a bridge between the United States and his native Iraq, promoting Kurdish interests on Capitol Hill before returning to his war-ravaged hometown as provincial governor of Kirkuk, died Oct. 30 at a hospital in Olney, Md. He was 71.
21. Turkey turns up heat on PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan
2 November 2020|Al-Monitor
Iraqi Kurdish forces have deployed to a mountainous area long used as a camp ground by PKK militants, adding to the pressure the militants face from Turkey’s cross-border military operations in the region.
22. World Kobane Day: Why we should all know what Kobane Day means
1 November 2020|The National
It is a largely Kurdish city, in the, predominantly Kurdish, Autonomous Authority of North East Syria – also known as Rojava – hard up against the Turkish border. This will be the seventh year that November 1 has been marked as World Kobane Day.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/18838499.world-kobane-day-know-kobane-day-means/
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Fax: 020 7263 0596
Patrons: John Austin, Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans MEP, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Rahila Gupta, Nick Hildyard, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert MEP, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, International Coordinator, Green Party of England and Wales; Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Gareth Peirce, Maxine Peake, Lord Rea, Joe Ryan, Stephen Smellie, Steve Sweeney, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward MEP, Hywel Williams MP.