NEWS

  1. Comrade of Bobby Sands: The silence is shameful
  2. Sinn Féin: Irish peace deal must be protected from Brexit crisis
  3. Day 113 of indefinite hunger strike in Strasbourg
  4. Leyla Guven: 152 days on hunger strike against isolation
  5. “Stand against the Turkish state invasion”
  6. Autonomous Administration proposes congress on ISIS prisoners
  7. Hundreds rallied in Wales in solidarity with hunger strikers
  8. Hunger strike resistance continues in many prisons and houses. Newly-elected Kurdish mayors in Turkey under investigation after celebrating victory

  1. Zehra Doğan dedicated award to hunger strikers
  2. Dutch YPG volunteer arrested in the Netherlands
  3. Erdogan ignores US warnings, Turkey will buy S-400
  4. Council of Europe: Recounting Thousands of Votes Inevitably Raises Questions
  5. HDP MP Paylan: Not a Single Objection by HDP is Accepted Throughout Turkey Paylan asks,
  1. ‘If Our Objection in Muş is Not Accepted, We Will Appeal to Constitutional Court, ECtHR’
  2. My Turkish detention ordeal has made me even more determined to keep speaking out
    16. Turkey calls itself a democracy. But it’s too dangerous for grieving mothers to meet on the streets.

 

OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS

  1. Landmark decision declares Kurdish group a ‘party to conflict’ and ‘not a terrorist organisation’
  2. Iraq offers to try foreign IS suspects, for a price
  3. It only took five days for the Turkish government to launch a criminal investigation into two new Kurdish mayors
  4. Pro-Kurdish party accuses ruling AKP ‘stealing’ municipalities in Turkey’s east, southeast
  5. Irregularities continue in the post-electoral process of appeals
  6. WATCH: Kurdish solidarity protest at Scottish Parliament marks Ocalan’s 70th birthday
  7. ‘We have no choice but to liberate Efrin’ – Aldar Xelil on northern Syria’s next moves
  8. Turkey’s local elections will impact the government, the opposition, the economy, and the society
    9.Despite a massive local election defeat, Turkey’s right-wing president is attempting a desperate power grab
    10.How Trump Betrayed the General Who Defeated ISIS.
    11.Report from Rojava: What the West Owes its Best Ally Against ISIS
    12.Turkey’s local elections
    13.Turkey takes a prisoner’s body and buries it in the middle of the night

STATEMENTS

  1. “Happy Birthday, Abdullah Öcalan!”
  2. Margaret Owen Joins Hunger Strike
  3. Statement on the hunger strikes to end Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation

    ACTION/APPEAL

  1. IHD: There are 743 children with their mothers in prisons
  2. TOHAV: Urgent appeal to CPT and UN on hunger strikes
  3. Thousands of hunger strikers ask Turkey to comply with its laws

    BOOKS

  1. Freedom poems for Öcalan

 

——————————————————————–

NEWS

  1. Comrade of Bobby Sands: The silence is shameful
    11 April 2019|ANF English
    Sinn Féin MEP Martina Anderson told ANF News that “Irish Republicans and the Irish people feel the same shared sense of solidarity toward the Kurdish resistance history, as the Kurdish feel with ourselves in Ireland. Our struggles are shared and similar – with the ambition to achieve self-determination and the right to democratically decide our own future. Both of our movements are campaigning for a binding referendum on our constitutional future and our right to self-determination – which will reflect the democratic will of the people”.
    https://anfenglish.com/news/comrade-of-bobby-sands-the-silence-is-shameful-34239

 

  1. Sinn Féin: Irish peace deal must be protected from Brexit crisis
    9 April 2019|ANF English
    Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD met with British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn MP to discuss the ongoing Brexit crisis and the need to defend and protect the Good Friday Agreement. McDonald said: “Nobody in Ireland has consented to Brexit.  The majority of people in the North voted to oppose it. There is no good Brexit. The Withdrawal Agreement and the Backstop… provides the minimum safeguards that are required to protect our economy, rights and avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. The backstop provides a permanent guarantee and is the bottom line.”
    https://anfenglish.com/news/sinn-fein-irish-peace-deal-must-be-protected-from-brexit-crisis-34193

 

  1. Day 113 of indefinite hunger strike in Strasbourg
    8 April 2019|ANF English
    The hunger strike in France has left 113 days behind. 14 Kurdish activists went on an indefinite and non-alternating hunger strike in Strasbourg on 17 December 2018 as part of the resistance initiated by HDP MP Leyla Güven demanding the end of the isolation imposed on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan by the Turkish regime.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/day-113-of-indefinite-hunger-strike-in-strasbourg-34186

 

  1. Leyla Guven: 152 days on hunger strike against isolation
    8 April 2019|ANF English
    Democratic Society Congress (DTK) co-chair and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari MP Leyla Guven has reached day 152 of her hunger strike demanding the end of isolation against Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. HDP member Nasır Yağız has reached day 139 of his hunger strike in Hewlêr, while 14 Kurdish activists in Strasbourg and Imam Şiş in Wales have reached day 113 of their fast. Prisoners who have gone on hunger strike on 16 December have reached day 114. The hunger strike resistance spread to all prisons on 1 March.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/leyla-guven-152-days-on-hunger-strike-against-isolation-34171

 

  1. “Stand against the Turkish state invasion”
    8 April 2019”|ANF English
    Prominent members of society and Arab sheiks in Afrin and Shehba called on clan leaders in Syria to stand against Turkey’s invasion. Prominent members of society and Arab sheiks in Afrin and Shehba gathered today in the Fafine district to assess the SDF’s success in the west of the Euphrates. The Turkish state’s invasion of Afrin, Azaz, Bab and Jarablus was also discussed in the meeting where all clans in Syria were called to stand against the invasion.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/stand-against-the-turkish-state-invasion-34175

 

  1. Autonomous Administration proposes congress on ISIS prisoners
    6 April 2019|ANF English
    The autonomous administration of northern and eastern Syria, in talks with the International Coalition Against ISIS, has proposed a congress to resolve the ISIS prisoners issue. Emel Dada, the co-chair of the Foreign Relations Bureau of North and East Syria’s Autonomous Administration, told ANHA news agency that their administration had proposed an international congress on solving the ISIS-prisoner issue at a meeting with the International Coalition.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/autonomous-administration-proposes-congress-on-isis-prisoners-34132

 

  1. Hundreds rallied in Wales in solidarity with hunger strikers
    7 April 2019|ANF English
    International solidarity with the Kurdish hunger strike protest is growing. Kurdish activist Imam Sis who is on an indefinite hunger strike in Newport city in Wales is on day 112 of his fast demanding the end of the isolation imposed on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan. In capital city Cardiff, hundreds from Wales and Kurdistan staged a march on Sunday to express their solidarity with the hunger strike activists. Demonstrators carried photos of Abdullah Öcalan and PKK flags as they chanted “Raise your voice, break the isolation” and slogans against the Turkish state.
    https://anfenglish.com/news/hundreds-rallied-in-wales-in-solidarity-with-hunger-strikers-34156

 

  1. Hunger strike resistance continues in many prisons and houses.
    Newly-elected Kurdish mayors in Turkey under investigation after celebrating victory
    6 April 2019|Kurdistan 24
    Two newly-elected mayors of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are under investigation for celebrating their party’s election victory in its stronghold cities in recent local elections. “A criminal investigation has been opened against Adnan Selçuk Mızraklı and Hülya Alökmen, the newly-elected co-mayors of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality,” the HDP said in a statement. “The two have been accused of ‘terrorism’ for celebrating the HDP’s election victory in Diyarbakir.”
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/bb4557f1-2ca7-411a-b5c1-e4dce094ecf1

 

  1. Zehra Doğan dedicated award to hunger strikers
    5 April 2019|ANF English
    Index on Censorship has awarded journalist Zehra Doğan the Freedom of Expression Award. Doğan dedicated her award to the hunger strikers. The International Freedom of Expression Awards honors those who fight against censorship in the fields of art, campaign, digital activism and journalism. The award this year was given to journalist-painter Zehra Doğan, who was jailed for more than 2 years in prison because of the news she wrote during the genocidal attacks in Nusaybin district of Mardin. Doğan received the award at a ceremony in London and dedicated it to DTK co-chair and HDP Hakkari MP Leyla Güven and all the hunger strikers in prison.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/human-rights/zehra-dogan-dedicated-award-to-hunger-strikers-34106

 

  1. Dutch YPG volunteer arrested in the Netherlands
    2 April 2019|Kurdistan 24
    Authorities in the Netherlands arrested a Dutch volunteer last week – known by the nom de guerre Andok – who fought with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against the so-called Islamic State in Syria’s Raqqa in 2017. The Dutch Public Prosecution (OM) said in a statement on Tuesday that Andok, 24, had traveled to France in December 2016 and later went to a battle zone.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/a691dc36-b3fd-486c-870f-943b3a0a0cae

 

  1. Erdogan ignores US warnings, Turkey will buy S-400
    6 April 2019|Kurdistan 24
    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reaffirmed his country’s intent to acquire the S-400, Russia’s most advanced air defense missile system. Speaking to reporters following Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan said, “We have concluded the process regarding the S-400s, and our payments for the S-400s continue,” as he explained that the first delivery of the Russian missile system would occur in July.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/03f48981-113c-4eeb-93aa-17042e34c36a

 

  1. Council of Europe: Recounting Thousands of Votes Inevitably Raises Questions
    5 April 2019|Bianet.org
    The Bureau of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE) has issued a statement regarding the aftermath of the local elections in Turkey at its 36th Congress Plenary Session. In the statement made on “the appeals and recount of votes currently being organized in several municipalities,” the Bureau has stated: “We acknowledge the challenging or recounting of votes in the case of tight election results. Such challenges are rare and normally only involve a handful votes in very few places. When challenges are made relating to many thousands of votes in many places questions inevitably arise about the integrity of the entire election process.”
    http://bianet.org/english/politics/207151-council-of-europe-recounting-thousands-of-votes-inevitably-raises-questions

 

  1. HDP MP Paylan: Not a Single Objection by HDP is Accepted Throughout Turkey Paylan asks,
    04 April 2019|Bianet.org
    After the March 31 local elections, the appeals against the results have become the main topic in Turkey’s agenda. While the objections in İstanbul and the capital Ankara, where CHP won according to the unofficial results, are the most talked, disputes are going on in the mostly Kurdish populated eastern and southeastern provinces. “If we were ahead of AKP by 3 votes in if they objected to these results, would the objections be accepted or not?”
    http://bianet.org/english/politics/207140-hdp-mp-paylan-not-a-single-objection-by-hdp-is-accepted-throughout-turkey

 

  1. ‘If Our Objection in Muş is Not Accepted, We Will Appeal to Constitutional Court, ECtHR’
    3 April 2019|Bianet.org
    After the objection of HDP against the local election results has been rejected, HDP Co-Chair Pervin Buldan has denounced the rejection: “If our objections in in Muş are not accepted, we will appeal to the Constitutional Court and ECtHR.”
    http://bianet.org/english/politics/207095-if-our-objection-in-mus-is-not-accepted-we-will-appeal-to-constitutional-court-ecthr

 

  1. My Turkish detention ordeal has made me even more determined to keep speaking out
    29 March 2019|The Morning Star
    Morning Star international editor STEVE SWEENEY explains how he was detained without explanation, branded a terrorist and deported after entering Turkey to report on local elections
    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/sweeney-banned-turkey

 

16.Turkey calls itself a democracy. But it’s too dangerous for grieving mothers to meet on the streets.
13 March 2019|The Canary
The Saturday Mothers are a group of women who meet every week to remember and demand answers about their children, who were disappeared by the Turkish state. They hold pictures of their missing children and have traditionally gathered in the street to hold vigils. But women in Istanbul and Amed (Diyarkbakır) are no longer allowed to do this. Their gatherings have been banned by the Turkish authorities. In August 2018, police arrested 47 people, fired tear gas and used water cannons against the mothers in Istanbul. Some of those attacked were in their 80s.
https://www.thecanary.co/exclusive/2019/03/13/turkey-calls-itself-a-democracy-but-its-too-dangerous-for-grieving-mothers-to-meet-on-the-streets/

 

OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS

  1. Landmark decision declares Kurdish group a ‘party to conflict’ and ‘not a terrorist organisation’
    10 April 2019|The Canary
    In a landmark decision, the Belgian Court of Last Resort recently decided that the Kurdish PKK (in Turkey) is a “party to an armed conflict” and not a “terrorist organisation”. The decision is especially significant because it means that terrorism laws can no longer be used against Kurdish people in Belgium simply for supporting the PKK. And it’s yet another legal move which calls into question the hostile stance towards the PKK of governments like the UK’s.
    https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/04/10/landmark-decision-declares-kurdish-group-a-party-to-conflict-and-not-a-terrorist-organisation/

 

  1. Iraq offers to try foreign IS suspects, for a price
    10 April 2019|AP via France 24
    Iraq has offered to put on trial hundreds of accused foreign jihadists in Baghdad in exchange for millions of dollars, potentially solving a legal conundrum for Western governments but sparking rights concerns. Western countries have been rocked by fierce public debate over whether to repatriate citizens who joined the Islamic State group, which held swathes of Iraq and Syria for years before losing its last speck of land last month.
    https://www.france24.com/en/20190410-iraq-offers-try-foreign-suspects-price

 

  1. It only took five days for the Turkish government to launch a criminal investigation into two new Kurdish mayors
    9 April 2019|The Canary
    On 31 March, Turkey went to the polls for its local elections. Current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered a major defeat in his AKP-ruling strongholds of Istanbul and Ankara. Erdoğan, however, is still not admitting defeat in Istanbul and is saying the difference between the two parties is too small to declare a winner. A re-run of the election in Istanbul has not been ruled out.
    https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/04/09/it-only-took-five-days-for-the-turkish-government-to-launch-a-criminal-investigation-into-two-new-kurdish-mayors/

 

  1. Pro-Kurdish party accuses ruling AKP ‘stealing’ municipalities in Turkey’s east, southeast
    6 April 2019|Ahval
    Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has resorted to stealing pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) municipalities in the eastern and southeastern provinces via demographic engineering, HDP co-chairs Pervin Buldan and Sezai Temelli said on Saturday.The statement from the HDP officials arrives almost one week after Turkey’s March 31 local elections, which saw the AKP declaring victory in the Kurdish-majority southeastern provinces of Şırnak and Muş.
    https://ahvalnews.com/local-elections/pro-kurdish-party-accuses-ruling-akp-stealing-municipalities-turkeys-east-southeast

 

  1. Irregularities continue in the post-electoral process of appeals
    5 April 2019|Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)
    MP and Vice Co-Chair of the HDP responsible for foreign affairs issued a statement describing irregularities following the most recent elections. He noted that “The local elections in Turkey were held on March 31, 2019. As the preliminary findings of the formal missions of election observation pointed out, the playground for the elections was extremely uneven during the campaign. And many frauds and irregularities in favor of the ruling AKP-MHP coalition were documented on the day of election. Such frauds and irregularities continue after the elections”.
    https://www.hdp.org.tr/en/english/statements/irregularities-continue-in-the-post-electoral-process-of-appeals/13043

 

  1. WATCH: Kurdish solidarity protest at Scottish Parliament marks Ocalan’s 70th birthday
    5 April 2019|Commonspace
    On Thursday [5 April], Scottish solidarity with Kurdistan held a solidarity protest at the Scottish Parliament with Kurds facing human rights abuses from the Turkish Government, including Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who turned 70 yesterday. Edinburgh Kurds and friends marked Ocalan’s birthday, and our support for the Kurdish hunger strikers, with a demo in the icy April showers outside the Scottish Parliament, where we were joined by Green MSP Ross Greer. https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/14076/watch-kurdish-solidarity-protest-scottish-parliament-marks-ocalans-70th-birthday

 

  1. ‘We have no choice but to liberate Efrin’ – Aldar Xelil on northern Syria’s next moves
    4 April 2019| Defense Post
    Syrian Kurdish leader says his forces are not counting on outside powers to protect them. After returning from the front line of the final battle against ISIS’s caliphate in Baghuz in eastern Syria, Jared Szuba met with senior TEV-DEM foreign affairs official Aldar Xelil in Qamishli, on the border with Turkey. In an exclusive interview for The Defense Post, Xelil described what comes next for the Syrian Democratic Forces and the multi-ethnic political project of North and East Syria, in an area Kurds refer to as Rojava, meaning ‘west’.
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/04/04/interview-aldar-xelil-syria-sdf/

 

  1. Turkey’s local elections will impact the government, the opposition, the economy, and the society
    4 April 2019|Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)
    In the meeting of its Central Executive Board held in Ankara on 3 April 2019, the HDP released a statement following their review of the results of local elections, the isolation on Mr. Abdullah Öcalan and hunger strikes. “We have left behind an electoral process where all kinds of injustice and inequality, oppression and attacks were experienced. The AKP-MHP alliance carried out a grave attack campaign against our party by using all the financial and institutional resources of the state at its disposal, first and foremost the security bureaucracy”, the statement said.
    https://www.hdp.org.tr/en/statements/turkeys-local-elections-will-impact-the-government-the-opposition-the-economy-and-the-society/13053

 

  1. Despite a massive local election defeat, Turkey’s right-wing president is attempting a desperate power grab
    4 April 2019|The Canary
    On Sunday 31 March, Turkey went to the polls to vote in local elections. Current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suffered a major defeat in his AKP ruling strongholds of Istanbul and Ankara. The Canary was on the ground to monitor the elections with other observers from the UK and Europe. Following the attempted coup in 2016, Erdoğan seized control of municipalities. He then replaced 100 mayors with AKP kayyums (‘trustees’). We were told 94 of these mayors were from the left-wing HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party). A large number of elected mayors, including all those from the big Kurdish cities, were imprisoned. But across the Kurdish regions, the HDP won back municipalities in the elections.
    https://www.thecanary.co/feature/2019/04/04/despite-a-massive-local-election-defeat-turkeys-right-wing-president-is-attempting-a-desperate-power-grab/

 

  1. How Trump Betrayed the General Who Defeated ISIS.
    4 April 2019|The New Yorker
    The Islamic State has finally fizzled. Its caliphate, daringly declared from the pulpit of the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in Iraq, in 2014, had been the size of Britain, ruled eight million people, lured recruits from eighty countries, and threatened to redraw the map of the Middle East.
    https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/how-trump-betrayed-the-general-who-defeated-isis

11. Report from Rojava: What the West Owes its Best Ally Against ISIS
4 April 2019|The New York Review of Books
As the de facto chief negotiator of the liberated region called the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Ilham Ahmed, the Kurdish co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, has much on her mind. In recent months, she has traveled in the US and Europe, negotiating the future of a domain that is home to an estimated 5 to 6 million people, including a substantial portion of Syria’s 6.2 million internally displaced persons, and, now in addition, thousands of families implicated in Islamic State terrorism who are today living in refugee camps. As Ahmed continues delicate talks with the world’s superpowers over the status of this territory, its future is, to a certain degree, in her hands.
https://tinyurl.com/y4q4sdx6

 

  1. Turkey’s local elections
    31 March 2019|RCG
    The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Erdogan have been desperately trying to stop the Turkish lira falling ahead of local elections on 31 March. The lira fell steeply in 2018, forcing Turkey to raise interest rates to 24% to try and stop the drop; the world’s fourth highest rates. With the lira tumbling, inflation is now over 20% and food prices are rising at 30%. Consumption dropped by almost 9% in the last quarter of 2018. The unemployment rate is 13.5% and that for youth is 24.5%. Against this deteriorating economic and social situation, Erdogan and his government have resorted to bizarre and racist tactics to win the elections.
    http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/middle-east/turkey/5513-turkey-s-local-elections

 

  1. Turkey takes a prisoner’s body and buries it in the middle of the night
    18 March 2019|The Canary
    The Turkish state has once again shown a disgusting disregard towards its Kurdish population.
    Hunger striker Zülküf Gezen died in a Turkish prison after reportedly taking his own life. He was one of thousands of Kurdish people on hunger strike around the world, protesting the solitary confinement of imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Gezen’s funeral was planned for Monday. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) had called for a massive turnout at the ceremony.
    https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/03/18/turkey-takes-a-prisoners-body-and-buries-it-in-the-middle-of-the-night/

 

STATEMENTS

  1. “Happy Birthday, Abdullah Öcalan!”
    3 April 2019|Free Ocalan
    Statement on the occasion of Abdullah Öcalan’s 70th birthday
    While most of us refer to their own birth with a certain date, referring to the day of their physical birth, Abdullah Öcalan has frequently mentioned that he was born three times. The third birth — after his physical birth and the founding of the organization he is best known for, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK — is his paradigm shift towards his concept of “democratic civilization”. This rebirth was also, in many different ways, a rebirth for the Kurdish society. On April 4, 2019, Öcalan \”celebrates\” his 70th birthday.
    http://www.freeocalan.org/news/english/happy-birthday-abdullah-ocalan

 

  1. Margaret Owen Joins Hunger Strike
    3 April | Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
    On Tuesday 2nd April Margaret Owen OBE, lawyer, Patron of Peace in Kurdistan, and Director of Widows Through Peace and Democracy will commence a hunger strike in solidarity with Kurdish hunger strikers across Europe, calling for an end to the unlawful prison conditions of Abdullah Ocalan the jailed Kurdish leader.  Owen has been a passionate advocate for Kurdish rights for many years, and now at the age of 86 has decided to take this very significant step.
    https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2019/04/03/margaret-owen-joins-hunger-strike/

 

  1. Statement on the hunger strikes to end Abdullah Ocalan’s isolation
    31 March 2019|RCG
    On 8 November 2018 Leyla Guven, People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy for Hakkari and Democratic Society Party (DTK) Co-chair, began a hunger strike demanding the end of the isolation of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan has been held in prison on Imrali Island by the Turkish state for over 20 years. The last time he had a visit from lawyers was on 27 July 2011. Since then all his communications with the outside world have been prohibited, except for two very brief ‘proof of life’ meetings with his brother.
    http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/middle-east/turkey/5512-statement-on-the-hunger-strikes-to-end-abdullah-ocalan-s-isolation

 

ACTION/APPEAL

  1. IHD: There are 743 children with their mothers in prisons
    9 April 2019|ANF English
    IHD Amed Chapter Minors Commission pointed out that the Turkish state has violated international treaties and said: “There are at least 743 children with their mothers in prisons.”

https://anfenglishmobile.com/human-rights/ihd-there-are-743-children-with-their-mothers-in-prisons-34205

 

  1. TOHAV: Urgent appeal to CPT and UN on hunger strikes
    27 March 2019|ANF English
    The Istanbul-based TOHAV Foundation is appealing to the CPT and the UN to travel to Turkey for an emergency visit regarding the isolation imposed on Öcalan and hunger strikes by Kurdish prisoners. In its appeal, the Foundation calls on both institutions to exercise their authority over the routine administrative practices of Turkish authorities that are in complete contradiction to the United Nations Convention and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/human-rights/tohav-urgent-appeal-to-cpt-and-un-on-hunger-strikes-33878

 

  1. Thousands of hunger strikers ask Turkey to comply with its laws
    16 March 2019|ANF English
    Ayşe Acar Başaran, HDP Spokesperson for Human Rights and Legal Procedures Commission, Member of the Central Executive Board and MP for Batman released a statement providing information on the latest situation regarding the hunger strike actions demanding an end to the isolation imposed on Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/human-rights/thousands-of-hunger-strikers-ask-turkey-to-comply-with-its-laws-33630

 

BOOKS

  1. Freedom poems for Öcalan
    4 April 2019|Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
    “Writing poetry, in a way, is a quest for freedom” Abdullah Öcalan
    The poems collected in this volume are presented to Abdullah Ocalan on his 70th birthday on 4 April 2019. They are each a gesture of solidarity and token of friendship for Ocalan himself and for the Kurdish people from whom he is inseparable. Each poem is an expression of admiration for the spirit of the Kurds, inspired by their resilience, resistance and belief in the joy of life.
    https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2019/04/04/freedom-poems-for-ocalan/

    Freedom Poems for Öcalan (PDF): https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/freedom-poems-for-occ88calan-spreads-v2-2.pdf

 

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.