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
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ RojavaIC
Women Defend Rojava: http://womendefendrojava.net/en/
Rojhelat: http://rojhelat.info/en/
Rojava Centre for Strategic Studies
Komun Academy:
MA NEWS
http://mezopotamyaajansi22.com/en/NEWS
NEWS
1. Mothers of martyrs in Kobane salute 15 August Initiative
2. Internationalists’ call for 15 August: ‘Smash Turkish Fascism’
3. Online panel celebrates Kurdish freedom movement on 15 August
4. 15 August 1984, first PKK bullet fired on the Turkish army
5. Fears for fate of Syrian Kurd kidnapped and accused of apostasy by Turkish-backed Islamists
6. Constitutional Court rejects death fasting lawyers’ request for release
7. PKK confirms death of top commander in Turkish drone strike
8. European rights court accepts pro-Kurdish party’s application regarding deputies’ arrest
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. Should the Syrian Kurds gamble their existence on a tenuous US presence?
2. Women’s Confederalism with Meral Çiçek
3. U.S. lobbyist documents show working for Turkish Business Council means working for Erdoğan government
4. 15th August 2020 – 36 years of armed struggleof PKK in Kurdistan
5. Fear and fury as Turkish air strikes devastate farmland in Iraq’s Kurdish region
6. (VIDEO)Your Freedom and Mine: On the Kurdish Movement
7. Kurds Remember 15 August
8. Jailed Iran activist Nasrin Sotoudeh goes on hunger strike
9. Iraq tells Turkey defense minister to stay away after its officers killed in drone strike
10. Goodbye to Hasankeyf
11. Understanding structural problems in the Middle East’s historical development
12. For the Turkish government, Kurdish Art and Culture is a threat
13. Abdullah Öcalan: My Solution for Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds
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NEWS
1. Mothers of martyrs in Kobane salute 15 August Initiative
15 August 2020|ANF English
Mothers of martyrs in Kobane have made a statement marking the 36th anniversary of the 15 August 1984, the first bullet fired by guerrillas against the Turkish army in Northern Kurdistan. The press statement was made at the Dicle Cemetery of Martrys in the presence of dozens of mothers of martyrs who have fallen defending their lands.
2. Internationalists’ call for 15 August: ‘Smash Turkish Fascism’
15 August 2020|ANF English
The RiseUp4Rojava campaign has launched a renewed offensive on 15 August against the fascist Turkish state and its henchmen with the stated goal of further stopping the war machinery and revenues for the fascist Turkish military and state.
https://anfenglish.com/news/internationalists-call-for-15-august-smash-turkish-fascism-45964
3. Online panel celebrates Kurdish freedom movement on 15 August
15 August 2020|ANF English
A panel discussion celebrating the history and resistance struggle of the Kurdish freedom movement will be hosted by Black Rose Books, Peace in Kurdistan and PM Press.
https://anfenglish.com/news/online-panel-celebrates-kurdish-freedom-movement-on-15-august-45920
4. 15 August 1984, first PKK bullet fired on the Turkish army
15 August 2020|ANF English
15 August 1984 is an important date for the Turkish-Kurdish conflict as it marks the first PKK attack, led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as “Agit”). 15 August is remembered throughout Kurdistan and Europe by thousands of Kurds today.
https://anfenglish.com/news/15-august-1984-first-pkk-bullet-fired-on-the-turkish-army-45971
5. Fears for fate of Syrian Kurd kidnapped and accused of apostasy by Turkish-backed Islamists
15 August 2020|Kurdistan 24
The official US Commission on International Religious Freedom on Friday called on Turkey to intervene to release Radwan Muhammad from Afrin, who was detained by a Turkish-backed Islamist faction in northern Syria and charged with apostasy.
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/0513d84c-aeba-4926-9238-6a71029932f7
6. Constitutional Court rejects death fasting lawyers’ request for release
14 August 2020|Bianet
Rejecting death fasting lawyers’ request for release, the Constitutional Court neither examined the medical reports nor their statements on not being treated at hospital. “There is no serious danger posed to their material or immaterial integrity,” it has concluded.
7. PKK confirms death of top commander in Turkish drone strike
13 August 2020|Rudaw
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party confirmed on Thursday a senior commander was killed in a Turkish drone attack on a meeting between them and Iraqi border guards in the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday.
https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/13082020
8. European rights court accepts pro-Kurdish party’s application regarding deputies’ arrest
13 August 2020|Stockholm Centre for Freedom
The European Court of Human Rights announced that it has accepted an application from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party regarding a constitutional amendment that lifted the parliamentary immunity of deputies, referring the case to the Turkish government for explanation, the Rudaw news website reported.
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. Should the Syrian Kurds gamble their existence on a tenuous US presence?
17 August 2020|Washington Kurdish Institute
President Trump’s personal decision to withdraw from Syria last October worsened the situation in the country on many levels. It instantly empowered various parties in Syria, including the so-called Islamic State, the various other Turkish-backed jihadist groups in Syria, the Syrian regime, Russia, and Iran, many of whom are enemies with one another and all of whom are at odds with the US.
2. Women’s Confederalism with Meral Çiçek
16 August 2020|Women Weaving Future via Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
In this webinar, Meral Çiçek will address why it’s necessary for women’s movements to further think through the concept and idea of internationalism and why the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Movement believes Democratic Confederalism might be a structure and model for building a strong and effective global women’s struggle.
https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/womens-confederalism-with-meral- cicek/
3. U.S. lobbyist documents show working for Turkish Business Council means working for Erdoğan government
15 August 2020|Ahval
New Foreign Agents Registration Act documents show Washington-based lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs has filed a new revision to report that its working relationship with the Turkey-U.S. Business Council “may be supervised or directed by” Turkish government representatives and “may inure to their benefit”.
4. 15th August 2020 – 36 years of armed struggleof PKK in Kurdistan
15 August 2020|Riseup4Rojava
On the 15th August, 36 years ago, the PKK took up arms to resist against the fascist Turkish state.This was the result of a long period of building up a new movement, initiated by some youngKurdish and Turkish revolutionaries from the student and urban milieu of Ankara. They moved tothe rural region of Kurdistan to initiate a political and later also armed process.
5. Fear and fury as Turkish air strikes devastate farmland in Iraq’s Kurdish region
15 August 2020|Middle East Eye
Sulaymaniyah province is the latest battleground for Ankara’s bombing campaign against the PKK, as villagers consider fleeing area
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-airstrikes-pkk-devastate-farmland-iraq-sulaymaniyah
6. (VIDEO)Your Freedom and Mine: On the Kurdish Movement
15 August 2020|Blac Rose Books/PM Press via Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
A livestream discussion celebrating the history and resistance struggle of the Kurdish freedom movement. Speakers include former PYD co-chair Salih Muslim, Merel Çiçek, Reimar Heider, Jeff Miley.
https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/your-freedom-and-mine-on-the-kurdish- movement/
7. Kurds Remember 15 August
15 August 2020|Rojhelat
The 15 of August is remembered throughout Turkey, Kurdistan and Europe by thousands of Kurds. In the PKK’s second party Congress, which was held from 20 to 25 Augustus 1982 in Daraa (Syria) it was decided that the PKK would start preparing for an insurgency inside Turkey.
https://rojhelat.info/en/?p= 8562
8. Jailed Iran activist Nasrin Sotoudeh goes on hunger strike
13 August 2020|Middle East Monitor
Human rights activist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has begun a hunger strike to protest “the injustice and illegal conditions that political detainees are subjected to in Iranian prisons”.
9. Iraq tells Turkey defense minister to stay away after its officers killed in drone strike
12 August 2020|Al-Monitor
Iraq cancelled a planned Baghdad visit by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and summoned the Turkish ambassador after a a Turkish drone attack killed two senior Iraqi officials.
10. Goodbye to Hasankeyf
10 August 2020|London Review of Books
The ancient town of Hasankeyf has been wiped off the map. Nestled on the bank of the Tigris, it was one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, its artefacts dating back 12,000 years. You can still find it online and admire photographs of its spectacular ruins, or of the thousands of human-made caves that studded its limestone cliffs, but in real life it’s gone.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2020/august/goodbye-to-hasankeyf
11. Understanding structural problems in the Middle East’s historical development
9 August 2020|Komun Academy
It is a truth that all sciences are allied to each other, and in this alliance history plays the role of a sword—not only for human society but in all universal formations. In this sense, human society is not only human history, but also the history of the universe.
12. For the Turkish government, Kurdish Art and Culture is a threat
8 August 2020|Washington Kurdish Institute
“I know many Kurdish artists. They had to hide their identity as Kurds. And many people wouldn’t even mention their real city. They’d say “I’m from Istanbul”, or they’d lose the possibility to do shows in big cities like Izmir.
https://dckurd.org/2020/08/08/for-the-turkish-government-kurdish-art-and-culture-is-a%20-threat/
13. Abdullah Öcalan: My Solution for Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds
7 August 2020|Abdullah Öcalan
For over two decades, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan has been held in the Turkish prison on İmralı Island. In this op-ed for Jacobin, he calls for a “democratic nation project” able to unite citizens of different ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions.
https://jacobinmag.com/2020/08/ocalan-turkey-syria-kurds-op-ed
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid: 07846 666 804 & Melanie Gingell: 07572 430903
Patrons: John Austin, Baroness Blower of Starch Green, former GS NUT, Prof Bill Bowring, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Prof Mary Davis, Lord Dholakia, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Jill Evans, former MEP, Desmond Fernandes, Lindsey German, Convenor STWC, Melanie Gingell, Christopher Gingell, Prof Dr. Michael Gunter, Secretary-General, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC), Rahila Gupta, journalist, Nick Hildyard, policy advisor, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, James Kelman, Bruce Kent, Jean Lambert, former MEP, Dr Les Levidow, Open University, Elfyn Llwyd, Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet, Mike Mansfield QC, David Morgan, journalist, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, GFTU, Dr. Jessica Ayesha Northey, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Kate Osamor MP, Margaret Owen OBE, Ali Gul Ozbek, Former Councillor and Mayor of Haringey; Gareth Peirce, Dr Felix Padel, Maxine Peake, actor, Dr Thomas Phillips, Liverpool John Moores University, Trevor Rayne, writer, Joe Ryan, Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Stephen Smellie, PIK Trade Union Liaison Officer, Jonathan Steele, journalist, Steve Sweeney, journalist, Gianni Tognoni, General Secretary Permanent People’s Tribunal, Dr Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward, former MEP, Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Hywel Williams MP.