NEWS

  1. Occupation sells Afrin people’s property in public auctions
  2. Al-Bab people revolted against Turkish mercenaries’ practices
  3. Demonstration against violence against women in Rojava
  4. Rojda Felat: by women’s leadership, historic victory achieved in al-Raqqa
  5. Lunnebach: The PKK ban started as an exception, turned into law
  6. HDP kicks off preparations for Turkish local elections
  7. Iran arrests six Kurds for aiding opposition forces
  8. HDP hopeful of positive Demirtaş ruling regardless of ECHR
  9. SDF Spokesperson: No deal with ISIS for the women of Suwayda
  10. People of Afrin prepare for winter in tents and ruins
  11. At least 15 ISIS members killed in Operation Cizire Storm
  12. Rojava University conference starts
  13. Turkey deposes some 260 elected village heads, arrests follow
  14. Iran executes seven in past week, three of them Kurds
  15. Turkey shells Kurdistan Region, claims it killed 12 PKK members
  16. Chief of Staff: Coordinating with several countries to determine fate of Daesh detainees
  17. Another kind of participation in battle to defeat terrorism!
  18. Raqqa pumping station working at full scale
  19. Clashes in Azaz spread to Afrin
  20. Important projects for women’s economy
  21. Lawyers and human rights defenders to discuss the PKK ban
  22. Dozens of actions to demand Freedom for Öcalan
  23. Daily Mail: Fear reigns over Afrin after seized by Turkey-backed gangs.
  24. Two Mercenaries: Turkey gateway to join ISIS
  25. Arresting 32 Students, 16 Years of Confinement for Students Over 10 Months

 

OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS

  1. ‘Moderate’ Turkish-backed militias seek to ‘bury’ left-wingers in Syria
  2. The Turkey’s Defense Industry and The Kurds
  3. Life of Kobane female teenagers – Kobane Pt. 5
  4. Censorship: Twitter silences Kurdish journalism while claiming commitment to free speech
  5. Tal al-Baya camp, each tent has a story to tell
  6. Erdogan’s Idlib: Humanitarian Crisis or Political Sticking Point?

 

EVENTS, CAMPAIGNS, ACTION

  1. Final Resolution of the 1st International Women’s Conference “Revolution in the Making” Frankfurt 6-7 October 2018
  2. In Memory of Mehmet Aksoy

 

STATEMENTS

  1. The Assault on Local Democracy Goes On: 259 Kurdish Mukhtars Suspended From Duty!
  2. On the detentions against the HDP members ahead of local elections
  3. OPEN LETTER TO HASSAN ROHANI: “YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INCREASING KILLINGS OF KOLBERS”

——————————————————————–

 

NEWS

  1. Occupation sells Afrin people’s property in public auctions
    22 October 2018/ANHA Hawar news Agency
    The Turkish occupation and its mercenaries sell the property of the people of Afrin at public auctions organized in the areas they occupied. On 18 March, the cameras of several media sites showed how the occupation forces and their mercenaries broke the doors of the shops of the city of Afrin and stole the property of the residents.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/occupation-sells-afrin-peoples-property-in-public-auctions-h4431.html

 

  1. Al-Bab people revolted against Turkish mercenaries’ practices
    21 October 2018/ANHA Hawar news Agency
    Al-Bab area’s people revolted against the Turkish occupation army and its mercenaries protesting the inhumane violations practiced against the civilians and the seizure of their lands.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/al-bab-people-revolted-against-turkish-mercenaries-practices-h4424.html

 

  1. Demonstration against violence against women in Rojava
    21 October 2018/ANF News
    In Rojava, activities have already begun to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25th November. Hundreds of women gathered in Girkê Legê upon the call of women’s movement Kongreya Star to demonstrate against violence and killings of women.
    https://anfenglish.com/news/demonstration-against-violence-against-women-in-rojava-30300

 

  1. Rojda Felat: by women’s leadership, historic victory achieved in al-Raqqa
    20 October 2018/ANHA Hawar news Agency
    The commander of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) Rojda Felat, pointed out that the resistance shown by their forces in al-Raqqa is a historic victory, and as a result of this resistance the city has been liberated and freed many of the women who were kidnapped by IS mercenaries.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/rojda-felat-by-womens-leadership-historic-victory-achieved-in-al-raqqa-h4389.html

 

  1. Lunnebach: The PKK ban started as an exception, turned into law
    20 October 2018/ANF News
    Lawyer to Kurds in Germany Edith Lunnebach spoke in the ongoing conference in Berlin on the PKK ban and said: “The ban and obstacles against Kurds started with exceptions, and in time it turned into law.” The conference entitled “25 Years of the PKK Ban: 25 years of oppression and democracy serving German Foreign Policy” started in the morning in Berlin. Die Linke MPs, lawyers, politicians and human rights defenders are among the attendees.
    https://anfenglish.com/news/lunnebach-the-pkk-ban-started-as-an-exception-turned-into-law-30286

 

  1. HDP kicks off preparations for Turkish local elections
    20 October 2018/Rudaw
    The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said they have begun preparations for Turkey’s March 2019 local elections, intending to win back the mayoral posts that they were ousted from by pro-AKP trustees. During their crackdown on the PKK and the Gulen movement, blamed for staging the fail 2016 coup, the ruling AKP removed the majority of some 100 pro-Kurdish mayors in Turkey’s southeast, replacing them with its own loyalists, calling them trustees.
    http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/20102018

 

  1. Iran arrests six Kurds for aiding opposition forces
    19 October 2018/Kurdistan 24
    Iranian authorities recently arrested six young Kurds on charges of aiding opposition parties as the frequency of clashes rises between the Islamic Regime and armed wings of entities seeking greater rights for the ethnic minority. In recent weeks, an unknown armed group and another affiliated to the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) launched separate attacks on members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iranian Kurdish (Rojhilati) provinces, killing one border guard and three IRGC members.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/416383e3-40d6-4456-b826-5c66985c0af5

 

  1. HDP hopeful of positive Demirtaş ruling regardless of ECHR
    19 October 2018/Ahval
    A senior official of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has said the party’s former co-chair, Selahattin Demirtaş, could be released from prison in Turkey regardless of an expected ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, Turkish daily Cumhuriyet reported.
    https://ahvalnews.com/selahattin-demirtas/hdp-hopeful-positive-demirtas-ruling-regardless-echr

 

  1. SDF Spokesperson: No deal with ISIS for the women of Suwayda
    19 October 2018/ANF News
    SDF Official Spokesperson Kîno Gabriêl spoke to ANHA and refuted claims by some media outlets that the SDF had made a deal with ISIS gangs to have the women of Suwayda released. However, Gabriêl stressed that the SDF is prepared to exchange ISIS members they have with women and children of Suwayda.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/sdf-spokesperson-no-deal-with-isis-for-the-women-of-suwayda-30275

 

  1. People of Afrin prepare for winter in tents and ruins
    19 October 2018/ANF News
    The people of Afrin were forced to move to Shehba due to the invading Turkish state and their allied gangs attacking the city. Families from Afrin settled in tents and houses half-demolished in previous gang attacks, waiting for the day the city will be free again. Thousands of people have settled in tent camps in Shehba.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/people-of-afrin-prepare-for-winter-in-tents-and-ruins-30270

 

  1. At least 15 ISIS members killed in Operation Cizire Storm
    19 October 2018/ANF News
    The offensive “Cizire Storm” against the last ISIS structures in the east of Syria continues. The SDF reports that at least 15 jihadists have been killed in the most recent battles. The ‘balance sheet’ report is as follows: “15 terrorists were killed, Coalition forces carried out eleven air strikes”, “Five ISIS positions were destroyed”, “A GPS device of the terrorists was seized”, “Two of our fighters were martyred, seven others were injured”.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/at-least-15-isis-members-killed-in-operation-cizire-storm-30263

 

  1. Rojava University conference starts
    19 October 2018/ANF News
    The conference for universities and academies in Northern and Eastern Syria has started. TEV-DEM Diplomacy Officer Aldar Xelîl spoke in the conference and said they have resisted invasion while building a new system during the revolution. Xelil said, “We are still trying to build our system amidst all this destruction. Our resistance against terrorist organizations like ISIS and their supporters on one hand and invasion attempts against the region on the other continues. An example of this is Afrin.”
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/rojava-university-conference-starts-30267

 

  1. Turkey deposes some 260 elected village heads, arrests follow
    18 October 2018/Kurdistan 24
    With Turkey going to local elections in less than six months, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government deposed 259 elected village and neighborhood heads known as mukhtars mostly in Kurdish provinces in the latest wave of an ongoing crackdown on the opposition and the civil society. A press release signed by the Interior Ministry Suleyman Soylu accused the dismissed officials of having “links to terrorist groups,” thus being dangerous to continue in office.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/6f32dead-dd0a-4f32-b8fe-d8b672ac93e6

 

  1. Iran executes seven in past week, three of them Kurds
    18 October 2018/Kurdistan 24
    Iranian officials in five different prisons carried out the death sentences of seven prisoners in the past week as the country continues to dominate total execution numbers internationally. Among those executed were three Kurds, a human rights watchdog reported on Wednesday. Mawloud Sha-Husseini, from Kurdistan Province’s city of Divandarreh (Diwandara), was arrested in 2014 on charges of dealing drugs and shortly after was convicted and handed a death sentence. Now 29, he has been awaiting the completion of his sentence for the past four years and on Tuesday it was carried out in Isfahan Central Prison, said Iran Human Rights Monitor.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/6f4eefc2-da15-4ad9-96fa-106c741a3559

 

  1. Turkey shells Kurdistan Region, claims it killed 12 PKK members
    17 October 2018/Kurdistan
    Turkey claims to have “neutralized” 12 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) following attacks on Wednesday by its warplanes that struck targets in mountainous areas within the Kurdistan Region’s borders.
    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/12d915ae-aec5-45f6-be3a-5d67cad1a416

 

  1. Chief of Staff: Coordinating with several countries to determine fate of Daesh detainees
    17 October ANHA Hawar news Agency
    The United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, said Washington was coordinating with several countries to determine the fate of 700 members of Daesh militants detainees by Syrian Democratic Forces. Nuri Mahmoud, spokesman for the People Protection Units YPG, announced earlier this month that the number of prisoners is about 900, from about 44 countries. The SDF have repeatedly expressed their readiness to hand over the mercenary elements which were kept at  hands of SDF to their countries.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/us-chief-of-staff-coordinating-with-several-countries-to-determine-fate-of-daesh-detainees-h4354.html

 

  1. Another kind of participation in battle to defeat terrorism!
    16 October 2018/ANHA Hawar news Agency
    A few kilometers behind the front lines of the fighting fronts in the last bastion of IS mercenaries, there are fighters working on the other front. They are the fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces working in the industrial center. They carry the mechanical tools instead of the weapons and carry out the task of repairing the cars and mechanisms of the fighters.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/another-kind-of-participation-in-battle-to-defeat-terrorism-h4330.html

 

  1. Raqqa pumping station working at full scale
    16 October 2018/ANF English
    The city of Raqqa was liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces one year ago. The pumping station had been almost completely destroyed by DAESH mercenaries. The work of the station was initially limited to diesel fuel to operate pump engines for the delivery of water. The water station in Raqqa city provides the entire Raqqa city and its countryside to 9500 liters per hour. Furthermore, 11 new chlorine pumps were received from Raqqa civil Council and installed.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/raqqa-pumping-station-working-at-full-scale-30211

 

  1. Clashes in Azaz spread to Afrin
    15 October 2015/ANF English
    There are reports of clashes between the Ahrar Sharqiyya gang group and the Damascus Front in Turkish-occupied Afrin. Clashes broke out between the Ahrar Sharqiyya and the Jabhat Shamiyya gang groups on Sunday evening. Local sources say the clashes spread to Afrin after members of Ahrar Sharqiyya were arrested in Azaz by the military police the Turkish state founded. Ahrar Sharqiyya has reportedly arrested 3 members of the Jabhat Shamiyya.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/clashes-in-azaz-spread-to-afrin-30202

 

  1. Important projects for women’s economy
    15 October 2018/ANF News
    The Women’s Committee under the Hesekê Economy Directorate has developed several projects to develop women’s ecoomy. With projects on agriculture, husbandry, kitchens, clothing and cooperatives, women are leading the region’s economy. The committee has opened a dairy farm in Hesekê’s El Silêymaniyê village. 11 women have come together to build the farm which has been active since September 1.
    https://anfenglishmobile.com/rojava-northern-syria/important-projects-for-women-s-economy-30204

 

  1. Lawyers and human rights defenders to discuss the PKK ban
    15 October 2018/ANF News
    A conference is to be held in Germany to discuss the PKK ban, which will be 25 next year, and the damage it has done to Kurds and the German democracy. The conference will be held on October 20 with many lawyer and human rights defender participants.
    https://anfenglish.com/news/lawyers-and-human-rights-defenders-to-discuss-the-pkk-ban-30207

 

  1. Dozens of actions to demand Freedom for Öcalan
    14 October 2018/ANF News
    Protest actions and demonstrations have taken place in at least 9 countries and 20 cities responding to the call of the KCDK-E Co-Presidency Council and the European Kurdish Women’s Movement (TJK-E).
    https://anfenglish.com/news/dozens-of-actions-to-demand-freedom-for-Oecalan-30183

 

  1. Daily Mail: Fear reigns over Afrin after seized by Turkey-backed gangs.
    13 October 2018/ANHA Hawar News Agency
    The Daily Mail reports that the residents of Syria’s Kurdish region of Afrin suffer from a series of violations by Turkish-backed terrorists and are being subjected to kidnappings for ransom, armed robbery and torture. Since Turkey and its mercenaries occupied the city of Afrin, the United Nations and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have documented widespread violations. According to the UN Inquiry Committee most of the 320,000 residents that fled are unable to return to Afrin.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/daily-mail-fear-reigns-over-afrin-after-seized-by-turkey-backed-gangs-h4280.html

 

  1. Two Mercenaries: Turkey gateway to join ISIS
    13 October 2018/ANHA Hawar News Agency
    Two mercenaries have escaped from ISIS and caught by the People’s Protection Units when they were trying to cross into Turkey, the story of their joining to ISIS, they confirmed that the mercenaries of all nationalities were joined ISIS by Turkey.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/two-mercenaries-turkey-gateway-to-join-isis-h4286.html

 

  1. Arresting 32 Students, 16 Years of Confinement for Students Over 10 Months
    Since the beginning of 2018, at least 32 Kurdish students have been arrested by Iran’s security agencies, based on the statistics center of Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.
    https://hengaw.net/en/news/arresting-32-students-16-years-of-confinement-for-students-over-10-months

 

OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS

  1. ‘Moderate’ Turkish-backed militias seek to ‘bury’ left-wingers in Syria
    23 October 2018/The Canary
    The ‘moderate’ Free Syrian Army (FSA) has brought itself into further disrepute following comments from its military assembly head Adnan Abu Faisal. He told pro-Turkish-government news agency the Daily Sabah that the FSA is “ready to eliminate” local left-wing forces from the Syrian city of Manbij if “instructed by Ankara”. The fact that Turkey can ‘instruct’ FSA militias to attack Kurdish-led left-wingers in northern Syria may be a surprise to some. Because the Western press has long touted the FSA as a ‘moderate‘ opposition to the oppressive dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad.
    https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2018/10/23/moderate-turkish-backed-militias-seek-to-bury-left-wingers-in-syria/

 

  1. The Turkey’s Defense Industry and The Kurds
    23 October 2018/Washington Kurdish Institute
    The Islamist AKP regime is built on the “favoritism economy”. One of the most important pillars of the rent-based favoritism economy is undoubtedly the defense industry. The Turkish government one on hand portrays its own brand of Islamism as peaceful but, on the other hand, gives citizens arms as a gifts and constantly upgrades its own weapons of war, for near-term use in various campaigns of aggression inside Turkey and beyond the country’s borders, all while boasting of its “virtue”.
    https://dckurd.org/2018/10/23/the-turkeys-defense-industry-and-the-kurds/

 

  1. Life of Kobane female teenagers – Kobane Pt. 5
    19 October 2018/rfi
    In the northern Syrian city of Kobane, Kurds make up the majority of the population. In 2015, when the city was almost surrounded by the Islamic State armed group, most of the population fled to the Turkish border. Today, three years on, many families have come back to Kobane. But for Kobane’s women, and especially the youth, has life returned to normal? Filip Warwick tries to answer that question in this final report of a five-part series.
    http://en.rfi.fr/20181019-Life-Kobane-female-teenagers-Kobane-Pt-5

 

  1. Censorship: Twitter silences Kurdish journalism while claiming commitment to free speech
    19 October 2018/The Region
    The debate over free speech and content policy on Twitter– like on other social media sites— is often centered where the company is headquartered. Yet this discussion obscures the fact that company policies today are already used to silence important voices— journalists reporting from Kurdistan, who provide key information on political and military developments there at great personal risk.
    https://theregion.org/article/13179-censorship-twitter-silences-kurdish-journalism-while-claiming-commitment-to-free-speech

 

  1. Tal al-Baya camp, each tent has a story to tell
    15 October 2018/ANHA Hawar news Agency
    In each of the tents of refugee there are thousands of stories. For example in Tal al-Baya camp many a story exist that illustrate the suffering of its inhabitants, whether they escaped the government’s violence or IS terrorism. These people suffer the horrors of displacement and the bitterness of living in tents that do not protect them from summer’s scorching heat or winter’s harsh cold.
    http://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/tal-al-baya-camp-each-tent-has-a-story-to-tell-h4312.html

 

  1. Erdogan’s Idlib: Humanitarian Crisis or Political Sticking Point?
    10 October 2018/The Washington Institute
    In his public remarks and positions, the Turkish president tends to divide the world into two sides based on his own understanding and self-interest: the world of good and the world of evil. Those who stand by him in his aspirations, both legitimate and illegitimate, fall into the former category. But any pushback, including against a tendency to dominate and oppress others are categorized as evil, and more specifically as terrorists.
    https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/erdogans-idlib-humanitarian-crisis-or-political-sticking-point

 

EVENTS, CAMPAIGNS, ACTION

  1. Final Resolution of the 1st International Women’s Conference “Revolution in the Making” Frankfurt 6-7 October 2018
    15 October 2018/Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
    Around 500 women from around the world gathered in Frankfurt over the weekend of 6-7 October 2018. They came from all continents, marking  a new stage in building an international network of revolutionary women. The message was clear: We will take what belongs to us whatever levels of brutality the patriarchy forces us to face
    peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2018/10/15/final-resolution-of-the-1st-international-womens-conference-revolution-in-the-making-frankfurt-6-7-october-2018/

 

  1. In Memory of Mehmet Aksoy
    10 October 2018/Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
    Debbie Bookchin spoke at the memorial. I am very honored to stand before you today and say a few words about Mehmet. Mehmet spoke words of inspiration effortlessly, from his heart, channeling a river of passion for justice and righteousness, with a wisdom that it sometimes seems he was born with, though we all know that he worked hard to become the extraordinary person he was.
    https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2018/10/10/in-memory-of-mehmet-aksoy/

 

 STATEMENTS

  1. The Assault on Local Democracy Goes On: 259 Kurdish Mukhtars Suspended From Duty!
    22 October 2018/Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) via The Kurdistan Tribune
    Turkish government’s ongoing assault on local democracy has shifted to another field in the run up to the local elections scheduled for late March 2019. This time the target is “mukhtars” in Kurdish provinces (elected headmen of villages and neighborhoods). After President Erdoğan had pointed at them as the next target by saying, “There are mukhtars who yield to the threats of the PKK, we cannot forgive them,” the Ministry of Interior “launched an investigation” about mukhtars in Kurdish provinces.
    https://kurdistantribune.com/the-assault-on-local-democracy-goes-on-259-kurdish-mukhtars-suspended-from-duty/

 

  1. On the detentions against the HDP members ahead of local elections
    11 October 2018/Peoples Democratic Party (HDP)
    As we get closer to the local elections that are scheduled for late March 2019, the politics of detentions and arrests against HDP members have been reactivated. Over the last week more than 200 people were detained with violent police raids into houses in several provinces. Again, postings in the social media were one of the main excuses.
    https://www.hdp.org.tr/en/english/statements/on-the-detentions-against-the-hdp-members-ahead-of-local-elections/12445

 

  1. OPEN LETTER TO HASSAN ROHANI: “YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INCREASING KILLINGS OF KOLBERS”
    8 October 2018/Rojhelat
    Ahmed Nyaz the lawyer of many Kolbers (border workers) wrote in an open letter to Hassan Rohani, the president and chairman of national security of Iran and reminded him that “You are responsible for the increasing killing of Kolbers”. A significant number of residents in Kurdish populated border regions of Iran, from Maku to Ilam make their living as a Kolber (border worker) due to poverty, widespread unemployment, the absence of productive industrial units and the lack of sustainable development, which is the result of discrimination and inequality governing the region.
    http://rojhelat.info/en/?p=9945

 

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.