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: http://nrlsrojava.com/en/
Komun Academy: https://komun-academy.com
Peoples’ Democratic Party: https://www.hdp.org.tr/en/
KCK-Kurdistan Democratic Communities Union: https://kck-info.com
Kongra Star: https://eng.kongra-star.org
Kurdistan National Congress (Kongreya Neteweyî ya Kurdistanê): http://www.kongrakurdistan.eu/en/
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NEWS
- Biden says Turkey poses threat to national security and civilians in northeast Syria
- Peace in Kurdistan supports release of Abdullah Öcalan
- Union Syndicale Solidaires condemns French state attack on Kurdish protest camp in Strasbourg
- Call from 14 institutions: Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan!
- French police attack activists demanding freedom for Öcalan in Strasbourg
- Mass rally in Strasbourg: “Take action for Abdullah Öcalan!”
- Call for a health committee for Öcalan
- Iraq-Kurd forum pushes Israel normalisation, Baghdad condemns
- Kurds hope to double representation in German parliament
- PYD spokeswoman: Chemical weapons are banned against everyone except Kurds
- Kurdish novelist appointed head of international writers association
- Second round of Russian airstrikes hit Turkish-backed rebels in Afrin
- Four-week “Freedom for Öcalan” camp in Strasbourg begins on 2 October
- Syrian Kurdish delegation meets with Russian Deputy FM
- Kurdish resistance fighters kill six Turkish soldiers in revenge attack
- UN report adds to claims that Turkish-backed militias are committing war crimes in Syria
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- The American Deconfliction Disadvantage: Ankara’s Drone Campaign in Syria and Iraq
6 October 2021|War on the Rocks
- Massacred by Islamic State, Yazidis now face Turkish airstrikes
- RAWA : Afghan people indebted to Ocalan
- Biden pledge bolsters allied Syrian Kurd rebels
- Zubair Idar: Defeat of AKP-MHP alliance to give breathing space to peoples of ME
- Joe Biden’s pledge of support reassures Syria’s embattled Kurds
- Don’t Pursue War, Pursue War Crimes: Michael Ratner’s Decades-Long Battle to
- Time to Put Turkish Officials on Trial for Their Crimes in Kurdistan
- PKK’s Şerik: The ‘Time for Freedom’ campaign should be carried to Turkey
- Turkey Capitalizes on Afghanistan Distraction to Attack Kurdish Forces in Syria
- KCK: Turkish state must be put on trial for use of chemical weapons
- Criminal silence over Turkey’s bombing of Kurdish refugee camp
- Will Turkey Annex Northern Syria? – Middle East Quarterly
STATEMENTS
- KCK: Sept 25: New Developments in Turkish Attacks on South Kurdistan
MULTIMEDIA
- Paul Scholey speaks in support of ‘Freedom shall Prevail’ Campaign
- (VIDEO) Jan Fermon speaks about delisting the PKK from terrorist organisations list
- (VIDEO) Human rights lawyer Melanie Gingell on removing the PKK from the UK’s
- (VIDEO) Democratic Confederalism and the Global Trade Union Movement – An Interview with Simon Dubbins
- Dr. Gianni Tognoni on the imprisonment of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan
- Baskın Oran (baskinoran.com)
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NEWS
- Biden says Turkey poses threat to national security and civilians in northeast Syria
8 October 2021|ANF English
US President Joe Biden said in a statement released on 7 October states that the Turkish state’s military offensive into northeast Syria undermines the campaign to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), endangers civilians and “continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
- Peace in Kurdistan supports release of Abdullah Öcalan
4 October 2021|ANF English
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign wrote to the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs an open letter in support of the release of Abdullah Öcalan. There are over two dozen signatories to the letter including Alastair Lyon of Birnberg Peirce Solicitors, historian Dr. Nicholas S.M. Matheou, Mick Wheelan, ASLEF General Secretary, Saleh Mamon, CAMPACC, Baroness Jenny Tongue and Chris Stephens SNP MP.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/peace-in-kurdistan-supports-release-of-abdullah-ocalan-55307
- Union Syndicale Solidaires condemns French state attack on Kurdish protest camp in Strasbourg
4 October 2021|ANF English
The French trade union federation Union Syndicale Solidaires has sharply condemned the brutal attack on the Kurdish protest camp by the police in Strasbourg and expressed its solidarity with those affected. “In view of this violent repression, we side with the Kurdish organizations and assure them of our support. We wish the injured a speedy recovery,” said the trade unionists on Sunday in Paris.
- Call from 14 institutions: Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan!
2 October 2021|ANF English
KONGRA-GEL co-chair Remzi Kartal urged international organizations to speak out and call for freedom for Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. 14 separate organizations will present the three key demands to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, including a call for Abdullah Öcalan to be granted access to his lawyers. The event was organized by the Freedom for Öcalan Campaign.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/call-from-14-institutions-freedom-for-abdullah-Ocalan-55281
- French police attack activists demanding freedom for Öcalan in Strasbourg
2 October 2021|ANF English
Police attacked activists demanding freedom for Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in a commune village they set up tents in front of St. Maurice Church in Strasbourg. Kurds and their friends from all over Europe have gathered in Strasbourg, France today and joined a mass rally held in front of the Council of Europe headquarters demanding freedom for Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Öcalan. The rally was organised under the slogan “Take Action for Öcalan” as part of the “Dem Dema Azadiyê, Azadiya Rêber Apo Azadiya me” [Time for Freedom, Leader Öcalan’s Freedom is our Freedom] campaign.
- Mass rally in Strasbourg: “Take action for Abdullah Öcalan!”
2 October 2021|ANF English
Kurds and their supporters protest in front of the CoE building in Strasbourg under the motto “Take Action for Öcalan.” As part of the “Dem Dema Azadiyê, Azadiya Rêber Apo Azadiya me” [Time for Freedom, Leader Öcalan’s Freedom is our Freedom] campaign, a rally was held in front of the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg, France.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/news/mass-rally-in-strasbourg-take-action-for-abdullah-Ocalan-55277
- Call for a health committee for Öcalan
30 September 2021|ANF English
The Health Union in North and East Syria and the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Committee called on international health organizations to establish a health committee to monitor the health status of the Kurdish leader. “We expect an international intervention from humanitarian health organizations concerning the detainees at Imralı”, Dr. Fadil Faris said outside the Heart and Eye Hospital in Qamishlo.
https://anfenglishmobile.com/human-rights/call-for-a-health-committee-for-Ocalan-55227
- Iraq-Kurd forum pushes Israel normalisation, Baghdad condemns
25 September 2021|France 24
More than 300 Iraqis, including tribal leaders, called for a normalisation of ties with Israel at a conference in autonomous Kurdistan organised by a US think-tank, drawing a chorus of condemnation Saturday from Baghdad.
- Kurds hope to double representation in German parliament
25 September 2021|Rudaw
At least eleven Kurdish-German candidates are running in the election – five with the Left Party (Die Linke), three from the Green Party (Die Grunen), and one each from the Free Democratic Party (FDP,) Social Democratic Party (SPD), and Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/25092021
- PYD spokeswoman: Chemical weapons are banned against everyone except Kurds
25 September 2021|Hawar news Agency
Sama Bakdash criticized the duplicity of the international community regarding the issue of targeting the Kurds with internationally prohibited weapons and chemical weapons, stressing at the same time the need to form a national unity to ward off the threat of occupation.
- Kurdish novelist appointed head of international writers association
25 September 2021|K24
Renowned Kurdish novelist Burhan Sönmez was appointed on Friday as the president of the writers association PEN International. “We are delighted to announce that award winning Turkish Kurdish novelist and human rights lawyer Burhan Sönmez is our newly elected President,” the organization said in a tweet.
- Second round of Russian airstrikes hit Turkish-backed rebels in Afrin
25 September 2021|K24
The UK Foreign Office funded Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that a fighter jet targeted the frontlines of Basofan and Berrad villages in northern Aleppo with several missiles. Also, an anonymous source in Afrin told Kurdistan 24 that Russian warplanes fired missiles at targets around the villages of Barrad and Basile in the Şerewa district this morning. The source claimed 3 militants were killed, and 10 injured in the attack. The Syria-based North Press News Agency reported that the Russian airstrikes targeted the Hamza Division.
- Four-week “Freedom for Öcalan” camp in Strasbourg begins on 2 October
24 September 2021|ANF English
A four-week “Freedom for Öcalan” camp will take place in Strasbourg in October. Interested groups are invited to participate, activists from all over Europe are expected.
- Syrian Kurdish delegation meets with Russian Deputy FM
17 September 2021|K24
The president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed, announced on Thursday that she had held a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov in Moscow on the previous day. “The meeting was positive, in which it was emphasized the political solution for the Syrian crisis in accordance with the UN Resolution 2254 and the need for the SDC to participate in the political process, and the meeting members discussed the ongoing violations by Ankara of Syrian sovereignty,” the SDC said in a press statement. Recently, Turkey stepped up drone attacks in northeastern Syria, targeting leaders of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/25579-Syrian-Kurdish-delegation-meets-with-Russian-Deputy-FM
- Kurdish resistance fighters kill six Turkish soldiers in revenge attack
17 September 2021|Morning Star
Kurdish resistance fighters claimed to have killed six Turkish soldiers in a revenge attack on Thursday, as battle continues to rage in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. A Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) unit launched what it described as “a revolutionary offensive” against a Turkish military vehicle in Colemerg, causing the deaths and injuring two other soldiers. In a statement, the PKK said that the operation was “carried out in retaliation for six of our comrades who were martyred with chemical weapons in Gry Sur in a brutal attack […] by the Turkish occupation army.”
- UN report adds to claims that Turkish-backed militias are committing war crimes in Syria
14 September 2021|K24
A new report issued on Tuesday by the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria suggests that Turkish-backed groups in the embattled Middle Eastern nation have “committed torture, cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, which constitute war crimes.” It stated that the Turkish-supported Syrian National Army (SNA) continues to unlawfully arrest Kurdish citizens in areas under their control in northern Syria such as in Tal Abyad, Afrin, and Ras al-Ain (Serekaniye).
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- The American Deconfliction Disadvantage: Ankara’s Drone Campaign in Syria and Iraq
6 October 2021|War on the Rocks
The Turkish government has increased the frequency of its drone strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Syria and Iraq since 2019. Turkey’s strategy is easy to understand. Ankara is using low-cost, persistent airpower to strike PKK leaders and lower-ranking cadres in areas that it could not previously reach. Ankara has no incentive to stop them. At the same time, these strikes will not incapacitate the PKK or end its four-decade-long fight, despite the strikes showing clear signs of degrading the group’s capabilities. As a result, Turkey’s drone strikes will create more tension in the U.S.-Turkish relationship and more tensions between Washington and its counter-Islamic State partners in Syria.
- Massacred by Islamic State, Yazidis now face Turkish airstrikes
6 October 2021| The New Statesman
Seven years after genocide at the hands of Islamic State, approximately 200,000 Yazidis remain trapped in Iraqi Kurdistan’s sprawling refugee camps. The terror group has long been vanquished from the Sinjar Mountains, the Yazidis’ ancestral homeland, but few feel safe returning. Turkish drones and jets have returned to the skies above Sinjar, bombing not IS but the Yazidi militia that defeated it. A New Statesman analysis of Turkey’s airstrikes against the Yazidi militants has found that 60 per cent resulted in reported civilian casualties, including two-thirds of strikes since 2020.
- RAWA : Afghan people indebted to Ocalan
6 October 2021|Hawar News Agency
Abdullah Ocalan says that the most effective factor to bring a breakthrough in the Asia would be a democratic transition in Afghanistan. ANHA carried out an interview with an administrator in the feminist RAWA organizations who for security reasons wanted their names be hidden.
https://www.hawarnews.com/en/haber/rawa-afghan-people-indebted-to-ocalan-h27041.html
- Biden pledge bolsters allied Syrian Kurd rebels
3 October 2021|Asia Times
The hasty and badly organized US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August prompted fears among Washington’s other allies about the durability of US friendship. Kurdish troops in northeastern Syria, facing multi-pronged opposition from Islamic State fighters as well as the Assad regime and the prospect of Turkish incursion, have felt particularly vulnerable. So recent meetings between senior US officials and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which resulted in a pledge by US President Joe Biden that the US would not abandon them, have gone a long way to allaying those fears.
https://asiatimes.com/2021/10/biden-pledge-bolsters-allied-syrian-kurd-rebels/
- Zubair Idar: Defeat of AKP-MHP alliance to give breathing space to peoples of ME
3 October 2021|Hawar News Agency
A member of the leadership body of the Kurdistan Community Union, KCK, Zubair Aydar, indicated that guerrilla is the largest force that embraced the “Time for Freedom” campaign, and said, “The defeat of the AKP-MHP alliance, will give an outlet to all the peoples of the Middle East.”
- Joe Biden’s pledge of support reassures Syria’s embattled Kurds
1 October 2021|The Converstation
There has been an ever-present fear that the US will pull out, leaving the Syrians of the Autunomous Administration of North and East Syria at the mercy of their enemies. This fear was stoked in October 2019 when former president Donald Trump ordered US troops to withdraw from the region, effectively giving the green light to a Turkish invasion and capture of a large area of AANES territory.
https://theconversation.com/joe-bidens-pledge-of-support-reassures-syrias-embattled-kurds-168905
- Don’t Pursue War, Pursue War Crimes: Michael Ratner’s Decades-Long Battle to Close Guantánamo
1 October 2021|Democracy Now!
We look at the life and legacy of the late Michael Ratner, the trailblazing human rights lawyer and former president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Ratner spent decades opposing government abuse and fought to close the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, first in the 1990s when it was used to hold thousands of Haitian asylum seekers and later when the George W. Bush administration opened a military prison there to detain hundreds of people from the so-called war on terror. Ratner died in 2016 at age 72. His posthumous memoir, “Moving the Bar: My Life as a Radical Lawyer,” has just been published.
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/10/1/lawyer_michael_ratner_memoir_life_legacy
- Time to Put Turkish Officials on Trial for Their Crimes in Kurdistan
22 September 2021|Kurdistan National Congress
With this report we want to draw attention to the unlawful methods Turkey is using in its war in Kurdistan. In South Kurdistan and the other parts of Kurdistan, Turkey systematically vio- lates international conventions, such as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention or CWC)1.
- PKK’s Şerik: The ‘Time for Freedom’ campaign should be carried to Turkey
22 September 2021|ANF English
PKK Central Committee member Cemal Şerik stressed the urgent need to carry the ‘Time for Freedom’ campaign to Turkish society, saying that the situation resembles the time before the military coup in 1980.
- Turkey Capitalizes on Afghanistan Distraction to Attack Kurdish Forces in Syria
20 September 2021|Foreign Policy
When I interviewed Serekaniye for a piece about the YPJ published in the Guardian in July, she said she’d been a tomboy, growing up with four brothers. She said she never planned to join a militia, but that living in a country with increasing conflict and a growing occupation by Turkey had made it a necessity. On Sept. 1, Serekaniye was killed by a Turkish drone strike while making tea in Tal Tamr. The strike was part of a recent wave of Turkish attacks on Kurdish forces that have killed at least a dozen civilians in Iraq and Syria, as well as high-level militia members.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/20/turkey-airstrikes-kurds-syria-ypj-ceasefire/
- KCK: Turkish state must be put on trial for use of chemical weapons
20 September 2021|ANF English
KCK calls on the Kurdish people, the peoples of Turkey, Europe, the USA, all democratic forces worldwide and all moral democrats in the UN to protest everywhere against the use of chemical weapons against the guerrillas and to bring Turkey to justice.
- Criminal silence over Turkey’s bombing of Kurdish refugee camp
13 September 2021|Green Left
Residents in the United Nations-supervised Makhmour Refugee Camp in northern Iraq are angry but not surprised at the criminal silence from the UN and United States-led military coalition — which controls the airspace in that region — over a Turkish drone attack on the camp on September 3. The refugee camp was established in the 1990s by Kurds fleeing genocidal military attacks on their villages in Turkey. A nurse and women’s committee member in the self-administered Makhmour camp told Green Left in an exclusive interview on September 8 that when Turkey last bombed the camp, in June, there was a UN investigation but no action taken against Turkey.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/criminal-silence-over-turkeys-bombing-kurdish-refugee-camp
- Will Turkey Annex Northern Syria? – Middle East Quarterly
6 September 2021|Ahval
In an extensive research article penned for the Fall 2021 issue of the Middle East Quarterly, Baker argues that Erdoğan government seeks to impose a “fait accompli”, aiming, as he claims, to redraw borders at some point in the future. “How long will the international community shut its eyes to this creeping neo-Ottoman imperialism?” Baker asks. Here is a shortened version of his article.
https://ahvalnews.com/syria-turkey/will-turkey-annex-northern-syria-middle-east-quarterly
STATEMENTS
- KCK: Sept 25: New Developments in Turkish Attacks on South Kurdistan
25 September 2021|KCK via Peace in Kurdistan
For more than five months, the Turkish army has been carrying out relentless attacks on South Kurdistan (North Iraq). Here are the most important developments of the recent days.
MULTIMEDIA
- Paul Scholey speaks in support of ‘Freedom shall Prevail’ Campaign
2 October 2021| via ANF English
Paul Scholey, partner at Morrish Solicitors and member of the 2019 Imrali peace delegation and supporter of Freedom for Ocalan Campaign, was interviewed by Erem Kansoy. Mr Scholey speaks in support of the new global Kurdish campaign based on a basic principle which Mr Öcalan has always referred to: Freedom Shall Prevail.
- (VIDEO) Jan Fermon speaks about delisting the PKK from terrorist organisations list
30 September 2021|Peace in Kurdistan
Jan Fermon, lead solicitor in the groundbreaking case in which the Belgium Court of Cassation ruled that the PKK is not a terrorist organization, interviewed by Erem Kansoy.
- (VIDEO) Human rights lawyer Melanie Gingell on removing the PKK from the UK’s ‘terrorist’ list
25 September 2021|Peace in Kurdistan
Melanie Gingell, human rights lawyer and member of the steering committee of Peace in Kurdistan and Women’s Alliance, speaks to journalist Erem Kansoy about delisting the PKK from the list of banned ‘terror’ organisations.
- (VIDEO) Democratic Confederalism and the Global Trade Union Movement – An Interview with Simon Dubbins
21 September 2021|Peace in Kurdistan
Connor Hayes speaks with Simon Dubbins, Director of International for Unite the Union, about his background and history with the trade union movement in the UK, his long-standing work on international issues within the trade union movement, the history and work of the Freedom for Ocalan UK trade union campaign, the theory and practice of democratic confederalism and its relation to the socialist tradition, and the status of labour organisation and the global trade union movement at the present juncture.
- Dr. Gianni Tognoni on the imprisonment of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan
20 September 2021|Erem Kansoy
The Secretary General of the Rome-based Permanent Peoples Tribunal spoke to journalist Erem Kansoy.
- Baskın Oran (baskinoran.com)
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella@gn.apc.org
https://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peaceinkurdistan1/
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, John McDonnell MP; 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 Federico Venturini, Associate Researcher, University of Udine, Italy; Dr Tom Wakeford, Dr Derek Wall, Julie Ward, former MEP, Kariane Westrheim, Chair, EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC); Hywel Williams MP.