NEWS
1. Thousands rescued in Tabqa operation head to SDF-held areas
2. Russia shows more support for Syrian Kurds after Turkish airstrikes
3. US forces patrol Syrian border amid clashes between Turkey and Kurdish militants
4. Tensions rise between Turkey, US along Syrian border
5. Turkey blocks Wikipedia under law designed to protect national security
6. EUTCC calls for the release of MPs and end to Öcalan’s isolation
7. The pressures on the democratic opposition in general, and on the HDP in particular continues
8. YPG: No attack of the Turkish state will go unanswered
9. PKK: Attacks on Rojava and Shengal will be retaliated in kind
10. Kurds to protest Turkish airstrikes in European capital
11. Is Turkey trying to disrupt Raqqa operation?
12. Turkish opposition lawmaker appeals to European court over referendum
13. Turkey’s Syria gamble: How far will Ankara go?
14. Syrian Kurdish delegation visits Japan for first time
15. Turkey deports foreigners working with Syrian refugees
16. Kurds Say Turkey Is Aiding Isis With Raids In Syria And Iraq
17. Iraq Angers Turkey, Qatar for Denouncing Attack, Payment to jihadists
18. US criticizes Turkey for striking Kurds in Iraq, Syria
19. Council of Europe downgrades Turkey as Erdogan bombs Kurds
20. Turkey targets Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. Hundreds of us will die in Raqqa’: the women fighting Isis
2. How Rojava-inspired women’s councils have spread across Europe
3. Turkey’s referendum: resistance is coming
4. Is Turkey’s War on Syrian Kurds Becoming a War on the United States?
5. Can Erdogan juggle Trump and Putin at the same time?
6. Turkey faces scrutiny after Erdogan’s ‘win’
7. Turkey removes 3900 from civil service positions on alleged terrorist links
8. To be or not to be: the future of opposition in post-referendum Turkey
9. After Turkey’s Referendum, the Clampdown Continues—But Activists Pledge Resistance
STATEMENTS, DOCUMENTS, DOSSIERS
1. The Armenian Genocide began 102 years ago today
2. Report on what journalists in Turkey have been through in 2017
3. Updated Information on the Situation in Syria
NEW BOOK
An Uncertain Ally – Turkey under Erdogan’s Dicatorship by David L. Phillips
ACTION, CAMPAIGNS
1. Open letter: Theresa May challenged over responses to Turkish airstrikes
2. Stop the War Coalition Conference Motion passed April 2017
3. Public Talk by Dimitri Roussopoulos
——————————————————————-
NEWS
1. Kurdish-Arab force makes gains against ISIL in Tabqa
30 April/Al Jazeera
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have advanced against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) near the armed group’s stronghold in Raqqa in northern Syria, according to a monitor. The SDF, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, now controls at least 40 percent of the town of Tabqa, and more than half of its heart, the Old City, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/kurdish-arab-force-gains-isil-tabqa-170430081216169.html
2. Thousands rescued in Tabqa operation head to SDF-held areas
30 April/ANF NEWS
ISIS is nearing the end in Raqqa’s Tabqa town which has been liberated largely by YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fourth phase of the Operation Wrath of Euphrates to liberate northern Raqqa territory. Paying utmost attention to the safety of civilians in their offensives against ISIS gangs, SDF fighters have rescued 5 thousand civilians from ISIS occupation and transferred them to safe areas under their control.
https://anfenglish.com/news/thousands-rescued-in-tabqa-operation-head-to-sdf-held-areas-19786
3. Russia shows more support for Syrian Kurds after Turkish airstrikes
30 April/ARA News
A Russian government spokesperson praised the Kurdish forces in their fight against ISIS. Meanwhile, the co-Chair of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, and PYD Europe representative Abdulselam Mustafa met with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gennady Gatilov in Geneva on Thursday.
http://aranews.net/2017/04/russia-shows-support-syrian-kurds-turkish-airstrikes/
4. US forces patrol Syrian border amid clashes between Turkey and Kurdish militants
28 April/Military Times
As clashes continue between NATO ally Turkey and Kurdish militant group the People’s Protection Unit, U.S. forces are patrolling the border region in an operation reminiscent of the “reassure and deter mission” launched in Syria in March. In that case, U.S. Army Rangers were sent to the Syrian city of Manbij to deter Turkish aggression against the United States’ Kurdish allies in the fight against ISIS.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/us-forces-patrol-syrian-border-amid-clashes-between-turkey-and-kurdish-militants
5. Tensions rise between Turkey, US along Syrian border
29 April/News 95.7
Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the U.S. moved armoured vehicles to the region and Turkey’s leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there. The relocation of Turkish troops to an area near the border with Syria comes a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the tense border in Syria. Those patrols followed a Turkish airstrike against bases of Syrian Kurdish militia, Washington’s main ally in combating Islamic State militants in Syria.
6. Turkey blocks Wikipedia under law designed to protect national security
29 April/ The Guardian
Turkey has blocked Wikipedia, the country’s telecommunications watchdog has said, citing a law that allows it to ban access to websites deemed obscene or a threat to national security. Later on Saturday, Turkish authorities said they had sacked more than 3,900 civil servants, and military and police personnel as the purge of alleged anti-government officials continued, and also banned TV dating shows.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/29/turkey-blocks-wikipedia-under-law-designed-to-protect-national-security
7. EUTCC calls for the release of MPs and end to Öcalan’s isolation
28 April/ ANF News
EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) issued a press release calling for actions to end the isolation of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan and imprisonment of HDP deputies, and urged European institutions to pressure the Turkish authorities to comply with European norms and human rights conventions and standards.
https://anfenglish.com/news/eutcc-calls-for-the-release-of-mps-and-end-to-Oecalan-s-isolation-19757
8. The pressures on the democratic opposition in general, and on the HDP in particular continues
28 April/HDP
The pressures on the democratic opposition in general, and on the HDP in particular, have not ceased after the referendum on 16 April in Turkey. Two days after the referendum, on 18 April 2017, the countrywide state of emergency rule was extended for another three months for a third time. The next day, on 19 April 2017, Ms Burcu Celik, HDP deputy for Muş, was arrested with the charges of “inciting people to hatred and enmity” and “making terrorist propaganda” due to a speech she had delivered in 2015. She is currently kept in Sincan Prison in Ankara under conditions of solitary confinement.
http://www.hdp.org.tr/en/english/news/news-from-hdp/the-pressures-on-the-democratic-opposition-in-general-and-on-the-hdp-in-particular-continues/10326
9. YPG: No attack of the Turkish state will go unanswered
28 April/ANF News
YPG stated that they will not leave the Turkish state’s attacks unanswered and respond to them within the framework of international laws and self defense following the recent aerial attack and following aggression of the Turkish army.
https://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/ypg-no-attack-of-the-turkish-state-will-go-unanswered-19763
10. PKK: Attacks on Rojava and Shengal will be retaliated in kind
27 April/ANF News
PKK stressed that: “April 24’s attacks on Shengal and Rojava that came after the Jarablus-al-Bab invasion grant the PKK the right to be present and struggle everywhere against AKP-MHP fascism.”
https://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/pkk-attacks-on-rojava-and-shengal-will-be-retaliated-in-kind-19746
11. Kurds to protest Turkish airstrikes in European capital
26 April/ ARA News
Kurdish organizations in Brussels said that they will protest the Turkish air strikes –against Kurdish positions– in front of the Turkish embassy in Brussels, and have called on the Belgian Foreign Ministry to condemn the air strikes. “The Turkish air force last night bombed the Syrian Kurds in Rojava, and the Yezidis in Iraqi Kurdistan. The YPG [People’s Protection Units] have announced that 20 of their fighters were killed, and 18 were injured,” the Council of Communities of Kurdistan (NavBel) said in a statement.
http://aranews.net/2017/04/kurds-protest-turkish-airstrikes-european-capital/
12. Is Turkey trying to disrupt Raqqa operation?
27 April/Al-Monitor
Turkey appears to be hoping that its bombing this week of Sinjar in Iraq and Rojava in northern Syria will enable it to intervene in those countries on a larger scale. Since Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria in August 2016, attacks against organizations linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Syria and Iraq have always been on the agenda. Harassment artillery fire on Rojava, an autonomous but unrecognized Kurdish area, has been constant. After the coalition of countries battling the Islamic State (IS) decided to exclude Turkey from a pending operation to retake Raqqa in Syria, Turkey’s massing of troops on the border has signaled its intentions.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/04/turkey-opened-new-fronts-in-syria-and-iraq.html
13. Turkish opposition lawmaker appeals to European court over referendum
28 April/Reuters
A lawmaker from Turkey’s main opposition CHP said on Friday he had submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights demanding the annulment of a referendum that granted President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping executive powers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-politics-referendum-idUSKBN17U1IX?utm_source=Boomtrain&utm_medium=manual&utm_campaign=20170428
14. Turkey’s Syria gamble: How far will Ankara go?
27 April/Middle East Eye
Turkish bombardment of Kurdish strongholds in Iraq and Syria may be prelude to wider operations to reverse growing Kurdish autonomy. A new chapter has opened in Turkey’s military operations in Syria and Iraq. It’s one whose long-term outcome is very difficult to predict, but which poses a formidable challenge to the Kurdish enclaves of northern Syria and perhaps also to the US and Russia. It is likely to create a diversion from work of the US-led coalition just as it is poised to take Raqqa, the Islamic State (IS) group’s de facto capital.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/turkey-presses-syria-1027502111
15. Syrian Kurdish delegation visits Japan for first time
28 April/ARA News
For the first time a delegation from the local Kurdish-led Rojava Self-Administration in northern Syria on Thursday arrived in the Japanese capital of Tokyo for a visit of six days to discuss the war against ISIS and the political situation in Syria. The delegation was invited by the Japanese-Kurdish Friendship Society, and is led by Hediya Yousif, a Kurdish official of the federal administration in northern Syria, Avin Sweid, the head of the Kurdish National Alliance in Syria, Mustafa Masheikh and Rafiq Jafar.
http://aranews.net/2017/04/syrian-kurdish-delegation-visits-japan-for-first-time/
16. Turkey deports foreigners working with Syrian refugees
26 April/The Washington Post
The Turkish government this week deported foreigners working with Syrian refugees at a leading U.S.-based aid organization, part of what appears to be an ongoing crackdown on international humanitarian groups there. The four foreigners — from Britain, Ireland, Indonesia and India — were among 15 employees of the International Medical Corps (IMC) detained since April 20 by Turkish police in Gaziantep, the southern Turkish city where many organizations aiding millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey are based. The other 11 — all Syrians — remain in a detention camp, according to an IMC statement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/turkey-arrests-more-than-1000-suspected-followers-of-us-based-cleric/2017/04/26/dfa33540-2a6c-11e7-86b7-5d31b5fdc114_story.html?utm_term=.0f786b94a2a9
17. Kurds Say Turkey Is Aiding Isis With Raids In Syria And Iraq
26 April/Morning Star Online
Kurdish leaders accused Turkey of collaborating with Isis yesterday after the country’s air force killed dozens of militia in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish military claimed the pre-dawn raids targeted Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants preparing to enter Turkey from Karachok in north-western Syria and on Mount Sinjar in north-eastern Iraq. But the Kurdish Kom News website reported that 18 members of the Syrian Kurdish militia known as the people’s protection units (YPG) were killed in the raid on alMalikiyah — or Derik to the Kurds — near the Iraqi and Turkish borders.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-5da3-Kurds-say-Turkey-is-aiding-Isis-with-raids-in-Syria-and-Iraq#.WQMr0OnlIyE
18. Iraq Angers Turkey, Qatar for Denouncing Attack, Payment to jihadists
26 April/Prensa Latina
Iraq has rejected angry reactions from Turkey and Qatar after Baghdad condemned an attack by the former that killed six Kurds and denounced that the emirate tried to pay terrorists a multimillion ransom for 26 hostages. Official circles acknowledged that statements by Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi and government spokesman Saad Al-Hadithi raised discontent in Ankara and Doha, but ratified the position of principle of defending sovereignty and making no concessions in the fight against terrorism.
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=12193&SEO=iraq-angers-turkey-qatar-for-denouncing-attack-payment-to-jihadists
19. US criticizes Turkey for striking Kurds in Iraq, Syria
25 April/Fox News
The Trump administration sharply criticized Turkey on Tuesday for attacking Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq, accusing the U.S. NATO ally of failing to coordinate the airstrikes with the American-led coalition against Islamic State militants. The State Department and Pentagon both described the United States as “deeply concerned” by the strikes and said the objections were raised directly with the Turkish government. They warned that Turkey’s targeting of Kurdish groups could distract from the common campaign to defeat IS.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/25/us-criticizes-turkey-for-striking-kurds-in-iraq-syria.html
20. Council of Europe downgrades Turkey as Erdogan bombs Kurds
25 April/Who.What.Why.
The Council of Europe watchdog voted to put Turkey on a human rights monitoring list on Tuesday amid widespread claims of fraud in a controversial referendum that gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan authoritarian powers. The amendments to the Turkish constitution that passed by a narrow margin of just under 3 percent “do not comply with our fundamental and common understanding of democracy,” rapporteur Marianne Mikko said at the assembly, triggering an angry response from the Turkish government.
Erdogan later threatened to abandon Turkey’s bid to join the EU.
21. Turkey targets Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria
25 April/Al Jazeera
Turkish military jets have carried out air strikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq and northeast Syria, killing at least 70 people, according to a Turkish military statement. A statement released by Turkey’s air force said that it carried out the air strikes against PKK targets located in the Sinjar Mountains region in northern Iraq and in Karachok Mountains in northeastern Syria on Tuesday.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/turkey-targets-kurdish-fighters-iraq-syria-170425081224935.html
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
- Hundreds of us will die in Raqqa’: the women fighting Isis
30 April/The Guardian
Kimberley Taylor from Blackburn is part of the all-female Kurdish force battling to rout Islamic State. Driving them on is the chance to free women enslaved by the extremists: ‘It starts with fighting Daesh, then the mentality of the male’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/30/hundreds-of-us-will-die-in-raqqa-the-women-fighting-isis
- How Rojava-inspired women’s councils have spread across Europe
28 April/Open Democracy
Could this little-known system provide a way forward for real democracy – from the bottom up – in our failing neoliberal political systems? Every time I speak at public meetings in Britain about the gender equality and direct democracy experiment being carried out in Rojava, Northern Syria, I am invariably asked by an inspired audience what we can learn from there – and how can we implement it here.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/rahila-gupta/rojava-inspired-womens-councils-europe
- Turkey’s referendum: resistance is coming
28 April/Revolutionary Communist Group
That the opposition No vote gained almost half the votes cast in Turkey’s 16 April 2017 constitutional referendum, under conditions of fierce repression and blatant ballot rigging, should serve as a warning to President Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP). The Yes vote to grant Erdogan dictatorial powers was 51.4% and the No vote 48.6%. Erdogan lost in the big cities: Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana and Diyarbakir and in the Aegean and Mediterranean coastal regions and the predominantly Kurdish south east.
http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/middle-east/turkey/4788-tr2804174. Is Turkey’s War on Syrian Kurds Becoming a War on the United States?28 April/The Nation
President Erdogan seems to believe he can bully Trump into abandoning his allies in the fight against ISIS. he Trump administration was unusually subdued this week after the Turkish air force launched a bombing campaign against facilities of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria. The State Department said it “asked” Turkey to stop killing US allies in the fight against ISIL (ISIS, or the Islamic State).
https://www.thenation.com/article/is-turkeys-war-on-syrian-kurds-becoming-a-war-on-the-united-states/5. Can Erdogan juggle Trump and Putin at the same time?
25 April/Al-Monitor
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were quick to congratulate Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his recent referendum victory, which effectively makes him Turkey’s sole ruler. Putin’s call was expected, but Trump’s reaching out to Erdogan in this manner caught many by surprise. Trump’s call also came just as Erdogan was bracing for criticism from European leaders regarding the manner in which he is consolidating his authoritarian rule. In the end, Trump was the only Western leader to call and congratulate Erdogan.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/04/turkey-united-states-erdogan-expectations-high-from-trump.html#ixzz4fOOGI4nl6. Turkey faces scrutiny after Erdogan’s ‘win’
25 April/Al-Monitor
Turkey is back on probation. That’s what happens when a country behaves badly in the eyes of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). After the government’s questionable conduct during the recent voter referendum on constitutional amendments, PACE passed a resolution 113-45 (with 12 abstentions) on April 25 in Strasbourg, France, to reopen monitoring procedures on Turkey that had been closed since 2004. But alleged election fraud is just the most recent of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s actions to catch the council’s attention. Members also cited Erdogan’s iron-fisted crackdown on his opponents, journalists and human rights in general since an attempted coup in July.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/04/turkey-what-council-of-europe-decision-indicates.html#ixzz4fOPIfIiT7. Turkey removes 3900 from civil service positions on alleged terrorist links
30 April/Jurist
Turkish authorities removed more than 3900 people from their positions in the civil service and military pursuant to a new national security law published on Saturday. Those removed included prison guards, clerks, academics, and employees of the religious affairs ministry, all of whom the government alleged had links to terrorist organizations. This is the latest action by the Turkish government since a state of emergency was issued after a failed coup attempt in July of last year.
http://www.jurist.org/paperchase/2017/04/turkey-removes-3900-from-civil-service-positions-on-alleged-terrorist-links.php8. To be or not to be: the future of opposition in post-referendum Turkey
22 April/Open Democracy
In post-referendum Turkey, it is not just Erdoğan and his supporters but the opposition as well who refuse to recognize their adversaries as legitimate – an explosive formula.
The most significant result of the April 16 referendum in Turkey seems to be that noone but the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his supporters accepts it. As predicted, the referendum has yielded controversial results after extremely unfair and suspicious processes of campaigning, voting and counting. The official results declare a narrow win for Erdoğan’s ‘yes’ camp to legally cement his one-man regime: but external observers and opposition state that up to 2.5 million votes could have been manipulated as a result of a blatantly illegal decision by the High Electoral Board (YSK).
https://www.opendemocracy.net/halil-gurhanli/to-be-or-not-to-be-future-of-opposition-in-post-referendum-turkey9. After Turkey’s Referendum, the Clampdown Continues—But Activists Pledge Resistance
28 April/The Nation
“We do not consider these results legitimate and we don’t accept them,” says one opposition leader. As Turkey’s April 16 referendum results rolled in on a flat-screen TV in the downtown Istanbul office of the left-wing, pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), the mood of party activists turned from disbelief to frustration, exasperation, and fear. They had spent months rallying opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s proposal to change Turkey to a presidential system that will concentrate more power in his hands.
https://www.thenation.com/article/after-turkeys-referendum-the-clampdown-continues-but-activists-pledge-resistance/
STATEMENTS, DOCUMENTS, DOSSIERS
- The Armenian Genocide began 102 years ago today
24 April/ANF News
On the night of April 24, 1915, the Turkish government placed under arrest over 200 Armenian community leaders in Constantinople. Hundreds more were apprehended soon after. Adolf Hitler is quoted as saying, eight days before invading Poland in 1939, “Who today, after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” He was speaking of being inspired by the 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as he began his own systematic campaign of destruction. Today, the Armenian genocide remains fresh and relevant in the minds of Armenians around the world.
https://anfenglish.com/news/the-armenian-genocide-began-102-years-ago-today-196772. Report on what journalists in Turkey have been through in 2017
22 April/ANF News
Free Journalists Association (ÖGC) has released its report documenting the attacks on free and opposition press in Turkey on occasion of Kurdish Journalism Day, April 22. “Despite all the pressures and obstructions, arrests, deaths, exile and censorship, the Kurdish press grew further and attained a significant place in the region and the world” said Free Journalists Association.
https://anfenglish.com/freedom-of-the-press/report-on-what-journalists-in-turkey-have-been-through-in-2017-196623. Updated Information on the Situation in Syria
18 April/Peace in Kurdistan
1.Human Rights Council report on Syria, and
2.“Meet the Parties” – Presentation to Members of the UN Security Council by Saleh Muslim Mohammed, from the Rojava Democratic Self-Administration, 15 December 2016
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2017/04/18/updated-information-on-the-situation-in-syria/
NEW BOOK
An Uncertain Ally – Turkey under Erdogan’s Dicatorship by David L. Phillips
Transaction Publishers
Under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan Turkey has descended into a dictatorship, promotes the Islamist agenda, abuses human rights, limits freedom of expression in the press, and wages war against the Kurds. While Turkey has historically been important geopolitically, it has become an outlier in Europe and an uncertain ally of the United States. An Uncertain Ally is a straightforward indictment of Erdogan. Drawing on inside sources in his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the police, the book reveals corruption and money laundering schemes that benefitted Erdogan, his cronies, and family members.
http://www.transactionpub.com/title/An-Uncertain-Ally-978-1-4128-6545-6.html
ACTION, CAMPAIGNS
1. Open Letter: Theresa May challenged over responses to Turkish airstrikes
27 April/Peace in Kurdistan
“Dear Theresa May,
We are writing to you to express our deep concern and indignation about the nature of the current relationship between the UK and Turkey. We will touch on four matters namely the Referendum of 16th April, the Turkish State’s War against the Kurds and the plight of political prisoners in Turkey, a large proportion of whom are Kurdish and finally arms sales to Turkey.”
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2017/04/27/dear-prime-minister-letter-to-theresa-may-from-peace-in-kurdistan/
2. Stop the War Coalition Conference Motion passed April 2017
26 April/Peace in Kurdistan
“This Conference notes that
Since June 2015 when President Erdogan lost his parliamentary majority, the conflict in the Kurdish majority South-East of Turkey has been re-ignited, with the loss of 2000 lives and the displacement of up to 500,000 people, including numerous cases of excessive use of force; killings; enforced disappearances; torture; destruction of housing and cultural heritage; incitement to hatred; prevention of access to emergency medical care, food, water and livelihoods; violence against women. (…)”
https://wordpress.com/post/peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/7793
3. Public Talk by Dimitri Roussopoulos
21 April/Concordia University
Public Talk on the 23rd of March. Is Erdogan’s Turkey Sliding Into Authoritarianism?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeHcPhlnoHI&t=2s
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: Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert MEP, Julie Ward MEP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hywel Williams MP, Kate Osamor MP, Elfyn Llwyd, Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Cymru, Sinn Fein MLA Conor Murphy, John Austin, Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary, Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director, Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, General Federations of Trade Unions, Bruce Kent, Gareth Peirce, Julie Christie, Noam Chomsky, James Kelman, Margaret Owen OBE, Prof Mary Davis, Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Mark Thomas, Nick Hildyard, Stephen Smellie, Derek Wall, Melanie Gingell, Steve Sweeney