NEWS
- International Delegation led by Judge Moosa asks to visit Ocalan in Imrali.
- UN rights chief urges Turkey to probe shooting by security forces
- Turkey’s opposition to PYD reveals inconsistency in foreign policy
- Democracy’s Challenge with Turkey’ debated at Abant Platform
- Under pressure from Turkey, UN excludes PYD from Syria talks
- US anti-IS envoy visits Kurdish, Arab fighters in Syria: sources
- Syrian civil war: Could Turkey be gambling on an invasion?
- Raising the States: ‘Unpredictable’ Erdogan May Start Intervention in Syria
- Kurds bomb strongholds of al-Qaeda in Aleppo, ISIS in Raqqa
- Canadians Fighting the Islamic State Could Face Terror Charges for Helping the Kurds
COMMENT, NEWS AND ANALYSIS - Behind Turkey’s war on the Kurds
- Erdogan’s failing foreign policy is in ruins
- Interview – Nadje Al-Ali
- A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’s Views on the Kurds
- Our People Will Never Accept Slavery
- Russia Is Exploiting Syria’s Kurds And U.S. Frustrations To Complicate The Fight Against ISIS
STATEMENTS
- The Turkish Government’s All Out War against the Kurds
EVENTS
See here: http://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/events/
NEWS
- International Delegation led by Judge Moosa asks to visit Ocalan in Imrali.
February 5th 2016/ANF News
An international delegation led by Nelson Mandela’s lawyer Essa Moosa from the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative has planned a three-day visit to Turkey on February 14th to make efforts for the ending of the isolation on the Kurdish leader and the ongoing war in North Kurdistan territory.The delegation will meet committees from HDP, CHP and AKP before going to the Island of İmralı for a visit to Öcalan on 16 February.
http://anfenglish.com/special/international-delegation-led-by-judge-moosa-asks-to-visit-ocalan-in-imrali2. UN rights chief urges Turkey to probe shooting by security forces - 1st February 2016/Today’s Zaman
TopUnited Nationshuman rights officials called on Turkish authorities on Monday to investigate the shooting of unarmed citizens 10 days ago in the mostly Kurdish southeast of the country and to rein in its security forces. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein was referring to an incident in which 10 people were wounded in the south-eastern town of Cizre on Jan. 20 when their group, which included two deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), came under fire while rescuing people hurt in clashes earlier in the day.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_un-rights-chief-urges-turkey-to-probe-shooting-by-security-forces_411135.html - Turkey’s opposition to PYD reveals inconsistency in foreign policy
January 30th 2016/Today’s Zaman.
Turkey’s opposition against the participation of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the Syrian peace talks appear to result more from the Syrian Kurds’ unwillingness to bow to Turkish demands than the group’s close link with terrorism, revealing an inconsistency in Turkish foreign policy. In sharp contrast Turkish officials have several times met with PYD leader Saleh Muslim in Turkey in the past couple of years.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_turkeys-opposition-to-pyd-reveals-inconsistency-in-foreign-policy_410962.html - Democracy’s Challenge with Turkey’ debated at Abant Platform
February 4th Today’s Zaman
A large group of Turkey’s intellectuals gathered on Saturday in the Bolu province for the 34thAbant Platformmeeting to debate the country’s democracy problems, amid criticism of increasing authoritarianism and conflict in the country. The participants, most of whom are veteran intellectuals from all walks of life, agreed about the unsolved challenges of Turkish democracy, including the Kurdish issue, the debate over an executive presidency and a so-called “Turkish style” Constitution, as well as a heightened level of arbitrary rule.
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_democracys-challenge-with-turkey-debated-at-abant-platform_411032.html - Under pressure from Turkey, UN excludes PYD from Syria talks
23rd January 2016/Al Monitor
Turkey has won the battle over the Syrian Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party by blackmailing the United States into leaving the group out of the Geneva III talks.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/turkey-usa-syria-talks-ankara-won-batlle-against-pyd.html#ixzz3zIgfRVmw - US anti-IS envoy visits Kurdish, Arab fighters in Syria: sources
31st January 2016 / Daily Mail
A delegation including senior US diplomat Brett McGurk met members of a Kurd-Arab alliance fighting the Islamic State jihadist group inside Syria, Kurdish sources said Sunday. The weekend visit to the war-torn country — confirmed by a US official — appeared to be the first by a senior US government figure inside Syrian territory. McGurk, who is US President Barack Obama’s envoy to an international coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq, was accompanied by French and British officials, the sources told http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3425488/US-anti-IS-envoy-visits-Kurdish-Arab-fighters-Syria-sources.html - Syrian civil war: Could Turkey be gambling on an invasion?
Saturday 30 January 2016/Independent
A month before Turkey shot down a Russian bomber which it accused of entering its airspace, Russian military intelligence had warned President Vladimir Putin that this was the Turkish plan. Diplomats familiar with the events say that Putin dismissed the warning, probably because he did not believe that Turkey would risk provoking Russia into deeper military engagement in the Syrian war.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-civil-war-could-turkey-be-gambling-on-an-invasion-a6844171.html - Raising the States: ‘Unpredictable’ Erdogan May Start Intervention in Syria
31st January 2016/sputnik news
No one can predict how far Turkey may go in exercising its influence on the developments in Syria, especially now, at a time when the Syrian crisis is nearing its turning point. Developments in the next few months may determine who the long-term winners and losers are in the region for decades. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are advancing on several fronts under a Russian air umbrella. The five-year campaign by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s to overthrow Assad in Damascus, by backing the armed opposition, looks to be close
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160131/1034002367/erdogan-syria-invasion.html - Kurds bomb strongholds of al-Qaeda in Aleppo, ISIS in Raqqa
Saturday January 31st/ARA News
KOBANE – Amid their continuous military campaign against Islamist groups in northern Syria, Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) attacked strongholds of the Nusra Front, Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda, in Aleppo and the Islamic State (ISIS) in Raqqa province, military sources reported on http://aranews.net/2016/01/17997/ - Canadians Fighting the Islamic State Could Face Terror Charges for Helping the Kurds
January 29th 2016/Vice News
Canada’s defense minister is shrugging off calls for greater scrutiny of Kurdish forces being trained by Canadian special forces in northern Iraq, a day after after classified intelligence reports suggested the government may investigate Canadians fighting alongside the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).”Every single course in the Canadian Armed Forces, regardless what rank level you go up to, always starts with ethics and values and that is the same level and standard we apply when we do our training,” Harjit Singh Sajjan told The Canadian Press on Thursday.
https://news.vice.com/article/canadians-fighting-the-islamic-state-could-face-terror-charges-for-helping-the-kurds
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
- Behind Turkey’s war on the Kurds
Saturday, January 30, 2016/Green Left By Tony Iltis
Turkey is rapidly descending into civil war as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan deepens its offensive against the Kurdish population, left-wing opposition parties, journalists and academics. The Turkish government says it is fighting the armed forces of the left-wing Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), with which the government terminated peace talks last year. But the brunt of the state’s violence has been directed against civilians.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60971 - Erdogan’s failing foreign policy is in ruins
4th February 2016/Foreign Policy
It wasn’t long ago that Turkish foreign policy was the talk of the town. Defined by the catchy phrase of “zero problems with the neighbors,” Turkey aimed to both improve relations with its neighborhood and slowly emerge as the dominant regional power. It was a classic case of enhancing soft power through democratization and economic reforms at home, coupled with shrewd diplomacy aimed at establishing Ankara as a mediator in the region’s conflicts.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/04/erdogans-foreign-policy-is-in-ruins/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&utm_term=Flashpoints
- Interview – Nadje Al-Ali
January 30th/E-INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field
My ‘field’ is quite broad: though I am an anthropologist by training, my research incorporates gender studies, Middle East studies and other aspects of politics. Recently, I think there has been some really exciting comparative work within Middle East studies. For too long we have been stuck with a kind of Middle East exceptionalism. Now, there are a number of colleagues who have started to do more comparative work looking at South Asia and Latin America.
http://www.e-ir.info/2016/01/30/interview-nadje-al-ali/ - A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’s Views on the Kurds
9th January 2016/Rudaw.net
David Romano: This week I participated in the 12th International Conference on the European Union, Turkey and the Kurds. While I naturally got to hear a lot of great speeches from people I admire very much, some of the things people said stayed in my mind more than others. I thus wanted to share with readers some of things that Jose Ramos-Horta, former president of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, had to say regarding the Kurds.
http://rudaw.net/english/opinion/28012016 - Our People Will Never Accept Slavery
Speech By Rebwar Rashed, Co-chairman of the Kurdistan National Congress, at the EUTCC Conference Brussels, 26 January 2016
January 31st/The Kurdish Tribune
In this brief speech I would like to bring to your attention the bitter fact that, whenever the Kurdish people have stood up for themselves, we’ve been labelled as “separatists” and “terrorists”. Turkey has been successful in labelling Kurdish people as terrorists due to all kinds of support it has got and still gets from NATO and the Western democracies.
http://kurdistantribune.com/2016/our-people-will-never-accept-slavery/ - Russia Is Exploiting Syria’s Kurds And U.S. Frustrations To Complicate The Fight Against ISIS
30th January 2016/Huffington Post
WASHINGTON — As Syria peace talks begin in Geneva, America’s key partners on the ground feel neglected, excluded and increasingly receptive to a man who says the U.S has the war-torn country all wrong — Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s government this week used the process of deciding who would attend the negotiations to endear Russia to the Syrian Kurds, whose militia has chalked up high-profile victories against the self-described Islamic State group with U.S. air support.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-is-exploiting-syrias-kurds-and-americas-frustrations-to-complicate-the-fight-against-isis_us_56acf277e4b077d4fe8e5076
STATEMENTS
The Turkish Government’s All Out War against the Kurds
4th February 2016/KNK
Turkish President Erdogan: “Presidency or Chaos” Since the 24th of July, 2015, the Turkish state initiated a comprehensive and dirty war against the Kurds. Up till now, hundreds of civilians have been killed in this war including 58 children and 39 women. The Turkish state is using tanks, heavy artilleries, helicopters, special forces and the…
http://www.kongrakurdistan.net/en/category/press-release/