1. Decisions and demands from the International Êzidî Women’s Conference
2. Possible election fraud: Ballot boxes in Kurdish towns relocated
3. Dutch Kurds call on Netherlands to ally against Erdogan
4. Manbij Democratic Civilian Administration Council takes office
5. Former peshmergas: Attack on Shengal serves the enemy
6. Êzidîs in Europe organise a sit-in and long march against KDP’s betrayal
7. Saleh Muslim” International Socialist adopted the federation”
8. MPs Slam Jet Sales To Erdogan Regime
9. Damning UN report slams Turkey, revealing the extent of its anti-Kurdish war
10. UN report on the destruction and rights violations in North Kurdistan
11. Turkey-PKK conflict: UN report tells of ‘2,000 dead’ since truce collapse
12. Michael Flynn Was Paid to Represent Turkey’s Interests During Trump Campaign
13. All or nothing
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. New report on the current situation in South east Turkey from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
2. Sinn Fein statement on the UN report
3. The folly of referendum: ‘it will be over soon’
4. Turkey’s Tyrannical Rule
5. Halt Removal of the Zeynel Bey Tomb – Second Open Letter to Bresser Eurasia and Er-Bu İnşaat
6. Syria’s Kurds have ended up at the heart of Middle Eastern geopolitics – here’s why
7. Syria is on the brink of partition – here’s how it got there
8. Former ISIS Sex Slave Nadia Murad Tells Her Story of Survival to Gloria Steinem
CAMPAIGNS, ACTION
1. Peace in Kurdistan Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria Statement for International Women’s Day statement
2. Peace in Kurdistan at the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference 2017
3. Yezidi Women’s Conference
4. Is Erdogan’s Turkey Sliding into Authoritarianism?
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NEWS
1. Decisions and demands from the International Êzidî Women’s Conference
13 march/ANF News
Participants of the International Êzidî Women’s Conference held in Bielefeld, Germany on 11-12 March took a series of decisions and highlighted demands such as an international recognition of the massacre carried out in Shengal as genocide.
http://anfenglish.com/women/decisions-and-demands-from-the-international-ezidi-women-s-conference
2. Possible election fraud: Ballot boxes in Kurdish towns relocated
12 March/ANF News
Participants of the International Êzidî Women’s Conference held in Bielefeld, Germany on 11-12 March took a series of decisions and highlighted demands such as an international recognition of the massacre carried out in Shengal as genocide.
http://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/possible-election-fraud-ballot-boxes-in-kurdish-towns-relocated
3. Dutch Kurds call on Netherlands to ally against Erdogan
13 March/ARA News
The Dutch Kurdish organization Council of Communities in Kurdistan (DEM-NED), that supports the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) on Sunday called on the Dutch government to ally against the Turkish government following violent protests by Dutch Turkish citizens in the city of Rotterdam and tensions between Holland and Turkey.
http://aranews.net/2017/03/dutch-kurds-call-on-netherlands-to-ally-against-erdogan/
4. Manbij Democratic Civilian Administration Council takes office
12 March/ANF News
The city of Manbij, which had been liberated by Manbij Military Council and SDF fighters after a 73 day-long operation in August 2016, took an important step on institutionalizing its self-administration during the expanded meeting of Manbij People’s Assembly on 22nd of February.
http://anfenglish.com/news/manbij-democratic-civilian-administration-council-takes-office
5. Former peshmergas: Attack on Shengal serves the enemy
13 March/ANF News
Former peshmergas stated that guerrillas and peshmergas should stand together in joint fronts like they did in Kirkuk, Xaneqin and Kobanê when ISIS attacked, stressing that the people do not accept the recent attacks on Shengal by any means.
http://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/former-peshmergas-attack-on-shengal-serves-the-enemy
6. Êzidîs in Europe organise a sit-in and long march against KDP’s betrayal
12 March/ANF News
Shengal Assembly in Europe, Êzidî Assembly in Europe, and Êzidî Federation in Europe issued a joint written statement and gave the message “we will stand against betrayal and stand with our people in Shengal.”
http://anfenglish.com/news/ezidis-in-europe-organise-a-sit-in-and-long-march-against-kdp-s-betrayal
7. Saleh Muslim” International Socialist adopted the federation”
9 March/HAWAR News Agency
The Co-Chair of Democratic Union Party Saleh Muslim(DUP) assured that the International Socialist congress held recently in Colombia has adopted the democratic federation project by the Syrian Democratic Board to find a solution for the Syrian crisis.
http://en.hawarnews.com/saleh-muslim-international-socialist-adopted-the-federation/
8. MPs Slam Jet Sales To Erdogan Regime
10 March/Morning Star
HUMAN rights “cannot play second fiddle” to the lucrative weapons trade between Britain and Turkey, MPs heard in a Commons debate yesterday. Labour MP Joan Ryan secured the first debate in Parliament on Turkey in four-anda-half years, as the country stands accused of sliding toward an authoritarian dictatorship under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-c98a-MPs-slam-jet-sales-to-Erdogan-regime#.WMPkTOl-4yE
9. Damning UN report slams Turkey, revealing the extent of its anti-Kurdish war
10 March/The Canary
These featured images above are not from World War 2. They show Kurdish-populated cities in Turkey, destroyed by NATO’s second biggest army. A military that Britain continues to arm. And now, a report from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned the Turkish state for its devastating assault on hundreds of thousands of Kurds.
http://www.thecanary.co/2017/03/10/damning-un-report-reveals-extent-turkeys-anti-kurdish-war/
10. UN report on the destruction and rights violations in North Kurdistan
10 March/ANF News
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday published a report detailing allegations of massive destruction, killings and numerous other serious human rights violations committed between July 2015 and December 2016 in southeast Turkey, during Government security operations that have affected more than 30 towns and neighbourhoods and displaced between 335,000 and half a million people, mostly of Kurdish origin.
http://www.anfenglish.com/human-rights/un-report-on-the-destruction-and-rights-violations-in-north-kurdistan
11. Turkey-PKK conflict: UN report tells of ‘2,000 dead’ since truce collapse
10 March/BBC News
When a man in the Turkish town of Cizre was told his sister had been killed, his family was invited to pick up her remains from the public prosecutor’s office. But all they received were three small pieces of charred flesh – and no information on how she died.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39228548
12. Michael Flynn Was Paid to Represent Turkey’s Interests During Trump Campaign
10 March/The New York Times
The candidate he was advising last fall was running on a platform of America First. The client he was working for last fall was paying him more than $500,000 to put Turkey first.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/us/politics/michael-flynn-turkey.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share
13. All or nothing
9 March/Weekly Worker
The winds of change sweeping the turbulent waters of Turkish politics have been pounding president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rocking and rolling caïque and driving it towards a shipwreck on the Kurdish mountains.
http://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1145/all-or-nothing/
OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS
1. New report on the current situation in South east Turkey from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
February/2017
The present report provides an overview of key human rights concerns in South-East Turkey1 between July 2015 and 31 December 2016, particularly in relation to security operations conducted by the Government of Turkey.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/TR/OHCHR_South-East_TurkeyReport_10March2017.pdf
2. Sinn Fein statement on the UN report
10 March/Sinn Fein News
Sinn Féin’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Seán Crowe TD, has commended the UN Human Rights Office for today releasing a hard hitting report into the serious human rights and international law violations by the Turkish security forces, in the majority Kurdish south-east of the country. Over half a million people have been displaced, 100,000 have dismissed from their jobs, and thousands have been jailed and tortured.
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/TR/OHCHR_South-East_TurkeyReport_10March2017.pdf
3. The folly of referendum: ‘it will be over soon’
11 March/Kom News
On 16 April, Turkey will vote on a referendum due to define Turkey’s future parliamentary system. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President and co-founder of the ruling AK Party, seeks to change to a parliamentary system which will grant him with sweeping powers.
https://komnews.com/folly-referendum-will-soon/
4. Turkey’s Tyrannical Rule
13 March/SJ Lendman Blog
Recep Tayyip Erdogan rules with an iron fist, heading a virtual fascist dictatorship masquerading as democratic.
http://sjlendman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/turkeys-tyrannical-rule.html
5. Halt Removal of the Zeynel Bey Tomb – Second Open Letter to Bresser Eurasia and Er-Bu İnşaat
9 March/Hasankeyf Matters
We, the undersigned, representatives of organisations that collectively have been striving for nearly two decades to save the ancient city of Hasankeyf and the natural ecosystem of the Upper Tigris Basin, are writing to reiterate our previous requests, one of which was addressed to Er-Bu İnşaat and dated 31 October 2016, and another to Bresser Eurasia, dated 5 December 2016.
http://www.hasankeyfmatters.com/2017/03/halt-removal-of-zeynel-bey-tomb-2nd.html
6. Syria’s Kurds have ended up at the heart of Middle Eastern geopolitics – here’s why
9 March/The Conversation
The Trump administration’s plans for the war against the so-called Islamic State (IS) are at last becoming clear. And it seems his still-young government has chosen which ally to put first: the Syrian Kurds.
https://theconversation.com/syrias-kurds-have-ended-up-at-the-heart-of-middle-eastern-geopolitics-heres-why-74193
7. Syria is on the brink of partition – here’s how it got there
11 January/The Conversation
After nearly six years of uprising, conflict and chaos, the partition of Syria is imminent. President Bashar al-Assad will of course rail against it; his crucial ally Iran will probably resist too, and the marginalised US won’t even acknowledge the prospect. But the lines are nonetheless being drawn.
http://theconversation.com/syria-is-on-the-brink-of-partition-heres-how-it-got-there-70825
8. Former ISIS Sex Slave Nadia Murad Tells Her Story of Survival to Gloria Steinem
8 March/Broadly
In 2014, Nadia Murad’s Yazidi village in northern Iraq was attacked by ISIS. The jihadist group proceeded to carry out a genocide of her people, who have long been persecuted for their non-Islamic faith. Members of Murad’s family were killed and she, along with thousands of other women and girls, were abducted and enslaved, enduring extreme physical and sexual violence.
https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/former-isis-sex-slave-nadia-murad-tells-her-story-of-survival-to-gloria-steinem?utm_source=broadlytwitterus
CAMPAIGNS, ACTION
1. Peace in Kurdistan Women’s Alliance for Kurdistan, Iraq and Syria Statement for International Women’s Day statement
8 March/Peace I Kurdistan Campaign
For 7 years the women of the YPJ (Women’s Protection Units) have battled to liberate themselves not only from the systematic sexual violence of ISIS, but also from the patriarchal values expressed in minds, in communities and across all regions of the world. Their slogan is “We will defeat the attacks of the Islamic State by securing the liberation of the women of the Middle East”.
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2017/03/08/peace-in-kurdistan-womens-alliance-for-kurdistan-iraq-and-syria-statement-for-international-womens-day/
2. Peace in Kurdistan at the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference 2017
13 march/Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Leader, Leanne Wood, gave the keynote speech, recalling the Newport Uprising in 1839 when 10,000 Chartists marched on the town demanding democratic reform. She said the Charter was about regaining control of lives, of communities and a new democratic landscape.
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2017/03/13/plaid-cymru-spring-conference-2017/#more-7547
3. Yezidi Women’s Conference
13 March/Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
The first International Conference for Ezidi women took place in Germany last weekend providing an opportunity for a diverse group of women to come together to discuss, in their mother tongue, the Ezidi genocide and its aftermath. The high-level conference gave a platform to an authoritative group of women, representing both those who had survived the genocide, and those whose expertise ranged from the ethnic, political, historical, and psychological aspects of what had occurred.
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2017/03/13/ezidi-womens-conference-march-2017-germany/
4. Is Erdogan’s Turkey Sliding into Authoritarianism?
Report back from an International Peace Delegation on Turkey and the Kurds
13 March/ANF News
An international peace delegation organized by the EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) and consisting of 11 members from Europe and North America, including Members of European Parliament and of the Council of Europe, academics, and journalists, visited Diyarbakir and Istanbul in mid February. The delegation met with representatives from the Kurdish Freedom Movement, political parties, trade unions, academics, journalists, and other civil society organizations.
http://anfenglish.com/news/presentation-at-concordia-uni-is-turkey-sliding-into-authoritarianism
Peace in Kurdistan
Campaign for a political solution of the Kurdish Question
Email: estella24@tiscali.co.uk
http://www.peaceinkurdistancampaign.com
Contacts Estella Schmid 020 7586 5892 & Melanie Gingell – Tel: 020 7272 7890
Patrons: Lord Rea, Lord Dholakia, Baroness Sarah Ludford, Jill Evans MEP, Jean Lambert 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