Destruction and Repression in North Kurdistan, Peace process

The important reports reveal destruction, damage and detentions in southeast

Today we received three important new reports about the physical destruction and humanitarian situation in North Kurdistan, the Southeast of the Republic of Turkey.

First, a new and important report of the Union of Southeastern Anatolia Region (GABB) on the damage in the cities which were faced with a curfew by the Turkish Government in the last half year. This report has been prepared by a large number of people in
different provinces.
Download the GABB Regional Damage Assessment Report

There is secondly an overview about the arrested, detained, dismissed and warrented co-mayors of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the main member party of the HDP.
Download the GABB list of mayors dismissed, imprisoned and prosecuted since July 2015

Finally you can find a short information about the situation of the displaced people of the old city of Amed (Diyarbakir).
Download the DPP Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality

Conflict resolution, Kurdish Women

Urgent call to feminists and women’s organisations for solidarity

The call below was issued by the Free Women’s Assembly. They also put together a factsheet about the blockades, which you will find below:

To Women’s Organizations;

Urgent Call for Action

Women’s Freedom Assembly (KÖM) is calling on your solidarity against the war and massacres that we have been living through for the past eight months. The AKP government and President Tayyip Erdoğan are repressing, through violence, all opposition forces who have been resisting the authoritarian regime that they have been trying to establish in Turkey and destroying all channels of political struggle. They have brought the Parliament to disfunction and suspended the rule of law by taking the judiciary system under their control. Continue reading “Urgent call to feminists and women’s organisations for solidarity” →

Conflict resolution, Peace process, Uncategorized

Free Women’s Congress releases report on the war

The Free Women’s Congress (KJA) has released the report below about the impact of the current war against Kurds on the peace process. Also available here are two documents, one giving the names and details of some of the children who have been killed since July last year, and another that gives evidence of the deliberate targeting of Kurdish graveyards by security forces.

REPORT ON THE CONFLICT PROCESS, POLITICAL SITUATION,  AND WOMEN IN KURDISTAN

FREE WOMEN’S CONGRESS / KJA

10 January 2016

Peace Negotiations Launched

The dialog and negotiations process for the resolution of the Kurdish Issue, launched at İmralı Island on January 2013, entered a new phase on February 28, 2015 following its announcement in the Dolmabahçe Palace before the press by a mixed delegation of HDP and AKP deputies. The Dolmabahçe Agreement, which pronounced a 10-article roadmap for the negotiations process, has enhanced the hope and commitment for peace among the peoples of Turkey, and Kurds in particular. Continue reading “Free Women’s Congress releases report on the war” →

Conflict resolution

European Lawyers Delegation visits Diyarbakir

Press release

A delegation of European lawyers will visit Diyarbakir from 21st to 24th January 2016. The 13 participants come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Austria. Two European lawyers’ organisations are supporting this initiative, the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH) and the European Democratic Lawyers (EDL) and also the “Unione delle Camere Penali Italiane”

  Continue reading “European Lawyers Delegation visits Diyarbakir” →

Conflict resolution

Kurdish Friendship Group in European Parliament calls for end to violence

The appeal below, signed by 5 MEPs of the Kurdish Friendship Group in the European Parliament, was circulated on the weekend:

The crackdown against the Kurdish people must stop

Call of the EP-Kurdish Friendship Group

For a month now, the Turkish army has been running jointly with the special police forces an operation of unprecedented violence against the towns located in the Kurdish region of Turkey.

10,000 men supported by tanks and helicopters are mobilized for this offensive which virtually turned the country’s Southeast into a war zone.
Continue reading “Kurdish Friendship Group in European Parliament calls for end to violence” →

Conflict resolution, Uncategorized

Tommy Sheppard MP attends Scottish solidarity demo

This weekend Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan held a demonstration in central Edinburgh to protest continuing attacks by the Turkish military on Kurdish cities and civilians.

The group delivered a letter to the Turkish Consul, which expresses concern for the women and children killed since last summer and calls for the Turkish government to end the curfews in Kurdish towns. The letter was signed by several other union members, Scottish Green party members and activists.  Continue reading “Tommy Sheppard MP attends Scottish solidarity demo” →

Conflict resolution

Ottawa protests atrocities in Kurdistan

We received this press release from our friends in Ottawa, Canada, who gathered today in Parliament Hill to protest the atrocities taking place in the Kurdish regions of Turkey:

To the Canadian Press and General Public:

Ottawa –

The Kurdish Community will gather in Parliament Hill at 11:00 am on Monday January 18th, 2016 to demonstrate against the Turkish State atrocities in North Kurdistan (Turkey).  Continue reading “Ottawa protests atrocities in Kurdistan” →

Conflict resolution, Peace process, Uncategorized

HDP information on military siege on Kurdish cities

HDP INFORMATION DESK (05.01.2016)

 

Civilian deaths in sieges imposed by the security forces

The first of these sieges, described as “curfews,” was imposed in Varto, starting on 16 August. There are sieges still in course in Cizre, Silopi and Sur districts. “Curfews” have been declared 56 times in 20 districts of 7 cities and so far these “curfews” have totaled 274 days.  In some districts where curfews have been officially lifted, there is still a de facto siege. The most recent situation in 3 districts is as follows: Continue reading “HDP information on military siege on Kurdish cities” →

Conflict resolution, Peace process, Uncategorized

The State Doesn’t Talk—It Only Shoots

Since last summer the Turkish state has acted brutally against all opposition in southeastern Turkey.

A Diyarbakir resident reports.

by Ercan Ayboga

WOCHENZEITUNG (WOZ), January 7, 2016

Translated by Janet Biehl.

It’s freezing cold in Amed, as the city of Diyarbakir is known to its residents. Over ten centimeters of snow blankets the ground, something that happens only every three or four years. And at exactly this moment, fighting is escalating in Amed’s old neighborhood of Sur and in the cities of Cizre and Silopi, in Sirnak province. I’m here in the press office of the municipal administration, along with three journalists and a researcher. These days the office serves as a de facto base for journalists and researchers from western Turkey and abroad. We talk about what has been going on in the region for the past few months.

Continue reading “The State Doesn’t Talk—It Only Shoots” →