Conflict resolution, Peace process

“The Mirage of ISIS: The Threat from Islamic State, the US and the Reshaping of the Middle East”

Peace in Kurdistan Campaign’s David Morgan has written an excellent article for Live Encounters, a monthly online magazine, on ISIS, western military aggression and the Kurdish struggle against both. We reproduce it below; the original source can be found here.

David Morgan explains why the US-led campaign against ISIS ultimately lacks integrity and its aims lack credibility. Kurds are on the front- line against ISIS but not all Kurds are equally favoured by the West. 

Undeniably the Islamic State or ISIS presents a great danger, especially to non-Sunni minorities and women in the Middle East, and the group has demonstrated that it is capable of committing the most heinous and ruthless crimes that sicken all normal feeling people. Nevertheless, the rhetoric raising the alarm of its “imminent threat” to the world issued from the mouths of Western politicians seems much exaggerated and overblown. Interestingly, when addressing the UN General Assembly, US President Obama claimed that Russian aggression in Europe posed an even greater threat to world peace than ISIS. He cannot have it both ways; either ISIS is an existential and unique threat sufficiently menacing to warrant waging war or it isn’t. Continue reading ““The Mirage of ISIS: The Threat from Islamic State, the US and the Reshaping of the Middle East”” →

Conflict resolution

KNK: “A widely planned massacre against the people in Kobane is feared imminent”

The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) has issued a statement denouncing ISIS attacks against Kobane, Rojava, as an attack on Kurdistan by hegemonic powers who are using the group as tools.

06.07.2014

Urgent Call to the UN, USA, the EU and all international organisations

Stop the ISIS crimes against humanity

Since the beginning of March, there have been waves of attacks of ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in the Kobanê Canton.  On July 2nd, ISIS launched a new major attack in Kobane Canton and widespread clashes are continuing. ISIS is attacking and brutally targeting all civilians regardless of age.

It is claimed that heavy weapons and artillery used by ISIS have been transported from Iraq after the invasion of Mosul in June.  It is publicly known that ISIS has transferred their heavy artillery and have shifted from Iraq to Rojava, Syria, after getting military supplies from Mosul.

Furthermore, the gangs have taken two out of three of the border crossings of Iraq and Rojava, Syria, under their control. On the other hand, the ISIS gangs are able to manoeuvre freely through the Turkish border to areas of Rojava. During the past year ISIS has been using Turkey’s borders without any serious obstacles, since the Turkish army and authorities have been turning a blind eye; ISIS has even been able to have their wounded members receive medical treatment in Turkish hospitals.

Along with the Turkish state, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some Western powers have plans and are intent on using ISIS to achieve hegemony in the Middle East region. It needs to be stressed that ISIS has become a tool in the hands of those who are seeking hegemony in the Middle East. The power sharing conflict is now focused in the Kurdish areas in Syria and Iraq, but it will spread to other areas, if ISIS is able to defeat Kobane.

The Kurdish political authorities in Rojava have consistently urged the international community to take measures against those states, which support ISIS. Instead of diplomatic and political sanctions against states using ISIS to achieve their power interests, it was preferred to turn a blind eye. This political stance has only encouraged the gangs to continue to carry out crimes against humanity in Rojava, Syria and Iraq.

Now a widely planned massacre against the people in Kobane is feared imminent.

We therefore appeal again to the international community to stop immediately the attacks against Kurdistan in Kobane particular and in Rojava generally by taking concrete diplomatic, political, economic and legal measures in line with international law.

Kongreya Neteweyî ya Kurdistanê
Kurdistan National Congress
Congrès National du Kurdistan

 

 

 

 

Conflict resolution, Kurdish community, Peace process

Conference to be held in Washington next week: The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East

 

Organized by Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Representative Office in the USA

Date: Monday, 28 October 2013, 09:00 a.m. – 05:00 p.m.
Place: The National Press Club, Holeman Lounge
529 14th St NW Washington, D.C., 20045

The Kurds have emerged as crucial regional actors out of the rapid political transformations that have been sweeping the Middle East over the last decade. This trend has accelerated with the Arab Spring. The “Kurdish problems” that have been compartmentalized across the four nation-states in the Middle East are now more interconnected and more globalized. This has been pressuring Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran as well as global powers to revise their conventional Kurdish policies. The Kurds have been viewed as an element of regional instability throughout the twentieth century. Recent political developments, however, strongly suggest that while the provision of justice for Kurds is essential for the restoration and maintenance of order in the Middle East, the Kurds themselves command valuable political, economic, social and human resources to contribute to the advancement of peace and stability for the states and peoples of the region in the twenty first century.

Continue reading “Conference to be held in Washington next week: The Kurdish Role in the New Middle East” →