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By Solin Hacador: I am having difficulty with understanding Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan´s misbehavior towards the Gezi Park protesters. His violent behavior, exercising power arrogantly, looks like a macho man standing in democratic Islam´s big fat tuxedo. Machismo and prolonged rule are, of course, two defining aspects of Erdogan—the strong-arm, charismatic, elected-dictator, whose successive incarnations…
By Pervez Bilgrami: Anti–Erdogan protests that have engulfed Turkey for a fortnight have resurfaced the whole complexion of the Turkish social fabric. Feckless opposition parties that were not able to politically challenge Erdogan and seemed demoralized after the hat-trick of election defeats by the ruling AKP, are trying to benefit from the outcome of the…
By Aland Mahwy: Hama-Jaza Hama-Salah, deputy natural resources minister of the Kurdistan region, is to file a law suit against Ashty Hawramy for insulting him, following his resignation as deputy minister. Ashty Hawramy, the KRG’s natural resources minister, accused his deputy on 8 June of using his position to put pressure on an oil company…
By Juvan Bonni: Massive demonstrations in Syrian cities that began in 2011 have quickly evolved into a full-blown civil war that encompasses the entire country today. Like all civil wars, Syria’s does not simply possess two opposing sides, but instead is multidimensional. In early 2011, the Syrian government headed by President Bashar al-Assad began cracking…
By Sharif Behruz and Zakarya Khezeryan: Canada’s government and opposition MPs voted on an NDP motion to condemn the massacre of thousands of political prisoners by the Islamic Republic of Iran in the summer of 1988, as a crime against humanity. This motion was not only a step towards honouring the memory of the victims, but…
KT News and Comment: Turkish riot police stormed Istanbul’s Taksim Square this morning, removing banners that had been put up by protestors and leaving only a Turkish flag and a portrait of Kemal Attaturk. The Architects and Engineers Chambers Union of Turkey’s Chemical Engineers Chamber (TMMOB) has said that pepper gas bombs and bullets used by police against…
By TJKE (Kurdish women’s movement in Europe): On January 9, our friends Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Şaylemez were murdered in Paris. All three were courageous Kurdish women who fought for a democratic solution to the Kurdish question, as well as for women’s liberation. Sakine Cansiz was a woman who, as one of the…
By Dr Fereydun Rafiq Hilmi: In two sessions of a three-part interview with NRT, Mukaram Talabani made a number of claims and comments which were controversial to say the least. I have listed the discrepancies below and would like the public to be aware of them. Historical Introduction Hiwa was an important party that generated…
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Where is Van? In 2011 Van had the feel of the New York City of eastern Turkey with new high-rise condos and brandname stores with large plate-glass windows. Sidewalks and cafes were crowded with shoppers, businessmen on iPhones, and wealthy tourists from Iran. The population had exceeded one million and Van was…
KT News and Comment: With presidential and parliamentary elections looming, the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) has recently sought to distance itself from south Kurdistan’s other ruling party, the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party), on two key issues. It has claimed to be opposed to Masud Barzani running for a third presidential term, because the law…
In a letter handed to BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan expressed his support for the protests that have engulfed Turkey this past week, beginning with a demonstration against the demolition of Gezi Park in Istanbul and escalating following the violent police reaction. “I…
KT News and Comment: The Anglo-Turkish oil giant Genel Energy has donated $20 million to The American University of Iraq – Slemani (AUIS). Dr. Athanasios Moulakis, president of the AUIS, has expressed his gratitude: “We thank the Genel Energy for their generous donation. We also thank the (KRG) Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister and both…
By Aziz Sheikhani: Migration is one of the most controversial issues that has received wide attention globally. The question is about the future of those states that people want to migrate to and also about migration as a source of chance and fear. The number of migrants has grown continually because of different factors, such…
KT News: In a statement today the PKK-associated Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) condemned recent police brutality in Turkey and called on the government to meet the protestors’ demands. It also said that the ‘democratic solution process’ it advocates in the peace talks is aimed at the democratisation of not only the Kurdish region, but also…
By Mohammed Hussein: Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council President, Murat Karayilan, declared that the PKK would withdraw its guerrillas gradually from Turkey, starting 8 May, 2013. This was a result of the ongoing peace talks between the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and the Turkish government. But what PKK leaders haven’t talked about is…
