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Statement by YPG General Command: Introduction by PYD Foreign Relations Office: The General Command of YPG (People’s Defense Units) has released a statement in response to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu who blamed the YPG for yesterday’s attack in the heart of Turkish capital Ankara which left 28 people dead and 64 others wounded. YPG General…
By Arian Mufid: Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) prime minister Nichirvan Barzani is no doubt aware that the general perception people hold of his role in the south of Kurdistan is that his efforts have been exclusively focused on his plans to change the south of Kurdistan into another Dubai. Of course Nirchirvan Barzani speaks from…
Peace in Kurdistan Statement: Peace in Kurdistan Campaign statement on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of his abduction on 15th February 2016 Abdullah Ocalan was captured in Kenya in 1999 and flown to Turkey where he has been imprisoned ever since. For millions of Kurdish people in Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq and across the…
By Arian Mufid: For the last ten years Kurdish politics has suffered great corruption in the hands of the Kurdistam Regional Government (KRG) leadership. Here we are today with yet more evidence of the results of the mismanagement of our leaders, with the wages and salaries of Kurdish civil servants not being paid for the…
By Rebwar Rashed, Co-chairman of the Kurdistan National Congress: Speech to the EUTCC (EU Turkey Civic Commission) Conference, Brussels, 26 January 2016 Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me, on behalf of the Kurdistan National Congress; thank all of you for your great contribution, for your engagement and your support for a peaceful Middle…
Urgent call to national and international public opinion on the situation in Cizre To the press and public opinion: For the last eight days, we have been making every effort to have our dead and seriously wounded citizens who are trapped in the basement of an apartment building in Cizre—among them many dead and seriously…
By Ata Hariri: As talk increases about the possibility off a 2016 offensive against Mosul, one key question has only been skirted around: Whether or not the Peshmerga will play a significant role in the actual attack on Mosul. While they have already played an important role, cutting off supply routes, driving back ISIS forces in…
Press Release, Democratic Union Initiative, UK: LONDON DEMONSTRATIONS, TODAY: 1st DEMO: 11/01/2016 – 1pm in front of the Turkish Embassy: 43 Belgrave Square London SW1X 8PA United Kingdom 2nd DEMO: 11/01/2016 – 6pm in front of the Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing St, London SW1A 2AA The Turkish state executed 12 Kurdish youths in the…
Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), Statement: After the coup against the 7 June 2015 elections, under the leadership of President Erdogan, the Turkish state launched a full-blown war against the Kurds. The state, which has even deployed the navy in Kurdistan, is utilising all its traditional dirty tactics. For several weeks curfews have been imposed in…
By Rauf Naqishbendi: In a course of the life of a nation under democracy, when the government encroaches on the rights of its constituents, it is the constitutional right of concerned citizens to demand that their leaders relinquish power. In a representative democracy, delegated representatives are commissioned to impeach the head of the state in…
By Dr. Jan Best de Vries: When I gave some lectures about Kurdish history at the Mesopotamia Academy (Qamishlo, district Jazira) in October 2015, several students afterwards put questions like “Why don’t the democratic American and European governments help us more than they do now?”, “Why are we with our democratic society not welcome in…
By Arian Mufid: Kurdish politics has remained stagnated since the attack by Isis on the region over a year ago. No Kurdish party is willing to own up to causing this situation. We should not really be surprised as nothing can define the political makeup of the KRG. Its current state is no better than…
By Yara Kamaran Ismael: News of the assassination of the prominent Kurdish lawyer, Tahir Elci, made it to the headlines. Although similar incidents happen occasionally in Kurdish areas in Turkey, this incident looked different, because Elci was openly calling for peace. He was shot dead after a press conference in Istanbul on November 18th. On that date, there…
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign Statement: Following the collapse of the peace process with the Kurds and the victory of the ruling AKP in the second general election of 2015, Turkey is actually now laying siege to its own cities in the Kurdish southeast. This brings back horrific memories reminiscent of the dirty war against the…
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Nayf’s Journey At daybreak, December 8, one of my Yazidi translators, Nayf, landed safely in the Greek Island of Chios in a rubber boat with his fiancée and her family of six. This was their second attempt after failing to make it to Kos Island from Bodrum last week. They…
