KT News: Leyla Güven, the renowned MP for the HDP (People’s Democracy Party), finally took her place in the Turkish Assembly yesterday, more than a year after her election. The MP for Hakkari, who is also co-chair of the DTK (Democratic Society Congress) was elected in last year’s June 24 elections although she was in…
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Category Archives: Kurdistan
Imrali – New Film on the Isolation of Ocalan, Narrated by Maxine Peake
A group of human rights activists, among them British actress Maxine Peake and former Icelandic Minister of Justice Ögmundur Jónasson travels to Turkey. They want to visit Imrali Prison. But the prisoners there cannot be visited by anyone… This short film (8 mins) tells the story of the 2019 international Imrali Peace Delegation and places…
Resolving the Middle East Crisis: the Ideas of Abdullah Ocalan
By Rebwar Rashed: This was the title of a conference held on Friday 15th February 2019 at the House of Lords in London. There were many great friends of Kurds. It was composed of four sessions. The first one, the alternative solution to the political, social and economic problems in the Middle East: Democratic confederalism: The…
Understanding Turkish Expansionism: Impose a No Fly Zone!
By Rebwar Rashed: Even though the charter of NATO proposes “defending” the territorial integrity of member countries, Turkey has accelerated its practice of violent and aggressive expansionism whilst member of NATO. Turkey has been occupying Cyprus, parts of Syria and Iraq and has continued to violate the air space of its neighbors. Turkey is killing…
Ten Days in Kurdistan
An Irishman recalls a solidarity visit to North Kurdistan back in the 1990s. First published on Rebel Breeze By Diarmuid Breatnach: I was anxious for the Turkish airline plane to take off but it was being held up by Turkish State security agents. Two of them were walking down the airplane aisle from the forward…
Women Delegation from Ireland, Britain and Italy Call for Unlawful Prison Policy of Isolation to End
PRESS RELEASE: Diyarbakir, Turkey The health of Hakkari 55 year old MP Leyla Güven, who started a hunger strike on 8 November 2018, has reached a life-threatening stage. Leyla Güven, who is on the 67th day of a hunger strike, has become too weak to meet with her lawyers. Leyla has a brain tumour. She…
2019: Kurds Should Be Confident
By Arian Mufid: Many of us Kurds were not sorry to leave the old year behind. In 2018 the nation awoke to the punishment and sanctions imposed by the Iraqi and Turkish military juntas as a result of the 2017 referendum. Kurdish politicians from the KDP and PUK have stumbled in 2018 and the people of…
Season’s Greetings from Peace in Kurdistan
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The Assault on Local Democracy Goes On: 259 Kurdish Mukhtars Suspended From Duty!
HDP Statement: Turkish government’s ongoing assault on local democracy has shifted to another field in the run up to the local elections scheduled for late March 2019. This time the target is “mukhtars” in Kurdish provinces (elected headmen of villages and neighborhoods). After President Erdoğan had pointed at them as the next target by saying,…
The Dirty, Dark Side of the Kurdistan Region Parliament Election
By Aras Ahmed Mhamad: Voting to elect a new Kurdistan region parliament will begin at 8am on September 30, 2018 and it will end at 6pm the same day. There are 3,085,461 eligible voters in the four cities of Hewlêr (Erbil), Slêmanî, Duhok, and Halabja distributed among 1260 polling stations, according to The Independent…
Barham Salih Was On The Wrong Side of Politics for Twenty Five Years
By Arian Mufid: It was in the late 1980s that I met Dr Barham Salih, in London, during the demonstrations and seminars held against the former regime of Iraq as part of our national liberation movement. He devoted all his energies to organise and promote the Kurdish nation’s struggle for freedom to the whole world….
Open Letter to UN High Commissioner on Human Rights: Case of Ramin Hussein Panahai
By Dr Amir Sharifi: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson 52 rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland. June 29, 2018 Dear Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein: On behalf of the Kurdish human rights organizations and associations in Southern California, I express my grave concerns, disquietude and distress over…
Stop the Turkish Invasion of South Kurdistan (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Kurdistan National Kongress (KNK) Statement: The Kurds in Iraq and Syria have been engaged in an epic battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, an organisation that stands in opposition not only to the Kurds, but also to the region as a whole, in its attempts to create a Salafist system. This…
The Future of Iraq
By Payraw Anwar: Introduction The nuclear deal between Iran and P5+1 (the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — the United states, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China — plus Germany) and the European Union was signed in the summer of 2015. On 8 May 2018 Donald Trump the president of the United…
A Fifty-Seven Year Kurdish Revolution in Futility
By Rauf Naqishbendi: The Kurdish revolution in Iraq commenced in June 1961. Fifty-seven years in the making, it is one of the most protracted revolutions in the history of humankind, with tragic outcomes. This revolution was initially led by the Kurdish Democratic Party under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani. Ironically, Barzani didn’t believe in a…
