Category Archives: Kurdistan

Unity Talks Among Syrian Kurds; A Way Forward

By Junaid Jamali: Over the course of the nine-year Syrian civil war, the Kurds in Syria have paid exorbitant prices in military and social terms. In 2018 and 2019, they lost the regions of Afrin, Ras al-Ain/Sari Kani and Gire Spi/Tell Abyad to Turkey and Turkish-backed militias, resulting in the displacement of most Kurdish residents…

Open Letter From Women To Kurdish Leaders

Open Letter from Women to: – Mr. Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) – Ms. Bese Hozat and Mr. Cemil Bayik, Co-Chairs of the Executive Council of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) – Mr. Lahur Talabani and Mr. Bafel Talabani, Co-Presidents of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) “Kurdistan should not become a battleground…

“Kurds Have No Friends But The Mountains”

By Muhammad Salah Balaky: Kurds with an estimated population of 35 to 40 million who have been living for centuries in the historical region of Mesepotamia, are the fourth largest ethnic group in the Middle East, inhabiting a mountainous region dividing into Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, stretching roughly from the northwestren Zagros in Iran…

Kamaran Said Majeed, The Veteran Kurdish Fighter

By Friends of Kamaran: Kamaran Said Majeed, who died of Coronavirus complications on 9th April, was a Kurdish activist, humanist and dedicated family man. He held British citizenship, but he remained at heart a Kurd, through and through. He was born to a large family of 9 in 1959, in Sulemani (officially called Al-Sulaymaniyah) in…

Why is the World Silent about the Imprisoned Kurdish Leader Ocalan?

By Arian Mufid: 15th February marked the 21st anniversary of the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan’s imprisonment. Abdullah Ocalan was kidnapped by the Kenyan state who were paid and motivated by a joint operation involving several state intelligence services such as MIT, CIA and Mossad. Abdullah Ocalan is nicknamed ‘APO’ (meaning uncle in Kurdish),…

After 21 Years,Time to Free Ocalan and Grasp the Peace

By Peace in Kurdistan Campaign: Statement marking the 21st anniversary since Ocalan’s abduction in Nairobi, 15th February 1999, by Turkish MIT agents supported by the CIA. It is difficult to believe that it is now more than two decades since Abdullah Ocalan, the leader and founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, lost his freedom. It…

In memory of Sakine, Fidan and Leyla

Statement by Peace in Kurdistan campaign: Today, 9 January 2020, we mark the seventh anniversary of the brutal assassinations of Sakine Cansiz and her colleagues Fidan Dogan and Leyla Saylemez in their office at the Kurdish Information Centre in Paris on 9 January 2013. We remember them in love, respect and gratitude and pay tribute to…

PUK: Party of Division and Disunity

By Arian Mufid: The time is ticking for the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) to hold its fourth conference. This will be the fourth conference since the organisation was founded in 1975 and the first in the absence of its founder, Jalal Talabani. When Talabani passed away, it was like when a father dies without…

Turkish State Relations with the Terrorist Organization ‘Daesh’

Introduction to document issued by Department of Foreign Relations, Self-Administration of North-East Syria: The policies of Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan and his interventions in the Syrian and Iraqi affairs, raised many questions in the region, as well, several European media and the Turkish opposition have published about the relationship between Turkish President Erdogan and the…

Impending Turkish Genocide Against Syrian Kurds

By Rauf Naqishbendi: President Trump has repeated his promise to end the endless wars. Let us examine who fomented these endless wars. Surely, it was America’s invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, causing more than a half a million lives lost in Iraq and trillions of taxpayers’ dollars squandered. In Iraq, more than ten thousand Americans were…

Erdogan Should be Put on Trial for War Crimes in Rojava

By Mohammed Sabir Karim: It is widely reported that phosphorus weapons have been used as part of the Turkish aggression against the population of the north of Syria. According to the Geneva convention, white phosphorus can only be used in grenades, air munitions and artillery shells, for instance,  for smoke-screening purposes.  But Turkey has used it…

Leyla Güven Enters Turkish Parliament One Year After Her Election

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…

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…