Category Archives: Turkey

Silent Deals: The Geopolitics Behind Trump, Erdogan, and Al-Sharaa

By Dr. Muhamad Sabir Kareem: Amid Trump’s trip to the Arab Co-operation Council (ACC) which includes Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE – on May 13th, the groundwork was prepared for Trump’s Al-Sharaa meeting in Riyadh. A meeting which came under the impact of an offering by Prince Mohammed bin Salman through the signing of…

History Offers No Roadmap For Action, But It’s a Masterclass in What to Avoid

By Suare B:  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s political career is a clear example of this idea—a story of smart partnerships, betrayed partners, and a brilliant for blindsiding opponents with predatory precision. Like a leopard in the wild, Erdoğan thrives on the element of surprise, turning friends into foes and foes into scapegoats, all while navigating Turkey’s…

Turkey’s Futile Aggression to Eliminate Kurdish Nation

By Arian Mufid: Earlier this month, on 15th August 2024, the Iraqi government and Turkey signed an agreement as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen collaboration. The agreement involves establishing coordination centers in Baghdad and Bashiqa near Mosul to improve efforts against the PKK. These centers will enable the two countries to work together more…

Kobani Trial Sentences: Democracy Slaughtered in Turkey

By Arian Mufid: On Thursday, May 15th, 2024, the North of Kurdistan woke up to the news that their leaders of peaceful democratic movements had been sentenced to years in jail, effectively condemning them to die in prison. The Supreme Criminal Court in Ankara issued several rulings against 108 politicians, including former HDP leaders Selahattin…

Atatürkian Ideology Remains Toxic for Turkey

By Ali Aziz: Summary: The succession of crises in Turkey reflects its shaky foundations. Ataturkian ideology[1] holds that there is no such thing as a distinct Kurdish people, but this ideology undermines the strength of the state and its true philosophy from the beginning. In his 1991 book Turkey and the Middle East, Philip Robbins called…

Turkish State Seeks to Annihilate Kurdish Aspirations

By Arian Mufid: As the PKK enters its 42nd year of guerrilla warfare against the Turkish state, Erdogan continues to use their resistance as an excuse to install the Turkish military junta in the Kurdistan Regional Government. 1984, 1986 and 1987 saw several attacks made against the PKK by the Turkish military. However, the PKK…

The Failures of the Turkish State to Move Away From Genocidal Policies

By Arian Mufid: Turkish leaders have occasionally boasted about learning from their violent history of grave injustice towards indigenous minorities, however ‘Operation, Claw-lock’ (endorsed by the Kurdish KDP) has exposed how empty those claims are. On the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and following Turkey’s latest military operation in Kurdistan, it is worth reflecting on…

COP26 Can Stop Turkish Aggression Against Rojava

By Arian Mufid: With many world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), can they not stop the Turkish plan to invade Rojava, the North of Syria Kurdish enclave? The news of the last few days is that the Turkish military state has approved the attack and invasion of Rojava….

AKP Party and Kurdish Issue in Turkey

By Arian Mufid: During Erdogan’s recent US visit he addressed Turkish media outlets stating that there isn’t any problem in Turkey regarding the Kurds; “I’ve said this dozens of times before and will say it again: There is no Kurdish issue in Turkey. We are here to defeat terrorism in all forms.” Expanding upon the…

HDP MP Gergerlioğlu Still Detained, Despite Constitutional Court Ruling – Now His Son Arrested Too

KT News: Despite the 1 July ruling by the Constitutional Court of Turkey that HDP MP Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu should be released from jail, the MP is still being detained and today his son was arrested when police attacked a Justice Watch vigil outside the Ankara Sincan Prison where his father is being held. HDP…

Turkey’s Imperialist Aggression Strategy is an Historical Blunder

By Arian Mufid: Much like the Ottoman Empire, the new Turkish military state is forcing itself on nations in the Middle East by way of bullying and intimidation. Western powers have failed to challenge this and have instead facilitated the Turkish military state’s aggression into countries such as Iraq, Syria, Libya and Azerbaijan. History offers…

Turkey’s Top Court Upholds Selahattin Demirtas’ Jail Sentence As Kobane Show Trial Begins

KT News: On the same day as the opening session, on Monday, of the ‘Kobane Trial’ of 108 members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the Turkish Court of Cassation decided to uphold a four-year eight-month sentence against Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned HDP former co-chair. HDP deputy Ümit Dede said yesterday that the timing…

PKK Should Realise Their Armed Struggle is Futile

By Arian Mufid: When Abdullah Ocalan the leader of the PKK was captured in Nairobi, Kenya with the help of all the international intelligence services including the CIA, Syrian Mukhabarat, Mossad, and the MIT, the Turkish military junta managed to jail him since February 1999. Since then, Ocalan has issued several books and diaries on…

Gebze Women’s Closed Prison – Political Prisoners Distress Call

By Gül Güzel: 45 arrested and convicted women, whose names I kept secret, wrote from Gebze Prison in Turkey. On the occasion of the Corona pandemic, detainees and convicts all over the world were released from prisons and in Turkey as well… However, political prisoners and convicts were excluded from this practice, other criminals were…

Turkey and Erdogan’s Dream of Empire

By Arian Mufid: Erdogan is going between west and east with his aggression. He looks at the past and thinks he can revive the Ottoman Empire in the region. What is going on in Turkey today is related to his personality and the way he was brought up in Turkey. This is a most important…