By Dr. Amy L. Beam: The popular tourist attraction of Akdamar Island with its famous 10th century Armenian church is not the only island in Lake Van, Turkey. There is a tiny island with a dark, lost history along the northeast coast. Road signs show it is 40 km north of Van and 60 km…
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Turkish Army Kills Civilian during Arbor Day Activities
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On April 11, 2015, the Turkish army shot from a helicopter and killed Cezmi Budak, former co-chair of the HDP party in Diyadin in eastern Turkey. Local Kurdish residents were going to the outskirts of Yukari Tütek village in the Tendurek Mountains for their annual Arbor Day activities on Saturday…
Photos of Roboski Mule Massacre – March 23, 2015
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On March 23, 2015, Turkish soldiers shot and killed eight mules at the Roboski border in southeast Turkey, near Kurdistan, Iraq. Tensions have been high between local villagers and military forces since the Roboski massacre of December 28, 2011, in which 34 innocent men and teenagers were killed by two…
Yazidis Demonstrate for International Protection and Asylum
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On March 23, 2015, 1500 Yazidis demonstrated in Brussels to plea for International Protection and aid from countries of the world. They were supported by demonstrations of thousands of Yazidis in Europe and refugee camps in Turkey and Iraq holding up signs written in both Arabic and English for the…
Amerikalı Yazar Türkiye’ye Girişi Yasaklandı
Dr. Amy L. Beam: Amerika’da bir söz vardır: “Vereceğin ceza, suça uygun olsun”. Türkiye’de çok uzun süredir bu özdeyişin tam tersi geçerli: Önce ceza geliyor, ardından suçlama. Son yıllarda Türkiye’de gerçekleri söylemek en büyük suçlardan biri haline geldi. Ama cezalandırma her zaman gizli bir şekilde gerçekleştiriliyor: Ya “oturma izninizin süresi doldu” gibi sıradan bir nedene…
American Writer Banned from Turkey
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: In America they have a saying: “Let the punishment fit the crime.” In Turkey, for too many years, this adage has been reversed: first comes the punishment, then comes the accusation. Truth-telling has become the leading crime in Turkey, but it is always disguised, either as something mundane like “overstaying…
Tourism in Southeast Turkey: Is It Really Safe?
Special Report by Dr. Amy L. Beam: It is safe, legal, beautiful, and remarkable to travel now in southeast Turkey. Outsiders are so rare that visitors are treated like celebrity stars. The democratic, secular Kurds have dominated world news recently in their heroic fight against the Islamic State or ISIS in Iraq and Syria. North…
Beytüşşebap Was Our Shingal
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: A year has passed since I went to a wedding in Beytüşşebap and promised to return with an interpreter. Now there’s a new baby and Denize is getting married to her cousin in Van. Only four months ago she had dressed up in her khaki guerilla clothes and Kurdish neck…
Women Gyn Doctors Urgently Needed by Yazidi Refugees
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: Over 400 Yazidi girls and women have escaped from the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria and made their way to Dohuk in northern Iraq. Some have been bought back for ransoms. Since their kidnapping last August 2014 from their homes in Shingal, Iraq,…
Reflections on the Roboski Massacre: How’s the Peace Process Doing?
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: On Dec 28, 2014, thousands of people will gather in the small mountain village of Roboski, Uludere in far southeast Turkey for the third year memorial of the Roboski massacre. As reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) May 15, 2012, the U.S. flew the drone over Roboski and passed…
Yazidi Genocide: How Faisal’s Family Was Massacred
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: Faisal Mahmud Kharow is an Ezidi from Shingal, Iraq. Twelve members of his family were mercilessly executed and 22 females and a ten-day-old infant boy were kidnapped on August 3, 2014, during the genocidal attack on Shingal by Islamic State gangs. I interviewed Faisal in Germany, where he now lives…
EU’s Resolution on Yazidis: Read Between the Lines
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: As reported by ekurd.net Nov. 20, the European Parliament held a special conference to address the Yazidi refugees (also spelled Ezidi) who suffered a genocidal attack on Aug. 3, 2014, by the Islamic State (also referred to as Daesh, ISIS, and ISID). The European Parliament passed the following Resolution: Urgent assistance…
Turkey’s Refugee Law as Applied to Iraqis
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: Mass Exodus of Iraqi Yazidis to Turkey On August 3, 2014, the Islamic State (also referred to as Daesh or ISIS) attacked the Yazidis’ (also spelled Ezidis’) homeland in Shengal, Iraq, on the northwest border with Syria. This is the 74th documented massacre against the Yazidis who are neither Muslim…
When the Music Stopped for Waleed, a Blind Ezidi Boy
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: Four-year-old Waleed was born blind. When the Islamic State gangs attacked Shingal, Iraq, on August 3, 2014, his family fled on foot to Mount Shingal along with 70,000 other Ezidis. They were stranded on the mountain for eight days until the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) opened an escape route for…
$100 Goes a Long Way in an Ezidi Refugee Camp
By Amy L. Beam, Ed.D: Dear Barbara and Alan, Yesterday I spent my birthday in the Sirnak Ezidi refugee commune. Here’s how I spent your latest $100 donation. I bought the last 12 stove-top electric burners in Sirnak at a cost of $4.45 dollars each for a total of $54 dollars. The shop owner discounted…
