By Arian Mufid: When the American administration made a political decision to invade Iraq militarily, they never fully calculated the consequences and how bloody that war would be. The USA acted largely on the advice of the Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmed Chalabi who helped imbue their invasion plans with false optimism as to medium and…
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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…
Open Letter to UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
Dear Foreign Secretary, We write to express our deep concern over the UK government’s position in its relations with Turkey as the human rights situation inside the country continues to deteriorate rapidly. In particular, we seek to urgently draw your attention to the 7,000 Kurdish political prisoners on hunger strike in Turkish prisons and the…
Iran: 40 Years Under a Regime of Destruction
By Arian Mufid: Iran’s mullah’s and their despotic regime are celebrating forty years in power. When the Shah of Iran left Iran in 1978 and handed over to Shahpoor Bhaktiar, it was a final concession made to stop Iran’s destruction. Ayatollah Khomeini was still in France when the world’s most powerful intelligence services decided to…
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…
KRG’s Failure to Form Government as the Two Parties Fight for Posts
By Ismael Aziz: A couple of years ago Kurdish politics in the south of Kurdistan was awash with nice predictions. However, since then, with an end to the terrorist attacks of ISIS, but also the referendum disaster, political shocks and economic crisis and uncertainty, Kurdish politics today is at its lowest ebb among 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…
France Grants Asylum to Yezidi Families under President Macron’s Promise
By Dr. Amy L. Beam: The widow and daughters of the Ezidi Progress Party leader, Waad Hamad Mato (DoB 1967), arrived in Paris December 20, 2018, after four years of being rejected for asylum by other countries. They were on the first plane of 20 Yezidi families promised asylum by French President Macron in response…
Kurdistan Became a Paradise – for the KDP and PUK
By Ismael Aziz: After ISIS attacked the south of Kurdistan in August 2014, 1,700 Peshmergas were killed and 12,000 injured in the ensuing conflict. While the leaders of the two dominant Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) parties, the KDP and PUK, made visits to the battlefields to take selfies and show their presence for the sake…
