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The Amsterdam based Foundation for Literature gave Kurdish poet and translator Kawa Nemir a chance to catch his breath after arriving in the Netherlands from Turkey, where he was under increasing political pressure; Nemir became a writer in residence in the foundation’s program ‘Refuge City’. But Nemir is not the …

Russia’s state-run Sputnik news agency has closed down its Kurdish-language website at the request of the Turkish government, according to a report by online news outlet Artı Gerçek. Sputnik announced on Saturday that it had ended its Kurdish language website without mentioning any particular reason for the decision. “Dear readers, we are …

I am largely convinced that the political situation and the political movement in Iranian Kurdistan will primarily start as a cultural and social movement. Then, a kind of leadership will be emerging from this cultural, social development and if the situation permits, there will be new political force(s) in various …

  MRG calls on Turkey government to end pressure on pro-Kurdish institutions and urges renewed dialogue with PKK for peaceful solution to current conflict Press Release Grave violations of the Kurdish community’s rights to political participation and freedom of expression are seriously undermining all hope for true democracy and lasting …

  By  Memed Aksoy The Qamishli massacre perpetrated by the Islamic State today, in which at least 44 people have been killed and more than 150 injured, has once again brought to light the division among Kurds. Some quarters have immediately claimed that if the KDP-S (Kurdistan Democratic Party – …

By Yoosef Abbaszadeh The question before Masoud Barzani is what to do in order to turn state-building rhetoric into a future Kurdish state. The employment and distribution of wealth relies considerably on the loyalty that individuals and clans show to a certain political party. The preponderant nepotism stemming from the …

  Dr. Necat Keskin  15th of May is celebrated as ‘Kurdish Language Day’ among Kurdish people in Turkey (North Kurdistan) since 2006 and also in the ‘North-affiliated’ Rojava. The day refers to the publishing of the Hawar journal in the Latin alphabet by the Kurdish linguist Celadet Bedirkhan in 1932. While that …

  Interview by Federico Venturini low you will find an interview with Debbie Bookchin, daughter of the late Murray Bookchin, who passed away in 2006. Bookchin spent his life in revolutionary leftist circles, joining a communist youth organization at the age of nine and becoming a Trotskyist in his late …

By Nurcan Baysal “Allow us, let us take these people out alive. The state will lose nothing if a civilian group is involved.” Part of Diyarbakir’s old city walls. Wikicommons/ Bertil Videt. Some rights reserved.We are in Surici district with Lale Mansur, Zeynep Tanbay, Ferhat Tunc, Aysegul Devecioglu, Bahri Belen …

  The final declaration of the European Left Parties Solidarity Conference With Kurdish People in Amed has been released. The conference in the main Kurdish city Amed on 20 February was organised by HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party), DTK (Democratic Society Congress), DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) and KJA (Free Women’s …

  by Ergun Babahan This article was originally published in Turkish on Özgür Düşünce with the title ‘Basement of shame’ and was translated to English by Kurdish Question. For many days now, 26 people, covered in blood and in need of water, have been awaiting an ambulance in a basement in the Kurdish …

  By Tony Iltis Turkey is rapidly descending into civil war as the government deepens its offensive against the Kurdish population. Turkey is rapidly descending into civil war as the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan deepens its offensive against the Kurdish population, left-wing opposition parties, journalists and academics. The …

Defne Kadıoğlu Polat While the Turkish government claims that all original residents will be able to return to Sur, it is likely that, similar to what happened in New Orleans, many of those who have fled will not come back. The Turkish military operation against the PKK in Southeast Anatolia …

  By Borja G. Moya* A prefabricated building hosts the school of the Yazidi refugee camp, located 20 kilometers outside Amed, the capital of North Kurdistan (Turkey). On a wall, drawings and words written by girls and boys in Arabic script can be seen: even if Sinjar’s Yazidis speak Kurmanji …

      By Joris Leverink Since August, 52 curfews have been declared by the Turkish state in Kurdish towns and neighborhoods. Despite the repression, the resistance is thriving. The scenes of destruction in the Kurdish towns and neighborhoods placed under curfew by the Turkish authorities do not just resemble a war …

Alarmed by Kurdish territorial gains, Turkey fears that the latest creation of autonomous Tel Abyad canton could stir separatism among its own Kurdish minority. Threatening continued assaults on the Kurdish militia in Syria, the Turkish president has warned he will not request anyone’s permission to do whatever is necessary to …

        Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) is a group of people who campaign for the Welsh language and communities in Wales. The society believes that the campaign for Welsh is part of a wider world-wide struggle for minority rights and freedoms. Recently, the Cymdeithas published …

        Photo: In the Dengbêj House of Diyarbakir (by D. Bettoni) Dimitri Bettoni The Dengbêj represent the collective memory of the Kurdish people, having resisted the Turkish government attempts to assimilate them. A tradition that goes back many centuries, words that reverberate against the mountain walls and …

        In Cizre district of Şırnak, which was sort of devastated by Turkish state forces during the nine-day curfew between 4-12 September, which left 21 civilians dead, people haven’t given up on the idea of self-rule, the declaration of which was responded by the state with brutal …

          Photo: PYD Congress Day by day, Turkey’s onslaught against the Kurds is intensifying. Just last month, Ankara launched over 500 air strikes against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), while targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) only 3 times. By now, even senior U.S. …

        The Iraqi Kurdistan dilemma: President Barzani’s term has ended, “Islamic State” jihadists are at the region’s doorstep; Turkey and the PKK are at war. Simple solutions are not in sight. If the number of migrants in the Autonomous Region Kurdistan in northern Iraq is any measure, …