23 male and female journalists were martyred in NE Syria in order to reveal the truth. ANHA agency’s correspondent Issam Abdullah was killed during the bombing of Derik on the 20th of November, while he was covering the air strikes launched by the Turkish occupation state on NE Syria. Here …
Bêtir »Turkish physician leader’s arrest condemned by WMA
The World Medical Association has issued a strong condemnation about the arrest in Turkey of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, President of the Turkish Medical Association. The World Medical Association has issued a strong condemnation about the arrest in Turkey of Dr. Şebnem Korur Fincancı, President of the Turkish Medical Association. …
Bêtir »HRW: Türkiye deported hundreds of refugees to Syria in months
”Türkiye is trying to make Northern Syria a refugee dumping ground,” said Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. Syria remains unsafe for returning refugees, according to HRW. By August, Türkiye had reportedly already built 60,000 houses in the northwestern province of Idlib. The organization said …
Bêtir »17 Kurdish guerrillas killed by Turkish chemical weapons
During the six-month war between 14 April and 14 October 2022, the Turkish army used banned bombs and chemical weapons 2467 times. The People’s Defense Centre (HSM) Headquarters Command published the names of 17 guerrillas who were killed at different times in Turkish chemical weapons attacks in southern Kurdistan (Northern …
Bêtir »Satellite images show extent of deforestation in Şirnex
Thousands of trees have been cut down near Mount Cudi and in the Besta region, and tree felling continues in areas declared “special security zones.” About 1,000 tons of trees are cut down every day, and brought to the city center to be sold. Tree felling has been continuing in …
Bêtir »Teacher expelled for speaking Kurdish in Turkey
The use of Kurdish in public was banned in Turkey in the 1990s, and Kurds weren’t allowed to learn their mother tongue. There were restrictions for kindergartens, city theaters, and cultural clubs operating in the Kurdish language. A secondary school teacher at the Mersin Akdeniz District Ulubatlı Hasan Secondary School …
Bêtir »Belgium, US suggest Turkey can host Afghan refugees, Ankara says it’s ‘unacceptable’
• Hundreds of refugees from Afghanistan have been crossing into Turkey every day over the past month• Withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan, the US suggested Afghans who worked for it and their families apply for asylum in Turkey• Turkey’s Foreign Ministry denounced the US statement and said, “The US may …
Bêtir »Turkey’s local elections were not free or fair
Thomas Phillips During a hurried midnight taxi ride between Istanbul’s two major airports, the faces of Racep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s authoritarian president, and Binali Yildrim, Turkey’s former Prime Minister and Istanbul mayoral candidate, gazed down at me from every lamppost and roadside hoarding. I had been invited to Turkey by …
Bêtir »Kurdish women’s experience of state violence in Turkey
Later he too [my second son] was wounded, but it was not serious. He told me, ‘Mom, do not take me to the hospital, if you take me there, they will kill me.’ How was I supposed to know? We took him there and they killed him. This is my …
Bêtir »Kurdish is forbidden at prisons in Turkey
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan before Local Election of 31 March 2019 claimed that Kurdish was allowed in prison. Unfortunately, Kurdish publications, television and radio channels have been banned and authorities have not allowed Kurdish language to be spoken during the meeting between prisoners and their parents. Aqide Ertas, mother of …
Bêtir »Professor Emeritus of International Politics Christodoulos Yiallourides: “Greeks and Kurds have similar existences regarding the preservation of their identities.”
The Turkish – Greek relations are extremely contentious in today’s world. In order to better understand this issue, Necat Ayaz interviewed Christodoulos Yiallourides, Professor Emeritus of International Politics and director of the Centre of Eastern Studies for Culture and Communication at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences . …
Bêtir »Tortured in Turkey, badly treated in Greece and seeking asylum in Switzerland: The plight of a Kurdish woman journalist
Fatos’s 20 years have passed in constant dislocations and resistance for relocation as a result of persecutions against her and her family members. Beginning with the leaving behind of her village, she no longer could stop her never-ending move to new lands where she has not yet been successful to …
Bêtir »HDP regains control of main Kurdish cities despite state repression
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP, Kurdish left) regained control of the main cities of North Kurdistan in the local elections held in Turkey 31 March. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP, Kurdish left) regained control of the main cities of North Kurdistan in the local elections held in Turkey 31 March. …
Bêtir »New report highlights crackdown on Kurdish political movement in Turkey
The Turkish government’s obligations under international conventions have already begun to be questioned with this crackdown on Kurds, which is continuing unabated. In March 2017 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a damning report on the serious human rights and international law violations by …
Bêtir »Words in Mother Tongues Recorded as ‘X’ in Parliament Minutes
MPs from opposition parties celebrated the February 21 Mother Tongue Day in yesterday’s parliamentary session with messages in Kurdish and in the languages of minorities in Turkey.The words in languages other than Turkish were recorded as “x” in the minutes of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). On the …
Bêtir »Can the Kurdish question be settled by killing people in Sur?
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 …
Bêtir »Declaration of the Conference of European Left Parties in Amed released
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 …
Bêtir »Behind Turkey’s war on the Kurds
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 …
Bêtir »Turkey threatens ‘whatever necessary’ to combat Kurdish autonomy ‘mindset’ in Syria
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 …
Bêtir »Targeting Democracy: An Armenian Account of Kurdish Ambitions
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. …
Bêtir »Water: source of life and conflict in the Land of Rivers
By Joris Leverink On August 1, 2015 For years, the Turkish central government, led by the former prime minister and current president Erdogan, has claimed that there is no such thing as a “Kurdish problem”, denying the fact that the country’s Kurdish population has been discriminated against on the …
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