HRW: No answers for Kurdish victims in Turkey

Relatives of the Kurdish victims killed or forcibly disappeared by Turkish state agents in Cizre in the 1990s protest the court decision to acquit members of the security forces and village guards on murder charges. Eskişehir, November 5, 2015. Photo: Human Rights Watch

Πηγή: Ekurd Daily
6 Nov 2015

ESKISEHIR, Turkey,— The acquittal of all defendants in Turkey’s first prosecution for the killings and disappearances of 21 Kurds in the early 1990s leaves the victims of serious abuses by state actors without justice, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

The acquittals come after six years of repeated questionable interruptions in the trial. After the original prosecutor, who reviewed all the evidence, called for the conviction of five of eight defendants in the initial trial, the court trying the case was abolished and the case was twice transferred to different courts. The new prosecutor called for all charges to be dropped without hearing a single witness, raising questions about whether the recommendation was a result of political interferences.

“The essential collapse of the prosecution is a shocking testimony to the utter failure of Turkey’s justice system to deliver justice to the victims of the egregious abuses by the military and state forces against Kurds in the 1990s,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The hopes for justice of the relatives of those who died or disappeared have once again been dashed.”

The multiple irregularities that marred the trial raise serious concerns and discredit the proceedings as an effective remedy for the victims, Human Rights Watch said. Turkey has binding legal obligations to provide the victims their right to an effective remedy under international human rights law.

The case was among the first against a senior member of the security forces for the murder and enforced disappearances of Kurds in the 1990s. The crimes have been well-documented by human rights groups and in the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Eskişehir Heavy Penal Court No. 2 acquitted all eight defendants. The original trial in Diyarbakırhad 48 sessions in which multiple witnesses testified and other evidence was introduced. The defendants had been indicted on multiple counts of killing or disappearing 19 Kurdish men and boys who were identified, and a man and a woman whose identities have not been established, after arresting or abducting them.

The crimes took place in the town of Cizre and surrounding villages in Şırnak province, southeastern Turkey between 1993 and 1995. The trial began 14 years later. The defendants were charged under the previous Turkish Penal Code (law no. 765) with forming a criminal gang (article 313) and each with several counts of murder, or with ordering murder (article 450).

The main defendant was retired Col. Cemal Temizöz, the gendarmerie commander in Cizre during that period, who bore command responsibility for those under his command at the time. The other defendants were a retired sergeant who served under Temizöz’s command, three former members of the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) turned informers for the military, and three former members of the village guard state paramilitary.

The trial began in September 2009 in the Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court No. 6. In January 2014, the prosecutor, citing witness testimony and other evidence, asked the court to convict five defendants on various counts of murder and to acquit the three village guards.

However, in February 2014, the specially authorized heavy penal courts were abolished, so the Diyarbakır court lost its jurisdiction over the case and was unable to issue a verdict. The case was transferred to the Şırnak courts and then by a decision of the Court of Cassation, citing security concerns, to the Eskişehir Heavy Penal Court No. 2, in western Turkey.

At the second hearing there, on June 18, 2015, the Eskişehir public prosecutor called for the acquittal of all defendants without hearing a single witness.

On June 26, the pro-government Sabah newspaper reported an investigation into five prosecutors responsible for the original investigation of Temizöz, including the prosecutor who prepared the indictment, and the former chief judge of the Diyarbakır court that heard the case.

The news report said they were being investigated for an alleged conspiracy against Temizöz, contending that they were part of the Fethullah Gülen movement and were seeking revenge against Temizöz. The investigation is linked to a wider government clampdown on the movement led by the US-based Muslim cleric, a former ally-turned-critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. There are ongoing prosecutions of supporters of the group and of Gülen himself on the charges of forming a terrorist organization and an attempted coup the government accuses them of, although there is no known evidence of the movement’s involvement in violent activities.

Since May 2015, senior members of the military in Turkey have been acquitted in three other trials. They included the trial of a lieutenant colonel and colonel for the 1995 enforced disappearance of a villager in Hakkari, of a general for the killing or disappearance of 13 villagers in Mardin between 1992 and 1994, and of a retired general for the 1993 disappearance of 6 residents of a Şırnak village.

“In all four cases concluded this year, courts have cleared state actors of any responsibility for killing civilians without explaining why compelling evidence presented in court was dismissed or insufficient,” Sinclair-Webb said. “Claims that this trial is part of a Gülenist conspiracy shouldn’t obscure the fact that all the evidence indicates that members of the security forces and paramilitaries killed the victims, whose families are still awaiting justice.”

Witness Testimony

Human Rights Watch representatives attended many of the trial hearings, during which relatives of the victims repeatedly expressed their desire to see justice in court and to see Turkey acknowledge the grim legacy of past abuses. The testimony indicated there had been a pattern of security forces or their agents arresting people from and around Cizre.

Examples included the following:

Harun Padır told the Diyarbakır court on March 5, 2010, that in 1994 he, his uncle, and his father had been detained in their village and taken to the gendarmerie command in Cizre where Temizöz was the commander. Padır was released, but his father and uncle were never seen again.

Nurettin Elçi told the Diyarbakır court on July 9, 2010, that he saw men with walkie-talkies enter his brother Ramazan Elçi’s shop in 1994 and take him away in a white Renault. Days later Nurettin Elçi heard that Ramazan’s body had been found and identified it as it was about to be buried in an unmarked grave in the Cizre cemetery. He identified one of the defendants as among those who detained his brother.

Arafat Aydın told the Diyarbakır court on July 9, 2010, that he was detained and then tortured along with his cousin Mustafa Aydın and Mehmet İlbasan, and that he had been released but that they were killed. Aydın identified the unit under Temizöz’s command as the one that detained and tortured them and that it included some of the defendants and village guards.

Mehmet Selim Uykur, on September 16, 2011, and İsmet Uykur, on October 9, 2009, told the Diyarbakir court that they had witnessed two of the defendants shoot dead İsmet Uykur’s father, Ramazan Uykur, in broad daylight in the street in Cizre in February 1994.

Şevkiye Arslan told the Diyarbakır court on December 4, 2009, that she saw her husband, İhsan Arslan, abducted in the street by two of the defendants in 1993. She described repeated efforts she and other members of her family made to get Arslan released and alleged that the defendants repeatedly threatened her to stop seeking information about her husband, whom she never saw again.

In 2012, Human Rights Watch released a report on the trial and on the importance of ending impunity for the killings and disappearances of Kurds in the 1990s.

Stand by for a U-turn: West poised to join forces with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to deal with the threat of ISIS

Πηγή: The Times of India
By Patrick Cockburn,The Independent
Aug 23 2014

LONDON: Islamist forces are fighting their way into western Syria from bases further east, bringing forward the prospect of US military intervention to stop their advance. If ISIS, which styles itself Islamic State, threatens to take all or part of Aleppo, establishing complete dominance over the anti-government rebels, the US may be compelled to act publicly or secretly in concert with President Bashar al-Assad, whom it has been trying to displace.

The US has already covertly assisted the Assad government by passing on intelligence about the exact location of jihadi leaders through the BND, the German intelligence service, a source has told The Independent. This may explain why Syrian aircraft and artillery have been able on occasion to target accurately rebel commanders and headquarters.

Syrian army troops are engaged in a fierce battle to hold Tabqa airbase in Raqqa province, the fall of which would open the way to Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city.


Demonstrators at a rally supporting Kurdistan hold placards protesting against ISIS in front of the White House

Further north, ISIS has captured crucial territory that brings it close to cutting rebel supply lines between Aleppo and the Turkish border. The caliphate declared by ISIS on June 29 already covers the eastern third of Syria in addition to a quarter of Iraq. It stretches from Jalawla, a town 20 miles from Iran, which the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga are trying to recapture, to towns 30 miles north of Aleppo.

The question of possible US military action in Syria, such as air strikes, jumped to the top of political agenda on Thursday when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, General Martin Dempsey, said: "Can they [ISIS] be defeated without addressing that part of the organisation that resides in Syria? The answer is no."

He stressed that he was not predicting that the US was intending to take military action in Syria, but the US is very conscious that ISIS can survive indefinitely if it has a large safe haven in Syria.

Chas Freeman, the former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told The Independent that General Dempsey was pointing out that ISIS straddles the Iraq-Syrian border and there should be a consistent policy towards it on both sides of the divide.

General Dempsey "did not spell out the implications of that but, to me, they point in the direction of calling it off with Assad. It might also imply the sharing of intelligence with the opponents of ISIS, even those from whom we ourselves are estranged. Odder things have happened in the Middle East."

Freeman, who is retired, added he had no knowledge about whether intelligence-sharing with President Assad's government was being considered.

For the moment, the most pressing issue in Syria is not the elimination of ISIS, but preventing its expansion after a series of victories in July and August.

Firstly, it drove out Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaida, from the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor on the Euphrates. Then it overran two important Syrian army bases, one held by Division 17 in Raqqa province and a second by Regiment 121 in Hasakah province where the Iraqi regimental commander was killed.


A young Kurdish girl inside at the mosque where she and her family sought refuge after fleeing their first place of refuge in Makhmur following an offensive by IS militants

Syria holds greater opportunities for ISIS in terms of expansion than Iraq because the movement draws its support from the Sunni Arab community: 60 per cent of Syrians are Sunni Arabs, compared to 20 per cent in Iraq.

The policy of the US, Britain and their allies in the region over the last three years has been to support "moderate" Syrian rebels who are supposed to fight ISIS and other jihadists as well as the Assad government in Damascus.

But the Western-backed Free Syrian Army is increasingly weak and marginalized while jihadi groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham and the Islamic Front have been unable to halt the ISIS assault.

The Islamic Front is desperately trying to hold its stronghold in the city of Marea close to Aleppo against an unexpected ISIS offensive that began on 13 August and is making headway. ISIS held positions in Aleppo province and further west in Idlib province before its civil war with other rebel groups which began at the start of 2014 when it conducted a withdrawal, interpreted at the time as a retreat, but in reality a concentration of its fighting forces for use in Iraq and Syria.

Though they have suffered a number of serious defeats at the hands of ISIS, Syrian government forces were able to regain the al-Shaer gas fields near Palmyra in July and are still holding onto Tabqa airbase, where they claim to have killed many ISIS militants, including an activist known as Abu Moussa.

As with other ISIS attacks on government strongholds in Syria, this one was heralded by two suicide attacks. Overall, the Syrian army has shown itself much more effective in combat with ISIS than the Iraqi army that has yet to score a single success against them. A series of Iraqi army attacks against Tikrit north of Baghdad, the most recent this week, have all failed.

Air strikes are not the only way in which the US, Britain and their allies among neighbouring states could weaken and isolate ISIS, but in doing so they would necessarily undermine other rebel groups. Key to the growth of ISIS and, in particular, the import of thousands of foreign fighters has been the use of Turkey as a point of entry.

Determined to get rid of President Assad, the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has kept Turkey's 550-mile border with Syria open, giving the jihadists, including ISIS, a safe haven over the last three years. The Turks are now saying ISIS is no longer welcome, but Ankara has not moved seriously to close the border by deploying troops in large numbers.


Protesters hold up signs during a demonstration marking the one-year anniversary of the chemical attacks in Syria, at Times Square in New York

A complete volte face by the US, Britain and their allies in their relations with the Assad government is unlikely because it would mean admitting that past support for the Sunni rebellion had contributed to the growth of the caliphate.

Freeman says that he doubted that "the liberal interventionists and neoconservatives who had pursued regime change in Syria were capable of reversing course. To do so would require them to admit that they bore considerable responsibility for legitimising pointless violence that has resulted in the deaths of 190,000 Syrians."

He added that he did not think it would be possible to bring down ISIS by a direct assault and that it would be better to bottle it up and wait for it to be destroyed by its own self-destructive instincts.

"I cannot see how it can be isolated without the co-operation of Syria as well as Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arabs, Iran, Russia and Turkey."

On the other hand, given the divisions in Washington and hatreds in the Middle East, such a degree of co-operation is unlikely to emerge as a declared policy.

Kurds hit Turkey with new shock strategy

The explosion area is pictured after several Syrian shells crashed inside Akcakale town in Turkey, killing at least five people on October 3, 2012, in Sanliurfa. Many others were wounded after shells fired from the Syrian border town of Tall al-Abyad smashed into buildings in the Turkish town in the Sanliurfa province, they said.

Πηγή: Emirates 247
By AFP
Oct 4 2012

Turkey's PM Erdogan already announced the PKK's defeat.

Kurdish rebels have launched a new shock strategy for territorial "dominance" in the southeast of Turkey, one that analysts say is designed to press the Turkish government into negotiations for autonomy rather than grab a military victory.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced on July 23 that it would drop its ambush strategy and opt instead for large-scale ground control of the mountainous areas surrounding the town of Semdinli, bordering Iraq and Iran.

"The strategy is now changed, individual guerrilla attacks are no more," said a senior PKK leader, Duran Kalkan, according to Firat News agency, which is close to the rebels.

"The aim is not just to inflict damage on the opponent, but also to bring about democratic autonomy, build a democratic self-government for the Kurdish people," said Kalkan.

Achieving the aim will require negotiations, analysts said.

Since the announcement, Ankara has faced a broader fight for territory where rebels claim they have "dominance" over three other locations, all along the Iraqi border, beyond which the PKK has its main bases.

Achieving territorial dominance does not necessarily mean completely liberating areas from Turkish troops, according to a pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) lawmaker.

"It means the troops are stationed in their barracks and they do not go out for operations in the rural areas, because the guerrillas are there," lawmaker and party co-chair Gulten Kisanak told AFP.

"They (guerrillas) have the upper hand on the highways, they do identity checks at roadblocks, sometimes raise flags, do things that say 'hey, we are here'."

Analysts, however, doubt the ability -- and the willingness -- of the PKK to maintain such dominance permanently against the second strongest army in NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

"For a group like the PKK, which has a limited number of militants, it is not at all possible to physically defend a territory," said Nihat Ali Ozcan, a specialist in security issues from the Ankara-based think-tank TEPAV.

"It is against nature, it is against all logic," he added.

Psychological advantage

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan already announced the PKK's defeat in Semdinli after an all-out army assault involving some 5,000 ground troops in September.

"The lesson they learnt there was very heavy," said Erdogan on September 26, adding that 239 Kurdish rebels and 144 members of Turkish security forces had been killed since the beginning of the year.

But Irfan Aktan, a journalist who specialises in the Kurdish question, contested Erdogan's claim of victory, saying the army-led operations did little to end the PKK presence in that region.

"According to our information, there are around 1,000 (PKK) militants who turned up in Semdinli, Daglica, Cukurca, and Yuksekova (in southeastern Hakkari province)," he said.

"Even if 200 have been killed, there are still 80 percent remaining."

Despite the losses, the PKK turned out to gain a psychological advantage, said the journalist. "It showed that if it wants, the group can organize very big operations."

The aim of the rebels was to make an impact on public opinion, agreed Ozcan, the TEPAV analyst.

"An upsurge in the number of losses influences public opinion and it is public opinion that puts pressure on the government," he added, pointing to Erdogan's recent remarks signalling new talks with the rebels if the negotiations would promote a settlement.

"If negotiations allow us to fix something, let's do it", said Erdogan.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has taken more than 45,000 lives since 1984, when the group, branded a terrorist organisation by much of the international community, took up arms against the Turkish state.

Kurdish worries drag Turkey deeper into Syria war

Πηγή: Reuters
By Henry Meyer and Anatoly Temkin
July 27 2012

Turkey may be some way from acting on Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's threat to strike Kurdish separatists in Syria, but week by week it finds itself sucked ever further into its neighbor's worsening war.

The shooting down of a Turkish reconnaissance jet last month was seen by many as a turning point, prompting Ankara to join Saudi Arabia at Qatar in semi-covert support for the Free Syrian Army fighting against President Bashar al-Assad.

On Friday, Reuters revealed the existence of a secret Turkish operations centre where it worked with the two Gulf states to provide aid and weaponry to the rebels.

For most foreign powers, events in Syria's Kurdish provinces are largely seen a sideshow compared Assad's battle to survive. But Erdogan's comments on Thursday made it clear that Turkey is alarmed by worries over Kurdish PKK rebels taking advantage of the chaos.

The Turkish leader - once a friend to his Syrian counterpart who helped to rehabilitate Assad on the international stage, but now apparently an increasingly implacable foe - accused Damascus of allocating five provinces to the PKK.

Both Ankara and most Western powers view the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as a terrorist group, blaming it for a long-running conflict that has killed some 40,000 people since it took up arms in 1984. Turkey regularly strikes PKK bases in Iraq's northern self-ruled Kurdish enclave, and Erdogan made it clear the same option was being discussed for Syria.

"We will not allow a terrorist group to establish camps in northern Syria and Turkey," he told a news conference before travelling to London for the opening of the Olympics. "If there is a step which needs to be taken against the terrorist group, we will definitely take this step."

Rising numbers of refugees crossing the border could put further pressure on Turkey. If, as many expect, Assad's forces target the partially rebel-held city of Aleppo in the coming days, numbers could soar. Turkey has already closed its borders to commercial traffic but says it will allow fleeing civilians through.

Whatever might happen on the Kurdish front, a senior Turkish official speaking on condition of anonymity said support for the rebels was set to continue - although clear caution remains.

"Naturally we are watching developments in the Kurdish region, but Ankara will not give up on its support for the whole revolution because something has happened in the Kurdish region," he said.

"We have been saying from the start, we do not think it is right to impose a regime from outside... The Syrian people must decide its own future."

The official declined to comment on what Turkey might do if the PKK established itself in the region.

CROSSING RED LINES

What Turkey is desperate to avoid is a scenario in which Kurdish parts of Syria quietly break away from the rest as the government, rooted in Assad's Alawite minority sect, slugs it out with the predominantly Sunni Muslim opposition.

"Any area which serves as a potential haven for the PKK or its affiliated groups poses a direct threat to Turkish security and Ankara's jingoistic rhetoric should be judged in this context," says Anthony Skinner, head of the Middle East practice at UK-based security consultancy Maplecroft.

"Any government which allows the PKK to set up training camps represents a red line for Ankara.... Ankara is again warning Damascus not to cross Turkey."

But if it is to take military action, Turkey's options are somewhat limited. Turkey might have the largest military in the region, but a large-scale ground incursion is seen as unlikely for now.

An airstrike on a known PKK facility - or perhaps a Syrian government post believed supporting them - seems a much more probable approach. But while air defenses over Kurdish areas are seen as a much less sophisticated than those along the coast, the loss of one Turkish jet already points to the dangers of entering Syrian airspace.

"If Turkey could prove that there was an attack coming out of Syria against Turkey, then it could launch an air strike, if it could identify a specific PKK camp in Syria," said Istanbul-based security expert Gareth Jenkins. "The problem is there would inevitably be civilian casualties because these camps would be put near civilians."

Then, there is the risk of severe retaliation. Earlier this week, Syria's government said that while it would not use chemical weapons against its own people, it might against any foreign intervention.

"Unlike with Iraq, attacks in Syria can very likely draw Turkey into a prolonged military confrontation with the Assad regime, which has a formidable military and the political will to respond," says Hayat Alvi, lecturer in Middle Eastern politics at the US Naval War College. "Syria and Turkey are both heightening the rhetoric, but it would be a huge gamble for both sides to engage in military confrontation."

Turkish leaders have long regretted the way in which northern Iraqi Kurdistan effectively seceded after the 1991 Gulf War. At worst, Turkey now fears Iraqi and Syrian Kurdish areas might try to come together to form a larger Kurdistan - an entity that might yearn for swathes of Turkish territory.

SIMPLY SABRE RATTLING?

Already, commentators in Turkish newspapers express growing concern that that is exactly what is happening. What the PKK may end up running in parts of Syria, they say, may not just be assorted training camps but a de facto Kurdish state.

The image of PKK members directing traffic and performing other civic duties, some Turks worry, could help swell its support both amongst Kurds and more broadly. At the very least, the PKK would probably have access to both new recruits and some of the weaponry made available by Syria's wider and fast-growing conflict.

"The recent developments could provide the PKK with significant military opportunities. If the government doesn't take any precautions and wastes this most precious time, Turkey will face serious security problems," Nihat Ali Ozcan, a security analyst at the Ankara-based think tank TEPAV, wrote in Hurriyet Daily News.

"The PKK wants to harvest the political opportunities these military advantages would provide, will rise up and be more aggressive about reaching its aims."

Exactly how much support Syria might be giving Kurdish separatists is far from clear, although some Syrian opposition figures accused the PKK's local partners, the PYD, of acting as enforcers for Assad.

Under both Assad and his father, Hafez, Turkish accusations of Syrian backing for the PKK were points of contention and occasionally led to threats of outright conflict.

In 1998, Turkey moved tanks to the border and explicitly threatened to send them into Syria if Damascus did not expel PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, at the time sheltering in Syria. Hafez al-Assad took the threat seriously enough to evict Ocalan - who was shortly afterwards captured in Kenya by Turkish forces and probable US support.

Some kind of at least tacit agreement from Washington might still be needed for the Turks to be willing to take action.

"The Turks have been going for a gold medal when it comes to sabre rattling," says David Lea, regional analyst for Control Risks, a consultancy firm.

"But someone - most likely the Americans - has been sitting on their tail. I don't think the Turks would do anything unless they knew the Americans were with them. They want to act, but they don't have any good options. It's a microcosm of the whole Syria situation."

U.S. oil giant signs deal with Iraqi Kurds, defies central authority

This file photo shows an oil facility in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The Kurdistan regional government signed an oil deal with Chevron which will search for oil in six areas

Πηγή: Hurriyet Daily News
July 21 2012

Chevron has signed a deal with Kurdish Regional government becoming the second US oil company to secure oil agreements with Kurds in conflict with Baghdad.

U.S. oil giant Chevron announced July 19 that it had signed a deal with Iraqi Kurds to explore for oil in their northern region, defying the Iraqi central government which itself wants to control the area’s oil wealth. Turkey has also developed energy ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), straining its relations with Baghdad

The agreement makes Chevron the second U.S. company to secure oil deals with Kurds in conflict with Baghdad, after Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed last October to search for oil in six areas, the Associated Press reported July 20.

Baghdad wants to manage its energy resources nationwide and have the final say on all oil and gas deals. Kurds argue that the constitution allows them to draw up development plans independently and award deals without going through the oil ministry.

Chevron, based in California, said in a statement it would take over India’s Reliance Exploration and Production efforts to explore for oil in the Rovi and Sarta blocks. Chevron will hold 80 percent of the contract while Austria’s OMV AG will hold the rest. The blocks are located north of the regional capital, Arbil, and cover a combined area of approximately 1,124 square kilometers.

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the country’s Kurds have signed over 50 relatively small deals. But the entry of Exxon Mobil and now Chevron may be a game changer leading to de facto policies that the Kurds have long sought.

Iraq’s post-invasion governments have until recently blacklisted energy companies that signed contracts with the KRG to prevent them from working elsewhere in the country or purchasing crude oil. Chevron has no deals with the Baghdad government.

Later on July 19, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office said it had received a “positive and convincing” letter from President Barack Obama about Exxon Mobil’s oil plans in the Kurdish region, where Baghdad wants it to cease operations.

Al-Maliki’s statement did not directly quote from the letter, and his office did not provide a copy of it. It called on the company to meet “recommendations of the Iraqi government and the recommendations of the U.S. administration regarding this issue.” The statement also implied that Obama would side with Baghdad on the dispute, saying his letter “stressed respect of the constitution, and Iraqi laws, along the same lines the Iraqi government is working.”

Turkey’s energy deals

Meanwhile, Turkey has inked energy deals with the KRG despite harsh criticism from central Iraqi government officials, in a move to offset decreasing crude and gas flow from Iran due to international sanctions imposed on the Islamic republic.

Siyah Kalem, a Turkish engineering and construction company, has bid to transport natural gas from the Kurdish region, which was recently approved by The Energy Ministry and the Foreign Ministry of Turkey. Ankara and Arbil also admitted the beginning of oil trade in early July, a move conducted by the private sector, Turkish Energy Taner Yıldız said, referring to oil refiner Tüpraş.

“Turkey must stop the unauthorized export of oil through its land,” Iraqi spokesman Ali Dabbagh said July 15. Turkey dismissed demands ceasing transfers of crude oil from the KRG, saying that such trade was legal.

However, Turkey and Baghdad have not refrained from closer ties in energy in these tense political circumstances. Iraq signed an initial deal with a Turkey-Kuwait consortium to drill for oil and natural gas on July 16. Another warm step between the two countries was the disclosure of plans to ship oil from Basra, Iraq’s oil and gas rich southern province to Turkey, via a pipeline.

Four Journalists Facing Possible Jail Terms For Alleged Links To Banned Kurdish Group

Πηγή: Reporters Without Borders
July 2 2012

The trial of well-known publisher and journalist Ragip Zarakolu and three other journalists –Songül Karatagna, Kazim Seker and Hasan Özgünes – for their alleged connections with a banned Kurdish organization begins today inside Silivri high security prison on the northern outskirts of Istanbul.

They and 189 other people are going to be tried for alleged membership or links to the outlawed Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK), which the authorities regard as the urban wing of the armed separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Zarakolu was released conditionally in April after being held for more than five months but 132 of the 193 defendants are currently detained.

“Internationally recognized as a leading defender of human rights and freedom of expression in Turkey, Zarakolu could be returned to prison,” Reporters Without Borders said. “And he will again have to appear in court to explain the courageous positions he takes. This alone says a great deal about the threat that Turkey’s media and civil society are facing, the threat of a return to the past.

“The trial that opens today is highly symbolic. Criminalization of freedom of expression, abuse of pre-trial detention and the anti-terrorism law, and recourse to a special court – the faults of the Turkish judicial system are becoming a caricature of themselves. Using guilt by association and interpreting the law in the most repressive manner possible, the justice system is equating outspoken intellectuals with armed terrorists. All the journalists still in detention must be freed at once and given a fair trial.”

Arrested on 28 October 2011, despite his age, 63, and poor health, Zarakolu was granted a conditional release on 10 April. Karatagna was freed at the same. Implicitly recognizing the weakness of the case against Zarakolu, the court cited “the state of the evidence (...) the time already spent in detention” and “the possibility of the charge changing.” The other two journalists, Seker and Özgünes, are held in Kandira prison, in the northwestern city of Kocaeli.

The founder of the human rights organization IHD, Zarakolu has long been targeted in Turkey for recognizing minority rights and the Armenian genocide and for using his publishing house Belge (which means “document”) to try to push back the boundaries of censorship on these issues.

He used to edit the pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, often writes for the newspaper Günlük Evrensel and chairs the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publishers Union (TYB). He has won many international awards and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last February, while in prison.

He is charged with “deliberately helping the [KCK] although it has been established that he is not part of its hierarchy.” Investigators questioned him about his columns for Özgür Gündem and his “too many” trips abroad, but the indictment accuses him above all of attending the opening of the Istanbul Political Academy, which is linked to the pro-Kurdish BDP (a legal party represented in parliament), and giving classes there.

He is facing a possible 15-year jail sentence under articles 220.7 and 314.3 of the criminal code and article 5 of Law 3713, the anti-terrorism law.

Seker and Karatagna, who are the publishers of Özgür Gündem, are facing possible jail terms of 15 and 20 years respectively on a charge of being PKK members, while Özgünes, a columnist for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, is accused of being a PKK leader. As evidence for these charges, the indictment above all cites the books found at their homes and their presence at demonstrations or the Istanbul Political Academy.

Many representatives of international associations and media have gone to the prison for the trial, although the presiding judge announced yesterday they would not be allowed to attend. They include Reporters Without Borders correspondent Erol Önderoglu; Bjørn Smith-Simonsen of the International Publishers Association; Alexis Krikorian, the head of the IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee; Eugene Schoulgin, the vice-president of International PEN; and Sarah Wyatt, the head of PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee.

Hundreds of peoples responded to an appeal from the Freedom for Journalists Campaign (GÖP) to demonstrate on Istanbul’s Istiklal Avenue on 29 June, chanting “Empty the prisons, freedom for journalists” and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned journalists.

More than 5,000 people have been arrested in major police operations since 2009 for their alleged links to the KCK. They include many lawyers, journalists, unionists and local representatives of the BDP. Around 40 journalists were arrested last December in coordinated raids carried out in several cities.

In a related case, the trial of 37 lawyers detained since last autumn is due to begin on 16 July. Representatives of the Paris bar association plan to attend.
Read FIDH / OMCT fact-finding mission report "Human rights defenders, guilty until proven innocent" (June 2012)
Read Reporters Without Borders fact-finding mission report on media and justice in Turkey: "A book is not a bomb" (June 2011)
"Freedom for Ragip!" Wordpress blog

Iraq Deputy PM Blasts "Threats" Against Exxon over Kurdistan contracts

Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Roj Nori Shawis.

Πηγή: Ekurdnet
By Hassan Hafidh, Dow Jones Newswires
Feb 16 2012

ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Roj Nori Shawis, who represents the Kurdish Alliance block in the central government in Baghdad, Wednesday blasted as "threats to international oil companies " statement made recently by a government spokesman in Baghdad concerning ExxonMobil Corp. contracts in the country's Kurdistan region.

"These statements, particularly those which threaten international oil companies and warn them from working in (Iraq's) Kurdistan, would make them quit working in all of Iraq," Shawis said in a statement emailed to Dow Jones Newswires.

Faisal Abdullah, a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Affairs Hussein al-Shahristani, said Feb. 13 that Iraq would ban ExxonMobil from bidding in the country's fourth oil and gas licensing auction because of the deals it struck with the country's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

"These statements also communicate a negative picture to all investors in all aspects, and run contrary to the state's open economic and trade policy as well as encouraging investment in all fields," Shawis said.

Iraq is planning to auction 12 promising exploration blocks, seven of which are believed to contain natural gas, and five thought to contain crude. The new bid round,www.ekurd.net expected to add some 10 billion barrels of crude oil and some 29 trillion cubic feet of gas to Iraq's reserves, has already been delayed twice amid arguments on whether the contracts offered should be of the production-sharing type wanted by the explorers, or the fixed-fee service contracts wanted by the government.

Al-Shahristani has previously said Exxon would have to choose between its deal to explore six areas in Kurdistan and its central-government contract to develop the 370,000 barrels a day West Qurna Phase 1, Iraq's second-biggest field with proven reserves of more than 8.7 billion barrels.

In December, Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki met with senior Exxon executives during a visit to the U.S., and said afterward that the Irving, Texas-based company had promised to reconsider its dealings with the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG.

The KRG has signed nearly 50 oil-and-gas deals with international oil companies, mostly second-tier or wildcat explorers. The KRG was hopeful that Exxon's presence would ease the passage of other majors, such as Total SA (TOT), which is active in Iraq.

Some of the blocks in the Exxon-KRG deal are in a hotly contested oil-rich territory claimed by both the central government and the KRG, stretching from the Iranian border to the east and to the Syrian border in the northwest.

Baghdad has already blacklisted companies that maintain deals with the Kurds, excluding them from working elsewhere in Iraq. Among those is New York-based Hess Corp. (HES), which was barred last year from competing in the fourth energy auction.

However, Adnan Al Janabi, chairman of the Oil and Energy Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives, last week told Dow Jones Newswires that the Oil Ministry doesn't have the legal authority to blacklist Exxon over its Kurdistan contracts.

Evidence shows Kurdish raid may have been intentional

Family members cry over the coffins of victims of a botched Turkish air strike that killed 35 civilians last month.

Πηγή: The National
ByThomas Seibert

Jan 7 2012

ISTANBUL // When the bombing started, Haci Encu and his fellow smugglers ducked for cover.

Mr Encu, 19, and about 40 other Kurds from villages on the Turkish side of the border with Iraq, had set out with their mules to smuggle cigarettes and petrol from Iraq into the Turkish province of Sirnak, just like many times before. Such smuggling has a long tradition in this poor region of Turkey, and civilian or military authorities rarely interfere.

But on the evening of December 28, it was different. Mr Encu and others said they heard the unmanned drones, followed by the roar of warplanes and the sound of heavy explosions. Mr Encu and two other smugglers found shelter in a little river bed, but others were not so lucky.

"Right on the border, about 20 people were annihilated in the first wave of the air attack," Mr Encu told a delegation of non-governmental groups investigating the incident, according to a report of the probe published this week. Mr Encu is a member of a Kurdish clan that lost 26 people in the air raid. All in all, 35 civilians died in the bombardment. The government and the military in Ankara said the attack was ordered because the smugglers were mistaken for Kurdish rebels.

But a week after the air raid, opponents and supporters of the government said there is evidence that the attack was intentional. In interviews with The National this week, representatives of both the Kurdish community and Turkey's ruling party expressed concern that political motives may have been behind the raid.

The attack in the district of Uludere, one of the worst incidents involving civilian deaths in almost 30 years of conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has heightened tensions between Kurds and Turks. As the government in Ankara and members of the Party for Peace and Democracy (BDP), Turkey's main Kurdish party, traded accusations, villagers attacked a local official in Uludere who visited the families of the victims to pay his respects.

Prosecutors in Sirnak province and authorities in Ankara have started investigations, and the government has announced it will compensate bereaved families. But it remains unclear who ordered the air strike and why.

However, officials in Sirnak province yesterday demanded the suspension of a military officer in the region because he may have been involved in the airstrike. In a statement quoted by Turkish media, the office of the governor of Sirnak said that Col Huseyin Onur Guney, deputy commander of a military unit in the region, should be suspended. The statement said the colonel was the officer in charge on the day of the attack.

But the government in Ankara says it is not to blame.

"There was definitely no intention" to kill civilians, said Bulent Arinc, a deputy prime minister and government spokesman, after a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Efforts by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, to reassure the public and Turkey's estimated 12 million Kurds have failed to quell speculation.

Suspicions are based on the fact that the air strike took place even though authorities in Uludere were well aware that there was smuggling going on in the region. "Everyone knew it," Nusirevan Elci, the president of the bar association in Sirnak province said in a telephone interview this week. "Most people here are saying that the smugglers were killed intentionally." Selahattin Demirtas, the BDP leader, has called the Uludere incident "a clear massacre against civilians". The BDP accuses the Erdogan government of repressing Turkey's Kurds.

Mehmet Emin Dindar, a member of Mr Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) representing Sirnak province, confirmed that smuggling was known to be a source of income for poor villagers. "I wouldn't even call it smuggling," Mr Dindar said by telephone. "I would call it tax-free trade."

Fears that the villagers may have become the victims of an intentional attack rather than of a tragic mistake were boosted by statements of survivors. Servet Encu, another member of the Encu clan who was one of the smugglers, told the delegation of NGOs that troops stopped the smugglers near the border on the evening of December 28.

"Soldiers have stopped us before, but they always let us pass after a while," Servet Encu told the delegation.

"This time, they blocked our way completely and did not allow us to go on. When the bombing started, the soldiers got into their vehicles and left."

Hasim Encu, the mayor of one of the border villagers, told a delegation of opposition politicians that the air strike had been "intentional and preordained". Mr Erdogan knew details of the incident that had not been made public yet, he said according to news reports.

Mr Dindar, the AKP politician, also said he suspected that the raid was politically motivated sabotage. But unlike the BDP, he pointed the finger at government opponents within the armed forces bent on undermining efforts by Ankara to solve the Kurdish conflict. "Look at the Arinc speech," he said, referring to recent remarks by the deputy prime minister, in which he promised to widen Kurdish rights. "That made some people nervous," Mr Dindar said.

Neither Mr Dindar, Mr Elci nor the BDP offered concrete evidence for their theories. But Turkey has seen suspected cases of deadly provocations in the Kurdish conflict before. In one incident, an army sergeant is among suspects on trial in the city of Van, charged with killing a man in a bomb attack on a bookshop in nearby Hakkari province in 2005. Prosecutors claim the suspects attacked the bookshop to increase tensions in the predominantly Kurdish region.

Turkey: Hundreds of Kurds protest killing of alleged PKK rebels

Πηγή: ekurd net
By AFP
Dec 31 2011

DIYARBAKIR, The Kurdish region of Turkey, — Hundreds of Kurds on Saturday protested against the killing of two Kurdish youngster allegedly were Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey in a shootout with the police who attacked their hideout.

The protestors demonstrated near where the two suspected members of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) died in a gun battle with the police early Saturday in Diyarbakir city.

The crowd chanted slogans and threw stones at the police, who responded with water cannon and tear gas grenades and made several arrests.

Ten demonstrators were detained, according to eyewitnesses.

One protestor was injured and immediately taken to hospital, said an AFP reporter at the scene,www.ekurd.net who was warned by police not to talk to the demonstrators.

According to reports coming through two young people have been killed by police in Diyarbakir, in the Kayapınar area. Earlier independent reports said that during a house raid by police a clash broke out and two wounded people threw themselves or were thrown out from the building, ANF News agency reported.

It is now claimed by eyewitnesses that in fact the two boys have been shot on the street by the police.

The governor of the city has told the press that two people died as a result of an armed clash.

Eyewitnesses contradict this version of events and claim that the two youngster have been shot on the street and no clash was lived.

BDP, İHD (Human Rights Association), Mazkum-Der and Diyarbakir lawyers are on the scene.

As circumstances of the death of two boys remain uncleared, new witnesses say the boys were shot by plain clothes policemen. Also people in the building say police have taken all the mobile phones in the building.

Tensions are running high in the region after a botched Turkish air strike killed 35 Kurdish civilians, prompting the PKK to issue a call for an "uprising."

Turkey's military command said it carried out the air strike after a spy drone spotted a group moving toward its sensitive southeastern border under cover of darkness late Wednesday, in an area known to be used by militants.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted Friday that the victims were smugglers and not separatist rebels as the army had originally claimed.

Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish state in the south east of the country, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives.

But now its aim is the creation an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more than 20 million. A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.

PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey, reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.

Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish language and private Kurdish language courses with the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish politicians say the measures fall short of their expectations.

The PKK is considered as 'terrorist' organization by Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union's terror list.

Exxon Mobil deal hikes tension in northern Iraq

Ashti Hawrami, the minister for natural resources, told the Kurdistan-Iraq Oil and Gas Conference in Erbil on November that the KRG had signed a contract withExxonMobil and that the federal government was kept informed throughout the negotiations.

Πηγή: BuffaloNews
By AP
Dec 28 2011

BAGHDAD (AP) - An oil exploration deal between U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil and Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region is fueling political tensions in a country where a post-U.S.-troop withdrawal spike in violence and political turmoil is clouding the climate for foreign investments sorely needed by Iraq.

Baghdad's anger over the deal highlights the long-simmering power struggle between the Kurdish and central governments. The dispute is building momentum as Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki faces criticism over his stewardship of a country where, years after the 2003 U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein, development remains a distant dream for millions.

The deal "will certainly contribute to further complicating the relationship" between the Kurds and Baghdad, said Gala Riani, Middle East and North Africa Regional Manager at the London-based IHS Global Insight.

It "may also raise tensions in border areas which have already become more restive as a result of the withdrawal of the U.S. troops," he said.

While the Kurds have sought control over the oil within their northern territory, Baghdad insists the resource should overseen by the central government. About 30 percent of Iraq's 143.1 billion barrels of proven reserves of conventional crude sit in the Kurdish region.

The dispute has festered unresolved since the U.S.-led coalition ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003. Parliament has failed to signed off on a draft national oil law on sharing the resources since 2007, angering the Kurds and making foreign majors leery of investing. Baghdad's last two international oil licensing auctions drew limited interest by deep-pocketed firms like Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP PLC.

Under the Kurdish deal, Exxon Mobil, would explore for crude in six patches in northern Iraq, including land claimed by both the Kurds and Arabs in northern Ninevah province.

More broadly, the issue of the disputed territory, which stretches from across the country from the Syrian border to the Iranian border, is one of Iraq's most nagging post-Saddam era problems. American forces for years acted as a buffer between the Kurds and Arabs in the area by building partnerships between Iraqi army forces and their Kurdish counterparts known as the peshmerga. But after the U.S. troops' withdrawal, officials warn violence could flare there.

Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni Arab nationalist from Ninevah and an outspoken opponent to Kurdish land ambitions, called the granting of the exploration blocs an "unacceptable violation" of Ninevah's administrative boundaries and demanded it be annulled. Opposition to the Kurds' moves is one of the few things that unite Sunni Arabs and the Shiite parties that dominate the Baghdad government.

A day earlier, a Ninevah provincial delegation to Baghdad files an official complaint to the government, according to provincial councilman Abdul-Rahim al-Shimmari.

Baghdad and the Kurdish government have already nearly come to blows over oil fields in this disputed region. In 2008, a 24-hour standoff developed between their respective security forces over a section of an oil field in Kirkuk, an ethnically-mixed area the Kurds want to annex.

Baghad warns it could punish Exxon Mobil and that the company's existing contracts could be in jeopardy. But so far it has taken no punitive measures.

Many analysts doubt that it will, considering Baghdad's profound need for foreign investment.

Outside the Kurdish zone, Exxon Mobil and Shell are already developing one of Iraq's biggest oil fields, the 8.6 billion-barrel West Qurna Stage 1 field in southern Basra province. Exxon Mobil is also expected to lead a multibillion dollar project in Basra, a Shiite stronghold, that will help make available the water needed for oil development.

Baghdad's oil policy is not a "long-term sustainable program that would attract foreign capital into Iraq," said Fadel Gheit, chief economist with Oppenheimer & Co.

Although Iraq sits atop the world's fourth largest proven reserves of conventional crude, decades of sanctions, war, sabotage and negligence have battered the sector that generates about 95 percent of the government's foreign revenues. Iraq hopes to boost its output to 12 million barrels per day by 2017 from about 3 million a day now. Such a surge will only be possible with help from foreign majors.

Despite its oil resources, electricity remains spotty, at best, years after Saddam's ouster and the country faces chronic problems with unemployment and private sector growth largely because of daily violence and rampant corruption.

Western companies have so far been wary of significant investments in a country where violence has recently spiked, and where tensions are growing between Sunnis and Shiites.

During the last two international licensing rounds, Western majors expressed little appetite, and Baghdad signed contracts with a host of state-run companies from China, Angola, Algeria and others. Few of those companies are seen as having the capital or experience of the Exxons or Shells of the world.

Exxon Mobil has not commented on the deal since it was announced by the Kurds in mid-November. Officials from the company did not respond to requests for comment.

If the deal goes forward, it would be an enormous vote of confidence for the Kurds' oil policy and could open the door for other majors to jump in.

"This is a further step for the Kurds' autonomy in the federated Iraq," Theodore Karasik, an analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis said.

For the company, the deal's benefits are obvious. It allows Exxon Mobil to retain a share of the profits from the oil produced while the service contracts offered by Baghdad provide the firms with a flat fee per barrel of oil produced for their services.

The Kurds win the coup of netting a major company. They have unilaterally signed scores of oil deals, mostly with mid-sized companies. Baghdad considers all of these deals illegal and has blacklisted the companies involved.

The Kurds and Exxon Mobil appear to be betting the Baghdad government will be forced to acquiesce.

They "are now in a position where they could essentially force Baghdad to accept the status quo and the two separate regulatory systems that exist in the country," said Riani.

Turkey Accused of Killing Kurd Leader – Trying to Trigger Civil War in Syria

Mr Tammo, assassinated by four gunmen on Friday, was the first well-known national opposition political figure to be killed since the revolt began in March.

Πηγή: Land Destroyer
By Tony Cartalucci

Oct 9 2011

Turkey a NATO member, and notorious butchers of the Kurdish people not only within their borders but well beyond them, including multiple incursions into Iraq in 2007, 2008, and 2010, with tank battalions as well as air strikes on “suspected” militant targets on both sides of the border, has played a role in the assassination of Syrian-Kurdish leader Mashaal Tammo according to Kurdish activists. Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Kurdish Party leaders accused Turkish intelligence of assassinating Tammo, aiming to ignite sedition throughout the northern province of Hasaka. Hasaka Province conveniently shares a borders with Turkey – a border Turkey has systematically militarized in its decades long war against the Kurdish people. It is also a border Turkey is now conducting “military exercises” along in an overt threat to Syria, Voice of America reports. Turkey and its Western sponsors are now hoping the resulting chaos will trigger an armed Kurdish uprising in Syria against the Assad government and be the “tipping point” in an otherwise stalled 7 month-long destabilization attempt.




Photo: Turkish tanks line up on the Iraqi boarder for yet another internationally sanctioned, extraterritorial murder-spree aimed at Northern Iraq’s Kurdish population. Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, has waged a genocidal war against the Kurds both within its borders and beyond at the cost of over 40,000 lives. Despite the immense hypocrisy, Turkey has taken the lead in chastising neighboring Syria for reining in foreign-funded sedition.

….

The assassination was also complemented by mystery gunmen who opportunistically attacked Tammo’s funeral procession, killing several attendees and further provoking Syria’s Kurd minority to rise up in violence. Details of the shootings were filtered through the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a notorious propaganda front whose second-hand reports are faithfully repeated by Western media outlets as “fact.” The expediency with which propagandists at BBC and the US State Department concluded the shootings were the work of the Syrian government further lends suspicion over who indeed carried out the assassination and the subsequent shootings at Tammo’s funeral – a dream scenario for Western nations bent on ousting Assad by collapsing Syrian society into a Libyan-style civil war.

It should be noted, that out of Syria’s opposition movement, Mashaal Tammo was one of the few leaders opposing foreign meddling in Syria’s affairs, going as far as not attending an opposition confab held in Turkey on this basis. It should be further noted that of all of Syria’s minorities, the Kurds have so far not joined in large scale protests. Western corporate-funded think tanks and media outlets have been fantasizing over the prospect of Kurdish militants joining the US-funded uprising, despite what, up until now, appeared to be their neutral stance. The Wall Street Journal’s “Kurds Look Beyond Assad, With Dreams of Autonomy” acknowledged the muted role the Kurds were playing in the uprising and their hesitation to make wider commitments. Tammo’s assassination may just have been the geopolitical ploy necessary to spur the Kurds past this point of hesitation.

After months of stalled, now failing armed opposition against the Syrian government through the Muslim Brotherhood and an assortment of Al-Qaeda linked militant groups, the West is exhibiting an almost palpable madness in pursuit of war with Syria. Western propaganda networks, including BBC, CNN, and Al Jazeera and contrived “human rights advocacy” fronts fully funded by corporate-financier special interests have been caught fabricating in whole, stories of atrocities being perpetrated by the Assad government. One activist reported by Soros-funded Amnesty International (page 10) to have been “brutally murdered in custody” turned up alive and well. Amnesty International would later reveal just how tenuous the information was behind what was essentially baseless, sensationalized propaganda aimed at the Syrian government. After a failed UN resolution, vetoed outright by Russia and China, and receiving no votes from other BRIC nations, more desperate measures are sure to follow, including the increasing prospect of unilateral military action taken by Turkey, on behalf of NATO and its corporate sponsors.

Syria: Visit of ALBA Countries Foreign Ministers to Damascus Underlines Deep Relations

Πηγή: SANA
Oct 9 2011


DAMASCUS, (SANA) _Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem said that the visit of ALBA countries' foreign ministers to Damascus underlines the deep relations between Syria and ALBA countries.

In a joint press conference with a delegation of ALBA countries' foreign ministers on Sunday, Al-Moallem said ''The timing of the delegation's visit and their coming from overseas gives an idea about the scope of this solidarity.''

Answering a question on announcing the so-called ''National Transitional Council'' in Istanbul and its bids for gaining international recognition, al-Moallem said ''I am not interested in what they seek, and we will adopt strict measures against any country which will recognize the illegitimate council.''

Al-Moallem said that vandalism and violent acts moved to target the Syrian diplomatic missions abroad, adding the countries in which these missions are based are responsible for protecting them.

Al-Moallem added that the EU countries have laws regulating peaceful demonstration so that not a protest or gatherings are allowed without prior license.

Al-Moallem wondered "Do the armed terrorist groups want holding a national dialogue? ...Do the armed groups, which assassinate the intellectuals and scholars, want reforms in Syria? ... These groups kill people for money; therefore I don't see any relation between what they do and the reform program and the scheduled dialogue."

He added that the national opposition is invited to participate in the national dialogue and in building the future of Syria.

Al-Moallem said "the number of the Syrian figures who have been assassinated has reached 1110... It is essential that we inform the international community about the existence of armed groups who perpetrate acts of violence in Syria and kill huge number of martyrs."

He added "A lot of people in the West say 'this revolution is peaceful and the demonstrations are peaceful and they don't recognize the existence of the armed terrorist groups whom they finance and smuggle weapons to them."

Answering a question on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's insistence on imposing sanctions on Syria and the Kurdish Parties leadership's accusation of the Turkish intelligence of assassinating Mishael Tammo", al-Moallem said "I affirm that a terrorist group assassinated martyr Mishael Tammo who rejected the calls for foreign interference.. His assassination aims at igniting sedition in Hasaka Province which remained throughout the crisis an example for coexistence and tolerance."

Regarding the statements of the Turkish Prime Minister, al-Moallem said "We say that Syria is not arms folded and we will respond in the same way we are treated."

"We support the comprehensive national dialogue and the participation of the opposition in this dialogue and we call for going on in the comprehensive reform program…The ministers today listened to this approach led by president Bashar al-Assad, and we don't know anything about Russia's willingness to mediate in this regard…I reiterate that we support the national dialogue and the opposition is invited to participate in it," al-Moallem said.

He added " I reiterate our thanks and appreciation for the Russian and Chinese stances at the UN Security Council, and we make constant contacts with the Russian leadership with regard to the situation in Syria…It is clear that Russia usually calls for preventing the foreign interference in Syria's affairs and for holding a national dialogue in which the opposition participates…It also calls for going on the program of comprehensive reforms and it adopts a stance in light of this policy."

He went on saying "The armed terrorist groups perpetrate acts of violence in Syria and they carry out their missions and flee to the neighboring villages…There is no country in the world which accepts to keep silent about such groups which perpetrate acts of violence against its citizens…I think that our Russian friends are aware of this truth, particularly after a Russian oil company in Homs was attacked by terrorists two days ago."

" We now the hugeness of the pressures facing the countries which support Syria, yet Cuba is an example to follow in this regard as it resisted all forms of pressures including the military aggression…We are confident that the Syrian principled stance will continue, and we in return will stay committed to the program of comprehensive reform and the national dialogue in which we invite the opposition to participate …the security forces will continue to confront the armed terrorist groups," al-Moallem said.

Cuba's Foreign Minister Rodriguez said "We denounce the acts of sabotage and assassination in Syria to undermine its security and stability."

"The ALBA countries support Syria and urge the UN and the Security Council to play an objective role in Syria," Parrilla added.

Ecuador Foreign Ministry Sub-secretary Pablo Villagomiz said "We hope that the foreign interference in Syria would not be exploited for undermining the sovereignty, security and stability of the Syrian people."

Villagomiz added "We came to Syria to express the ALBA solidarity with Syria's sovereignty and independence."

Bolivian Minister of Information and Communications Ivan Canelas said "We strongly condemn the imperialistic attempts to harm the freedom, sovereignty and dignity of the Syrian people,'' adding, ''We are here today to express our respect and support to Syria and the Syrian people.''

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro Moros said ''We conveyed to Syria and the Syrian people and President Bashar al-Assad, on behalf of ALBA countries' leaders, our genuine solidarity with Syria and rejection of all forms of Western and imperialistic interference in the internal affairs of this country. The Syrian people have the right to solve their own problems.''

''We expressed support to the Syrian people in the national dialogue efforts for finding peaceful solutions, and rejection of distortion and lies disseminated by media in an attempt to market a different image of Syria,'' he added.

He went on saying "We can't stand arms folded while we are watching how the imperialism is trying to exploit the situations and the internal problems in Syria to serve its interests and to destabilize this country."

" We unanimously decided to support the Syrian people to overcome their crisis and problems…In the first place, we will convey a true image about what is taking place in Syria…The media, psychological and political war against Syria must stop, and we condemn this war," he said.

"In the second place, we must support each other at the international forums, particularly at the UN Security Council and the UN which can't change into a war tool in the hand of imperialism and Zionism against the nations of the world…We think that it is impudence to reject the Palestinian's request to have a seat at the UN, and at the same time they keep silent when the occupation forces shell Gaza," he said.

Nicaragua Deputy Foreign Minister Maria Rubiales said that she conveyed a message of support from President Daniel Ortega and the Nicaraguan people to the Syrian people and leadership who have usually stood by the people and leadership of Nicaragua in face of the imperialism attempts of aggression in the 1980s.

Rubiales added "We are in the same trench…We defend peace and sovereignty…Defending Syria is defending all of our nations against the imperialism aggressions…Attacking Syria means attacking the ALBA countries and the peoples of South America."

What is the Kurdish question?

Once brutalized by Saddam, Iraq's third main minority is largely Sunni and inhabits the most prosperous part of Iraq, an autonomous territory in the north.

Πηγή: oprnDemocracy
By Ruwayda Mustafah Rabar

Sep 23 2011

What is the Kurdish question? When assessing this tragic history, it is essential to see what Kurds have endured for years, not just in Turkey.

I was intrigued to find that many people did not know what the Kurdish question implied. The Kurdish question is a term widely used in reference to the fact that Kurdish people do not have a homeland. Kurdistan is divided into four regions; including parts of Iran, North-eastern Syria, South-eastern Turkey and Northern Iraq where Kurds live. The Kurdish population exceeds 40 million, and the spoken language is Kurdish, which consists of different dialects, similar to the different Persian dialects.

According to Sandra Mackey in The Kurds: Culture and language rights, 20% of Turkey is Kurdish, making up approximately 23% of Kurds worldwide. Turkey has been unable to solve the Kurdish question on its own: its efforts to squelch any movement for self-determination and liberation has been evident both historically, and in their present day policies.



Kurdish region: Wikimedia commons

When the Kurdish liberation movement gained momentum in the 80’s, it was a new power challenging western imperialism and capitalism within Turkey, and the Middle East at large. This movement was started because of systematic discrimination against Kurds in Turkey. The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) was founded in 1978 by Abdullah Ocalan, and was later listed as a terrorist organisation by the USA and Turkey amongst other countries.

The PKK is an armed movement, born out of desperation, seeking autonomy for the Kurdish people in Turkey. The Turkish state forced Kurds to assimilate, banning the speaking and teaching of Kurdish, and forced many to exile prior to the establishment of the PKK. Despite this, many Kurds have criticised the PKK for indiscriminate attacks on Turkish civilians in the past, which has resulted in injury, and also death.

During the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds were displaced and under the leadership of the Young Turks, the Kurdish people were displaced into small groups in an attempt to eradicate Kurdish identity. 700,000 Kurds were removed as part of the'Turkification' of the Kurds. Consequently 350,000 of them gradually perished according to Journal of Genocide Research. Soon afterwards, between 1937 and 1938, an estimate of 50,000-80,000 Kurds were killed, and many others were forced into exile. It was families, including women and children, who suffered under this tyrannical rule, known as the Dersim massacre or genocide.

The eradication of Kurdish identity went as far as banning Kurdish literature and music in the 80’s throughout Turkey. When assessing this tragic history, it is essential to see what Kurds have endured for years, not just in Turkey but also in other parts of Kurdistan. In Iraq, Kurds faced systematic discrimination at the hands of the Ba’ath regime, and genocide was carried out in Halabja through poisonous gas attack by the Iraqi Government. Up to 15,000 Kurds were killed or injured in 1988.

In Iran, Kurdish political activists are often imprisoned, or sentenced to death simply because of their political outlook. Similarly in Syria, Kurds were not allowed to have Syrian citizenship until the Syrian revolutionary movement was started 5 months ago. Despite making up 10% of the Syrian population, Kurds were not given nationality until President Bashar tried to make some flimsy reforms. Kurds in Syria have faced systematic discrimination for decades, including the Al-Qamishli massacre of 2004 that was never given sufficient media coverage.

Unfortunately, little is known about Kurdish history and the suffering they have faced for decades. It is largely due to lack of information about the Kurdish people that their struggle remains unresolved, and also because the demographics of Kurdistan ensure that any political movement for liberation and self-determination is bound to affect so many countries.