Stop labelling PKK-fighters as terrorists
Turkey is bombing PKK camps in Northern-Iraq in retaliation for the killing of soldiers by the PKK. The first civilian deaths have been reported. The EU doesn’t protest the violence, because the PKK is on the EU list of terrorist organizations. But the label ‘terrorist’ contributes to maintaining the crux of the problem, which is the still unsolved Kurdish issue. …
Violence hampers solution to Kurdish question
ISTANBUL – Amid increasing PKK violence and Turkish bombings of PKK camps in Northern Iraq last night, a solution to the Kurdish question seems further away than ever. It is not only increasing violence that hampers a solution, but also legal action against Kurdish politicians adding to the rising tensions.
PKK violence started increasing last month, when thirteen Turkish soldiers were …
Turkey continues fight after loss of 13 soldiers
ANKARA – The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said he is determined to continue the fight against the PKK. He said this after an emergency meeting with the army after thirteen Turkish soldiers died in an attack by Kurdish seperatist movement PKK. Also seven PKK-fighters died.
It was the biggest PKK attack in about a year time. The soldiers prepared an …
‘They always got back on their feet again’
For monthly magazine OnzeWereld (OurWorld) I regulary contribute to ‘Around the world’, a series in which every month another theme is reported about by several journalists around the world. For July/August the theme was the question: ‘Who do you take as an example in your life?’. I interviewed Delal Seven, and besides that there were stories from Mali, Yemen, Israel …
ISTANBUL – Metin (47) votes for Abdullah Öcalan. That the leader of the Kurdish seperatist movement PKK is in jail, is not relevant. Hij points at the posters of the candidate for pro-Kurdish party BDP. ‘I vote for Öcalan via him.’
The neighborhood Tarlabasi, a few minutes walk from Istanbuls central Taksim Square, is old, dilapidated and poor, and mainly inhabited …
Kurdish candidates can run in Turkey
ISTANBUL – On Thursday afternoon the Election Board in Turkey decided to allow six independent Kurdish candidates to run in the general elections after all. The decision follows days of unrest, after the Board on Monday announced a ban on the candidates from participating.
Six of the seven banned Kurdish politicians are now allowed to run, among whom the well known …
Big Kurdish demonstration in Istanbul
ISTANBUL – Thousands of Kurds have demonstrated in Turkey’s biggest city, Istanbul, against the decision by the election board to exclude seven independent candidates from participating in the elections. On the central Taksim Square the flag of Kurdish separatist movement PKK and a portrait of PKK leader Ocalan were carried around. The police kept their distance for a long time, …
Kurds start long term civil disobedience
ISTANBUL – Kurdish groups in Turkey have announced long term civil disobedience to demand more cultural and political freedom. They have started with mass sit-ins in several cities in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country. On Thursday thousands of people are expected to gather in the city of Batman, according to reports in Turkish papers on Thursday.
The actions have …
Turkish president visits Kurdish area
ISTANBUL – The Turkish President Abdullah Gül is paying a visit to Diyarbakir, the biggest city in the southern southeast of the country, on the last two days of the year. It’s hoped that Gül can ease the rising tensions over the Kurdish question. He will also appear live on Kurdish language state-owned TV station TRT6, and is expected to …
Turkish Prime Minister accuses Europe
ISTANBUL –Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan accuses Europe of supporting terrorists, and thus ascribes to them responsibility for the bomb attack in Istanbul yesterday. In the attack 32 people were wounded and the suicide bomber himself was killed.
Erdoğan mentioned the bomb attack in a speech he gave to an international congress in Istanbul. He blamed European countries for failing to get …
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