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 …
Turkish writer convicted because of his characters
ISTANBUL – The Turkish writer Mehmet Güler was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment because characters in his book allegedly made propaganda for the PKK. This story appears in the Thursday edition of Hürriyet.
Güler’s book ‘Decision harder than death’ was published last year but was soon withdrawn from the market on charges of propaganda for a terrorist organisation. The book is …
Increased security measures in Turkish tourist areas
ISTANBUL – In tourist areas of Turkey extra security measures are being taken against attacks by Kurdish separatist movement PKK, according to several Turkish media on Friday. That is one of the outcomes of deliberations between the Turkish government and the army on Thursday. Exactly which measures will be taken has not been revealed.
The security measures are being intensified after …
Turkey investigates Israel-PKK ties
ISTANBUL –Turkish intelligence services are investigating whether there is a connection between the Israeli attack on the aid convoy to Gaza and a PKK attack on a Turkish marine base on the Mediterranean Sea a few hours earlier. Speculation about a link is rising in the Turkish press.
Newspapers have been printing articles about a possible connection between the two events …
Kurdish allowed in election campaign
ISTANBUL – The Turkish parliament has passed an amendment legalising the use of Kurdish in election campaigns, and thus removing an important restriction on the use of the language. This is according to reports in several Turkish media on Thursday. In parliament Turkish remains the only language allowed.
During last year’s local government elections, several Kurdish politicians got into trouble for …
ISTANBUL – After the banning of the DTP last Friday, Kurdish activists have formed a new political party: the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP). The party was founded last year to take over the activiteis of the DTP in case the DTP was closed down. According to DTP leader Ahmet Türk, the BDP is a new party with new people …
It looks like a postcard, Northern Iraq. The mountains, the plains, the colours, the light. But in these mountains the PKK is hiding. And a bit further south, in the middle of such an empty plain, live ten thousand Turkish-Kurdish refugees in a gloomy camp. They want to go back home.
(published with a big beautiful picture of Northern …
Football club victim of Erdogan’s Kurdish plan
ISTANBUL – The Turkish football club Diyarbakirspor, from the Kurdish southeast of Turkey, has withdrawn from the Turkish foot ball competition, after the club was once again deluged with anti-Kurdish slogans at an away-from-home game. Anti-Kurdish sentiments have been on the rise since the Turkish government took the initiative this summer to solve the problems with the Kurdish minority.
The governing …
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