organization:kurdistan workers’ party

’Nothing is ours anymore’: Kurds forced out of #Afrin after Turkish assault

Many who fled the violence January say their homes have been given to Arabs.
When Areen and her clan fled the Turkish assault on Afrin in January, they feared they may never return.

Six months later, the Kurdish family remain in nearby villages with other Afrin locals who left as the conquering Turks and their Arab proxies swept in, exiling nearly all its residents.

Recently, strangers from the opposite end of Syria have moved into Areen’s home and those of her family. The few relatives who have made it back for fleeting visits say the numbers of new arrivals – all Arabs – are rising each week. So too is a resentment towards the newcomers, and a fear that the steady, attritional changes may herald yet another flashpoint in the seven-year conflict.

Unscathed through much of the Syrian war, and a sanctuary for refugees, Afrin has become a focal point of a new and pivotal phase, where the ambitions of regional powers are being laid bare and a coexistence between Arabs and Kurds – delicately poised over decades – is increasingly being threatened.

The small enclave in northwestern Syria directly reflects the competing agendas of four countries, Turkey, Syria, Russia and the US – though none more so than Ankara, whose creeping influence in the war is anchored in Afrin and the fate of its peoples.

Turkey’s newfound stake has given it more control over its nearby border and leverage over its arch foe, the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), which had used its presence in Afrin to project its influence northwards.

But the campaign to oust Kurdish militias has raised allegations that Ankara is quietly orchestrating a demographic shift, changing the balance of Afrin’s population from predominantly Kurdish to majority Arab, and – more importantly to Turkish leaders – changing the composition of its 500-mile border with Syria.

Ahead of the January assault, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said: “We will return Afrin to its rightful owners.”

Erdoğan’s comments followed a claim by US officials that it would help transform a Kurdish militia it had raised to fight Islamic State in northeastern Syria into a more permanent border force. The announcement incensed Turkish leaders, who had long feared that Syria’s Kurds would use the chaos of war to advance their ambitions – and to move into a 60-mile area between Afrin and the Euphrates river, which was the only part of the border they didn’t inhabit.

Ankara denies it is attempting to choreograph a demographic shift in Afrin, insisting it aimed only to drive out the PKK, not unaffiliated Kurdish locals.

“The people of Afrin didn’t choose to live under the PKK,” said a senior Turkish official. “Like Isis, the PKK installed a terrorist administration there by force. Under that administration, rival Kurdish factions were silenced violently. [The military campaign] resulted in the removal of terrorists from Afrin and made it possible for the local population to govern themselves. The vast majority of the new local council consists of Kurds and the council’s chairperson is also Kurdish.”

Many who remain unable to return to Afrin are unconvinced, particularly as the influx from elsewhere in Syria continues. Both exiles and newcomers confirmed to the Guardian that large numbers of those settling in Afrin came from the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, where an anti-regime opposition surrendered to Russian and Syrian forces in April, and accepted being transferred to northern Syria

Between bandits, militiamen, and wayfarers, Afrin is barely recognisable, say Kurdish locals who have made it back. “It’s not the Afrin we know,” said Areen, 34. “Too many strange faces. Businesses have been taken over by the Syrians, stores changed to Damascene names, properties gone. We feel like the Palestinians.

“The Syrian government couldn’t care less to help us reclaim our property, they won’t even help us get back into Afrin. We want to go back, we couldn’t care less if we’re governed by the Kurds or Turks or Assad, we just want our land back.”

A second Afrin exile, Salah Mohammed, 40, said: “Lands are being confiscated, farms, wheat, furniture, nothing is ours anymore; it’s us versus their guns. It’s difficult to come back, you have to prove the property is yours and get evidence and other nearly impossible papers to reclaim it.

“There is definitely a demographic change, a lot of Kurds have been forcibly displaced on the count that they’re with the PKK when in fact they weren’t. There are barely any Kurds left in Afrin, no one is helping us go back.”

Another Afrin local, Shiyar Khalil, 32, said: “When the Kurds try to get back to their house they have to jump through hoops. You cannot deny a demographic change, Kurds are not able to go back. Women are veiled, bars are closed; it’s a deliberate erasing of Kurdish culture.”

Umm Abdallah, 25, a new arrival from Ghouta said some Kurds had returned to Afrin, but anyone affiliated with Kurdish militias had been denied entry. “I’ve seen about 300 Kurds come back to Afrin with their families in the past month or so. I don’t know whose house I am living in honestly, but it’s been registered at the police station.”

She said Afrin was lawless and dangerous, with Arab militias whom Turkey had used to lead the assault now holding aegis over the town. “The Turks try to stop the looting but some militias are very malicious,” she said. “They mess with us and the Kurds, it’s not stable here.”

Both Umm Abdallah and another Ghouta resident, Abu Khaled Abbas, 23, had their homes confiscated by the Assad regime before fleeing to the north. “The Assad army stole everything, even the sinks,” said Abbas.

“These militias now are not leaving anyone alone [in Afrin], how do you think they will treat the Kurds? There are bad things happening, murder, harassment, rapes, and theft. They believe they ‘freed’ the land so they own it now.”

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f04364c0260c482c9bd5c7441b07f08dbe5d5014/0_140_5760_3456/master/5760.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=8faab0dd1286e50df95c2db517916490#.jpg https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/577c16dbd046f12ca9e5a6882cdd0cfd8ba68e77/0_0_5760_3456/master/5760.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=06cc1b1eb0f53d73517796781090b1fa#.jpg

Turkish court bans 9 books on terror charges

A Turkish government has banned the sale and distribution of nine books, printed by pro-Kurdish Avesta Publications, media reported Sunday.

The ban was imposed after the copies of the nine books were found at a place where two people were earlier detained as part of an investigation into the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Sirnak’s Idil district.

“The said books are the ones which were published as doctoral dissertations at the world’s leading universities between 2003 and 2015. …Among the banned books are the the ones about Yazidis’ holy writings and Battle of Chaldiran. How on earth they are affiliated with terrorism? The other banned book is on the genocide in Iraq. This book consists of official reports of Human Rights Watch… and it is accredited with parliaments of several countries,” publisher’s editor-in-chief Abdullah Keskin told Duvar news portal.

The original names of the banned books are as follows: “ Kan, İnançlar ve Oy Pusulaları; Cesur Adamların Ülkesine Yolculuk; Tasavvur Mu Gerçek Mi? Mahabad Kürt Cumhuriyeti Büyük Güçlerin Politikasında Kürtler 1941-1947; Mağdur Diasporadan Sınır-Ötesi Vatandaşlığa Mı?; Ülkemde Bir Yabancı; Çaldıran Savaşı’nda Osmanlılar Safeviler ve Kürtler; Tanrı ve Şeyh Adi Kusursuzdur: Yezidi Tarihinden Kutsal Şiirler ve Dinsel Anlatılar; Kürdistan Bayrağının Altında; Irak’ta Soykırım.”

http://turkeypurge.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/dsdsdd-1024x675.jpg

J’essaie de réunir ici quelques liens déjà sur seenthis sur la #persécution de citoyens de #Turquie à l’#étranger, suite à la #purge après le #coup :
▻http://seen.li/d36u
#Allemagne

▻http://seen.li/e8dx
#Belgique #Suisse

Turquie : Erdoğan traque les collaborateurs de Gülen dans tous les Balkans
▻https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Turquie-Erdogan-traque-les-collaborateurs-de-Gulen-dans-tous-les-
#Balkans #Albanie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #purge

cc @isskein

Turkey: UN expert says deeply concerned by rise in torture allegations

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, expressed serious concerns about the rising allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in Turkish police custody since the end of his official visit to the country in December 2016.

Melzer said he was alarmed by allegations that large numbers of individuals suspected of links to the Gülenist Movement or the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party were exposed to brutal interrogation techniques aimed at extracting forced confessions or coercing detainees to incriminate others.

Reported abuse included severe beatings, electrical shocks, exposure to icy water, sleep deprivation, threats, insults and sexual assault.

The Special Rapporteur said no serious measures appeared to have been taken by the authorities to investigate these allegations or to hold perpetrators accountable.

Instead, complaints asserting torture were allegedly dismissed by the prosecutor citing a ‘state of emergency decree (Article 9 of Decree no. 667)’ which reportedly exempts public officials from criminal responsibility for acts undertaken in the context of the state of emergency.

"The human right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment is absolute and non-derogable, and continues to apply in all situations of political instability or any other public emergency,” the Special Rapporteur said. No circumstances, however exceptional and well argued, can ever justify torture or any form of impunity for such abuse.

"Torture is not only a notoriously ineffective interrogation method, but it constitutes the most fundamental assault on human dignity and is invariably listed among the most serious international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.”

Melzer said by inviting his mandate to visit the country in December 2016, soon after an attempted coup, the Government had demonstrated its commitment to its official “zero tolerance” policy on torture.

"However, the authorities’ failure to publicly condemn torture and ill-treatment, and to enforce the universal prohibition of such abuse in daily practice seems to have fostered a climate of impunity, complacency and acquiescence which gravely undermines that prohibition and, ultimately, the rule of law,” he said.

The Special Rapporteur also said he remained keen to engage in a “direct and constructive dialogue” with the Turkish authorities to achieve full implementation of the prohibition on torture and ill-treatment.

▻http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22718&LangID=E
#torture #Turquie #répression

Avec l’offensive en Syrie, la démocratie turque connaît un nouveau recul

L’intervention militaire turque en cours contre l’enclave kurde d’Afrin a fourni au président Erdogan l’occasion de resserrer plus l’étau de la #censure dans son pays, au nom de la défense de la patrie menacée. Entre unanimisme forcé et vagues d’#arrestations, le maître de la Turquie met en place l’environnement qui assurera son succès aux prochaines élections.

▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/030218/avec-l-offensive-en-syrie-la-democratie-turque-connait-un-nouveau-recul?on
#Syrie #guerre #conflit #Turquie #Afrin #Kurdistan
#paywall

Turkey to build wall on Turkish-Iranian border

Turkey is planning to build a wall along the Turkish-Iranian border as part of measures against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to a high-level official.
“As a precaution against this, we are going to build a wall along 70 kilometers of the border near Ağrı and [the eastern province of] Iğdır, and we will close the rest of it with towers and iron fences. In addition, we are placing lights on the border,” he also said.

▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=112842&NewsCatID=341
#murs #barrières_frontalières #frontières #terrorisme #Turquie #Iran #PKK #Agri #Igdir

Foreign journalists become targets after İstanbul attacks

Foreign journalists were targeted by pro-Erdoğan trolls and media for their tweets reporting on twin bomb attacks in İstanbul immediately after they occurred on Saturday night.

▻http://www.turkishminute.com/2016/12/12/foreign-journalists-become-targets-istanbul-attacks
#purge_bis #Turquie #journalistes #médias #journalistes_étrangers

A Turning Point in Aleppo
▻http://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/66314

The most interesting area is the rebel zone carved out thanks to Turkish military intervention northeast of Aleppo, in battles against the self-proclaimed Islamic State. Here, the prospect of military backing from Turkey’s fiercely anti-Assad president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has raised the opposition’s hopes of breaking the siege of Aleppo. But that is unlikely, for three reasons.

First, the purpose of the Turkish intervention was to clear the area from Islamic State jihadis and ensure that the vacuum was not filled by Kurdish forces aligned with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. For all of Erdogan’s loathing of Assad, it doesn’t come close to his hatred of the PKK. Indeed, if Erdogan’s primary concern had been to overthrow the Syrian president, he wouldn’t have diverted thousands of Syrian rebel combatants to help him clean up the border region when they were so desperately needed in Aleppo.

Second, the Turkish intervention was based on an understanding with Russia, which is committed to protecting Assad. How Ankara and Moscow plan to divide the border area is unclear and may be up for renegotiation, and there may well be clashes between Turkish- and Russian-backed forces (perhaps even some friction between Russian and Turkish troops). But we know that neither Russia nor Turkey is interested in a major conflict, having spent so much time improving their relations—and also because Turkey’s NATO membership greatly raises the stakes of any confrontation.

Third, if Erdogan had any intention of breaking the siege of Aleppo, he would have done so long ago. It makes no sense for him to wait until Assad has virtually destroyed the rebel enclave to try saving it now.

After a long and telling silence, the Turkish president recently spoke out on Aleppo, saying his intervention in August had been to “end the rule of the cruel Assad.” Unsurprisingly, this met with immediate Russian pushback, as a Kremlin spokesperson said it would be in touch with Turkey to seek an explanation. The actual explanation? Most likely, Erdogan is simply trying to save face.

If Turkish intentions northeast of Aleppo are not what the opposition had hoped for, Ankara’s involvement in Idlib has so far been more clearly aligned with the rebel cause. The area, which fell completely to Syrian rebels in spring 2015, still receives strong support from across the Turkish border and has served as a staging ground for attacks in Aleppo, Hama, and Latakia.

The Idlib rebellion is strong and well implanted. It is a real threat to Assad. But though it contains many different groups, it is strategically dominated by hardline Islamists such as Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the new incarnation of Jabhat al-Nusra that has links to Al-Qaeda and is riddled with international jihadis. These groups are formidable enemies of the regime, but they are also too toxic to gain Western endorsement. Policymakers in Doha and Ankara have shown a higher threshold of tolerance for jihadism than their colleagues in Washington, but Jabhat Fatah al-Sham is ultimately a step too far for everyone.

In other words, while it will remain a thorn in Assad’s side, the Idlib region is unlikely to serve as the springboard for a foreign-backed strategy to end Assad rule.

#Syrie

Turkey entered Syria to end al-Assad’s rule: President Erdoğan - MIDEAST
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-entered-syria-to-end-al-assads-rule-president-erdogan.aspx

The Turkish military launched its operations in Syria to end the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Nov. 29.

“In my estimation, nearly 1 million people have died in Syria. These deaths are still continuing without exception for children, women and men. Where is the United Nations? What is it doing? Is it in Iraq? No. We preached patience but could not endure in the end and had to enter Syria together with the Free Syrian Army [FSA],” Erdoğan said at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul.

“Why did we enter? We do not have an eye on Syrian soil. The issue is to provide lands to their real owners. That is to say we are there for the establishment of justice. We entered there to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. [We didn’t enter] for any other reason,” the president said.

On Aug. 24, the Turkish Armed Forces launched an operation in Syria, the Euphrates Shield operation, with FSA fighters to ostensibly clear the country’s southern border of both the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces, which Ankara considers as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Last week, a total of six Turkish troops, of them four in a suspected Syrian government attack, and two in ISIL attacks, were killed in three separate attacks from Nov. 24 to 26.

Bookchin Archive
►http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/Bookchinarchive.html

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/bookchin.jpg

MURRAY BOOKCHIN’S COLLECTED WORKS
►http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bookchin/Bookchinarchive.html

Murray Bookchin and the Kurdish resistance
▻https://roarmag.org/essays/bookchin-kurdish-struggle-ocalan-rojava

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Abdullah_%C3%96calan.png

Bookchin’s municipalist ideas, once rejected by communists and anarchists alike, have now come to inspire the Kurdish quest for democratic autonomy.
...
The Next Revolution includes the 1992 essay The Ecological Crisis and the Need to Remake Society. In it, Bookchin argues that “the most fundamental message that social ecology advances is that the very idea of dominating nature stems from the domination of human by human.” For an ecological society to develop, first the inter-human domination must be eradicated. According to Bookchin, “capitalism and its alter-ego, ‘state socialism,’ have brought all the historic problems of domination to a head,” and the market economy, if it is not stopped, will succeed in destroying our natural environment as a result of its “grow or die” ideology.
...
In the late 1970s, while Bookchin was struggling to gain recognition for the value and importance of his theory of social ecology in the US, an entirely different struggle was emerging on the other side of the world. In the mountainous, predominantly Kurdish regions of southeastern Turkey, an organization was founded that would eventually come to adopt and adapt Bookchin’s social ecology.

The organization called itself the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK after its Kurdish acronym, and in 1984 it launched its first attacks against the Turkish state.
...
Despite the utopian desire of one day seeing the different Kurdish territories united, the struggle of the PKK focused primarily on the liberation of North Kurdistan, or Bakur — the Kurdish territories occupied by the Turkish state. Over the course of the 1990s, however, the PKK slowly started to drift away from its desire to found an independent Kurdish nation state and started exploring other possibilities.
...
after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the PKK had already started to critically reflect on the concept of the nation state. None of the traditional homelands of the Kurds were exclusively Kurdish. A state founded and controlled by Kurds would thus automatically host large minority groups, creating the potential for the repression of ethnic and religious minorities in the same way the Kurds themselves had been repressed for many years. As such, a Kurdish state increasingly came to be seen as a continuation of, rather than a solution to, the existing problems in the region.

Finally, having analyzed the interdependence of capitalism and the nation state on the one hand, and between patriarchy and centralized state power on the other, Öcalan realized that real freedom and independence could only come about once the movement had severed all ties with these institutionalized forms of repression and exploitation.
Democratic Confederalism

In his 2005 pamphlet, Declaration of Democratic Confederalism, Abdullah Öcalan formally and definitively broke with the PKK’s earlier aspirations of founding an independent Kurdish nation state. “The system of nation states,” he argues in the document, “has become a serious barrier to the development of society and democracy and freedom since the end of the 20th century.”

In Öcalan’s view, the only way out of the crisis in the Middle East is the establishment of a democratic confederal system “that will derive its strength directly from the people, and not from globalization based on nation states.” According to the imprisoned rebel leader, “neither the capitalist system nor the pressure of imperialist forces will lead to democracy; except to serve their own interests. The task is to assist in developing a grassroots-based democracy … which takes into consideration the religious, ethnic and class differences in society.”

Tatort Kurdistan
▻http://tatortkurdistan.blogsport.de

#Kurdistan #Turquie #anarchisme #écologie_sociale #municipalisme

As fighting spreads, Turkey moves to crush pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/18/kurd-j18.html

By Halil Celik
18 January 2016

Amid escalating military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Turkish government is moving to crush the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which has 11 percent of the vote and 59 deputies in the Turkish parliament.

#turquie #kurdistan

261 #PKK militants killed in security operations in 3 districts: Turkish military

The Turkish Chief of General Staff announced on Jan.2 that a total of 261 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have been killed in the ongoing operations in three southeastern districts under curfew.

▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/Default.aspx?pageID=238&nID=93329&NewsCatID=341
#Turquie #Kurdistan #répression

Turkey : Blast hits Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline - ENERGY
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-blast-hits-baku-tbilisi-erzurum-pipeline------.aspx?pageID

An explosion has hit the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars-Erzurum gas pipeline in eastern Turkey, a provincial governor has told Anadolu Agency.

Günay Özdemir, the governor of northeastern Kars province, said the blast happened in the early hours of Aug. 4 at a section of the pipeline located in the Sarıkamış district. Gas flow was cut in nearby Yağbasan village for safety reasons.

“An investigation is underway into the explosion and the necessary measures have been taken,” Özdemir said, as quoted by the agency.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said in written statement the gas flow through the pipeline had been stopped after sabotage by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the very early hours of Aug. 4, as reported by Reuters.

An anonymous source told Reuters the blast occurred on the Posof side of the pipeline, which is owned by Turkish state-run gas grid Botaş, and had damaged the pipeline.

“There has not been any gas flow through the pipeline so we’ll [not] see any negative effect about meeting the demand,” a source told Reuters.

#Turquie #PKK #guerre_énergie

PKK being ‘legitimized,’ Turkish army chief says - POLITICS
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkk-being-legitimized-turkish-army-chief-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), an offshoot of the PKK, are being legitimized thanks to their fight against jihadists in Syria, Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Necdet Özel has said.

“The developments in the Middle East and North Africa make it hard to have optimistic predictions. The current situation in Iraq and Syria caused [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] ISIL to get stronger amid the flow of radical fighters into the region. It also caused the PKK and PYD to be seen as a legitimate force fighting against ISIL rather than focusing on their identity as a terror organization,” he said.

“The separatists terror organization [PKK] is attempting to increase its gains in Syria and Iraq, as well as to create a public perception that its extensions in the other countries are innocent groups,” Özel said in an interview with Defense and Aviation Magazine.

Özel also warned that the risk of a conventional war in the region had not yet disappeared, recalling the conflicts and polarizations based on economic interests and decreasing resources.

Turkey: Gov’t, HDP prepare joint text for Kurdish peace

▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/govt-hdp-prepare-joint-text-for-kurdish-peace.aspx?pageID=238&nID

The most critical stage in hectic talks between the government and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on the resolution process, which has recently gained visible momentum, has arrived.

At meetings held on two consecutive days earlier this week, Deputy PM Yalçın Akdoğan and the HDP delegation, composed of Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pervin Buldan and Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder, drafted a “joint statement” which was put forward as a condition by the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, for the announcement of a “reinforced cease-fire.” In order not to encounter any problem from the PKK side, the HDP sent the text to the PKK headquarters in Iraq.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who cut his trip to Latin America a day earlier than planned, also wanted to see the text before it was announced, sources said.

Turkey’s Kobane crisis
▻http://mondediplo.com/blogs/turkey-s-kobane-crisis

This last month has shown the fragility of Turkey’s so-called peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in particular, and the Kurdish question in general. Thousands of Kurdish protestors took to the streets after the Turkish government’s continued reluctance to support the fighters of the PKK-affiliated People’s Protection Units (YPG) against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Kobane (Ayn al-Arab) in northern Syria, just over the border with Turkey.

Senior AKP deputy slams Erdoğan, his party over Kurdish policies: BBC

Turkish Daily News
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/senior-akp-deputy-slams-erdogan-his-party-over-kurdish-policies-b

A senior member of Parliament from Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has slammed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party over Kurdish policies, BBC Turkish reported Oct. 18.

The AKP deputy, who spoke to BBC correspondent Paul Moss in Istanbul on condition of anonymity, directed “harsh criticism” at Erdoğan and the AKP, according to the report. 

“It is very hard to understand why the government decided to attack the PKK. President Erdoğan is focused on increasing his votes, not to solve the Kurdish problem. I believe that the peace process may soon collapse and this would drive the country into chaos,” the AKP MP reportedly said.

Hürriyet had reported that Turkish fighter jets bombarded positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) late Oct. 13, following militant attacks on military outposts in southeastern Turkey, in a first since the start of the peace process. 

Many provinces in Turkey’s east, as well as the largest cities of the country, saw violent protests against the government’s policies over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) advance on the Syrian border town of Kobane. Some 37 people were killed and hundreds were injured in the demonstrations. 

The Kobane protests were seen by many observers as a potential risk for the peace process that the government started in 2013 to solve Turkey’s Kurdish problem.

İbrahim Yıldırım, who worked at the AKP’s Istanbul branch, on the other hand, supported the government’s decision to attack the PKK following the protests. “The PKK is still a terrorist organization. Thanks God none of our soldiers were killed, but they were targeted in terrorist attacks. Our Air Force didn’t plan the airstrike out of the blue,” he said, according to the BBC Turkish report.

Government, Kurdish politicians in row over energy bills
▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/government-kurdish-politicians-in-row-over-energy-bills.aspx?page

Vives tensions dans quelques grandes villes du Sud-Est de la Turquie (notamment à Sanliurfa) suite à plusieurs heures de coupures d’électricité. Des manifestants ont attaqué les locaux de la société de distribution d’électricité récemment privatisée. Le Ministre de l’énergie dénonce le taux élevé de captage illégal d’électricité (plus de 60%) et accuse le PKK d’inciter les habitants à ne pas payer les factures.

Power cuts in Turkey’s southeastern provinces have sparked a row between the government and People’s Democratic Party (HDP) as the energy minister accused the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of inciting people in the region to avoid paying bills amid separate tension over sharing oil revenues with municipalities.

Fed up with the recurrent power cuts, citizens in eastern and southeastern provinces, where illegal electricity usage is markedly higher than the Turkish average, have begun to stage protests, adding to tension in an already-boiling region. In the latest of such incidents, hundreds of people in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa hit the streets carrying candles to demonstrate against cuts on the night of July 7.

When asked about the unrest at the region, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said the leakage and loss levels in the Dicle region, which provides electricity for 1 million subscribers living in the southeastern cities of Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Batman, Siirt and Şırnak, had reached 75 to 80 percent and that authorities should take measures to collect payment.

But he put the blame on “PKK and other groups” for provoking people in the region to not pay their electricity bills.

#Electricité
#privatisation
#Manifestation
#Sud-Est_Turqiue
#PKK

POLITICS - Kurdish MP and HDP co-chair may lose parliamentary seat after top court approves sentence Turkey

▻http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/kurdish-mp-and-hdp-co-chair-may-lose-parliamentary-seat-after-top

The co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Sebahat Tuncel may lose her parliamentary seat after the Supreme Court of Appeals approved on Dec. 28 an eight-year sentence against her for membership in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Elected from the Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) list during the 2011 general elections, Tuncel recently joined the HDP, an umbrella party formed by leftist movements and supported by the Kurds, along with two other prominent BDP lawmakers, Ertuğrul Kürkçü and Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

Tuncel may lose her parliamentary seat and immunity after the Supreme Court of Appeal’s eight-year, nine-month sentence is read out in the General Assembly, according to reports. 

Tuncel noted the ruling came only two weeks after the court refused to release five deputies of the BDP, despite having approved the release of Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Mustafa Balbay.

Israeli Foreign Minister Reportedly Seeks Meetings With Anti-Turkish Terror Group | ThinkProgress
►http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/09/09/315924/israeli-foreign-minister-reportedly-seeks-meetings-with-anti-turkish-

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman plans to hold meetings with the head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group which has maintained an armed struggle against the Turkish government since 1984 and is internationally recognized as a terrorist organization. Word of the meeting was published on Ynet.com which also suggested that the the PKK might ask Lieberman for military aid.