Violence against women increased in Kurdistan Federal Region 0

Post Views: 10 Violence against women in the Kurdistan Federal Region has increased, according to a monthly report released by the Kurdish government. Violence Against Women, a special department monitoring women’s situation in the Kurdistan Region, stated in the report

Kurds against wall of shame 0

The ruling AKP government has sped up the building of the unlawful wall between Mardin’s Nusaybin district and the Qamishlo city in West Kurdistan. The construction companies building the wall are kept secret and the municipality of Nusaybin is provided with no information about the wall being built.

Speaking to ANF about the ‘wall of shame’, mayor of Nusaybin Ay?e Gökkan remarked that the wall is being built at a time when the Kurdish people expect the government to remove wire fences and demine the border region.

Calling attention to the refusal of such walls across the world, Gökkan reminded of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s ‘wall of shame’ comment for the wall Israel built between Gaza and West Bank.

Öcalan: New mechanism needed to advance progress 0

BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) parliamentary group deputy chair ?dris Baluken spoke to Sterk Tv about Monday’s meeting with Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in ?mral? prison. Baluken was accompanied by Pervin Buldan while co-chair Selahattin Demirta? was prevented from going to the island.

Baluken said Öcalan said that he continued to work intensively on the project he has put forward for the achievement of a solution to the Kurdish question.

“Mr. Öcalan states that he is working for one year now and the result of his efforts have enabled the allayment of public concerns as well as a remarkable progress towards a solution. He expresses that the government’s opportunist and unilateral approach towards the process has however created critical problems to the creation of a favourable environment and the start of a negotiation process”, Baluken said.

Baluken said Öcalan put emphasis on the fact that it was indispensable for the government to launch a deeper negotiation process and to take some urgent steps in order for the continuation of the process.

Baluken remarked that the Kurdish leader thought his deep work for peace should get legal recognition and the state should also perform some work on a legal basis.

Be your own media ! 0

The “minds” behind The Rojava Report website are a group of students from different backgrounds. ANF interviewed them on why they felt more information on Rojava and more in general on the Kurdish issue is needed and how they tried to answer to this need by creating their own site.

How did the idea of a blog on Rojava come about ?

All of us who were involved in setting up the Rojava Report understood that there was a huge lack of information regarding what was happening in the region. When the media in the US spoke about the Kurds in Syria – and this itself was rare – it was always along the lines of ethnic or sectarian violence, or to give another example of the  “intractability” of the conflict. It was always in terms of an “Arab-Kurdish” conflict, as a corollary or side-show to the “Alawite/Christian-Sunni” conflict that has been the dominant narrative in the mainstream media. In general we felt that those advancing the revolution in Rojava needed a platform from which their voices could be heard, and on which they could stake out their own vision for the future of their country and the Middle East more generally, without the reductionist narratives there are so common among out the major news outlets here. It was meant to be a more unfiltered, more direct source of news about what was happening in Rojava. 

How is the Kurdish issue in general perceived in the States ?

Of course that depends on who you talk to. However even among people who consider themselves informed about events in the Middle East, and are sympathetic to a degree to Kurdish demands for national rights, there is a huge dearth of understanding about the complexities of Kurdish politics in the region and Kurdish aspirations for a new Middle East. In regards to Rojava in particular there is still an assumption that Kurds are – or at least the PYD is (if they can make the distinction) – “close to the regime” or at the very least unwilling to do much about it. This unfortunately was the dominant narrative until the beginning of the revolution last summer – I mean if you read anything in the Washington Post or the New York Times through the Spring of 2012 that is what you find (and forget the television channels because they never had time for the Kurds). Just google “Kurds on the sidelines” and see how many articles come up! Then the narrative began to shift slightly after the revolution and it became something along the lines of “Kurds are dividing the opposition.” I mean can you imagine? It was as if they could not make anyone happy, or at least not in a way that respected the principles of their movement. But that is just the point because that is all lost, and even now the YPG is treated as simply one more sectarian militia, while the entire content of their revolution and their politically ideology is buried under a simplistic discourse of “Kurdish nationalism” and “sectarian strife.”

Demirta?: AKP does not want peace 0

Peace and Demecracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta? held a press conference in the party’s Amed office to speak about the so-called “democratisation package”, the democratic solution process and the rumors in the Turkish press about his possible resignation.

Demirta? said that by announcing the “democratisation package”, the Prime Minister has confirmed that there is no solution and dialogue process in his agenda. The package has nothing to do with the process and the government has basically ended the process in search of a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.

BDP co-chair underlined that “It is a coward act for the government not to stand behind the process it initiated”, reminding that Erdo?an strongly rejected those saying the package was associated with the negotiation process.

Son of PYD leader dies in clashes 0

Post Views: 7 The son of PYD co-chair Salih Müslim, ?ervan, has lost his life today following clashes in Til Ebyad, Rojava. According to information received clashes erupted today at around 5.30pm local time in Til Ebyad, some 15 km