Hope has been restored for many Syrians. But vigilance will be needed to ensure that democratic institutions emerge and withstand autocratic impulses.
This post was originally published on Dissent Magazine.
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ASELSAN has successfully completed the BARBAROS-Class Frigates Mid-Life Upgrade (BARBAROS-MLU) Project, achieving a major milestone by modernizing 21 systems on TCG ORUÇREİS with advanced, indigenous solutions. Driven by the vision to meet the unique needs of both local and international customers, the company has built unparalleled expertise, particularly in maritime modernization. ASELSAN, Türkiye’s leading defense […]
The post ASELSAN completed the world’s most comprehensive MEKO-class frigate modernization appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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On 4 April 2025 a joint statement by 13 international, regional and national civil society organisations, strongly condemned violations of the right to protest in Turkey, including police brutality, ill-treatment that may amount to torture, mass arbitrary detentions, and the systematic persecution of human rights defenders.
Mass protests erupted across Turkey on 19 March 2025, following the detention of more than 100 individuals —including the Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu. These arrests, made as part of investigations into allegations of “corruption” and “terrorism”, and their timing have raised widespread concerns that the charges are politically motivated – just days before İmamoğlu’s expected presidential candidacy.
In the immediate aftermath of the arrests, authorities imposed sweeping restrictions, including days-long blanket bans on gatherings across multiple cities, restricted access to several social media platforms curbing access and preventing the dissemination of information, and shut down major public transportation routes in İstanbul, all in a systematic effort to suppress dissent and mobilisations.
Despite these measures, thousands have continued to gather in protest across the country since 19 March. While protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, journalists and civil society organisations have documented grave human rights violations in several locations, and particularly in Saraçhane, Istanbul, including an indiscriminate and disproportionate display of police violence and brutality that may amount to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings with batons, demonstrators being kicked while subdued on the ground, close-range targeting with Kinetic Impact Projectiles (KIPs), as well as the indiscriminate use of chemical irritants and water cannons. Based on widely circulated footage and public testimonies, and in line with the UN Committee Against Torture’s recommendations to Turkey following its periodic review in 2024, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) has also denounced the use of restraint methods that inflict unnecessary pain, such as prolonged handcuffing behind the back and stress positions. These practices, known to cause serious health consequences, have at times been publicised by police officers themselves via personal accounts, seemingly as a tactic of intimidation.
Reports have stated that protesters who have been met with excessive police force have suffered grave and long-lasting injuries such as head trauma and eye damage due to tear gas cartridges and KIPs, burns and respiratory issues due to the indiscriminate and widespread use of tear gas and water cannons, which in some cases resulted in their hospitalisation. The full extent of the injuries, as well as the physical and psychological toll on protesters’ health, will only become clear in the following months.
According to the report of Human Rights Association (İHD), as of 27 March 2025, a total of 1,879 people—including children, lawyers, journalists, students, union leaders and human rights defenders—have been taken into custody during protests and house raids on the grounds of inciting protests, engaging in violence, concealing their faces with masks, and using bats or other objects. Over 260 of them have been placed in pre-trial detention, while judicial control measures have been imposed on 468 individuals simply for exercising their right to peaceful protest. Istanbul Bar Association Child Rights Committee reported that among the arrested in İstanbul, 20 were under the age of 18.
Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD) also highlights incidents of torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence in detention facilities. Lawyers have denounced the treatment of seven female detainees who were subjected to beatings as well as unjustified strip searches while in custody. According to a released testimony, another female victim reported being groped by a police officer while handcuffed behind the back and forcefully pinned to the ground and that she soiled herself out of fear during the ordeal. She was reportedly placed under house arrest after her testimony. The Turkish Medical Association has recalled the importance of medical examinations upon entry in custody and detention to prevent and document torture and other ill-treatment.
Human rights defenders, including those monitoring the protests, have also become targets of State repression during the protests. Journalists and media organisations covering protests have also been persecuted, infringing on the right to freedom of expression and the right to information. As of 28 March, at least 14 journalists were detained after covering the protest.
Lawyers representing those who were arbitrarily detained in the context of protests, were also targeted. At least 14 lawyers were detained, including the lawyer of İmamoğlu, demonstrating the State authorities’ disregard for the rule of law and the right to defence, due process and justice. In the midst of the protests as part of the general intimidation strategy against lawyers, on 21 March the Istanbul Bar Association’s executive board was dismissed by the decision of İstanbul 2nd Civil Court of First Instance- a move that raises serious concerns of further attacks on the independence of the legal profession and the detainees’ right to legal representation. Following the decision, police interfered as lawyers attempted to march from the courthouse in Çağlayan to the Istanbul Bar Association building in Taksim to protest the decision.
Signatories:
- ARTICLE 19
- Asociación Unidad de Defensa Jurídica, Registro y Memoria para Nicaragua (AUDJUDRNIC)
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- EuroMed Rights
- Front Line Defenders
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
- ILGA-Europe
- United Against Torture Consortium (UATC), through its following members:
- The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT)
- Omega Research Foundation
- Redress
- And the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
- Unidad de Protección a Defensoras y Defensores de Derechos Humanos – Guatemala (UDEFEGUA)
- Within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders:
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/turkey/
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
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As part of our vision to enhance the global presence of the Turkish defense industry, HAVELSAN has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Kader Advanced Industrial Factory, affiliated with the Arab Organization for Industrialization in Egypt. This agreement covers the joint production of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs). Within the scope of this cooperation, the production […]
The post HAVELSAN Takes a Strategic Step in Egypt: Cooperation Agreement Signed with Kader Factory for the Production of Unmanned Ground Vehicles appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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ASELSAN will demonstrate its assertiveness in meeting the security needs of Latin American countries with its advanced guidance systems, public security, surveillance and communication solutions it will exhibit at LAAD 2025. ASELSAN, Türkiye’s leading defense company, will participate in LAAD 2025, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from April 1-4, to foster regional partnerships and […]
The post ASELSAN to reinforce its role in Latin America with LAAD 2025 appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested over the weekend on corruption charges. However, as the leader of the opposition, Imamoglu’s arrest has sparked anti-government protests in Turkey. Imamoglu has presented a staunch opposition to Turkish president Recep Erdoğan and, as Al Jazeera reported:
The court’s decision to send Imamoglu to pre-trial detention comes after the opposition, European leaders and tens of thousands of protesters criticised the actions against him as politicised.
Censorship in Turkey
Now, thousands of protesters have been detained and government-owned media appears to be running a blackout on any coverage of the protests. A number of journalists have been arrested and a BBC reporter has even been deported after his reporting of demonstrations.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have gathered across Turkey in what was initially to express opposition to Imamoglu’s arrest, but have quickly bloomed into wider anti-government gatherings. However, Turkish state media has been accused of censoring any coverage of the protests. The Guardian reported that government owned channels broadcast interviews with ministers unrelated to the protests and that:
Substantive coverage of the protests has instead been the preserve of the small slice of newspapers and cable channels that exist outside the well funded and slick pro-government broadcasting networks.
Erol Önderoğlu of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said:
This is the negative outcome of what Erdoğan has built for two decades, which is a highly polarised, toxic media environment.
Erdoğan now controls about 85% of national and corporate media in Turkey, so we’re not talking about a fair media environment where pluralism truly flourishes.
Deportation
In a move likely to awaken the attention and ire of Western media, the Turkish government have also deported BBC reporter Mark Lowen. In a statement, the BBC said:
This morning (27 March) the Turkish authorities deported BBC News correspondent Mark Lowen from Istanbul, having taken him from his hotel the previous day and detained him for 17 hours.
On Thursday morning, he was presented with a written notice that he was being deported for ‘being a threat to public order’.
Lowen himself said:
To be detained and deported from the country where I previously lived for five years and for which I have such affection has been extremely distressing. Press freedom and impartial reporting are fundamental to any democracy.
And, to further compound the issues of censorship in coverage of the protests, several journalists have been arrested as demonstrations continue. RSF released a statement with the details of those journalists arrested:
AFP photojournalist Yasin Akgül, freelance photojournalist Bülent Kılıç, Now Haber reporter Ali Onur Tosun, and freelance journalist Zeynep Kuray were simply doing their job — covering massive public demonstrations.
An RSF representative in Turkey said:
This is the first time that clearly identified journalists who were in the middle of working have been sent to prison under this law against public gatherings and protests. These scandalous rulings reflect a deeply serious situation in Turkey.
Equating professional journalists with protesters not only shows shameless bad faith but also highlights the grave interference of political power in the judiciary that is attempting to silence the media.
Turkey crackdown
In addition to journalists being arrested, many protesters have been detained by authorities. Footage shared on social media showed rows of riot police threateningly lined up beside protesters:
Striking protest banners from Turkey: ‘Don’t worry, my child—your future parents are here” pic.twitter.com/UMMyZ4dmYj
— Gönül Tol (@gonultol) March 22, 2025
Footage from Getty showed riot police trying to use tear gas on demonstrators:
A demonstrator wearing a gas mask dances through a haze of tear gas as protests continue across Turkey against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in Istanbul, Turkey. #GettyNewsVideo #TurkeyProtests
Olmo Blanco 
https://t.co/ksSZ7PAPdu pic.twitter.com/eBmtRk5H4Q— Getty Images News (@GettyImagesNews) March 24, 2025
Gigantic crowds continued to gather despite the attempted government repression:
Erdogan: "You can't go out and protest in Turkey anymore against me! I forbid it! I forbid it you hear me! You'll be all arrested!"
Turks: pic.twitter.com/Gp86lgcMfg
— Dispropaganda (@Dispropoganda) March 22, 2025
Growing anger
At the time of publication, almost 1,900 people have been arrested during the protests. This number will likely increase, with further protests planned for the weekend and no sign of tensions easing. Erdoğan has remained defiant and blamed the opposition for inciting protests.
However, what started as protests against the apparent politically-motivated arrest of a mayor, has quickly captured an exhaustion and frustration with the government that will be much harder to pacify. The Turkish government’s response of censoring, arresting, and deporting even coverage of opposition is testament to their fear of public collectivity and resistance.
Featured image via screengrab
This post was originally published on Canary.
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MATRA represents a ground breaking suite of advanced digital maritime solutions designed to transform the maritime domain. Developed with the aim of enhancing security measures, promoting safety protocols, optimizing operational efficiency and strengthening overall safety in this dynamic environment, MATRA addresses the multifaceted challenges faced in the maritime industry. At its core, MATRA employs state-of-the-art […]
The post MATRA DIGITAL MARITIME SOLUTIONS appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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International outrage and charges of “viciousness” and “outright autocracy” have followed Sunday’s imprisonment of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s top political rival, the popular Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is seen as Erdogan’s likeliest opposition challenger in upcoming national elections. The corruption charges levied against İmamoğlu, a member of the Republican People’s…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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Ukraine Conflict and Peace Negotiations Over the past month, the international community has focused on initiatives to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. On March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a lengthy phone conversation discussing the prospects for ending hostilities that have persisted for more than three years. Despite the […]
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Turkey has deported Belgian media worker Chris Den Hond, banning him from entering the country for ten years – a repressive attitude that’s becoming all too common in Western-aligned states today. And they didn’t even tell him why.
Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest army, has long faced international criticism for its widespread repression of journalists. For numerous recent years, the Committee to Protect Journalists named it the world’s “worst jailer of journalists“. And despite recent hopes for an end to Turkey’s war crimes against Kurdish communities at home and abroad, it seems the state’s highly authoritarian attitude towards the media remains.
The Canary spoke to video-journalist Chris Den Hond to find out more about his experience.
Chris Den Hond: “they did not give a reason”
Speaking about his ordeal in Turkey, Chris Den Hond said:
I arrived in Istanbul airport on Sunday March 16 and at the passport control they did not let me through. Instead they brought me to a police control room where they said: “Your entry on Turkish territory is denied. You are blacklisted and banned for 10 years.” They did not give a reason.
Despite this, he has an idea of why the Turkish state wants to keep him out of the country:
I am convinced that this 10 year ban is linked to my stories in Rojava at the end of January 2025. In Kobane the people celebrated the 10 years of liberation from Daesh. I am almost sure that the delegation members and journalists present in Kobane have been put on a black list. Because other journalists, activists and members of parliament who were not in Rojava can enter Turkey without a problem.
The multi-ethnic but largely Kurdish area of northern Syria (aka Rojava) has been at the forefront of the fight against Daesh (Isis/Isil) for over a decade. In 2014, Turkish forces looked on from across the border as Daesh forces advanced on the city of Kobanî. The resistance of left-wing revolutionaries, however, attracted the world’s attention, forcing it to offer limited strategic support. They eventually defeated Daesh in Kobanî, and across the north of Syria. And Turkey has sought in the following years to complete the job Daesh couldn’t.
Turkey’s role in Syria following Assad’s defeat
Turkish-led mercenaries have long been active in northern Syria, committing war crimes in numerous occupied areas. But amid the collapse of the Assad regime in 2024, they took the opportunity to advance further into Rojava, with Western complicity. Syria’s new government appeared to reach a deal with Rojava’s defence forces last week but, shortly after, the new draft constitution for the country faced criticism from Rojava for promising the same kind of “centralised, authoritarian structures that have historically dominated the country”.
Chris Den Hond suspects Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian regime’s apparent backtracking. Talking about his ban from Turkey, he said:
The reason of this ban, a rather radical measure, is certainly the panic, or high level fear of the Turkish authorities of the possible success of Rojava, or the democratic experience in the North and East of Syria. The recent handshake between Mazlum Abdi, SDF general, and Ahmed Al Sharaa has been seen by the Turkish regime as a slap in their face. Just two days later, the text of the transitional constitution proves it: it is the opposite of the declaration signed by Mazlum Abdi and Al Sharaa. So Turkey is doing everything to jeopardize an agreement that would grant a kind of autonomy to the Autonomous Administration in Syria.
Author and whistleblower Carne Ross has called Rojava “an egalitarian feminist, ecologically-conscious society”, and many see it as an alternative political model that can help to break away from the division and authoritarianism of the past. Its inspiration in the philosophy of Abdullah Öcalan is problematic for Turkey, however, because Öcalan is a longstanding political prisoner in a high-security Turkish jail. Nonetheless, Öcalan made a unilateral call for peace recently, sparking hopes that Turkey’s war against Kurdish communities may come to an end.
Den Hond is sceptical about Turkey’s intentions, though. As he told us:
I have the same worries concerning the recent declaration of Abdullah Öcalan in favor of the start of a peace process. The Turkish regime wants to keep the control on the implementation of this peace declaration and is at this moment not making any concrete steps to diminish the repression on journalists, elected mayors and human rights activists.
Chris Den Hond: “treated like a terrorist threat for my journalist work”
Having faced the repression of the Turkish state himself, Chris Den Hond insisted:
I admire a lot the courage of Kurdish and progressive Turkish journalists who are on a daily basis harassed, sometimes imprisoned and judged for years, simply because they are doing their job as journalists and trying to produce news that is not pleasing the Turkish authorities. If Turkey wants to join the European Union, as 20 years ago, it should respect the “Copenhagen criteria”, which means: liberation of political prisoners, end of repression against journalists and activists, end of evicting democratic elected mayors, submitting the role of generals to the government and so on.
He also stressed that his current ban is something new, asserting:
I have done stories in Turkey and Turkish Kurdistan for 30 years: Newroz, HADEP mayors, Noam Chomsky in Diyarbakir. It was not easy, I was arrested many times with hotel arrest, but I have never been entry denied in Turkey.
He added that:
On the plane back to Paris, the Turkish police ordered the Turkish Airlines employees to transfer me to the French police. Three policemen waited for me at the exit of the airplane. Friendly, but again an identity control. I felt treated like a terrorist threat for my journalist work.
Den Hond is now safely back home. But Turkey’s behaviour adds to a worrying trend of increasing political persecution of journalists in Western-allied states in recent months, particularly in relation to their reporting of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
This post was originally published on Canary.
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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a self-declared “crusader” who believes the United States is in a “holy war” against the left, China, and Islam.
In his 2020 book American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free, Hegseth vowed that, if Trump could return to the White House and Republicans could take power, “Communist China will fall—and lick its wounds for another two hundred years”.
Hegseth declared that the Chinese “are literally the villains of our generation”, and warned, “If we don’t stand up to communist China now, we will be standing for the Chinese anthem someday”.
In Hegseth’s conspiratorial worldview, Chinese communists and the international left are conspiring with Islamists against the United States and Israel, which are sacred countries blessed by God.
The post Defense Secretary Hegseth Wants To Overthrow China’s Government appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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This January, a Turkish court sentenced Sofya Alağaş, a Kurdish journalist and elected co-mayor of Siirt municipality, to six years and three months in prison on charges of membership in a terror organization. “I honestly don’t know how it will end,” Alağaş told Truthout. “The sentence was not a legal decision but a political one. If the Turkish state takes some steps towards democratization…
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
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Harrowing story of ‘ES’, fleeing persecution to seek safety in US, shines light on judges who grant claims at exceptionally low rates – or not at all
At an immigration court in Pearsall, Texas, in front of a judge, government attorneys and a court interpreter, ES shakily recounted the darkest moments of his life.
He explained how he had been arrested seven years ago in Turkey, amid his government’s crackdown on followers of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. The police officers who detained him accused him of being involved in a terrorist movement, and demanded he reveal the names of his associates, he said.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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Campaigners are calling on the UK government to block moves to sell Turkey 40 Eurofighters following the latest repression by president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government.
Turkey: fascistic – but we’ll still do a deal with them
In recent weeks, the Turkish state detained 282 people including lawyers, journalists, and LGBTQ+ campaigners. A range of organisations were targeted including members of the Peoples’ Democratic Congress (HDK), Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM), Labor Party (EMEP), Socialist Refoundation Party (SYKP), Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP) and Green Left Party.
Negotiations are currently underway with Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain for Turkey’s acquisition of the Eurofighters in a deal reportedly worth approximately $5.6bn. France meanwhile has agreed to sell Turkey MBDA Meteor air-to-air missiles for the fighters. In the UK, BAE Systems – who announced annual profits of £3bn last week – will be the main beneficiary.
This latest clampdown is part of ongoing repression against Kurdish and other opposition voices in Turkey. Since the local elections in 2024, Erdoğan has replaced ten mayors with trustees from his ruling AKP party. In Van, in the Kurdish majority southeast, this has led to widespread protests and repression that included detaining 40 people, including 5 children.
According to a Freedom House report published this week, Turkey is amongst the top 10 countries that has experienced a sharp decline in freedoms over the last decade.
Alongside this latest round of domestic repression, Erdoğan has continued his deadly assault in Rojava – the autonomous Kurdish-majority region of north east Syria. Between 2019 and 2024, Turkey carried out more than 100 airstrikes on oil fields, gas facilities and power stations, cutting off electricity to over one million people and violating International Humanitarian Law. Turkey is also carrying out regular airstrikes in Iraq, killing four civilians in January.
‘Unconscionable’
Campaign Against Arms Trade media spokesperson, Emily Apple, said
It is unconscionable that this Eurofighter deal is still being talked about. Not only is Turkey an authoritarian, human rights abusing regime domestically, it is committing war crimes in Rojava.
This deal is about lining the pockets of arms dealers while Kurdish communities across the region face bombardment and repression from Erdoğan’s fascistic regime.
We need to stand in solidarity with the Kurdish community and show that there’s massive public opposition to this deal now before it is too late.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
This post was originally published on Canary.
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After decades of brutal repression at the hands of the war-criminal Turkish state, things suddenly seem to be looking more hopeful for occupied Kurdish communities. Because political prisoner Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has unilaterally called for an end to the group’s conflict with Turkey. Regional developments and some advances in Kurdish rights reportedly convinced him that armed resistance doesn’t make sense anymore and “therefore, the PKK should be dissolved”.
Öcalan unilaterally calls for end to conflict
There are a number of possible reasons for Turkey’s sudden willingness to resume talks with Öcalan, including poor election results last year, a changeover in the US government and its priorities, and the fall of the Assad regime in Syria (which has further increased tensions between Israel and Iran). In particular, negotiations could bring an end to Turkish war crimes against Kurdish-majority communities in northern Syria.
Other PKK leaders have previously insisted that they will respect Öcalan’s wishes. And Kurdish communities around Turkey and beyond have shown their excitement about the prospect of peace.
The Turkish government allowed the main pro-Kurdish Democracy and Equality of Peoples Party (DEM) to visit Öcalan several times in recent weeks, marking an apparent preparation for Öcalan’s statement. But only the coming days and weeks, following Öcalan’s call for peace, will reveal how committed Turkey is to really ending its hostility towards Kurdish communities.
How sincere is the Turkish regime’s change in strategy?
Like Israel, Turkey is a key Western ally with a long record of ethnic cleansing and illegal occupation. And it has recently intensified efforts to force Kurdish-majority communities into submission. The Turkish army is NATO’s second-largest, and has committed numerous war crimes in recent years in an attempt to destroy the left-wing, Kurdish-led Rojava revolution in northern Syria that was key in defeating Daesh (Isis/Isil). And like Israel, Turkey has sought to justify its own campaign of terror by calling its enemies terrorists. The twist, however, is that Rojavan forces haven’t even attacked Turkey.
The Turkish regime’s problem with Rojava is that it drew its left-wing ideology from Öcalan, whose PKK began to fight a war of resistance against the Turkish state in the 1980s after decades of anti-Kurdish repression. Because Turkey claims the PKK are terrorists, its Western allies do too (though the PKK never attacked Western targets). Along with its allies in Rojava and elsewhere, the PKK has long condemned all attacks on civilians. And European courts have criticised the political weaponisation of the ‘terrorist’ designation.
In the 1990s, the PKK clarified that “we want to live within the borders of Turkey on our own land freely”. But centralised states like Turkey oppose this type of self-governance. And along with its military crimes, the Turkish regime has long repressed legal electoral groups at home that have sought to defend Kurdish rights, which it continues to do today. For this reason, there are still significant doubts about Turkey’s sincerity in resolving its longstanding Kurdish question. But because the country’s ruling party suffered a big blow in 2024’s local elections, a change in tactics (however disingenuous) is understandable.
The key role of Syria in pushing Turkey to the table
Geopolitical manoeuvring in the region may well be a factor pushing Turkey to seek less hostile relations with Kurdish communities. Because with a highly controversial group with links to Al-Qaeda now ruling Syria, Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish people seem more ridiculous than ever. As former British diplomat Carne Ross recently told the Canary:
I don’t believe really in designating groups as terrorists, and therefore kind of putting them beyond the pale where you won’t talk to them or deal with them. The PKK represents something real which is the need for self-defence of the Kurdish people in Turkey.
Turkey has also faced some recent political opposition from within the US over its attacks on Rojava because Washington understands how important Rojava’s Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were in defeating Daesh, and maintains strategic relations with the SDF as a result. This is particularly relevant as Daesh has been “making a comeback” following the overthrow of the Assad regime. Meanwhile, the US is only tentatively suspending sanctions on Syria as the new ultra-conservative government tries to prove its servility to Western interests.
The Turkish regime, on the other hand, has ideological affinity with Syria’s extremist rulers and is looking to become a key player in the post-war order. The Syrian government has often excluded Rojava from talks amid tense ongoing negotiations, possibly as a result of Turkish interference. And Turkey may indeed have used this as a bargaining chip to encourage Öcalan’s call to dissolve the PKK.
Whether the current hopes of peace in occupied Kurdistan bloom into something lasting or not, new efforts to bring peace between Turkey and Kurdish communities in the region certainly seem to represent an important and necessary step in the right direction.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
This post was originally published on Canary.
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Entering the field of robotic autonomous systems in 2019, HAVELSAN has built a platform ecosystem that includes unmanned aerial, ground, and naval vehicles. The company has now introduced another unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for use by security forces. Following the BAHA UAV, HAVELSAN has developed BULUT, a reconnaissance and surveillance UAV, in line with the […]
The post HAVELSAN’s New UAV: BULUT appeared first on Asian Military Review.
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ASELSAN will present new land and weapon solutions including ALKAR artillery and mortar systems, ASAF and ATOM smart ammunitions, and YENER ground-penetrating radar to global audiences for the first time at IDEX 2025. ASELSAN, Türkiye’s leading defense company, is set to make its largest debut to date at IDEX & NAVDEX 2025, taking place in […]
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South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace has completed the acceptance tests for a domestically built 1,000-hp diesel engine to be equipped with the K9 Thunder 155mm self-propelled howitzer (SPH), the company announced on 12 February. The company added that the year-long testing program, which took place in South Korea, Egypt and other undisclosed countries, included extensive field […]
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Photo: Evrensel Twenty-three human rights organizations have called for the immediate release of İstanbul Bar Association executive board member Fırat Epözdemir, who was arrested last week over alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Media and Law Studies Association reported February 3, 2025,
Advocacy groups condemned his detention as unlawful and part of a broader crackdown on human rights defenders and legal professionals in Turkey.
The Human Rights Defenders Solidarity Network (İHSDA) issued a statement denouncing Epözdemir’s arrest and urging authorities to drop the charges. The statement, signed by multiple rights organizations, emphasized that targeting lawyers and human rights advocates with judicial harassment is unacceptable.
Epözdemir was arrested Saturday by an İstanbul court on charges of “membership in an armed terrorist group” and “disseminating terrorist propaganda.”
Prosecutors in İstanbul accuse Epözdemir of joining a PKK-linked WhatsApp group in 2015, during the peak of clashes between Kurdish militants and Turkish security forces in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast.
The PKK has waged an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, a conflict that has left more than 40,000 people dead.
Epözdemir’s legal team has faced severe restrictions in accessing case files due to a confidentiality order, preventing them from reviewing the evidence against him. Authorities also imposed a 24-hour ban on lawyer visits without providing a clear justification, raising concerns of due process violations.
The joint statement criticized the prosecution’s reliance on a decade-old public event and phone conversations as grounds for Epözdemir’s arrest, calling the charges baseless and politically motivated.
His detention, rights groups argue, is an attack on the legal profession and human rights advocacy in Turkey. They linked his arrest to broader efforts to suppress dissent, noting that members of the İstanbul Bar Association have faced mounting pressure after issuing a statement regarding two journalists killed in Syria.
“Lawyers and bar associations must not be criminalized for their advocacy and defense of fundamental rights,” the statement said. “We reject all attempts to silence human rights defenders and demand the immediate and unconditional release of Fırat Epözdemir.”
Among the signatories were the MLSA, the Human Rights Association (İHD), Civil Rights Defenders, the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV) and numerous other civil society organizations.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
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Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime announced on 23 January that it has secured a contract to supply its advanced propulsion and manoeuvring solutions for the two Indonesian Navy KCR-70 Fast Attack Crafts being built by Sefine Shipyard in Türkiye. According to the company, the equipment package being supplied for the attack crafts includes a propulsion system that […]
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Istanbul, January 28, 2025—A court in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır on Tuesday found journalist Safiye Alagaş guilty of membership in a terrorist organization and sentenced her to six years and three months in prison. Alagaş, who spent a year behind bars in pretrial arrest, remains free pending appeal.
“The evidence brought against Kurdish journalist Safiye Alagaş consists of her professional journalism and does not support accusations that she was a member of a terrorist organization, as indicated by one of the judges’ dissenting from the guilty verdict,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should not fight Alagaş in her upcoming appeal and stop equating journalism with terrorism.”
Alagaş, a former news editor for the pro-Kurdish JİNNEWS, was charged with being a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey has designated as a terrorist organization. The case began in June 2023, and the evidence against her was based on her journalism, according to CPJ’s review of the indictment and monitoring of her first hearing.
Alagaş was elected co-mayor of the southeastern province of Siirt during the trial. Lawyers for Alagaş said their client would not have been found guilty if she lost the mayoral election.
One of the three judges in Alagaş’s case dissented from the guilty verdict, adding that the requirements defined by the law for the crime to have been committed were not fulfilled, according to CPJ’s review of the verdict.
CPJ’s email to the Diyarbakır chief prosecutor did not receive a response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
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Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract to supply advanced propulsion and manoeuvring technology for two new KCR-70 Fast Attack Craft for the Indonesian Navy. These vessels are currently under construction at the Sefine Shipyard in Türkiye. The Kongsberg Maritime equipment package includes an innovative propulsion system that combines twin controllable pitch propeller (CPP) Promas systems for […]
The post Kongsberg Maritime secures propulsion and manoeuvring contract for Indonesian Navy’s new Fast Attack Craft appeared first on Asian Military Review.
This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.
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There was absolutely nothing stopping them. But not one single member of Western mainstream media ever visited a bomb site in Lebanon to verify whether Israeli claims it was a Hezbollah base or missile site were true because they knew the answer is negative, as I found across dozens of bomb sites, and that is not the narrative they are paid to promote.
But when a narrative they are paid to promote came to the fore, they flocked to Damascus – driving right past the bombed civilian homes, ambulance centres and schools of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley to get there – to promote Syria’s new Israel-, U.S.A- and Turkey-sponsored “democratic” government of entirely “reformed” HTS (Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) Wahhabists.
The post Twisting The Terrorism Narrative appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.
This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.
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In ‘potentially trailblazing’ decision, European court of human rights finds country engaging in illicit deportations
The European court of human rights has found Greece guilty of conducting “systematic” pushbacks of would-be asylum seekers, ordering it to compensate a woman forcibly expelled back to Turkey despite her attempts to seek protection in the country.
In a judgment described as potentially trailblazing, the Strasbourg-based tribunal awarded the complainant damages of €20,000 (£16,500), citing evidence that the frontline EU state was engaging in the illicit deportations when she was removed.
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
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This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.This post was originally published on Radio Free.
