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Category: Turkey

  • ‘Long live Akbelen’: In Turkey, villagers fight deforestation in coal mine project

    In Turkey’s Akbelen Forest, villagers and environmental activists are fighting to protect centuries-old trees from a massive coal mine. The forest is not only their home—it also provides many with their livelihoods. The Erdogan government has denounced the protests as marginal and anti-development, sending security forces to back up Limak Holding, the major Turkish coal conglomerate behind the project. The Real News reports from Akbelen Forest.

    Producer: Murat Bay
    Associate Producer and Translation: Daniel Thorpe
    Videographer: Murat Bay
    Video editors: Daniel Thorpe and Leo Erhardt
    Special thanks: Kazim Kizil, Diyar Saracoglu

    Transcript

    Protester: Look! Look! Can you see this? How can you do this? 

    Daniel Thorpe (narrator): Akbelen forest, western Turkey. Local villagers and environmental activists try to stop the expansion of a coal mine. Just three months after strongman President Erdoğan was re-elected, people flocked here from all over Turkey to try to save the remaining woodland. The protest is a symbol of a wider struggle to protect the environment in Turkey, from companies which often enjoy close relations with the government. The coal giant Limak Holding is a typical example. President Erdoğan dismissed the protesters as ‘marginal’, opposed to the country’s economic development. Despite a nation-wide outcry, the forest clearing continues with the protection of the Turkish security forces.

    Protesters: “Akbelen is everywhere! 

    The resistance is everywhere!”

    Protester: Anyone with a conscience would not obey these orders. We are the ones who are paying  for the clothes they are wearing.

    Leyla Ciyansen (protester): This forest is our lives, our oxygen, our source of income. It’s shameful! They shouldn’t sit in its shade!

    Protesters: “The day will come, the tides will turn! The government will answer to its people!”

    Sermit Cetin (protester): Leave us alone! Leave our nature and our history alone! Get away from our home! That’s it, I’m not saying anything else.

    Ayse Ayev (protester): How long does it take for a tree to grow? I cried when I saw this. Isn’t this a sin? Does one destroy nature for money? They shouldn’t. 

    Halime Saman (environmental activist): Since the 1980s, Turkey rapidly went through a liberal privatization process. Under the flag of industrialization  and development our nature and our resources were turned into commodities. 

    Halil Ibrahim Demir (local farmer): They started cutting the trees at 6 in the morning. We revolted and tried to stop them. We pitched our tents here. They are saying the court decided in our favor and we can go on if there’s coal under the soil. We don’t want to give up our nature. This is also our source of income. We lost our pine trees but we will continue to resist.

    Protester: I don’t want to die of cancer! Why are they cutting down these trees? This is our soil, our land! Arrest or kill me, I don’t care. We want to live in dignity. Long live Akbelen!

    Ortac Yakar (local farmer): I have a grandson. Every time I see the Gendarmerie I tremble with fear of the thought of sending him to his military service. I see enemies in them, not friends!

    Necla Isik (local farmer): Akbelen is everywhere! The resistance is everywhere!

    Protesters: “Murderer Limak piss off from Akbelen!”

    Halime Saman (environmental activist): Why are you shooting rubber bullets at us? We don’t carry rocks, clubs or weapons. All we have is love in our hearts for nature. Do you see that as a weapon?

    Selma Gurkan (Chairwoman of Labour Party, EMEP): The job of the Ministry of Interior is to provide safety. But here they sent the law enforcement against people protecting their nature, their land, their air and their water.

    Halime Saman (environmental activist): The army protected the company. For the benefit of that company they turned against the people. 

    Tulka (student): They arrested me as I tried to pull my friend away. They were hitting and punching me as they threw me on the ground. They were swearing at me, called me a traitor to the homeland and kept on assaulting me throughout the way. They are trying to intimidate us with arrests and oppression but the more they attack the more we unite. They can’t break our will to resist this way. We will continue to fight for the freedom of the earth and the animals, for a vegan, ecological, classless and hierarchy-free world. They can’t break us.

    Daniel Thorpe (narrator): The resistance in Akbelen continues. Though most of the trees have been felled, protesters still hope to obstruct the mining of coal, and save at least the soil where their forest stood.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • NYC Govt. officially allows Muslims to call Adhan on loudspeaker

    New York: In a historic development, the  Adhan echoed around the New York Mayor’s office as the Eric Adams-led administration has officially allowed the use of loudspeaker to call Adhan from the city Masques, with certain conditions.

    The soulful sound of Pray calling also echoed around the Mayor’s office.

    The use of loudspeakers for Adhan was a long-standing demand of millions of Muslims living in the U.S., particularly those in NYC.

    Muslims of NYC have admired the Eric Adams administration for the historic decision, and they termed the move as a living example of religious freedom, respect, and harmony.

    The mayor Eric Adams, in a press conference with his administration and representatives of the Muslim community, has officially given permission to all mosques to now give Adhan for Friday prayers on loudspeakers. After this announcement, there is no need to take written permission to give adhan from any mosque.

    Mayor Eric Adams also allowed all mosques in the city to give the Maghrib Adhan on loudspeakers on Fridays and in the holy Ramadan.

    Muhammad Bahi, Senior Liaison Officer of the Community Affairs Unit at the Mayor’s Office organized the event and thanked all the guests for their attendance. With the pray calling, there is a command to abandon worldly affairs during prayer, he stressed.

    The staff of the mayor’s office, the police commissioner, and the representatives of the Muslim community was also present in the press conference.

    President of New York Police Muslim Officer Society and Deputy Inspector Adeel Rana also spoke on this occasion.

    Representatives of the Muslim community, imams of various mosques, organizers of Islamic centers and President of COPO Mohammad Rizvi also participated in the event.

    On this occasion, the Muslim community said that today is a very happy and proud day for us. Muslims living in New York will be grateful to Mayor Eric Adams for this initiative.

    Earlier, the mayor further said that the police will also work with regard to the new guidelines and ensure that the volume of the loudspeakers for pray calling remains within the prescribed limits.

    The post NYC Govt. officially allows Muslims to call Adhan on loudspeaker first appeared on VOSA.

  • Kurdish politician and human rights defender Leyla Zana prosecuted for accepting awards

    Leyla Zana, a renowned Kurdish politician and human rights activist, and the first Kurdish female member of the Turkish parliament, will face prosecution on 7 September 2023, with her international awards being cited as “criminal evidence” in the indictment.

    Prominent Kurdish politician Leyla Zana to stand trial for accepting international honours

    Former Member of Parliament Leyla Zana is due to stand trial in a Turkish court on 7 September 2023, facing accusations of “terrorist propaganda” in her speeches and charges of accepting international awards, deemed as “crimes” under Article 325/1 of the Turkish Penal Code. The penal code article, titled “Acceptance of Titles and Similar Honours from the Enemy,” stipulates that a citizen who accepts academic degrees, honours, titles, medals, or other honorary ranks from a state at war with Turkey could face imprisonment from one to three years.

    Zana’s lawyer, İbrahim Çeliker, has questioned the basis of the charges, asking, “Which awards received by Ms. Zana could be a source of crime? Which country has Turkey declared war on? These need to be clarified. The awards in question that Ms. Zana received are awards given from European countries and America on human rights,” Çeliker stated. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/82F7AAA5-88D1-47E8-8B62-4EBC66D1602D]

    Zana is internationally recognised for her human rights work and political activism. Her accolades include the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the Aachen Peace Prize, the Bruno Kreisky Prize, and the Freedom Medal by the American Human Rights Association. One should add the Juan Maria Bandres Prize for Human Rights and Refugee Protection in 2008. She has also been awarded the Silver Medal of the City of Paris and has been recognised as an “Honorary Citizen” by the cities of Paris and Geneva.

    The indictment also implicates pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) former MP Orhan Doğan and Vedat Aydın, the People’s Labour Party (HEP) Diyarbakır (Amed) Provincial Chairman who was killed in 1991, citing their participation in memorial programmes as criminal. Çeliker responded to this, stating, “The prosecutor considers Orhan Doğan and Vedat Aydın as members of the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]/KCK [Kurdistan Communities Union]. He sees the mention of these names as a criminal element. However, Orhan Doğan is a Kurdish politician who spent years in prison with Leyla Zana and served as an MP. Vedat Aydın is a Kurdish intellectual who fell victim to an unsolved murder.”

    Çeliker also emphasised that the indictment targets freedom of speech, stating, “The main point that the prosecutor focuses on is Ms. Zana’s speaking in Kurdish. There is a special clause in the indictment about her speaking in Kurdish. He emphasises this as a fault and evidence of the alleged crime; the crime of making terrorist propaganda. There are expressions picked out from speeches made in the fields of peace, brotherhood, and democracy … Ms. Zana has never praised violence, she has fought for peace to come, she is a politician who has paid the price.”

    Prominent Kurdish politician Leyla Zana to stand trial for accepting international honours

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Indonesia signs for Anka UAVs

    The Indonesian Ministry of Defense (MoD) revealed that it will be acquiring 12 Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) Anka medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) worth up to US$300 million, the ministry announced in a now-deleted social media post in late July. The announcement, which has since been deleted, added that the air vehicles are expected […]

    The post Indonesia signs for Anka UAVs appeared first on Asian Military Review.

  • Two community centers in Turkey are changing young Uyghurs’ lives for the better

    For young Uyghurs from China’s Xinjiang region, Istanbul’s East Turkistan Youth Center has been a godsend during a difficult time.  

    One 25-year-old who arrived in Turkey in 2016 turned to the center for counseling after struggling with a drug habit.

    “When I heard about this center and the support they were providing to Uyghur youth for free, I couldn’t believe my ears,” he said. “Before joining the center, I was involved in negative activities and used drugs like heroin.”

    Abdusami Hoten, 30, co-founded the center in 2021 in Istanbul’s Safakoy district – one of the most heavily Uyghur-populated areas of the city – to offer guidance and housing for Uyghur youths.

    The 25-year-old, who requested anonymity so as not to harm his future prospects, moved to Turkey to further his education. But he wasn’t able to enroll in classes – he was out of work and his parents’ plans to move from Xinjiang to Turkey fell through.

    He became isolated and depressed and lost hope in his future. That’s when he turned to illegal drugs.

    Eventually, a friend suggested that he seek help at the center shortly after it opened.

    “The center’s primary objective is to educate and assist Uyghur youth who are on the wrong path, such as addiction to gambling, drugs and other substances, and guide them toward reintegrating into society,” said Hoten, a Uyghur who has lived in Turkey since 2016. 

    Roughly 50,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey, the largest Uyghur diaspora outside Central Asia. The Turkish government has offered Uyghurs a safe place to live outside Xinjiang, where they face persecution.  

    But once in Turkey, some Uyghur youths have encountered unemployment, economic hardship and drug addiction.

    Abdusami Hoten runs the East Turkistan Youth Center in Istanbu, which offers support and guidance to young Uyghurs to help them make positive changes in their lives. Credit: RFA
    Abdusami Hoten runs the East Turkistan Youth Center in Istanbu, which offers support and guidance to young Uyghurs to help them make positive changes in their lives. Credit: RFA

    “Our wish for the youth is that they can, whether in the society or in a foreign country, avoid becoming a burden to others and instead actively contribute to both society and the Uyghur community, while embracing and preserving their ethnic identity,” Hoten said.

    Since its inception, the center has served over 220 people, helping nearly three dozen young people recover from drug addiction, he said.

    The 25-year-old has received treatment for his drug use and is learning about herbal medicine to become an herbal doctor.

    Hoten has organized classes on psychology and Uyghur history, and other events that have offered new perspectives, the 25-year-old said.

    “We received valuable advice from elders, and every week, we had food gatherings, strengthening our bonds like brothers,” he said. “Gradually, our interest in living increased, and we are incredibly grateful for the positive changes.”

    Boxing, painting and host talks

    A similar community facility for Uyghurs – the Palwan Uyghur Youth Center – was founded in 2019 by Samarjan Saidi, a 34-year-old Uyghur, as a place in Safakoy district for young people to play sports and learn new skills.

    The center consists of a boxing club and a separate youth facility that offers courses in painting, arts and crafts, English and the natural sciences. Organizers also host talks and field trips. 

    Initially, Saidi wanted to create a family-like environment for Uyghur youths, so he and some friends set up a boxing club in a rented basement. Later, with funding from the U.S.-based Uyghur NextGen Project, they were able to move the boxing club to another facility and set up a youth center. 

    The main purpose of the center is to help young people prepare for college by providing guidance that aligns with their interests and talents, Saidi said.

    Saidi was born in Qumul and raised in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi. He moved to Denmark in the early 2000s to go to school. After he graduated, he intended to return home and start a business with friends. 

    “However, in 2016, some of my friends who had returned home from Europe had their passports confiscated,” Saidi told RFA. “I decided not to return home for the time being.”

    That year, Chinese authorities in Xinjiang began collecting passports. Uyghurs had to hand them in to authorities who said they would hold them for safekeeping and would return them for any necessary travel abroad. But that was not the case in most instances.

    Uyghur youths from the East Turkistan Youth Center in Istanbul head to a protest against China in an undated photo. Credit: RFA
    Uyghur youths from the East Turkistan Youth Center in Istanbul head to a protest against China in an undated photo. Credit: RFA

    The situation worsened in 2017, when authorities began arbitrarily arresting both prominent and ordinary Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, sending them to “re-education” camps or prison for participating in “illegal” religious practices or activities deemed “extremist” or a threat to national security.

    It was during this time that Saidi and his friends in Europe decided to open the boxing club and pooled their finances.  

    “As we made progress, we invited English teachers, which attracted more people to join,” he said. “Even girls requested having a training environment, and one of the girls who was already training in a Turkish club took responsibility for training them.”

    ‘Warm and friendly environment’

    As more youths joined, the center began offering English courses and organized social events, Saidi said.

    With a computer and US$25,000 from the Uyghur NextGen Project, Saidi and his colleagues purchased new space for the boxing club and renovated it themselves. They also bought a nearby hair salon and turned it into the Palawan Youth Center. 

    “While we may not fully recreate the family environment that we left behind, our main goal is to create a warm and friendly environment as close to it as possible,” Saidi said.

    When two youths wanted to learn how to play traditional Uyghur instruments like the dutar, a long-necked two-stringed lute, and promote Uyghur culture through music, organizers found a Uyghur musician to provide instruction. They did the same for a young woman who wanted to learn how to draw.

    The center also hosts art displays to showcase the works of its members, summer picnics and talks given by Uyghur professionals. 

    “During Ramadan, we organize iftar [fast-breaking evening meal] events, preceded by speeches from religious figures and successful individuals,” he said. “We come together to eat, pray and strengthen our bonds during such events.”

    Idris Ayas, a staffer who has lived in Turkey for 11 years and has a master’s degree in international law, has worked with young Uyghurs since 2019. 

    “In essence, the Palawan Youth Center has not only become a place of learning and growth but also evolved into a welcoming home and family for our Uyghur students,” he said.

    Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Uyghar for RFA Uyghur.

  • After Erdoğan’s Victory, Movements in Turkey Must Fight Beyond the Ballot Box

    Ten years ago, in June 2013, I was tear-gassed and chased down city streets by the riot police in Istanbul alongside tens of thousands of others participating in a nationwide uprising in Turkey. Our crime was to assemble for a demonstration in Taksim Square after the eviction of the occupation and the spread of the uprising that had begun at Gezi Park. Pushed back into the alleyways of Istiklal…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Muharram processions, Majlis being held across the world including the US with religious reverence

    New York: Mournful processions and Majalis of Muharram-ul-Haram are being held across the world including the United States,with Muslim devotees paying homage to Imam Hussain (AS) and his loyal companions who rendered their lives in the soil of Karbala for the noble cause of humanity, justice and restoration of the glory of Islam.

    The Muharram-ul-Haram gatherings and mourning processions are also being held with devotion and respect in Africa, Middle East, Iran, South Asia including Pakistan and India.

    The main Muharram procession in Dallas and Houston will be held downtown on the 10th of Muharram, July 28, while the series of congregations will continue in various imambargahs and private residences.

    A large number of Muslim devotees of Imam Hussain (AS), the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, (the last messenger of Allah Almighty) participated in the Muharram gatherings at Houston’s Al-Ghadeer Imambargah, Dalles’ Imambargah Momin Center and Dar-e-Hussain.

    While series of Majalis also being organized wherein Zakirs and religious scholars are describing the incident of Karbala.

    Azadar echoed like Labbaik Ya Hussain everywhere, participating in these gatherings organized in memory of the great sacrifice of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

    Mourning events are ongoing in many other cities of Texas, the largest state of America, including Houston and Dallas.

    Men, women and children are actively participating in these meetings.

    The post Muharram processions, Majlis being held across the world including the US with religious reverence first appeared on VOSA.

    This post was originally published on VOSA.

  • HAVELSAN to Launch Çaka S-KUSV at IDEF’23

    HAVELSAN, a global leader in naval defense technology, is set to unveil its latest innovation, the ÇAKA S-KUSV (Submersible Kamikaze Unmanned Surface Vehicle), at IDEF’23. The ÇAKA S-KUSV is a new breed of naval technology, designed to redefine the rules of engagement in naval warfare. The ÇAKA S-KUSV, a product of HAVELSAN’s engineering excellence, is […]

    The post HAVELSAN to Launch Çaka S-KUSV at IDEF’23 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • ADVENT: The Next Generation of Combat Management Systems

    HAVELSAN’s advanced Naval Combat Management System ADVENT will take its place soon at IDEF’23 which is the flagship event hosting the Defense industry’s leading players and professionals from all over the world. At IDEF’23 – 16th International Defence Industry Fair which will be held from 25th to 28th July 2023 at Tuyap Fair and Congress […]

    The post ADVENT: The Next Generation of Combat Management Systems appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • In Bid to Join NATO, Sweden and Finland Back Turkish Repression of Kurds

    As Ukrainians face a brutal and ongoing Russian siege, NATO’s July summit has endangered and betrayed Kurdish people, cruelly trading the fate of one occupied and repressed group for another. The most celebrated news out of the summit was the fact that the last hurdles had been removed to Sweden joining the alliance, with Finland having joined just months before. But these two states are admitted…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Terrorism trial of 17 Kurdish journalists, media worker begins in Turkey 

    Diyarbakır, July 11, 2023—In response to Tuesday’s opening of the trial of 17 Kurdish journalists and a media worker on terrorism charges in a court in Diyarbakır, Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

    “Turkish authorities must immediately release the defendants and drop the terrorism charges, which are solely based on their journalistic work,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “Turkish authorities should also take necessary steps to ensure that pretrial arrest cannot be weaponized against the members of the press.”

    The journalists and media worker were charged with membership in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They are employed by local ARİ, PEL, and PİYA production companies and produce Kurdish-focused shows and content, which the indictment alleged were propaganda for PKK. The government has designated PKK as a terrorist organization. 

    The defendants — 15 of whom have been under pretrial arrest for 13 months — have denied the charges and, if convicted, face up to 15 years imprisonment under Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws. 

    Turkey was the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists, with 40 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census. Of those, more than half were Kurdish journalists.

    CPJ’s email to the Diyarbakır chief prosecutor’s office did not receive a response.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Nice ‘tit-for-tat’ by Swedish newspaper against Turkish demands to extradite refugees

    Aftonbladet, the biggest daily newspaper of Sweden published a call where it was stated that the Turkish authorities and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among them, are making calls, at every opportunity, for Sweden to repatriate some authors, journalists, academicians, and human rights defenders living freely in Sweden by obtaining refugee status, the number of whom ranges between 33 and 130. 

    “Simultaneously with Turkey requesting Sweden to repatriate its opponents, Sweden is facing the largest organized criminal actions in its history. Almost every day comes reports of armed attacks and killings from all parts of Sweden,” the call states*.  

    “It is as if anyone can be killed anywhere at any time. Most of these cruel attacks are being organized by Swedish criminals now living in luxury in Turkey. These criminals have obtained Turkish citizenship and Turkey is therefore arguing that they cannot be returned to Sweden.” 

    “One such leader of a criminal gang threatening security in our country is Rawa Majid, the leader of the criminal organization called “Foxtrot” (with nickname Kurdish Fox). Another one organizing these crimes belongs to the group called Bandidos .”

    “On the one side, Turkey claims to be fighting terrorism and requests that people who are in Sweden because of their political opinions to be returned to Turkey. On the other side, the country is rejecting to return to Sweden criminals of grave offences, people who risk the security and the future generations in Sweden. 

    “No, this cannot go on Turkey! It is time to act like a serious state. Return the “Kurdish Fox” and the other criminal people from Sweden to Sweden.” 

    The signatories of the call:

    Kurdo Baksi, Author
    Göran Eriksson, Ex-Chief of Stockholm Workers Education Center (ABF) 
    Göran Greider, Author, Dala-Demokraten Gazetesi Baş Redaktörü
    Pierre Schori, Ex-Minister responsible for Refugees and UN Ambassador
    Olle Svenning, Author

    https://bianet.org/english/politics/281229-swedish-newspaper-calls-turkey-to-return-to-sweden-the-criminals-who-live-in-luxury-here

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Calls for solidarity, as Turkish drones assassinate members of the Kurdish women’s movement

    The Turkish military assassinated Yusra Darwish, the co-chair of Qamişlo canton council in Northeast Syria, on 20th June. Missiles fired from a Turkish drone killed Yusra, who was also a prominent member of the Kurdish women’s movement.

    A revolution has been underway in Rojava, Northeast Syria since 2012, based on the ideas of women’s freedom, grassroots democracy, and an ecological society. The Turkish state is opposed to this revolution, and has been trying to destroy it since it began.

    The drone strike also killed Leyman Shiweish, Yusra’s deputy co-chair, and the driver of the car, Farat Touma. Thousands of people attended their funeral in Qamişlo.

    Rojava’s Democratic Union Party (PYD) said that Leyman was one of the first women to join the Kurdistan revolution, and that she spent 38 years fighting as a guerilla in the Kurdish mountains. They concluded:

    The enemy should know that the struggle started by comrade Rihan [Leyman] will continue at any cost.

    ‘Our answer will be the women’s revolution’

    This is by no means the first time the Turkish state has used assassination attacks against the Kurdish women’s movement. Zehra Berkel, Hebûn Mele Xelîl, and Emina Weysi were members of the Kongreya Star women’s federation. The Turkish military murdered them in another drone attack in 2020. Last year Nagîhan Akarsel, co-editor of Jineoloji magazine, was assassinated in an attack on her house in Suleimaniye in Iraqi Kurdistan. Jineoloji carries out decolonial dissemination of knowledge in the social sciences of, by, and for women. It is associated with the ideas of the Kurdish women’s movement. Kongreya Star wrote at the time:

    the Turkish state has persistently tried to weaken the struggle. But the persistence, will and strength of the freedom-loving women will not be weakened or broken. Our answer will be the victory of the women’s revolution all over the world.

    The Turkish state’s attacks on the revolutionary women of the Kurdish Freedom Movement are systematic and long-established. To read Kongra Star’s dossier on the assassinations of their comrades click here.

    UK group condemns the killings

    Kurdistan Solidarity Network (KSN) is a UK group which supports the revolutionary politics of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and the Rojava revolution. KSN Jin, the autonomous women’s structure of the KSN, made the following statement:

    Kurdistan Solidarity Network – Jin condemn these and all other attacks the Turkish state is carrying out in its attempt to destroy, piece by piece, the work of building a democratic, ecological and peaceful future for North and East Syria. We stand with our sisters in Kurdistan and beyond and raise our voices in solidarity, defiance and shared pain. 

    Yusra Darwish joined the Rojava Revolution in 2012 and worked for many years as a teacher, school principal and active member in the field of education. She was elected co-chair of the Amudê Education Committee  before becoming co-chair of the Qamishlo-Canton Council in November 2022.

    KSN Jin went on to speak about Leyman Shiweish:

    Leyman Shiwish

    Leyman Shiweish, who is also known as Reiyhan Amude, has been working for peace, democracy and women’s liberation for years and has played an important role in the women’s revolution in Rojava since it began.

    The statement continued:

    Both women worked tirelessly for social change and the organization of social, community and political activities in the canton since the beginning of the revolution.

    The killings of Yusra, Leyman and Farat are part of a Turkish military campaign of drone strikes and shelling. Turkish drones have killed at least 21 people over the past weeks.

    The European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress (KCDK-E) have called for international solidarity against Turkish aggression. They said that the Turkish state wants to occupy and ethnically cleanse more of Northeast Syria:

    It is necessary to see that the invading Turkish army has a very serious and clear goal of occupying and dekurdifying the region. It also replaces the Kurdish population by people from other places in the region.

    KCDK-E called for people around the world to stand up against the Turkish attacks. People in Suleimaniye, Brussels, and Bern have already held demonstrations against the attacks. You can follow Kurdistan Solidarity Network to find out about solidarity events in the UK.

    Featured image via Kongra Star

    By Tom Anderson

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Refugee dad-of-three died after decade wait for ‘safe route’ out of Turkey


    This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Adam Bychawski.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Home Office secretly funding Turkish border forces to stop migrants

    The UK government is secretly funding Turkey’s border forces to keep migrants out. A freedom of information (FOI) request revealed that it has handed £3m to the Turkish government to stop refugees from entering Europe.

    The FOI request by the Guardian detailed that the Home Office has diverted money to Turkish security forces to stem the flow of desperate refugees and migrants. This included practical training and material support. The money was taken from a fund meant for overseas development.

    The £3m figure is for the last year. But, the report suggests that the payments have been steadily increasing since 2019. The Guardian reported:

    The funding was diverted from the official development assistance (ODA) budget and delivered through Home Office International Operations, part of the department’s Intelligence Directorate.

    The UK also gifted security equipment, including nine vehicles to Turkey. This is despite, as the Guardian pointed out, Turkey’s track record of using violent force including live rounds against migrants.

    Refugee plight ignored

    Human rights lawyer Mahmut Kaçan told the paper that the UN overlooked Turkish brutality against refugees. And he said donor countries were responsible too:

    The UNHCR never criticises or mentions what Turkey is doing at the border. They are complicit in the deaths of these people, as are the EU and other countries that are giving money to Turkey for border security.

    And an anonymous Home Office source explained how the process of funding worked:

    We offer our expertise and provide officials [locally] with evidence, showing the routes we think illegal migrants or gangs are operating along… It’ll probably be along the lines of: ‘This is a route smugglers and illegal migrants use to get to the UK, we need to do more to stop it.’

    The source added:

    The Turkish government will then respond by saying: ‘This is what we need to be able to do that’, and then we fund it, basically.

    Accountability?

    The same source said that accountability wasn’t high on the agenda for the UK government:

    We don’t tend to hold local forces to account with any targets but certainly if we say: ‘We need to bolster X area of border security’, Turkey might respond by saying they need Y in order to boost border officer numbers and we’ll help them to do that.

    A spokesperson for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said the revelation exposed the British government’s real attitudes:

    This government has shown that it will break international law to prevent people from exercising the fundamental human right to seek safety.

    The UK government has been caught out again. Whether on the English Channel or at the Turkish border, it is absolutely committed to putting the boot into some of the most desperate people on earth. And, as ever, the unwitting taxpayer is funding it.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/Amada44, cropped to 1910 x 1000, licenced under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    By Joe Glenton

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Erdoğan’s new presidency has started as it means to go on, with arrests and repression

    On Sunday 28 May, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won Turkey’s presidential run-offs. His victory came amid allegations of violent intimidation of Kurdish voters and electoral fraud.

    Erdoğan has been in power for over 20 years. He took office as prime minister in 2003, and president in 2014. Since then, hungry for autocratic control, he has pushed for dictatorial powers for the presidency, built himself a $350m palace in Ankara, and replaced over 100 elected mayors in Bakur with state approved appointees. Bakur is the part of Kurdistan within the borders of Turkey. On top of this, Erdoğan has waged a constant war against Turkey’s Kurdish Freedom Movement, with at least 10,000 people currently imprisoned.

    Erdoğan: a presidency built on militarism

    Internationally, Erdoğan has been an expansionist militarist; bombing Iraq and invading and occupying North and East Syria. He has used poison gas against Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) guerillas in Iraq, as well as both chemical and white phosphorous weapons against the people of Rojava. Erdoğan has allied with Daesh (ISIS), and created proxies in Syria such as the Turkish Free Syrian Army. Since the 2018 occupation, Turkey’s allies have plundered Afrin’s economy, and replaced Kurdish residents with pro-Turkish Arabic colonists.

    It should come as no surprise then that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Al-Nusra), the right-wing Islamist group currently in control of the Syrian city of Idlib, extended congratulations to Erdoğan on the election result.

    During the 2019 invasion of North and East Syria, Turkey and its proxies carried out assassinations, massacres, torture, and rapes. Sadly, now that Erdoğan has won another term a new invasion of North and East Syria is much more likely.

    Erdoğan has also presided over militarist interventions in Libya, and provided military support to Azerbaijan for its conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh too. He has consistently ramped up militarist rhetoric against Greece, as well as using the ongoing refugee crisis and war in Ukraine to his benefit internationally.

    Within Turkey, Erdoğan has played the conservative populist card. He has blamed LGBTQ+ people for the Covid-19 virus. Several of his election campaign statements were deeply homophobic. He is an outspoken misogynist too – in 2021 famously pulling out of the 2011 Istanbul Convention. The convention requires governments to adopt measures to prevent violence against women.

    Unfair presidential election

    Before the 14 May 2023 election, members of the Green Left Party (YSP) in Colemêrg (Hakkari) told the Canary that they expected arrests and repression if Erdoğan won. One YSP member in Hakkari told us:

    If AKP (Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party) wins, we will not be waking up in our beds, we will be waking up in prison.

    YSP ran in the parliamentary election, gaining 63 seats. The party wants to completely change the face of Turkey. Their ambitions go beyond states and parliamentary democracy. They want to rewrite the Turkish constitution, and create radical peoples’ democracy at a grassroots-level across Turkey. YSP chose not to stand a presidential candidate. Instead they advised their supporters to make a tactical vote for the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in the hope of finally unseating Erdoğan.

    Kurdish voters faced violence and intimidation at polling booths for the second time in a month on May 28. Medya News wrote:

    The Kurdish-majority regions witnessed significant support for opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu in the presidential run-off vote, just as in the first round of elections. However, reports have emerged of supporters and representatives of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their extremist Islamist partner HÜDA-PAR interfering with voters and observers, particularly in areas where Kılıçdaroğlu had garnered significant support in the first round. The presence of an increased military mobilisation in the region further heightened tensions and uncertainty surrounding the elections.

    Observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) criticised the election process. They said that there was an “unfair playing field” for both rounds of elections in May. They reported:

    biased media coverage and the lack of a level playing field gave an unjustified advantage to the incumbent [Erdoğan].

    Arrests and torture

    Since 28 May’s run-off election, a wave of arrests of Kurdish Freedom Movement figures is already underway. On Monday 29 May, Special Operation Police carried out raids, kicking in doors, breaking windows, and assaulting people in Colemêrg in the far southeast. They kicked and punched detainees, and struck them with the butts of rifles.

    Lawyers for Freedom reported that one detainee was tortured for two hours by the Special Operation Police. Police detained Mustafa Bor in Gever (Yüksekova in Turkish). The local hospital treated Mustafa for fractures, severe bruising, and bleeding later that day.

    Meanwhile, in the city of Batman, police arrested 20 people for making a hand gesture associated with the Kurdish Freedom Movement during a victory parade for Erdoğan. They even arrested a journalist for reporting the incident.

    The repression follows a wave of pre-election arrests across Bakur and Turkey. At least 180 people were arrested prior to 28 May’s run-off election, including many YSP members.

    The ‘spirit is still alive’

    Vala Francis is an internationalist who has observed both elections as part of an international delegation called for by the People’s Democratic Party (HDP). After 28 May’s run-off election, she warned of more arrests to come:

    Everyone expects masses of arrests to begin in the next months, especially for all the election work. But also a more general crackdown; literally thousands of people already have ongoing political cases. It’s really a critical time to think of ways to help people practically, on the ground.

    But Vala still sees great hope in the spirit of the people. She wrote:

    The war is deeply psychological. Maybe it doesn’t seem obvious from the outside, but people resist on every front. Some people seem to have a spring inside of them, like water that emerges from the ground. It doesn’t stop. It makes everything in its path clear and luscious for new possibilities. This spirit is still alive, even if by necessity it mostly exists in the shadows. All parts of Kurdistan are connected, and the strengths, and the struggles, and the weaknesses in one part feeds into and is substantiated by every other.

    ‘I don’t feel defeated’

    Vala’s faith in the spirit of the movement is borne out by her recent interview with Ceylan Akça of the YSP. Ceylan was elected to the Turkish parliament on 14 May. Responding to Erdoğan‘s victory, Ceylan said:

    I don’t feel defeated. Of course people are digesting the results now, that maybe there’s another five years with Erdogan. It’s okay to feel sad, to feel discouraged. But just after we get through that feeling, that’s when its time to get back to work. We will work to strengthen our local offices. Everyone here has a court case – they have at least six years of prison sentence dangling over their heads, and yet they still come and work. And we will make sure that we will protect and defend everything that we have accomplished in the last two decades, and in the time before – we will hold onto this, defend this, and we will build on it.

    She quipped:

    This authoritarian system wasn’t built over night, so it wont take a single night to get rid of it. But we’re almost halfway done, if we keep on working on this and fighting for this.

    One thing is clear, and that is the struggle for people’s democracy, and against Erdoğan‘s militaristic, dictatorial rule, is far from over. People will re-organise and renew the struggle on fresh fronts. The revolutionary movement that is challenging Turkish fascism is an internationalist one. Those of us who support the fight for radical democracy in Turkey need to be ready to stand with our comrades in whatever way we can, because the next months and years are going to be a hard fought struggle.

    Featured image via Screenshot/YouTube

    By Tom Anderson

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Turkey’s marginalized ‘deeply afraid’ as Erdoğan wins presidential runoff

    Common Dreams Logo

    This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on May 29, 2023. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

    As supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at home and abroad celebrated his win of Sunday’s runoff election, human rights defenders and marginalized people including Kurds and LGBTQ+ activists voiced deep fears about how their lives will be adversely affected during the increasingly authoritarian leader’s third term.

    Turkey’s Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdoğan’s victory over Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Sunday evening. Erdoğan, the 69-year-old leader of the right-wing Justice and Development Party who has ruled the nation of 85 million people since 2014 and dominated its politics for two decades, won 52.18% of the vote. Kılıçdaroğlu, a 74-year-old social democrat who leads the left-of-center Republican People’s Party, received 47.82%.

    Erdoğan—who was seen handing out cash to supporters at a polling station in an apparent violation of Turkish election law—mocked his opponent’s loss outside the president’s home in Istanbul, saying, “Bye, bye, bye, Kemal” as the winner’s supporters booed, according to Al Jazeera.

    “The only winner today is Turkey,” Erdoğan declared as he prepared for a third term in which his country faces severe economic woes—inflation has soared and the lira is at a record low against the U.S. dollar—and is struggling to recover from multiple devastating earthquakes earlier this year.

    However, in Turkish Kurdistan—whose voters, along with a majority of people in most of Turkey’s largest cities favored Kılıçdaroğlu—people expressed fears that the government will intensify a crackdown it has been waging for several years.

    Ardelan Mese, a 26-year-old cafe owner in Diyarbakir, the country’s largest Kurdish-majority city, called Sunday’s election “a matter of life and death now.”

    “I can’t imagine what he will be capable of after declaring victory,” Mese said of Erdoğan in an interview with Reuters.

    After initially courting the Kurds by expanding their political and cultural rights, Erdoğan returned to the repression that has long characterized Turkey’s treatment of a people who make up one-fifth of the nation’s population, while intensifying a war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a far-left separatist group that Turkey, the United States, and other nations consider a terrorist organization.

    “Erdogan’s victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society,” Tayip Temel, the deputy co-chair of Turkey’s second-largest opposition party, the center-left and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)—which backed Kılıçdaroğlu—told Reuters.

    Human rights defenders—many of whom have chosen or been forced into exile—also sounded the alarm over the prospect of a third Erdoğan term.

    “If the opposition wins there will be space, even possibly limited, for discussions for a common future. With Erdoğan, there is no civic or political space for democracy and human rights,” Murat Çelikkan, a journalist who founded human rights groups including Amnesty International Turkey, said in an interview with Civil Rights Defenders just before Sunday’s runoff.

    Çelikkan called Erdoğan a “very authoritarian, religious, pro-expansionist conservative.”

    “Turkey, according to judicial statistics, has the largest number of terrorists in the world, because the prosecutors and judges have an inclination to use anti-terror laws arbitrarily and lavishly,” he continued. “There are tens of thousands of people who are being trialed or convicted by anti-terror laws. Thousands of people insulting the president.”

    “Nowhere in Turkey you can make a peaceful demonstration and protest,” Çelikkan added. “The security forces directly attack and detain you. The minister of interior targets and criminalizes LGBTI+ people on a daily basis.”

    LGBTQ+ Turks voiced fears for their future following a campaign in which Erdoğan centered homophobia in his appeals to an overwhelmingly Muslim electorate and repeatedly accused Kılıçdaroğlu and other opposition figures of being gay. During his victory speech Sunday evening, Erdoğan again lashed out at the LGBTQ+ community while excoriating Kılıçdaroğlu for his campaign pledge to “respect everyone’s beliefs, lifestyles, and identities.”

    Erdoğan vowed in his speech that gays would not “infiltrate” Turkey and that “we will not let the LGBT forces win.” At one point during his address, an Al Jazeera interpreter stopped translating a 45-second portion when the president called members of the opposition gay.

    Ilker Erdoğan, a 20-year-old university student and LGBTQ+ activist, told Agence France-Presse that “I feel deeply afraid.”

    “Feeling so afraid is affecting my psychology terribly. I couldn’t breathe before, and now they will try to strangle my throat,” he added. “From the moment I was born, I felt that discrimination, homophobia, and hatred in my bones.”

    Ameda Murat Karaguzu, a project assistant at an unnamed pro-LGBTQ+ group, told AFP that she has been “subjected to more hate speech and acts of hate than I have experienced in a long time.”

    Karaguzu blamed Erdoğan’s government for the increasing hostility toward LGBTQ+ Turks, adding that bigots are keenly “aware that there will be no consequences for killing or harming us.”

    Ilker Erdoğan struck a defiant tone, telling AFP that “I am also part of this nation, my identity card says Turkish citizen.”

    “You cannot erase my existence,” he added, “no matter how hard you try.”

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Erdoğan Reelected to 5 More Years in Turkey as His Government Grows More Authoritarian & Nationalist


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Erdoğan Reelected to 5 More Years in Turkey as His Government Grows More Authoritarian & Nationalist


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Erdoğan Reelected to 5 More Years in Turkey as His Government Grows More Authoritarian & Nationalist

    Seg4 turkey

    We look at the impact of the reelection of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sunday in a tight runoff vote, extending his 20-year rule for a further five years. Erdoğan received just over 52% of the vote, beating challenger Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, an economist and former civil servant who unified a broad coalition but failed to unseat Erdoğan despite growing dissatisfaction with his governance and deep economic pain within the country. We speak with Cihan Tuğal, UC Berkeley sociologist and author of The Fall of the Turkish Model: How the Arab Uprisings Brought Down Islamic Liberalism.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Turkey: Erdoğan’s unfair election win poses grave danger for democracy and Kurds

    Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s win in the May 28 second round of the Turkish presidential elections has sent a wave of concern and dread through democratic circles and the large Kurdish minority, reports Peter Boyle.

    This post was originally published on Green Left.

  • Journalists attacked, critical outlets investigated in Turkey election aftermath 

    Istanbul, May 30, 2023–Turkish authorities should investigate multiple incidents of journalists being attacked or obstructed from reporting during the country’s recent election, and the media watchdog RTÜK should treat all outlets equally regardless of political stance, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

    During the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, May 28, at least two journalists were physically attacked, others were obstructed from their work, and one was briefly detained, according to news reports and tweets from the journalists and their outlets.

    On Tuesday, RTÜK announced that it was investigating seven critical outlets in relation to their broadcasts during the run-off, according to news reports. Turkey’s sitting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won with 52% of the vote.

    ​​“Turkish authorities should investigate the harassment, obstruction, and detention of journalists covering the recent run-off election, and ensure that members of the press can cover such newsworthy events freely,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “It is also past time for the media regulator RTÜK to treat every media outlet equally and ensure that news organizations are not investigated over their political leanings.”

    In the Haliliye district of the eastern city of Şanlıurfa on Sunday, two unidentified men attacked Ömer Akın, a reporter with the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, while he covered a dispute between opposition politicians and lawyers and members of a pro-government group, according to news reports and Akın, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app.

    The men repeatedly punched Akın on the back, shoulders, and neck, and broke his microphone and camera. The journalist told CPJ he was not seriously injured. He filed a criminal complaint to the gendarmerie later that day and was told that a prosecutor tasked with investigating crimes regarding the election would hear his testimony. Akın told CPJ that he had not received any update on his case as of Tuesday, May 30.

    Separately, officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, harassed or obstructed at least three journalists on Sunday, May 28, including:

    • Fatoş Erdoğan, a reporter for the critical citizen journalist network Dokuz8 Haber, was obstructed from covering the elections at a school in Istanbul, when an AKP official blocked her from working and injured her hand, according to news reports and tweets by her outlet.
    • Sultan Eylem Keleş, a reporter for the critical outlet KRT TV, was also reporting on voting at an Istanbul school when she was asked to leave by an AKP official, according to those sources and Keleş, who communicated with CPJ via Twitter. She filed a criminal complaint with police.
    • Öznur Değer, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish news website JİNNEWS, was covering the voting process at a school in the southeastern city of Mardin, when an AKP official’s bodyguards said that she was not allowed to work there and forced her to leave, according to those sources and a report by her outlet. Mardin police confiscated her phone when Değer filed a criminal complaint about the incident.

    Also on Sunday, police briefly detained Vedat Aker, a journalist and publisher of the news website Batman Burada, as he reported on government supporters celebrating in the streets of the southeastern city of Batman, according to reports and a tweet from his outlet.

    CPJ messaged Fatoş Erdoğan, Değer, and Aker for more details on their cases but did not immediately receive any replies.

    On Tuesday, RTÜK tweeted a statement saying that authorities were investigating broadcasts during the Sunday runoff by seven critical outlets–FOX TV Turkey, HALK TV, TELE 1, KRT, TV 5, FLASH HABER, and Sözcü TV–following citizen complaints.

    RTÜK’s board is based on political party seats in parliament and is currently controlled by the AKP and its allies. In the past, RTÜK has favored pro-government outlets and has focused penalties on critical outlets. 

    CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s offices of Istanbul, Mardin, Batman, and Şanlıurfa; the AKP; and RTÜK but received no replies.

    Turkey is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 40 behind bars as of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Journalists attacked, critical outlets investigated in Turkey election aftermath 

    Istanbul, May 30, 2023–Turkish authorities should investigate multiple incidents of journalists being attacked or obstructed from reporting during the country’s recent election, and the media watchdog RTÜK should treat all outlets equally regardless of political stance, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

    During the second round of presidential elections on Sunday, May 28, at least two journalists were physically attacked, others were obstructed from their work, and one was briefly detained, according to news reports and tweets from the journalists and their outlets.

    On Tuesday, RTÜK announced that it was investigating seven critical outlets in relation to their broadcasts during the run-off, according to news reports. Turkey’s sitting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won with 52% of the vote.

    ​​“Turkish authorities should investigate the harassment, obstruction, and detention of journalists covering the recent run-off election, and ensure that members of the press can cover such newsworthy events freely,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative. “It is also past time for the media regulator RTÜK to treat every media outlet equally and ensure that news organizations are not investigated over their political leanings.”

    In the Haliliye district of the eastern city of Şanlıurfa on Sunday, two unidentified men attacked Ömer Akın, a reporter with the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, while he covered a dispute between opposition politicians and lawyers and members of a pro-government group, according to news reports and Akın, who communicated with CPJ via messaging app.

    The men repeatedly punched Akın on the back, shoulders, and neck, and broke his microphone and camera. The journalist told CPJ he was not seriously injured. He filed a criminal complaint to the gendarmerie later that day and was told that a prosecutor tasked with investigating crimes regarding the election would hear his testimony. Akın told CPJ that he had not received any update on his case as of Tuesday, May 30.

    Separately, officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, harassed or obstructed at least three journalists on Sunday, May 28, including:

    • Fatoş Erdoğan, a reporter for the critical citizen journalist network Dokuz8 Haber, was obstructed from covering the elections at a school in Istanbul, when an AKP official blocked her from working and injured her hand, according to news reports and tweets by her outlet.
    • Sultan Eylem Keleş, a reporter for the critical outlet KRT TV, was also reporting on voting at an Istanbul school when she was asked to leave by an AKP official, according to those sources and Keleş, who communicated with CPJ via Twitter. She filed a criminal complaint with police.
    • Öznur Değer, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish news website JİNNEWS, was covering the voting process at a school in the southeastern city of Mardin, when an AKP official’s bodyguards said that she was not allowed to work there and forced her to leave, according to those sources and a report by her outlet. Mardin police confiscated her phone when Değer filed a criminal complaint about the incident.

    Also on Sunday, police briefly detained Vedat Aker, a journalist and publisher of the news website Batman Burada, as he reported on government supporters celebrating in the streets of the southeastern city of Batman, according to reports and a tweet from his outlet.

    CPJ messaged Fatoş Erdoğan, Değer, and Aker for more details on their cases but did not immediately receive any replies.

    On Tuesday, RTÜK tweeted a statement saying that authorities were investigating broadcasts during the Sunday runoff by seven critical outlets–FOX TV Turkey, HALK TV, TELE 1, KRT, TV 5, FLASH HABER, and Sözcü TV–following citizen complaints.

    RTÜK’s board is based on political party seats in parliament and is currently controlled by the AKP and its allies. In the past, RTÜK has favored pro-government outlets and has focused penalties on critical outlets. 

    CPJ emailed the chief prosecutor’s offices of Istanbul, Mardin, Batman, and Şanlıurfa; the AKP; and RTÜK but received no replies.

    Turkey is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 40 behind bars as of CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Erdoğan’s Electoral Victory Imperils Democratic Forces in Turkey

    On May 28, Turkish citizens went to the polls for a second round of voting in the presidential election. On the ballot, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) were challenged by a six-party opposition alliance purporting to stand for an alternative politics embracing all Turks regardless of political views, religious affiliation, ethnic background…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Mother Of Ukrainian Commander Held In Turkey Says Son ‘Exchanged But Still Captive’


    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.

  • Erdoğan and his hardline allies have won Turkey – women and LGBTQ+ people will pay the price | Constanze Letsch

    For civil society and rights defenders, five more years of the Turkish president and his radical backers are a daunting prospect

    On Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was declared the winner of Turkey’s presidential runoff elections. According to numbers reported by the state-owned Anadolu news agency, more than 27 million voters cast their ballots in favour of Erdoğan, who has been at the country’s helm for more than two decades. He entered the second round in the lead in the polls, and was expected by most to emerge victorious. Although Erdoğan captured slightly more than half of the vote, more than 25 million people also mobilised to vote against him.

    The elections were being held under deeply unfair conditions, with an opposition set up to fail. Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was recently sentenced to more than two years in prison and banned from holding public office for insulting members of the supreme election council. This left the opposition unable to nominate its maybe most promising candidate. This was all amid biased media coverage, relentless smear campaigns against the eventual opposition candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, threats, manipulation and a crackdown on civil society, such as the arrest of 126 Kurdish lawyers, activists and politicians at the end of April in Diyarbakır.

    Constanze Letsch is a former Turkey correspondent for the Guardian and has recently finished a PhD on urban renewal in Istanbul

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • HAVELSAN Showcases High-Tech Solutions at LIMA 2023, Establishes Strategic Partnerships

    In Langkawi, Malaysia, between the 23rd – 27th of May – HAVELSAN, a global leader in high-technology products and innovative solutions, successfully captivated the attention of attendees at LIMA 2023, the prestigious defense and maritime exhibition. The event showcased HAVELSAN’s cutting-edge C4ISR solutions, simulators and training systems, and homeland security solutions, solidifying its position as […]

    The post HAVELSAN Showcases High-Tech Solutions at LIMA 2023, Establishes Strategic Partnerships appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • A reflection from the Canary team on our international coverage

    Our team has noticed over the past year or so that when we cover global politics, particularly in relation to Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia, our coverage often elicits comments from self-proclaimed anti-imperialists. Recently, some of this criticism has intensified in relation to articles we’ve put out about Imran Khan and Kurdistan. We’re no strangers to criticism, but we’ve noticed a pattern to comments that crop up repeatedly. We’d like to respond as a team to this pattern of criticism, and make our position clear.

    People, not states

    These claims centre around the apparent belief from a group of people that all our coverage of international politics should be doggedly anti-US with no exceptions. They believe such a position to be inherently anti-imperialist. The problem with this is that these anti-imperialists believe state actors like Putin and Erdoğan – vocal critics of US domination – should be supported in their efforts to dismantle US hegemony. This is in spite of the documented atrocities both have visited on ethnic minorities in their respective countries.

    For example. one author has dedicated an entire article to claiming that the Canary is intentionally pushing “Anglo-American empire” propaganda with our coverage of both Khan and Turkey. On social media, we’ve been accused of taking “Qatari blood money” over this. The Canary has also been said to be “deliberately omitting” US imperialism from our Pakistan and Turkey coverage, and trying to shape a “US/West-friendly perspective”. We’ve also come in for repeated attacks, historically, for criticising Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.

    At the Canary, we believe this to be a deeply dangerous set of beliefs that harms the people caught up in geopolitical battles. We are not oblivious to the fact that other emerging powers wish to exert their influence in Pakistan, Ukraine, Turkey, and other areas. However, criticism of populist figures is not an open invitation to Western war hawks to charge into countries that have already been ruined – and also formed, in the case of Pakistan – by genocidal powers. Our politics has always been, and will always be, guided by a commitment to reporting on the people caught up in these battles, not the states that wage them.

    We’ll now respond more specifically to two instances where recent reporting has been criticised by so-called ‘anti-imperialists’.

    Kurdish revolution

    We’re proud to support Kurdish people in their struggle for freedom, and we have a long history of doing so. Critics have claimed that supporting the revolution is tantamount to supporting the US. They say this is because the Kurds’ tactical coordination with the US in the struggle to defeat Daesh amounts to a “US-backed illegal occupation.” To call the autonomous administration an ‘occupation’ is a mind-bendingly warped take on the reality of revolutionary struggles in North and East Syria.

    What would critics have done if they had been living in Kobanî during the Daesh siege? Would they have watched their community die, rather than accept the limited US support on offer? Military coordination with the US has been a survival tactic for the revolutionary forces of North and East Syria. The movement knows that US imperialism is opposed to their revolution, and only supports them militarily when it aligns with US interests. The coordination with the US remains a contradiction for Rojava’s radicals, but one they are all too aware of. One of the impressive things about the Kurdish Freedom Movement is its ability to remain true to its revolutionary spirit while sitting with the contradictions that arise from the practical reality of the struggle.

    It is a grim reality that our critics – who claim they are steadfastly against US imperialism – ignore the bloody authoritarianism, colonialism, imperialism, and racism of Putin, Assad, Erdoğan, and the rest. It cannot be acceptable to align one’s politics with blood-soaked dictators at any cost – particularly when that cost is ignoring the struggles of oppressed communities fighting for their survival.

    As radicals, we need to be allies to people struggling for freedom globally, not to states. We need to remember the spirit of revolutionary internationalism, and to do what we can to materially support our comrades who are fighting against imperialism around the world.

    Racial literacy

    We have also received criticism of our coverage of Khan’s arrest in Pakistan. This criticism is from the same purported ‘anti-imperialist’ crowd mentioned above, who argue that by criticising Khan (who has nominally opposed US influence) we’re implicitly advocating for US influence and control in the region. Criticism in itself is not our issue, but such bad-faith analysis rankles.

    If commenters cannot understand why articles written by Pakistani people living in Pakistan, and edited by Pakistani editors, are critical of Imran Khan beyond ‘you want to prop up Western neo-imperialism’, then we cannot help you.

    Some criticism has also claimed that, in spite of writers and editors working from what they know and experience, our education in the West invalidates our reporting on Pakistan. We would argue that colonisers devalued or outright eradicated native centres of learning and processes of knowledge production. Colonisers created a hegemony of Western languages and epistemology, forcing Black and Brown people to speak their language and study in their systems in order to be heard. As a result, Black and Brown people had to become proficient with the colonisers’ tools in order to advocate for our humanity. So we jumped through all the hoops, only to be told by ‘anti-imperialists’ that their education makes us too privileged to speak for our own people.

    Accusing us of lacking anti-imperialism is laughable, but more than that, it is dripping in colonial racism. The Canary is one of few politics-focused media outlets in the UK where people of colour make up the majority of its editorial team. The people of colour who work and write at the Canary routinely risk their safety and wellbeing in confronting and demonstrating the violence of settler colonial states like the UK and the US. It is not by being ‘pro-intervention’ that they ended up on no-fly lists and Prevent’s radar.

    Internationalist solidarity

    We will not allow such criticism to go unchecked, because it is exactly the kind of bad-faith reading which seeks to dismiss valid critique with misinformed and baseless accusations. At best, such analysis of our coverage is purposely obtuse. At worst, it’s blatantly racist, diminishing the right of people from the Global South to tell their own stories and be an authority on their own struggles. It disregards the working class and multiply-marginalised people caught up in these struggles across the world. Instead, it originates only from the contrarian interests of people untouched by colonialism and racism.

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Turkish law enforcement used the earthquake as a cover for torture, a new report outlines

    Human rights groups have said law enforcement in Turkey tortured alleged looters in the wake of the devastating February earthquake. A joint report by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused police and armed forces of using the state of emergency as a “license to torture”.

    ‘We will kill you and bury you under the rubble’

    The groups interviewed 34 people in total, including 12 victims of torture. They also reviewed video of 13 cases of violence perpetrated by police against 34 individuals. Four of those cases involved Syrian refugees, and the report said the “attacks bore signs of additional xenophobic motivation”.

    The report found that in the majority of cases, police didn’t take the victims into formal custody. Instead, law enforcement officers immediately beat them or made them lie or kneel down while kicking, slapping and swearing at them for prolonged periods. Only two cases led to investigations.

    In one case, police arrested Turkish man Ahmet Guresci in the Altınözü district of Hatay, along with his brother Sabri. The officers tortured Ahmet, including attempting rape with police batons, before he died in hospital while in custody. Sabri claimed the officers had said:

    There is a state of emergency, we will kill you… We will kill you and bury you under the rubble… We’re going to say the public lynched you.

    The report said police released Sabri pending investigation. At the same time, three officers were suspended pending their investigation.

    Tortured and left to die

    In another particularly harrowing case study explored by the report, police tortured a group of five Kurdish men before leaving them to die.

    The Kurdish group had travelled to help with search and rescue efforts on 11 February. They said police took them from the site of a collapsed building to a nearby tent, where the police then accused them of looting.

    Officers beat and assaulted them numerous times, both in the tent and after taking them to a police station, before stripping them to their underwear. They then forced the group onto a minibus before dropping them off around midnight about 10km outside of the city. The temperatures were below zero at the time. Police then doused them in water before forcing them to crawl on the ground and abandoning them.

    All five survived, although one was hospitalised with a serious eye injury.

    Tip of the iceberg

    In a response before the report was published, the Turkish justice ministry said it had “zero tolerance” for torture. However, the justice ministry also told the Amnesty and HRW that their findings were “vague claims devoid of a factual basis”. In response, the groups pointed out that the department was dismissive without responding specifically to any findings.

    Amnesty and HRW said all the incidents occurred in the 10 provinces covered by the state of emergency. However, most were concentrated in Antakya city, in Hatay province. This was one of the areas worst hit by the earthquake.

    Emma Sinclair-Webb, HRW associate director and Turkey director, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the 13 cases documented by the groups represented just the “tip of the iceberg”. Meanwhile, Hugh Williamson – Europe and Central Asia director at HRW – said they were a “shocking indictment of law enforcement practices”.

    Esther Major, senior research advisor for Amnesty International’s Europe office, told AFP:

    We recognise the size of the catastrophe that has happened, but within that context, a state of emergency must not lead to lawlessness and impunity, to torture and other ill-treatment.

    Amnesty had earlier released an annual report containing broad condemnations of Turkey’s human rights record throughout 2022. It included a case of prison guards allegedly torturing an inmate, who later died.

    Featured image via Global News/YouTube

    Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

    By Glen Black

  • Why Turkey’s new Green Left isn’t your average political party

    Last week the third largest party in the Turkish parliament, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), announced that it would run in the elections on 14 May under the umbrella of a new party, the Green Left Party (YSP).

    The HDP is the largest party in an alliance of left-wing political parties called the Labour and Freedom Alliance. The HDP is facing a legal case demanding its closure, so it will use the Green Left Party’s ticket. The parties in the Alliance will be working together in the upcoming elections. And they’re are not putting forward a presidential candidate.

    Who are they up against?

    They are up against the fascistic People’s Alliance – led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is allied with the extreme right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), amongst others. Erdoğan – in office since 2002, and president since 2014 – is the People’s Alliance’s presidential candidate. He called a referendum in 2017, in a successful move to massively increase his presidential powers, and has been widely criticised as a dictatorial, authoritarian ruler.

    Erdoğan’s biggest rival is the Nation Alliance. This is a six-party bloc which includes the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The CHP is Turkey’s second-largest electoral party. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the CHP will be the Nation Alliance’s presidential candidate.

    There is every likelihood that Erdoğan could lose substantially in the elections. Turkey is in the midst of a massive recession. Additionally, many people in Turkey blame Erdoğan for not taking more steps to help those affected by this year’s earthquake. In fact, the media has linked Erdoğan and his cronies to corruption in the construction industry that compromised building safety.

    What makes the Green Left Party different?

    The YSP isn’t your average parliamentary party. It’s part of a movement that wants to overcome the nation-state itself. The party seeks to lay the groundwork to decentralise state power in Turkey. Further to this, they want to enable local communities to build structures of radical democracy.

    The new party is just the latest electoral manifestation of the radical ideology of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. The HDP is by no means the first political party the Turkish state has criminalised, and the practice of refounding institutions under a new name to avoid repression has a long history.

    The HDP is running under the YSP’s ticket out of necessity. The Turkish state has imprisoned at least 6000 HDP members since 2015. The state is trying to close down the party, in order to prevent them from being able to take part in the elections.

    The HDP has been successful in local elections in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. In response, the Turkish state has forcibly replaced the HDP’s elected mayors with state appointees, known as ‘kayyums’.

    The party insists on the principle of co-leadership, and co-mayorship. This anti-patriarchal practice means that no man can hold a position of power on his own. The HDP has faced legal challenges from the Turkish state as a result of demanding co-leadership. In fact, the state has criminalised the practice of co-mayorship.

    Part of a movement demanding radical democracy

    Since its foundation in 2012, the HDP has played an essential part in a movement for radical democracy. The democracy they demand is much broader than the sham offered by modern-day nation-states. In Bakur (the part of Kurdistan that lies within southeast Turkey), the HDP played a key role in the Democratic Society Congress (DTK). The DTK, now criminalised by the Turkish state, linked neighbourhood and village assemblies together with women’s organisations, trade unions, and ecological alliances in a region-wide confederation.

    In the west of Turkey, the movement established the People’s Democratic Congress (HDK). The HDK is currently still legal, and is part of the Labour and Freedom Alliance.

    These assemblies are attempts at bringing together Turkey’s left-wing and people’s movements. They want to create a base of power that is independent of the institutions of the state. For example, the DTK established a network of co-ops in an attempt to establish a non-capitalist cooperative economy in Bakur. These co-ops, however, were soon expropriated by the state.

    ‘The contrasting paradigm of the oppressed’

    The ideological inspiration for both the HDK and DTK is democratic confederalism. This is a paradigm of the Kurdish Freedom Movement, stemming from the prison writings of Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) co-founder Abdullah Öcalan. The Turkish state has held Öcalan in solitary confinement for over 24 years

    Here’s what Öcalan had to say about nation-states:

    the foundation of a state does not increase the freedom of a people.

    He continued:

    nation­ states have become serious obstacles for any social development. Democratic confederalism is the contrasting paradigm of the oppressed people. Democratic confederalism is a non­state social paradigm. It is not controlled by a state.

    And added:

    democratic confederalism is the cultural organizational blueprint of a democratic nation.

    Öcalan puts forward the concept of the ‘democratic nation‘ as a viable alternative to the all-encompassing power of the nation-state. In a democratic nation all the groups that make up society are guaranteed their own autonomy. They are represented within a directly democratic system.

    Decentralising Turkey

    The Green Left Party echoes Öcalan’s concept of establishing a democratic nation. In its inaugural declaration, YSP spokeswoman Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar said:

    We will remove this government [and] establish the Democratic Republic

    She continued:

    A Democratic Republic is possible with a Democratic Nation. The Democratic Nation is the democratic expression of a society in which all ethnic, cultural and religious identities coexist equally and freely and their existence is constitutionally guaranteed.

    The Green Left Party wants to decentralise Turkey, in order to enable people to make decisions at a local level.

    Additionally, Uçar said that the party wants to rewrite the Turkish constitution:

    We are ready to write a new democratic constitution in accordance with Turkey’s multi-identity, multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-lingual structure, to write a constitution for all society with democratic participation and social negotiation!

    Co-leader İbrahim Akın said that the YSP wants to transfer authority, so that the people can be involved in managing themselves through local assemblies. He said:

    We are coming to build a strong local democracy in which the separation of powers is extended to the local level, the transfer of authority and resources to local governments is secured, and local participation mechanisms function.

    We will strengthen local governments based on democracy and equal representation with the will of the people participating in management and decision-making processes through assemblies, city councils, platforms, professional organisations and democratic mass organisations.

    The YSP’s statement says that the party stands in opposition to the state’s militaristic foreign policy, against male domination, and with LGBTI+ people, workers, and disabled people. It will continue the practice of co-leadership, and will act to defend nature and combat poverty. According to Uçar:

    We will build a new life where ecological assets are protected against the domination of nature and gender by the male-dominated capitalist system

    A brave stand against fascism

    There is much that those of us who are outside Turkey can learn from the movement that the YSP is part of. It is a movement that has chosen to engage in electoral politics, but one that has never let go of its revolutionary vision, or its critique of the state.

    One thing is for sure – Erdoğan and Turkey’s fascist right will fight tooth and nail against these ideas. That fight has already seen thousands of people imprisoned, and many have lost their lives too. Against this backdrop, the stand taken by the YSP is a brave one.

    Please note that the quotes from İbrahim Akın and Çiğdem Kılıçgün Uçar are taken from an unofficial translation.

    Featured image – HDP campaigning in London in 2018, via Philafrenzy/Wikimedia Commons (cropped to 770x403px)

    By Tom Anderson

    This post was originally published on Canary.