The Turkish government has proposed a new law which will ban the use of the words and terms聽鈥淜urdistan鈥, 鈥淜urdish city/cities鈥 and 鈥淎rmenian Genocide鈥 in parliament.
Parliamentarians who use these words or terms will be fined 12,000 Turkish liras (about $4500) and be banned from participating in three聽sessions in the Grand Assembly.
Carrying placards, which opposition parties often do to criticise the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, will also be banned.
Turkish war planes launched air strikes against Syria and Iraq on April 24.
For months local and foreign forces have been closing in on the main ISIS strongholds: the cities of Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq.聽Turkey is a NATO member and recognised as an ally against ISIS by the US-led coalition of Western powers in Iraq and Syria, that includes Australia.
But the Turkish air strikes did not target ISIS. Instead, they were aimed at the terror group鈥檚 most consistent opponents 鈥 left-wing Kurdish-led revolutionary forces.
Thousands of opposition supporters chanted, 鈥淲e know we won, we know they lost, we are not afraid鈥, in the streets of major cities after Turkey鈥檚 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed victory in the April 16 referendum to strengthen presidential power.聽
Late in the evening police attacked opposition demonstrators outside the headquarters of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
United States warships in the Mediterranean Sea launched a large cruise missile strike against government-held airfields in Syria on April 7. They fired about 60 Tomahawk missiles on the Shayrat air base near Homs in central Syria as the US government called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to be removed from power.
Among other things, Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal has recently published a wide-ranging interview with Kurdish activist Dilar Dirik on the role of women in the Kurdish struggle, the Rojava revolution unfolding in northern Syria and the rise of the Kurdish-led People鈥檚 Democratic Party in Turkey; and a number of new translations in the 鈥1917: The View from the Streets 鈥 Leaflets of the Russian Revolution鈥 series being co-ordinated by US historian Barbara Allen and Canadian socialist and Links collaborator John Riddell.
The Kurdish-led left-wing Peoples鈥 Democratic Party (HDP), which won 13.2% of the vote in 2015 national elections to become the third largest parliamentary group, has faced growing repression as the Turkish regime of Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an has turned increasingly dictatorial. Last year, all of the HDP鈥檚 59 MPs were hit with arrest warrants, amid mass arrests of voices critical of the government.
After Turkish forces took the previously ISIS-held town of al-Bab on February 23, clashes have intensified in northern Syria between Turkish forces and local proxies occupying an enclave in northern Syria, on one hand, and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the other.
The SDF is an alliance of progressive armed groups 鈥 the largest of which are Kurdish-based Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Women鈥檚 Defence Units (YPJ) 鈥 that is subordinate to the grassroots democratic structures of the Democratic Federation of North Syria.
Amid the horrors of Syria鈥檚 multi-sided civil war, a ray of hope has broken out in the north.
The July 15 coup attempt was a nightmare. Kurds remember the terrible army coups in Turkey鈥檚 past. After the coups, Kurdish people were jailed, killed and tortured.
Kurds are against military coups. By nightfall on July 15, the pro-Kurdish Peoples鈥 Democratic Party (HDP) had immediately condemned the coup attempt.
Kurds thought that after the coup attempt, there may be a return to the peace process.
The reasons behind this were:
Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy & Women鈥檚 Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan
By Michael Knapp, Anja Flack & Ercan Ayboga (translated by Janet Biehl)
Pluto, 2016
285 pp., $38.95
Rojava, which is Kurdish for the 鈥渨est鈥, is to be found in Northern Syria. In the middle of a conflict zone, marked by the war against the Assad regime, a Turkish invasion and ongoing conflict with the brutal jihadists of ISIS and al-Nusra, the Kurds and their allies are creating a new kind of democratic system.
New international talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict may be unlikely to succeed, but they do mark shifts in the alignment of competing forces.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously voted on December 31 to support a ceasefire in Syria that started the previous day. The latest round of international peace talks are scheduled for January 23 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.
The Kurdish people are an oppressed nationality without a state, whose homeland is currently divided between five countries in the Middle East. Despite this, the left-wing Kurdish movement in Syria鈥檚 north is not fighting for a separate nation state. Rather, it is seeking to unite all ethnic groups and religions to fight for an autonomous, participatory democracy as part of a profound social movement that puts women鈥檚 liberation at its heart.