As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an cracks down on opponents 鈥 including the left-wing, Kurdish-led Peoples鈥 Democratic Party (HDP), whose 59 MPs have all been issued with arrest warrants and whose leaders are in jail 鈥 HDP parliamentary group co-chair and Instanbul MP Filiz Kerestecio臒lu declared that the HDP鈥檚 women MPs would join the International Women鈥檚 Strike on March 8.
Turkey
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.
Cemil Bay谋k, the co-chair of the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK, the umbrella organisation of the Kurdish liberation movement), spoke to about recent developments in Turkey.
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) Executive Committee Member Duran Kalkan paid tribute to Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution at the PKK鈥檚 38th anniversary celebrations in Medya Defence Zones, .
Hundreds of people protesting in front of Turkey鈥檚 parliament building in Ankara burst into celebrations on November 22 after the government announced the withdrawal of its proposal to exonerate child rapists.
Proposed legislation would have allowed men accused of sexually abusing underage girls to go free if they were married to their victims.
Despite facing one of the most oppressive atmospheres in its history, thousands of Turkish protesters took to the streets of Istanbul on November 20 against a crackdown on Turkey鈥檚 main pro-Kurdish party, its lawmakers and mayors in the country鈥檚 south-east, as well as on opposition media outlets following the July coup.
Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale expressed his strong support for the embattled Peoples鈥 Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey at a Kurdish solidarity meeting at the Victorian Trades Hall on November 17.
The left-wing party has a strong base among Australia's oppressed Kurdish community. Di Natale condemned the current crackdown by the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an. The HDP鈥檚 joint leaders, Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, have been arrested along with a number of the party鈥檚 MPs.
鈥淲e will resist and resist until we win!鈥 chants Sebahat Tuncel before her mouth is forcibly shut by half a dozen police officers who drag her along the floor and detain her in early November.
The following statement was released on November 11 by Farooq Tariq, spokesperson for the Awami Workers Party in Pakistan.
*聽 *聽 *
On the night of November 3, the Turkish police detained Selahattin Demirta艧 and Figen Y眉ksekda臒 鈥 the co-chairs of the People鈥檚 Democratic Party (HDP) 鈥 alongside several other Members of Parliament who were democratically voted in with over 5 million votes in the last parliamentary election.
The political situation in Turkey continues to deteriorate in the wake of the attempted coup d鈥櫭﹖at in July, allegedly organised by the G眉len Movement, a former ally of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). It has in fact led to a slow incremental counter-coup where President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an and his cronies have progressively jailed, marginalised and silenced opponents of all hues 鈥 but especially the Kurdish movement.
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