The Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) Foreign Relations Committee wrote the following letter to the American people and United States President Donald Trump, responding to the comparisons made between the Kurdish movement and ISIS, amid the genocidal campaign of the Turkish state against the Kurdish people.
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鈥淭o the American people and President Donald J Trump,
There is little about United States President Donald Trump that one can truly be surprised by at this stage in his presidency. Buffoonery and delusion 鈥 not to mention racism and the incitement of violence 鈥 have become normalised during his time in office to a frightening degree.
Still, even if we take the most jaw-dropping quotes of his more than two-and-a-half years in office into account, there is something remarkably horrifying about the comments he has made in recent days since he de facto supported Turkey鈥檚 offensive into northern Syria, writes Marcel Cartier.
Kurdish community members and supporters gathered on July 27 to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the Rojava Revolution in northern Syria.
July 19 marked the seventh anniversary of northern Syria鈥檚 Rojava Revolution. On that day in 2012 the nascent People鈥檚 Protection Units (YPG) took control of the Kurdish-majority city of Koban锚. The outnumbered forces of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad surrendered and were allowed to depart (without their weapons). Other Kurdish cities and towns in the north were soon liberated as well.
Turkish jets began bombing the Xakurke region of northern Iraq on May 26. The following day Turkish helicopters transported troops into the area. This was the latest step in Turkey鈥檚 growing military intervention in the predominantly Kurdish north of Iraq, writes Chris Slee.
Peoples Democratic Party MP, Leyla G眉ven ended her 200-day hunger strike on May 26, after the Turkish government finally allowed imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah 脰calan to meet with his lawyers.
Leyla Guven, a member of Turkey鈥檚 parliament for the left-wing, Kurdish-led People鈥檚 Democratic party (HDP), launched an indefinite hunger strike on November 7 from Amed Prison, where she was held jailed by Turkey鈥檚 regime. Her demand is for an end to the isolation of jailed Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
Jailed by Turkey since 1999, Ocalan is the recognised leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. Since 2011, his lawyers have been unable to met with him.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on November 22 that the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) was wrongly on its list of terrorist organisations between 2014-17.
NSW Supreme Court judge Lucy McCallum discharged the jury on December 6 after it failed to agree on a verdict in the trial of Kurdish journalist Renas Lelikan on 鈥渇oreign fighter鈥 charges under Australia鈥檚 draconian 鈥渁nti-terrorism鈥 laws.
Turkish troops fired across the border on November 1, killing a six-year-old girl in the northern Syrian village of Til Findir.
The murder was part of a pattern of harassment by the Turkish army against the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS). The DFNS is a liberated area administered by democratic local councils, with equal representation of men and women and the inclusion of ethnic and religious minorities.
In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have once again been ratcheting up their clash of the colonisers, writes Marcel Cartier.
Turkey has condemned Israel鈥檚 slaughter of unarmed Palestinians, but the Turkish regime commits the same atrocities against Kurdish people.