Proposed Military Strike on Syria

[John Dolva]

Worker deaths and worker protests in Turkey

A DISK protest earlier this year

We have three short items on working class issues to mention today.

Police have detained two suspects alleged to have been implicated in the sinking of the migrant boat off the northern coast of Istanbul. Thirteen people who were on the boat are still missing. At least 24 people died when the boat sank earlier this week at the confluence of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus.

Survivors have said that the 42 Afghan people on board paid about $8700 each in order to travel to Romania. The group included children and babies. There was some early speculation that the boat had been hit by another boat or boats, that it may have drifted off course without power or that it was hit by smugglers.

Early today 17 members of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK) were arrested in front of the Labor and Social Security Ministry. The union members said that the ministry was responsible for the May coal mine disaster that led to the deaths of 301 miners in Soma as well as the recent disaster at the mine near Ermenek in the Karaman province, where 18 miners have been trapped in a flooded coal mine since October 28.

The group raised slogans calling on Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik to resign and calling him “the worker killer.” They also hung a sign on the ministry wall saying “We don’t want to die while working.”

The group issued a press statement, placed a sign on one of the ministry doors saying “The Labor Ministry, which didn’t provide safety to the workers, has been sealed by the workers” and then blocked the entrance to the ministry with the demand that an official come to talk to them. The police intervened and all 17 were taken into custody.

The Turkish Mining Workers’ Union Dev Maden Sen report on mining tragedies which took place in October says that 28 mine workers lost their lives and 10 others were injured last month. The union pointed at the government, the employers, and pro-company ("yellow") trade unions as the ones responsible for the deaths and injuries.

Dev Maden Sen said in their report that following accidents in Istanbul at a site belonging to the construction company Torunlar İnşaat and the recent mine accident in Ermenek, discussion on the issue of workers' safety has intensified. The report puts the greed of the company owner to maximize the profits, the subcontracting system that has been widely applied through the privatization and legalized by recent regulations, workers‘ being unorganized or in trade unions‘ with compromising attitudes as the causes of occupational accidents leading to deaths and injuries. The report also stresses that the close relations of company owners with the government, the lack of control and the efforts to cover up the accidents also lead to accidents and occupational deaths.

The report also draws attention to the fact that there is a growing tendency among the workers that only independent unions defending the interests of the working class can pursue an effective struggle against the companies as well as the government.

[John Dolva]

Thursday, November 6, 2014

TransRemembrance Day Events in Turkey

The following article from our friends at DİHA speaks to strong efforts by trans and LGBTI organizations to build solidarity. We draw attention to the role of our friends from Egitim Sen, an advanced and progressive trade union, in this work. We have not edited this post.

NEWS CENTER (DİHA) - TransRemembrance Day Events which is organized by Pink Life every year will be carried out this year through several panels and workshops in Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Bursa, Edirne, Eskisehir, Istanbul, Izmir, and Mersin between 1-24 November.

Pink Life Assocation continues their advocacy activities from human rights to media, from health to education and against hate while the social conservatism in Turkey is increasing. Within the scope of these advocacy activities, there will be several events in several cities carried out from 1 to 24 November. TransRemembrance Day Events which is organized every year will be carried out this year through several panels and workshops in Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Bursa, Edirne, Eskisehir, Istanbul, Izmir, and Mersin between 1-24 November.

20 November TransRemembrance Week Events, that Pink Life LGBTT Solidarity Association organizes every year, started on 1 November this year by “Gender Inequality and Heterosexism in Education” discussion in Eskisehir, hosted by Egitim Sen (Education and Science Workers’ Union) Women Commission. Within the program, several discussions and workshops will be held in Adana, Ankara, Antakya, Bursa, Edirne, Eskisehir, Istanbul, Izmir and Mersin between 1- 24 November 2014. The lectures about LGBTI notions workshop and LGBTI representation in media will be held at Anadolu University Law and Communications Faculties, attended by Selin Berghan and Ali Erol on 3 and 5 November 2014. On 7 November 2014, at Bursa Uludag University, an LGBTI notions workshop will be held by Selin Berghan, hosted by Psychological Counselling and Guidance Students Society.

On 14- 15- 16 November, in Antakya, Adana and Mersin, “Trans Existence in Turkey in Hate Spiral” will be discussed with attendence of Doga Asi Cevik and Demet Yanardag as discussants. On 15 November 2014, in Edirne, Yildiz Tar and Ali Can Kalan will discuss the topics of Hate Speech in Media towards LGBTIs and Gender Based Violence, in cooperation with Amnesty International Turkey. (Further details on time and place of the panel shall be announced later).

On 16 November 2014, together with Istanbul Egitim Sen Branch N. 2, Yasemin Safak will give a presentation on Heterosexism and Homophobia in Education.

On 21 November, hosted by Izmir Pink Black Triangle Association, a Media Workshop will be held by Cicek Tahaoglu and Burcu Karakas at Izmir Economy University. On 22 November Saturday, in cooperation with Egitim Sen Branch N. 3 and Egitim Sen Branch N. 2 LGBT Commission, a panel on Transition Processes and Legal Recognition for Transgender People will be carried out. Esin Aksoy and Ege University Medicine Faculty Head of Psychiatry Department Hayriye Elbi will attend as the debaters of this panel.

TransRemembrance Week Ankara main events will start on 20 November by opening a stall at Yuksel Street/Kizilay. There will be delivered Pink Life’s publishings for free and the announcement of the program will be done all day long at the stall. On 21 November 2014, in Ankara, trans woman actress and writer Esmeray and trans woman journalist Michelle Demishevich will attend a "Seminar on Media’s Role and Responsibilities At Preventing Hate Crimes". On 22 November 2014, in Ankara, Yildiz Tar and Karin Karakasli will discuss ‘Hate of Media, Media of Hate’ at media session, and ‘Gender Based Violence From Femicide To Trans Hate Murderings’ session where transfeminism is also to be discussed will be carried out.

Ankara TransRemembrance Week events main program will be concluded on 24 November Monday at 19:00 pm by opening of Dilek Ince Clothing Bank and the Concert of Women, Love and Songs at 20:00 pm. 20th November TransRemembrance Day Events are organized by Pink Life and Kaos GL Associations, within the scope of the Rainbow Coalition Against Discrimination Project funded by EU Sivil Düşün Program and Don’t Hate Me Project funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights of EU.

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Today's news from the common-front fight against ISIS in and around Rojava and from Rojava's revolution

We have the following information from the common-front swtruggle against ISIS and Rojava's revolution to mention today.

* One-hundred-and-eighty young people from Efrîn, a canton of revolutionary Rojava, joined the ranks of the YPG (People's Protection Units) in October in response to cals for mobilization to support the Kobanê resistance. These young people are Arab and Kurdish and range in age from 18 to 30. Dozens of people over the age of 50 have also applied to YPG centers and will also join the defense forces.

The young people who recently joined are saying, "We want to join the resistance not only in the Efrîn region, but also in Kobanê. If needed, we can also go to the Cezîrê region and protect the people and lands of Rojava against the attacks of ISIS gangs." Most of the young people have been assigned to the recently eatablished Martyr Osman Miqdad Battalion.

* The YPG Press Center said in a statement today that ISIS attacks aimed at occupying Kobanê have continued into the 52nd day.

Fierce clashes have taken place between YPG forces and ISIS gangs in Kaniya Kurda and Municipality Street areas on the eastern front. Nine gang members were killed in yesterday's fighting that lasted throughout the day and night.

YPG forces carried out an action against ISIS gangs in the village of Karamox, almost 13 miles to the east of Kobanê, blowing up an ISIS vehicle with fighters inside.

Heavy clashes have also taken place on the southern front.

One ISIS fighter was killed and another wounded in an attack which targeted a motorcycle belonging to the ISIS gangs on the Aleppo road.

In the fighting in the Arbus hamlet on the western front 9 ISIS fighters were killed.

* The Women's Defense Units (YPJ) completed a training program for 20 commanders in Efrîn. The commanders received training on ideology, politics and military skills. Ferîda Şêxo, Deputy Defense Ministry of Efrîn, YPJ fighters and commanders attended the graduation ceremony. YPJ commanders drew attention to the resistance of the YPG and YPJ in Kobanî and all regions of Rojava. YPJ's new commanders were congratulated with slogans.

* As YPG/YPJ (People's/Women's Protection Units) continue putting up a historic resistance to the ISIS gangs who have been attacking Kobanê since September 15 and have taken the initiative, YPG/YPJ Commander Meysa Ebdo has assessed the current situation in the Kobane battle for Firat News.

Meysa Ebdo told Firat News that YPG/YPJ forces have struck major blows against ISIS gangs on three fronts of the town over the past days and also said that they have been carrying out operations together with FSA (Free Syrian Army) and peshmerga forces on the western front.

Meysa Ebdo called attention to the importance of these operations in which the assault force of the ISIS gangs has been broken, especially in the village of Mezra Ebosha where the reinforcements of the ISIS gangs were also severely hit by the joint operation forces.

Meysa Ebdo said that the southern front has also turned into a hell for the ISIS gangs over recent days and that the initiative now is with the YPG at this front.

The YPG/YPJ Commander said that the ISIS gangs have been pushed one step back and that YPG forces advanced one step further on the eastern front where attacks have been concentrated. She noted that in face of the strong response, ISIS gangs in recent days are launching a new wave of attacks on the Mürşitpınar border crossing from an area close to the border, adding that these attacks have also been repelled.

Meysa Ebdo also stated that a relatively secure environment has been ensured as the battle has turned in favor of the YPG now, and that many residents of Kobanê have started to return to the town. "The initiave now is with our forces in all areas", Meysa Ebdo underlined, and called on all young men and women outside of Kobanê to return to their town and to join the YPG/YPJ ranks in order to defend Kobanê.

Referring to the debate over whether Kobanê is an Arab town or not---an argument mainly voiced by the Turkish media as well as the Turkish Prime Minister and President---Meysa Ebdo said, "This debate is a dirty argument used by some powers aiming to create a conflict between the Arab and Kurdish peoples who are however letting down such dirty games with an alliance of the Burkan Al Fırat and YPG forces. Since the very beginning, we have predicated our struggle on a common life in a democratic and free Syria. Kobanê is of course a Kurdish town, but is also a part of a democratic Syria. This a truth acknowledged by the Arab people as well. We are waging our struggle together with the representatives of the Arab people."

* The Amara Viyan Education Tent has been opened in the tent city in the Suruç district of Urfa for the children from Kobanî. The education tent has been opened in the Kobanî Tent City and will provide lessons for four grades along with a class for parents. Lessons in Kurdish, English, painting and music will be given for now. Children from Kobanî are taking education in their mother tongue and have taken their first lesson with music. They have learned to sing "Kobanî îro xemgîne" together and they draw pictures of YPG/YPJ fighters and their homes in Kobanî.

Amara Viyan Education Tent educator Mamoste Rodîstan said, "We have opened this education tent through insufficent opportunities. We started the lessons today. Education is so difficult here. All these children were exposed to war conditons beforehand. Their fathers, brothers and sisters are falling as martyrs almost every day. Therefore, only education is not enough. But also therapy is required." Mamoste Rodîstan added that they provide lessons for four grades along with a parent's class and they now have 45 students.

Mamoste Rodîstan also said that the educators in the Amara Viyan Education Tent are can provide Kurdish education and added, "All our teachers are from Kobanî. The children have learnt the songs of Kobanî by heart. Also, they have drawn the pictures of YPG/YPJ fighters and their homes in Kobanî."

* Turkish President Erdoğan has rejected claims that the peace or resolution process underway in Turkey between the liberation movement and the Turkish state was launched by Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement.

“This process was initiated through a democratic opening and is continued as a national unity and fraternity project. The peace process is a follow-up to this,” Erdoğan said. “This has nothing to do with İmralı.” İmralı is the island prison Abdullah Öcalan and some other political prisoners are held on. Abdullah Öcalan has been serving a life sentence there since 1999. "Those who claim that the process began and will end in İmralı have never been supportive of the resolution process...If you call on the people to take to the streets in a full ethnic approach and become responsible for the deaths of 40 people then you prove that you have no intention for a solution. If you really want peace, than you should make calls for peace. But they have no will for peace or freedom,” Erdoğan said. His remarks therefore become one more attack on the liberation movement, once more deny Kurdish identity and take aim at the wide protest movement opposing his government's policies. The question of the resolution process in Turkey remains very much related to the Turkish government's approach to the situation in Rojava, Syria and Iraq.

Posted by Urun Harvest at 10:49 AM No comments:

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The disasters and deaths in Turkey's mines are systemic

We have recently carried some posts about the class struggles underway in Turkey and we have often named Turkish Labor Minister Faruk Çelik in these posts. We have been critical of him and have supported demands by some unions that he resign. Today Çelik has made news for admitting that there are systemic flaws in Turkey’s mining sector, according to mainstream Turkish media.

Eighteen mine workers still remain workers missing at the mine near Ermenek in Karaman. The mine flooded and caved in on October 28. Much attention has focused on the lack of mine safety since the Soma mine massacre last May and other workplace disasters. Çelik is now publicly saying that those responsible for the disaster in Ermenek should stand trial, along with those responsible for the Soma disaster.

“As the ministry, we have launched an administrative investigation,” he told the daily Hürriyet yesterday. “We should handle the issue in its entirety; this is not how the media is handling the issue. Let’s investigate what is wrong here. Our inspections are conducted without an earlier notification...We should end this. I’m saying it openly, you should make this your front page story: This structure produces accidents...The real problem is what you have been doing with a 1960 model car. This will happen when you carry on a business in 2014 with a 1960 model car. Experiencing similar accidents is a matter of the moment. What should we do to prevent this? We should concentrate on basin mining and project mining. There is no other way to prevent deaths."

Çelik is not resigning, of course, or at least not yet. “Will the problem be solved by holding me and my civil servants responsible? Are we the sole authority responsible for these kinds of incidents? One should better look at all counterparts,” he said. “Are we the only party involved in this? Are we the only name that occurs to you when you say public authority?”

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Kader Ortakaya killed at the Suruç-Kobanê border, Ceyda Sungur being harassed and more---political repression in Turkey today

We are again talking about political repression in Turkey this morning. We remind readers that the following incidents have all taken place within the last 72 hours. Please see past posts about other repressive actions taken by the Turkish state and the fascist-nationalist groups supporting the government and the ruling party for context.

* Eight people were detained by Istanbul anti-terror police early yesterday morning in an operation supposedly aimed at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The Istanbul Police Department’s anti-terror teams and riot police raided a number of homes in the Pendik and Sultanbeyli districts and searched the homes of those detained as well.

* Two teenagers are now standing trial for opening up a banner in Istanbul’s Taksim Square that said “We want the school record card of Berkin Elvan.” Berkin Elvan was hit on the head by a tear-gas canister fired by a police officer in Istanbul while out buying bread for his family during last year's Gezi resistance. He died in March of this yer after having been in a coma for 269 days. He was 15 years old at the time of his death. He is now a symbol of innocence and protest and his family and social movements do much to keep his memory alive. coma.

The January 24 protest that the two teenagers are being tried over was a simple one---they unfurled their banner with another person, chanted some slogans and stood their ground. They have been charged with violating Turkey’s Law on Public Gathering and Demonstrations by “not dispersing despite a warning.”

The mother of one of the arrested teenagers said, “They have chanted a couple of slogans. I am enraged by the fact that they detained them for such a reason. They did such a normal thing. They were annoyed by some situation, and they have expressed it. They didn’t hurt anybody and they didn’t have any weapons. They have detained the children by pulling from their legs and hurting them. Even detaining them for such a reason has no logic.”

* Seçil Esmanur Erdem worked as a physical education teacher in Trabzon and was so employed for 18 years. When Prime Minister (now President) Erdoğan visited Trabzon in 2013 Seçil Esmanur Erdem was detained for throwing eggs at him and was detained by police. She was later fined 7,080 Turkish Liras (about $3100) by a Trabzon criminal court and was then fired from her job over the accusations, which she denies. She continues to maintain her innocence and on Wednesday she said, “The guards chose me as bait to say ‘we caught a teacher,’ in order to speak softly but also carry a big stick toward the officials. Everybody will believe whatever they want, even though I scream out loud that I’m not guilty. I am a victim of the guards’ lynch campaign.”

* Ceyda Sungur, a research assistant at Istanbul Technical University who is known around the world as “the woman in red” due to a famous photograph take of her during last year’s Gezi protests and resistance, is now facing an internal faculty investigation over an email she supposedly sent from her university account. The email defended a colleague who was recently fired, criticized the university administration and called on the board of the Faculty of Architecture to investigate the case. The faculty administration instead launched an investigation into Ceyda Sunger herself and accused her of “provoking other research assistants.”

“More than the content and legitimacy of the email, what is important here is the fact that even the merest communication between assistants who don’t have much job security is under the surveillance of the faculty administration,” Ceyda Sungur told mainstream Turkish media. “This is unacceptable in an academic environment that is expected to be questioning, critical and productive.”

Ceyda Sungur did not ask for her international fame and at one point faced a prison sentence on charges of “provocation” and “disobeying the laws” before being cleared by the court last January. The police officer who attacked her is facing three years in prison for “abuse of authority” in an ongoing trial.

Ceyda Sungur received a warning from the university after taking part in a protest against the appointment of the daughter of Turkish Airlines director Hamdi Topçu to the university faculty.

* The Turkish government is constructing of a “security road” at the border between Roboski village and the Federal Kurdistan Region. HPG (People's Defense Forces) guerrillas opened fire on the Beyaztepe military post in order to prevent the road construction late last night. Roboski has special signifigance given the air strike massacre that took place there in 2011 and the ongoing mobilization of people there for justice for the 34 people who were killed in the military attack and their families.

* A racist group attacked patriotic students at Fırat University in Elazığ province who were protesting the ongoing attacks by ISIS gangs on Kobanê. The racist group attacked the students from the Musa Anter Culture and Art Association with stones and sticks as they issued a press release at the campus in solidarity with the Kobanê resistance late yesterday. Two patriotic students were critically injured and 3 other students were detained by police.

* Kader Ortakaya was killed in the attack by Turkish troops at the Suruç-Kobanê border today. She was 28-years old and was active in the Collective Freedom Platform. She was shot in the head as Turkish troops fired real bullets and intense tear gas on artists affiliated to the Initiative for Free Art who formed a human chain at Suruç-Kobanê border today.

Soldiers also fired tear gas and real bullets on the people at the Kobanê side of the border.

Kader Ortakaya was from the Siverek district of Urfa and was doing work on a master's degree at Marmara University in Istanbul after graduating from the department of sociology. She joined the resistance vigil in the villages of Mehser and Miseynter and was there for perhaps 25 days. She had also taken part in the works of women's academy in Amed and the Gezi resistance last year and was known as a sensitive and engaged person.

She recently appeared on Sterk TV and said, We are going to fight to the last drop of blood until there where the seeds of freedom are spread, and where they are attacking, is liberated." In a Facebook post on September 30 she wrote, "Every revolution begins with a small spark. And there exists a fire of life at the barrel of every gun. Such great dreams begin with journeys in which the ways are hit by those daring it."

Kader Ortakaya

[John Dolva]

Friday, November 7, 2014

Statement from a progressive UK delegation to Rojava

Following our visit to Kurdistan where we met refugees from the battle for Kobane and Yazidi refugees from Iraq, representatives of Kurdish organizations and municipal councils, trade unions and women’s groups we testify that a humanitarian crisis exists. Almost 200,000 refugees have arrived in the region in the past two months fleeing from, as one Yazidi put it, “the monsters” of ISIS.

The local people, unions and political representatives have responded magnificently whilst the Turkish government response has been slow and woefully inadequate. With winter approaching and temperatures as low as minus 10 , there is a real prospect of people currently living in tents, freezing to death.

Local health services have been overwhelmed by this wave of human misery. The Turkish health service is not available to these people except in emergencies and even then, as foreign nationals, they, people with mostly no resources, will be asked to pay for treatment.

We salute the hundreds of local people, doctors and health workers who have volunteered to provide support but they have little resources, medical equipment or medicines with which to support the refugees.

The battle for Kobane continues, as we witnessed with our own eyes. The people are confident that they can win this battle. However it is clear that they need help to do this.

They need supplies of food, medicine and equipment to help them defend and rebuild their city.
Therefore we ask all people in the UK to

1. Send money for the relief of the refugees. In particular to buy suitable habitation that will protect them throughout the winter.
2. Send medical equipment and medicines to aid the health program needing to be delivered to the refugees now and over the coming months.
3. Call on the UK government to lobby the Turkish government to allow the creation of a humanitarian corridor to allow aid and resources to reach those who are defending Kobane.
The delegation consisted of

Stephen Smellie and Helen Steel (members of UNISON), Ruth Walter and Paul Toner (members of Unite) and Zaher Aarif (member of Haringey Solidarity Group). All in a personal capacity. The delegation was organised by Peace in Kurdistan Campaign (UK) and the DTK (Democratic Society Congress) in Kurdistan and HDP (People’s Democratic Party).

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UNICEF has sent aid to the students in Til Temir in Rojava's Cizîre Canton

UNICEF has sent aid to the students in Til Temir in Rojava's Cizîre Canton. Three-thousand-and-nine-hundred students in the city center and villages of Til Temir have received bags and school materials from UNICEF. The TZP (Movement of Language and Education) distributed the bags to 100 schools. The TZP is expected to finish distributing all the bags to the students in the city and villages by tomorrow.

Posted by Urun Harvest at 9:33 PM No comments:

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News from Shengal (Sinjar), Rojava and the common-front struggle against ISIS in the region tonight.

We have the following items to report from Shengal (Sinjar), Rojava and the common-front struggle against ISIS barbarism in the region tonight.

* The HPG (People's Defense Forces) Sinjar Command has released the balance sheet of war for the month of October in the Sinjar (Shengal) region. One-hundred-and-seventy ISIS gang members were killed in 37 clashes and actions during October.

The HPG Sinjar Command has stated that the resistance going on in Sinjar and Rojava has halted the advance in Kurdish areas of the ISIS gangs that are launching all kinds of attacks and attempting massacres at every opportunity. The HPG statement said that ISIS gangs have launched many waves of attacks during October, targeting the Mount Sinjar and surrounding areas, and intending to commit further massacres against the people here.

The HPG Command has pointed out that in response to these attacks, HPG, YJA Star (women’s liberation movement) and YBŞ (Sinjar resistance fighters) fighters, also joined and supported by the tribes in the region, have put up a significant resistance in the Solak, Şilo, Bare and Skiniye areas. According to the balance sheet of war for the month of October in the Sinjar region, 37 actions and clashes took place during the month, 170 ISIS fighters were killed 32 were injured. Thirteen ISIS vehicles were blown up and 8 others were damaged. The Sinjar liberation forces also captured a large amount of military equipment and ammunition.

Sadly, 4 heroic HPG guerrillas and 2 heroic YBŞ fighters fell in the fighting. The HPG Sinjar Command has emphasized that it is a historic responsibility to provide any kind of humanitarian assistance for the thousands of people who are struggling to live on Mount Sinjar and surrounding areas, adding that leading the Sinjar resistance to liberation will be achieved by enhancing the struggle with determination and commitment.

* Asya Abdullah, co-leader of the Democratic Unity Party (PYD) of Rojava---Rojava’s leading party--- reported heavy fighting in the eastern part of the beleaguered Kobanê, following an ISIS reinforcement of troops. “They’ve brought gunmen from everywhere to fight in Kobanê[RR1] ,” Asyasaid. “We urgently need a safe corridor in and out of the city if we are to push the ISIS back from the eastern parts of the town.”

Asya Abdullah also said that despite repeated calls for weapons over the past year, only South Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces have rushed to their aid with much-needed arms. “We have knocked on many doors for weapons and ammunition,” she said, “but only the Kurdistan Regional Government came to our help. Except for the KRG, we have not received anything from anyone.”

She also said that the arrival of the Peshmerga forces to Kobanê with heavy weapons has been important. “The Peshmerga are fighting against the gangs of Daesh (ISIS) shoulder-to-shoulder with our forces,” she said. “If the supply of weapons continues, we will be able to push back and ultimately defeat ISIS.”

The Peshmerga who entered Kobanê last Saturday with heavy weapons are the first forces fighting alongside of the defenders of Kobanê, who have held out against an ISIS push to overrun the city for six weeks. Kurdistan has promised more fighters and weapons if needed. The fighters in Kobanê have been backed by US-led air strikes against ISIS positions.

* Democratic Union Party (PYD) Co-president Salih Muslim told Asharq Al-Awsat that Kurdish forces are making “slow but steady” progress against the ISIS gangs who are planting mines and IED’s to cover their retreat from certain areas. He also said that Kurdish Peshmerga forces have had an “effective” role in the battle, adding that the sophisticated arms that they are using have allowed them to target tanks and armored vehicles from long range, changing the military reality on the ground in Kobanê, as he hailed their fighting abilities and their coordination with Rojava’s People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Salih Muslim added that more Kurdish Peshmerga forces could enter the battle in the coming days and weeks. “We are not talking about specific numbers; it depends on what is required. The military leadership is discussing this issue freely on the basis that there are now no political restrictions,” Muslim told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Salih Muslim also implicitly criticized Free Syrian Army (FSA) involvement in the battle for Kobanê, saying that “FSA units that entered Kobanê recently quickly took the decision to retreat based on the difficult circumstances of the battle and their inability to endure.” Salih Muslim underlined that there are no problems between the FSA and YPG units, adding that the issue was based on disagreements among the various FSA units themselves over battle plans and coordination.

The PYD leader also praised the “effective” nature of the air strikes carried out by international forces on ISIS positions, specifically praising the involvement of Arab air forces involved in the anti-ISIS alliance, saying that this “confirms the Arab-Kurdish brotherhood.”

* The peshmerga second-in-command in Kobanê, Amîd Deham İbrahim Gergerî, said today, “The YPG played a very active role in Sinjar and Rabia. We need to thank them for that. We wanted to come here. This has been an important step for the basis of future unity. We will not allow ISIS to remain anywhere where there are Kurds.”

As ISIS gang attacks on Kobanê went into their 54th day, the YPG and YPJ (People’s and Women’s Defense Forces) fighters continued to repulse all ISIS assaults. The Burkan Al Firat group, affiliated with the FSA, are fighting alongside of the YPG and YPJ. A 150-strong Peshmerga force that reached Kobanê through Turkey is lending support to the YPG/YPJ fighters with mortars, katyusha rockets, artillery and anti-aircraft guns. The peshmerga second-in-command in Kobanê told Firat News, “We are here to support our YPG brothers and sisters."

Gergerî said that the situation in Kobanê is good, adding that they had repulsed a large attack three days ago together with the YPG, using heavy weaponry.

"ISIS is the same ISIS, whether it be in Kirkuk, Sulaymaniyah or Kobanê. We will not permit them to rule here, as Kobanê is part of us,” Gergerî added. "The YPG played a very active role in Sinjar and Rabia. We need to thank them for that. We wanted to come here. There is absolutely no difference between the YPG and the peshmerga. They are both struggling for the people. Hopefully, this has been an important step for the basis of future unity."

* The YPG Press Office has issued a statement reporting about the clashes continuing on the 53th day of ISIS attacks on Kobanê. The YPG said that their forces, in alliance with Burkan Al-Fırat and the peshmerga, have halted the advance of ISIS and have liberated some areas occupied by the ISIS gangs. ISIS continues to target the civilians in the Kobanê town center.

The statement said that YPG forces launched an operation against the gangs around Kaniya Kurda, Municipality Street and Azadi Square at the eastern front last night. The YPG said that the ISIS gangs have been forced out of the places they occupied as result of this operation, while our YPG forces advanced one more street towards the town center. At least 12 ISIS gang members were killed in these clashes. Our forces seized weapons, gas masks and some documents belonging to the ISIS gangs.

The YPG further reported that the intense clashes which started at the eastern front around noon yesterday have continued. Two ISIS motorcycles were destroyed and 7 ISIS gang members were killed in the fighting. “A vehicle of the gangs…was destroyed by our forces on the Aleppo road. Two gang members in the vehicle were also killed,” the YPG Press Center said.

The YPG also launched an operation against the positions taken by the gangs on the southern front last night. “Our forces advanced two streets to the south of the city. Early this morning a tank of the gangs was destroyed together with the ammunition loaded on it around the Termik village to the south of Kobanê,” the YPG statement said.

* The YPG Press Center also issued a statement providing details about an operation launched by YPG forces in the Serêkaniyê region. The YPG has liberated around 100 settlement areas, including villages and hamlets, from ISIS gang control as result of the operation around the village of Alya, to the west of Til Temir and south of Serêkaniyê. YPG forces have also seized a vehicle and arms and munitions belonging to the ISIS gangs.

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MORE ARRESTS IN ROJHELAT ("IRANIAN KURDISTAN") OVER KOBANÊ RESISTANCE

The Iranian regime is continuing pressure on human rights activists in Rojhelat (eastern Kurdistan). According to media reports, two Kurdish activists of the Kobanê Campaign, Sohrab Jalili and Jahanbakhsh Vakili, were arrested by the Intelligence Office of Sine (Sanandaj) and transferred to an unknown location.

Sohrab and Jahanbakhsh’s arrests follows the demonstrations held last Saturday when the people of Sine came out to support of World Kobanê Day. During that rally Iranian security forces attacked the demonstrators in Sine and some were arrested and several were injured.

Last Tuesday an official of Iran’s Basij criticized the rallies for Kobanê as “racist and separatist actions.”

Posted by Urun Harvest at 5:36 PM No comments:

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"I wish all people to live freely and equally. I wish no one to be exploited all through their lives to find a piece of bread or shelter. For these wishes to come true, one has to fight and struggle."

Yesterday we wrote about the killing of or brave young friend Kader Ortakkaya. She was killed by Turkish soldiers yesterday as she crossed the border intending to join the Kobanê resistance and support the civilian population there. People who were with her at the time of the shooting are coming forward with statements and saying that the troops had fired at them without giving warning.

Kader Ortakkaya was 28 years old and came from Siverek in Urfa province. She studied at Marmara University in Istanbul and had come from Istanbul to join the solidarity vigil with Kobanê about 3 weeks ago. Yesterday she was hit in the back of the head by shots fired by Turkish soldiers as she was crossing the border in the village of Boydê in the Suruç district. She was the only woman travelling with a group intending to help the civilians on the other side of the border.

One member of her group said, “As we crossed the border Turkish soldiers attacked us with teargas. After we had passed the borderline they opened fire. The bullets were raining down on us. They were shooting directly at us. We all ran in different directions. As the shooting continued I saw Kader fall in front of me. There was blood everywhere, but she was still alive. Then she was still. The bullet went through the back of her head and came out through her face.”

This witness also said that several other people were wounded in the attack and that after the shooting had stopped they had tried to leave the area carrying Kader’s body. People waiting by their vehicles in the Tel Shair area helped by taking Kader to the hospital in Kobanê, but by then she had died.

Kader had earlier encouraged people to go to Kobanê. Another witness who was part of the group with Kader has said that there is only one conclusion that could be reached regarding the murder of a young woman who crossed the border to provide humanitarian aid and join the resistance in Kobanê: “That is the hostility of the Turkish state to the Kurdish people and the Kobanê resistance,” he said.

This witness also said, “Kader took a great interest in the people coming from Kobanê. She helped convey aid from the municipality. She was constantly busy. But Kader said at every opportunity that she wanted to go to Kobanê, so we decided to go there together. She had clothes for children in her bag which she wanted to give them herself, but unfortunately she was murdered before she could do that.”

People who knew Kader are already saying that they will join the Kobanê resistance and so endeavor to be worthy of the memory of their friend. They have called on young people in North Kurdistan and Kobanê to respond to Kader’s murder by providing even more support to the Kobanê resistance.

People’s Democracy Party (HDP) Urfa deputy İbrahim Ayhan has meanwhile responded to the district governor of Suruç who said that Kader Ortakaya was not intentionally killed at the border by soldiers in the way described by witnesses. İbrahim Ayhan was at the border area when Ortakaya was shot dead and said, “It all happened in front of my eyes. The soldiers opened fire behind them without any warning while they were crossing the border. They were civilians. She was blatantly executed.”

The Suruç district governor said that he had talked to the military authorities about the intervention of the soldiers and alleged that guns were not used in the intervention, but that only pepper gas had been fired at the people. He said, “The soldiers intervened by firing gas bombs when the group waiting at the border threw stones at the soldiers. The soldiers by no means carried out an armed attack. No bullets were fired. There is also no information or evidence proving that she was shot at the border. Such an incident has certainly not taken place at our border. Most probably that person was shot inside Kobanê.”

İbrahim Ayhan said that the district governor’s statement is a “classic state explanation,” adding that “I was there during the incident. It all happened in front of my eyes. While they were crossing the border, soldiers opened fire and used gas bombs behind their back. We didn’t hear any warning. They were just going to Kobanê. They were civilians. They turned their backs to the soldiers. They were not heading towards the soldiers.” İbrahim Ayhan stressed that Kader was intentionally targeted and said, “She was clearly executed.”

The HDP deputy also said, “What we are witnessing is again one of the classic explanations. The state authorities always do it. The ISIS gangs ceaselessly use the same border line even armed. The footage showing soldiers in dialogue, in relations with the gang members, have been broadcasted many times. The soldiers enter into a dialogue with the armed gangs and launch armed attack against civilians having no guns. The people who resist against the attacks of ISIS in Kobanê, and those who support them, are frequently exposed to police and soldiers’ attacks, spreading terror.”

İbrahim Ayhan further said that the government is still supporting and tolerating the ISIS gangs, adding that these policies serve only to deepen the crisis and the conflict as well as harming the country. İbrahim Ayhan said that the best thing that the government could do would be to recognize the will of the people in Kobanê and to be an ally of the Kurds against the savageISIS gangs.

Kader had written a letter to be delivered to her family before she crossed into Kobane. She lost her life before the letter reached her parents. She wrote in the letter that she went to Kobane to fight for humanity and asked her family to support her struggle. Kader was a member of the Social Freedom Party Initiative (TÖPG).

Here is the letter written from Kader to her family before she went to Kobane to join the historic resistance:

“My dear family,

I am in Kobanê. This war is not only a war of the people of Kobanê, but a war for all of us. I am joining this fight for my beloved family and for humanity. If we fail today to see this war as a war for us, we will remain alone when the bombs hit our houses tomorrow. To win this war means that the poor and the exploited win. I believe that I can be more useful by joining this war rather than becoming an office worker. You will probably get angry with me as I make you sad, but you will sooner or later understand that I am right.

I wish all people to live freely and equally. I wish no one to be exploited all through their lives to find a piece of bread or shelter. For these wishes to come true, one has to fight and struggle.

I will return when the war is over and Kobanê is regained. When I come back, please welcome my friends as well. Please do not try to find me. It is impossible to do that. One of the important reasons why I am writing this mail is that I do not want you to make efforts to find me and suffer for it. If anything happens to me, be sure that you will be informed.

If you do not want me to be imprisoned and to be tortured in prison, please do not apply to the police or any other state institution. If you would do, me, you, and my friends would all suffer. Do not tell even our relatives that I am gone to Kobanê so that I won’t be imprisoned when I come back. Tear up this note after you read it.

If you want to do something for me, support my struggle. You have remained silent against all the malfunctions of the state. Say enough is enough to people being killed on the streets, to their being exposed to gas bombs, to their being bombed as what happened in Roboski. I would continue to join the demonstrations and the activities of associations if I were living with you. I entrust my struggle to you until I come back.

I embrace you all, my mother, my father and Ada, Deniz, Zelal and Mahir, who is about to be born. My special greetings to my brother Kadri. He will act as it suits him.

I embrace you all with all my revolutionary feelings.

The phone was a present from my brother. There are pictures of us in it. I send my scholarship card to my mother. Let her buy her medicine until I come back.

I love you all very much.

Goodbye for the moment”

[John Dolva]

Antalya to drive out undocumented Syrian refugees

Undocumented Syrian refugees have been blocked from entering Antalya, one of Turkey’s best-known tourist destinations. The local administration is hoping to have Antalya exempted from a government decree that grants Syrian refugees access to education, healthcare and work permits.

Antalya’s police chief says that undocumented refugees are being asked to leave the city in two weeks. “We won’t accept any Syrian refugee, unless they have come by legal means. For those who refuse to leave, we will either drive them out of the city or take them to the closest refugee camp,” the police chief told mainstream Turkish media.

Syrian refugees have been attacked in many areas of Turkey and many try to get to Europe by passing through coastal areas such as Antalya. In North Kurdistan local municipalities try to meet the needs of the refugees but they are running out of resources as winter arrives.

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The fight for Turkey's trees

There is a real struggle underway in Turkey for trees. Remember that last year’s Gezi protests and resistance was initially sparked by an urban development project which destroyed many trees. Today we have the following to report and comment on.

Police used batons and rubber bullets early this morning against the protesters camping outside Istanbul’s Validebağ grove to save the protected grove and stop the construction of a mosque there. This struggle has been going on for at least 3 weeks now and today’s clashes were apparently sparked by activists trying to step up a third tent at their site. We have covered this struggle on this blog and we have remarked on the bravery and ingenuity of the protesters as they take on a mayor, a developer and a state apparatus which works against them and the people’s interests.

Today police would not allow the tent---the idea was to move smaller tents into one larger tent--- and riot police officers intervened with batons and rubber bullets to clear the area. The demonstrators refused to give up on putting up their tent. At least one person was hurt in the police violence. Police attacks on the protesters have been going on since the protests began despite much public sympathy for the cause, the protected status of the grove and an early court order protecting the area. The court order was recently overturned but this is under appeal.

In Soma a private security company employed by an energy company building a coal plant on olive groves beat up a village resident late last night before the construction company cut down more than 5,000 trees in the area. This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the last 3 weeks as local people continue to challenge the destruction of olive groves and the construction of the plant. Soma was also the site of the mine massacre in May of this year in which at least 301 mine workers died.

A late-in-the-day court decision was issued protecting the Yırca olive groves but the trees had already been uprooted.

The construction has been underway in the olive groves of Yırca village near Soma village. The Kolin İnşaat company has the contract to build the plant and has destroyed nearly 6000 trees there even as local people have protested. The company is known to have a special relationship with the government and the reactionary ruling party.

The villager who was attacked last night was hit on the head and suffered a serious wound requiring hospitalization. At least four other people were handcuffed and removed from the scene. It is tragic that the thugs who attacked the people come from the village as well and are paid by the security company to attack their own people.

The law allowing the building of energy facilities within olive groves has government support but puts the olive groves and the olive and olive oil sectors at great risk. The law enables the construction of Turkey’s first nuclear plant in Akkuyu and the building of new coal plants.

[John Dolva]

"Kobanê is our beating heart. If we are here today, it means that the essence behind our left breast still lives...Kobanê is our scream of revolt."

Some news from revolutionary Rojava, the common-front struggle against ISIS and events at the Rojava-Turkish border:

* Rojava's Jazira (Cizîrê) Canton is putting in place a 30-point program to further build and support women's rights. The program was officially announced today. The Jazira (Cizîrê) Canton is the largest of revolutionary Rojava's three and official declared democratic autonomy on January 21, 2014. The canton includes the city of Qamişlo, Amûde, Hesîçe (Al-Hasakah), Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ayn), Dêrika Hemko (Al-Malikiyah), Dirbêsiyê (Al-Darbasiyah) and Tirbespiyê (al-Qahtaniya). We frequently write about Qamişlo, Amûde and Serêkaniyê on this blog. Jazira's population is composed of Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs (Assyrians), Chechens and Armenians. Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac are officially used languages, but all communities have the right to teach and be taught in their native language. Muslims, Christians and Yazidis live there. The two top posts in the Canton are filled jointly by one Kurdish and one Arab leader.

The program calls for "equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life," insures that women had the right to run for office and an equal right to work, pay and inheritance. The program also provides that women cannot be married before the age of 18, prevents polygamy and says that women have an equal status in the eyes of the law. Men and women have equal rights to divorce under the program and so-called "honor killings" and other violence against women is illegal.

* At a joint press conference organized by the YPG, YPJ Kobanî Command (People's/Women's Defense Forces) and the peshmerga today YPG commander Dijwar Xebat said, "Since the (ISIS) attacks (against Kobanî) began around (ISIS) 3,000 gang members have been killed. The gangs have been seriously weakened. The YPG fighters and the peshmerga are inflicting serious blows." Dijwar Xebat also provided information on the latest situation in the city, saying the initiative was with the YPG forces.

Peşmerge representative Ehmed Kurdî drew attention to the national unity among the Kurds, saying that they are ready to fight anywhere to defend Kobanî and to offer support to the YPG.

A YPJ Kobanî Commander, Hebûn Dêrik, said, "We have a thousand women fighters and at this moment they are at the front. Our fighters carry out very effective actions. Our comrade Arîn Mîrkan is a good example of the brave, self-sacrificing fighters. We will continue our struggle in a determined way, as we remember her."

Dijwar Xebat replied to journalists' asking if there a need for a humanitarian corridor to be opened to Kobanî by saying, “This corridor is needed to defend civilians." The Peşmerge representative Ehmed Kurdî added that a corridor was also necessary for military aid.

The commanders added that there was a need for an increase in the number of air strikes on ISIS, and for the necessary weapons assistance to be provided.

* The Free Art Initiative (Özgür Sanat Girişimi) was formed by film-makers, actors and musicians and joined in the resistance vigil at the Kobanê-Suruç border on the 53rd day of resistance. One of the artists said, "Kobanê is the scream of revolt for the noble resistance of humanity." Dozens of film-makers, artists, actresses, dancers, actors, socialists and musicians have came to Suruç and participated in the vigil of resistance at the Kobanê-Suruç border line.

Researcher-author Temel Demirer said, "Because, we are in Kobanê we are in a geography in which people are screaming 'Enough is enough!' against imperialism. Kobanê is our beating heart. If we are here today, it means that the essence behind our left breast still lives...Kobanê is our scream of revolt."

Musician Özlem Gerçek also said, "Art must take its place in both life and resistance. Even though the hegemonic powers of this country do not see and do not want it, a historic resistance is being exhibited in Kobanê. As real artists, we are with all the people resisting against barbarity and tyranny regardless of race, identity and language. Kurdish people are giving the struggle of freedom. And we are here to become voice of this. We came here in solidarity."

Artist Erol Berxwedan stressed, "We came to the border to act in solidarity with the Kobanê resistance. There has been an on-going resistance in Kobanê for 50 days. Also, we are late in coming here; they have joined in the acts and activities held for Kobanê. On such days artists must become one with the people. We came to Kobanê border. Our heart is bleeding. We are the artists of this people, we exist with them. Kobanê's people are not alone."

Mesopotamia Culture Center artist Özlem Bağlayan said, "Kobanê is the scream of revolt for the noble resistance of humanity. I am gaining belief by seeing the fighters of the YPG...The eye of the world press and public opinion is on Kobanê. The German press reported under the title of 'Hero Kurds, Who are you?'. But Turkey sees the Kurds as same as the bloody gangs of ISIS. We cannot understand this policy of the Turkish state."

* The latest victim of extrajudicial execution by Turkish security forces, 28-year-old Kader Ortakaya, who was shot in the head by Turkish soldiers as she crossed the border to support the Kobanê resistance on November 6, has been laid to rest in Istanbul. Kader Ortakaya was a member of the Social Freedom Party Initiative (TÖPG) and was an M.A. student at Marmara University. Following a religious ceremony at the Yed'i Beyza Zeliha Hatun Mosque in Bağcılar district our comrade was laid to rest at the Habipler Yayha Cemetery.

A comrade of Kader's promised at her graveside to keep her struggle going. Kurdish artist Ferhat Tunç, who was also at the border and witnessed Kader's killing, said that "She left us with a smile on her face. She was happy because she wanted to be in Kobanê." Ferhat Tunç said that Ferhat Ortakaya has entrusted her struggle to her comrades and "to everyone else calling themselves human."

Social Freedom Party Initiative Representative Oğuzhan Kayserilioğlu recalled that Ortakaya had gone to Kobanê to display the solidarity of the working class with the Kurdish freedom movement. He said, “The power of change revealed in Kobanê has taken her out of the libraries and led her up into the storm in Kobanê. Her heart would always beat with the Kurds. Kader will be living in the memory of all women comrades. With her act she has showed what the right things are. We respect her attitude and promise her to be worthy of her struggle.”

ESP (Socialist Party of the Oppressed) Party Assembly member Ali Haydar Akdeniz said that "We shall not think that she has died, as she will be living in the heart of these peoples, just like Serkan Tosun and Nejat Suphi Ağırnaslı."

Representatives from other advanced left-wing political parties and organizations also made statements promising to protect the struggle and heritage left behind by Kader Ortakaya. The commemoration ended with the reading of the Austrian Workers March.

A tent has been put up in front of the HDP (People's Democracy Party) Bağcılar district organization office where Ortakaya's family and friends will be receiving visits of condolence.

* The Movement of Patriotic and Revolutionary Youth (YDG-H) and the Movement of Patriotic and Revolutionary Women (YDG-K) has released a statement in the wake of the killing of Kader Ortakaya by Turkish soldiers at Suruç-Kobanê border two days ago. The statement by the YDG-H and YDG-K called on patriotic youth and all circles in North Kurdistan to “rise up in commitment to the struggle of Comrade Kader who was deliberately shot dead by Turkish soldiers at the Suruç border.”

The YDG-H and YDG-K also called for radical struggle by the Social Freedom Party Initiative (TÖPG), which Kader Ortakaya was member of, and all democratic, left-wing and socialist circles against the policies of denial and destruction.

* The Komalên Ciwan (Youth Organization) Coordination has called on Kurdish youth to rise up and ,in the same way that the ISIS gangs are being routed in Kobanê, to make life uncomfortable for the AKP government across the Kurdish regions. The AKP is Turkey's ruling reactionary party. The Komalên Ciwan Coordination condemns the Turkish state's support for the brutal ISIS gangs in Kobanê and recalls that dozens of Kurdish patriots were murdered by the state in protests. The statement says that people have been slaughtered in Batman, Mardin, Muş, Şırnak and, only 2 days ago, in Suruç (Pirsus) when Kader Ortakaya was murdered.

The statement continues “We state that we will not remain silent at the barbarity of the AKP that wishes to break the will of the Kurdish people and step up the freedom struggle."

The Komalên Ciwan Coordination says that the Turkish state is continuing the attacks it launched in the 1990s and says, “The protests of October 6 exposed the dirty face of the AKP government, and hundreds of young people have joined the resistance in Kobanê to defend Kurdistan lands."

Kader Ortakaya

Posted by Urun Harvest at 1:40 PM No comments:

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Callous disregard for people and the environment in Turkey's energy and construction sectors

We frequently write about Turkey's energy and construction sectors here and talk much about environmentalism, the class struggle in these sectors and the destruction of olive groves which ties together many economic and political questions. We recently talked about the Kolin İnşaat energy company and their destruction of perhaps 5,000 or 6,000 olive trees and a violent attack on protesters by a private security company hired by the company in Yırca last week. The trees were being cleared for the construction of a coal power plant and local people have been protesting this in an increasingly tense atmosphere. A Council of State decision halted the project.

Mainstream Turkish media is saying that the company was aware of the decision two days before it was publicly announced. At least 5,000 trees, then, were cut down after the company knew of the decision and in the face of protests.

Even some mainstream Turkish media have been moved by scenes of elderly women hugging the trees and men openly weeping as the destruction of the Yırca olive grove took place. The village is in the Soma area, where at least 301 mine workers were killed in a terrible disaster last May.

We are not surprised that the decision to stop the destruction of the olive grove was leaked by the Council of State to the company or that the company destroyed the trees in disregard for the decision---it seems that construction and energy companies with close relations to the government and the reactionary ruling party frequently get away with such actions. We are angry that it took 18 days for the Council of State to act, that the matter of environmental assessment reports remains unsettled even at this late date and that the Turkish government seems to be taking a page from the Israeli government in their destruction of Palestinian olive trees. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş got it right when he said that “the environment cannot be left in the hands of the wild capitalism,” but it is all the more frustrating that a government official says such things while his party and government collude with companies to destroy the environment.

A group of young people were in Yırca yesterday to help people there plant new olive trees in the same area as the ones that were destroyed. The area had been blocked off by the company with barbed wire, but villages removed the wires using their tractors. The thugs who attacked the villagers previously---out-of-work locals who were recruited by the company to do this dirty work---did not intervene.

Meanwhile, the owner of the coal mine in Karaman in which 18 mine workers were trapped following an underground flood and cave-in on October 28 surrendered to the public prosecutor’s office early this morning. The bodies of 2 of the 18 mine workers were found on Thursday. The company continues to deny all responsibility for the disaster.

Energy Minister Taner Yıldız placed some blame on the company in a statement on November 8. Eight people were initially detained by authorities, including the owner of the mine and two partners in the venture.

[John Dolva]

RT: Syrian Kurds proclaim women’s equality in defiance of ISIS

Published time: November 11, 2014 02:50

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A Kurdish female fighter from Kurdish People's Protection Units (Reuters / Stringer)

The Syrian Kurdish population is standing up to Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS) abusing women’s rights in surrounding areas by issuing a decree proclaiming “equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life.”

READ MORE: ‘Women and children dumped in a well’: ISIS massacres 322 Sunni tribesmen in west Iraq

Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq have been brutally violating women’s rights by passing rules based on a radical interpretation of Sharia law. Some of the abuses include forced child marriages, movement restraint and dress codes.

A Kurdish Syrian refugee (Reuters / Murad Sezer)

Now authorities of the “self-ruling democracy of Jazira province” have spoken out against the abuse by announcing a 30-point decree, which aims to protect women’s rights, Reuters quoted the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, as saying.

READ MORE: ISIS introduces ‘price scheme’ for selling enslaved women and girls

The area, which is currently under self-rule in the Syrian northeastern province of Hasaka, gained its de-facto independence during the country’s civil war. Abdulrahman revealed that one of the leaders of the territory is Kurdish and the other is Arab.

A Syrian Kurdish woman (Reuters / Murad Sezer)

The decree stressed that women are equal to men in the eyes of the law.

It said that women have the right to run for office, the right to work, the right to get paid, the right to get a divorce and the right to inherit. Also, the decree stated that women should not get married until the age of 18, spoke out against polygamy, and branded honor-killings and other type violence as illegal.

READ MORE: 'Can one take 2 slave girls?’ ISIS militants joke about selling Yazidi women (VIDEO)

One of the latest examples of Islamic State’s brutal violence towards women includes the kidnapping of thousands of Yazidi women and girls in August.

A Syrian Kurdish refugee woman (Reuters / Murad Sezer)

Girls and women were systematically separated from their families and forced into marriage and converted to Islam, according to a Human Rights Watch report (HRW). Eyewitnesses report seeing girls being bought and sold by the fighters.

One of the videos released by the Islamic State, which has not been independently verified, shows a group of Islamic State fighters laugh and make merry as they chat about the sale and transfer of kidnapped Yazidi women.

READ MORE: Islamic State admits, justifies enslaving Yazidi women and children

[John Dolva]

Our news today from the common-front struggle against ISIS and Rojava's advanced revolution

Our news from the common-front struggle against ISIS and Rojava's advanced revolution:

* The MFS (Syriac Military Council) is the defense force of the Assyrian and Syriac communities living in Rojava's Cezire Canton. The fight alongside of the YPG (People's Protection Units) against the ISIS gangs. MFS Commander Johan Kosar has told the Syriac International News Agency that their goal is to liberate nearly 150 villages and hamlets now under ISIS occupation around Til Hemis. ISIS has been in place there for about one year.

Commander Kosar said, "It has been a while since the operation in Til Hamis began. Fighters of the Syriac Military Council and the People's Protection Units are continuing to fight together in the operation. The villages we liberated from ISIS terrorists at the beginning of the operation are still under our control. Some villages and towns including Til Maruf, Reya, Şermuk, Hareke, Ebu Xazaf, Ebu Xesayb have been liberated. There are at the moment no people from the Syriac community living in these villages where only MFS and YPG fighters are present.” He also said that the distance between ISIS and MFS positions is around 1.5 km during the day and about 400-500 meters at night.

Commander Kosar pointed out that the ISIS gangs will seize the opportunity to attack the mainly-Syriac Gozarto area in Cezire Canton in the event of Kobanê's fall and said that the gangs will still attempt to attack to region if they fail to take Kobanê. He said that the Assyrian-Syriac peoples believe more strongly in their self-defense force with each passing day. "Our people have seen that there are people defending Gozarto. The people are very glad to see this. The more attacks we face, the stronger the alliance between MFS and Sutoro (public security militia) grows. The MFS also includes Christian fighters coming from Europe," he said.

We are the soldiers of our people, we are fighting for our people's freedom, Kosar said, and he emphasized that their will was their greatest weapon in the fight against ISIS gangs.

* PYD (Rojava's leading Democratic Union Party) Co-President Saleh Muslim stressed that Kurds in Kobanê are fighting for humanity in a panel discussion organized by the Democratic Kurdish Society Center in Holland. The panel discussion was also attended by a number of journalists, politicians, regional specialists and representatives of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Saleh Muslim pointed out that the Kobanê resistance is a fight for human honor and is for not only the Kurds, but for all the peoples of the Middle East and the world. “This is the reason why Kobanê has become the symbol of freedom and resistance around the world”, he said. "We started the struggle against the Baath regime with the Qamishlo rebellion in 2004. We knew that this process was going to take place, and made preparations accordingly. When the civil war in Syria erupted, they wanted us to take part in the opposition groups, which we however didn't accept because of the fact that those powers denied being Kurdish in origin. This is the reason why we chose our line as a third power and started the struggle on the basis of this truth. By means of distorted reports some circles accused us of taking sides with the regime and other powers. None of those statements were true."

Saleh Muslim also pointed out that the reason for the attacks on Rojava was the establishment of a system which was based on freedoms and involved everyone. He emphasized that "Barbarian ISIS gangs aim to intimidate humanity by beheading people. It is however our will and determination that is keeping us up against their attacks. International powers have acted only after seeing the intention of these barbarian gangs to which YPG and YPJ (Rojava's People's and Women's Defense Forces) forces have put up an unprecedented resistance with restricted opportunities."

Referring to the attacks targeting Rojava's Afrin Canton, Muslim said that Al-Nusra gangs were preparing to attack the Afrin Canton with the support of some states in the region. "They will be facing a resistance similar to the one in Kobanê. Everyone should know that nobody can exclude the Kurds from the Middle East equation anymore."

Muslim added that Kobanê was currently in need of many things, and called on European countries to help the people in the besieged town.

* Yesterday the YPG (People's Protection Units) reported in a statement that ISIS attacks against Kobanê have continued on for the 56th day. According to the statement, YPG/YPJ fighters have liberated some areas occupied by ISIS gangs after repelling their attacks with reinforcements. ISIS gangs are continuing to launch uninterrupted mortar attacks on the town center.

The YPG Press Center said that ISIS gangs took major blows in clashes that started on Sunday and continued through the night and into the morning on the eastern front of Kobanê. “Our forces advancing in the Kaniya Kurda region have broken the wave of intensified heavy-weaponry attacks of ISIS gangs and recaptured come areas they had occupied,” the statement said. The YPG/YPJ forces have advanced one street further in the area.

The YPG Press Center said that 13 ISIS gang members were killed in hand-to-hand fighting taking place around the municipality area since Sunday.

On the western front YPG/YPJ forces carried out attacks and actions against ISIS forces deployed around the villages of Minaze and Izea and killed 8 ISIS fighters there.

Clashes also took place on the southern front. Two ISIS fighters were killed when YPG fighters destroyed a motorcycle of theirs on Aleppo road 5 km to the south of Kobanê.

The statement added that one YPG fighter who sustained a severe injury during Sunday's clashes died early Monday morning.

* Nawal El Saadawi, the brave Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician and psychiatrist, has said in a letter praising the struggle of female fighters in the besieged town of Kobanê that “The Kurdish women proved courage and great bravery in achieving victory against the ISIL terrorists in Kobanî, and it is our duty to recognize them. The women fighting in Kobanê are defending the identity and honour of the world's women.” She also pointed out that the Kurdish women in Rojava, in northern Syria, a part of the oriental Islam, are waging an intense fight against ISIS and that their battle is against the male-dominated patriarchal system and for a free world and democracy.

Nawal El Saadawi stated that the Kurdish women in Kobanê have shown the whole world that there is no difference between women and men and that women can be ahead of men in many areas. Nawal El Saadawi said, “Gang leaders tell their members that they cannot go to heaven in the event of being killed by a woman. This discourse spreads fear among the gangs.”

Nawal El Saadawi also emphasized the importance of solidarity with the Kurdish women as their battle continues. “We need to see the power and value of the Kurdish women's struggle. We need to support them actively and avoid a solidarity based on great remarks and statements alone,” she wrote. The Egyptian writer said that “I do not see this culture as belonging to the east or the west, or to Islam and Christianity. The cruelty imposed on women cannot be attributed to Islam. The religions fail to attach value and worth on women whom they regard as slaves.”

In 1972, Nawal El Saadawi published her first work of non-fiction, Women and Sex, which evoked the antagonism of highly- placed political and theological authorities, confronting and contextualising various aggressions perpetrated against women's bodies, including female circumcision. Other works of her's include The Hidden Face of Eve, God Dies by the Nile, The Circling Song, Searching, The Fall of the Imam and Woman at Point Zero.

As a consequence of her writing as well as her other political activities, Nawal El Saadawi was dismissed from her position at the Ministry of Health. She was imprisoned in September of 1981 and was released later that year. In 1988, when her life was threatened by Islamist and political persecution, she was forced to flee Egypt. She moved back to her country in 1996.

* Aid is urgently needed in Suruç, where large numbers of people from Kobanê have had to take shelter following the brutal attacks by ISIS. Winter is arriving and the refugees are facing more challenging conditions.

People in cities in North Kurdistan, Turkey and abroad continue to provide support and material aid to meet the basic needs of around 200,000 people from Kobanê who have found shelter in North Kurdistan after being forced to flee their homes because of the attacks of ISIS gangs. However, as the season turns into winter, some basic needs such as electric blankets, stoves and winter clothes still have not been met.

The aid collected by the Association of Aid and Solidarity for Rojava is stored in the garage of the Suruç Municipality. Halil Akbaş, a member of Urfa Metropolitan City Municipality assembly and one of the people responsible for the storeroom, said that the aid is primarily sent by DBP, HDP and the municipalities of DBP (the progressive Party of Democratic Regions and People's Democracy Party) as well as NGOs and sensitive people who want to be in solidarity with the people of Rojava. Halil Akbaş said that the aid they receive mainly consists of food.

Halil Akbaş said that there has been a significant decrease in the collection and delivery of aid for the refugees from Rojava ahead of the winter season and made an urgent call for “tents, beds, electric stoves, blankets, winter clothes and food, especially for breakfast” in order for the people from Kobanê not to suffer under winter conditions.

Halil Akbaş further stressed that they especially need beds and blankets as the winter is already being felt in the region, adding that, “We have quite a good amount of clothes suitable for summer, but we need clothes for winter at the moment. I ask people to send clothes and aid suitable for winter conditions. We also ask them to send unused material. We have to meet the needs for bed and food for breakfast in the first place."

Halil Akbaş said that they faced a huge inflow of refugees, adding, “The winter conditions are becoming more severe. We have some preparations for that, but it is not enough. We try here to meet the needs of the people by means of the aid sent to Suruç but the aid reaching us is not enough at the moment. We are sending materials to not only the districts of Urfa, but also to the Nizip and Karkamış districts of Adıyaman and Antep. But we lack a lot of things, especially food for breakfast and blankets. It is winter but we still do not have enough tents. We have a basic insufficiency in the aid materials."

Halil Akbaş also said that the tents in the tent cities are not suitable for winter, but they are the only ones they have for the moment, adding that, “We initiated a campaign. We will try to collect electric stoves. We will cover the tents with nylon to protect them from the cold. The number of people in the tent cities is quite high while there is not enough tents. It would be better if we could build container cities. Five tent cities have been established, and 2 big ones are under construction, but these will not suffice either to meet the demand."

* ISIS gangs are continuing to target civilians after facing a challenging response by YPG/YPJ forces defending Kobanê.

A 66-year-old man, Bekre Xoran, was killed by ISIS snipers while on his way home in south Kobanê last night. He was shot by ISIS snipers after he lost his way due to the power blackout. Bekre Xoran returned to his hometown after going to Suruç in the first days of the ISIS attacks aiming to occupy Kobanê.

Shelling by ISIS forces in tanks targets the Kobanê center and has killed 8 people, including 3 children, and wounded 19 others yeserday and today. Emine Mihemed (35), her daughter Lina Mustafa Bekir (6), Ezize Kerro (5) and Heyder Etto were wounded yeserday. Consecutive ISIS mortar attacks on civilian-inhabited areas hit an area inhabited by three related families, leaving one child dead and 6 people wounded. Eight-year-old Azize Kuno, who was severely wounded after being hit in the stomach by shell fragments, died at the Suruç state hospital after the attack. Azize Kuno's mother said, "ISIS is a beast. What did they want from us? We were not armed." She said that she will not leave Kobanê and will lay her daughter to rest in the town.

A second attack on civilians targeted the Til Shair border to the west of Kobanê. Three consecutive mortar attacks were carried out against civilians in a parking area for cars at around 4:00 PM. A seventeen-year-old named Rezan and 60-year-old Ubeyt Mihemed were killed and 10 others were wounded in the attack.

Eight-year-old İwa Ebdo who also sustained an injury in the attack died at Suruç state hospital. Asîman Elî (50), Mihemed Bekir (21), Mistefe Adem (13), Omer Elî (24), Munir Mehmud Ebdo (5), Ebdilkadir Xelîl (51), Munir Ebdo (50) and Evdila Qaso (24), who were all wounded by shell fragments, were taken to Suruç state hospital. Other wounded civilians are being treated in the hospital in Kobanê.

Three-year-old Dîlber Mehemed Îbrahim, 26-year-old Egîd Nebo and 35-year-old Nebo Elî were also killed in another mortar attack by ISIS gangs in Tîl Shair village on Saturday. This mortar attack also left three civilians wounded.

* The YPG (People's Defense Units) Press Center has reported that ISIS attacks aiming to occupy Kobanê continued into the 57th day. The YPG said that their forces continue to advance into the areas occupied by the ISIS gangs and are also carrying out actions outside of Kobanê.

Six ISIS fighters were killed in yesterday's clashes that continued through the day and night on the eastern front.

YPG forces also made a significant advance on the southern front where many areas were cleansed of ISIS gangs and large amounts of ammunition and military equipment were seized.

The YPG Press Center said that two ISIS fighters were killed as YPG fighters targeted a motorcycle of theirs in the village of Minaze to the west of Kobanê and as the YPG targeted the gangs deployed in the Düğmetaş village close to the Euphrates River.

The YPG statement also noted that the YPG operation in south and southwest Serêkaniyê has continued and that YPG forces took control in six villages which include East and West Kaço, Birqa, Asfurîya, Siwediya and Kûa Şilah. Clashes between YPG and ISIS gangs in the Serêkaniyê region continued since late last night.

* In Til Temir three members of an Armenian family have joined the Asayîş (Pubic Security) forces. Hilda Simon, one of the family members, said that "The Democratic Autonomous Administration is a small village where all peoples live based on democracy and equality. In that administration everybody enjoys his or her color, language and culture. This is the first time that all constituents in Rojava sit at the table together."

Hilda Simon is the daughter of Kerabeyt Simon who is working in the Til Temir Asayîş. The family is from Hesekê. She joined Asayîş to defend values of her society. "We work on the issues women have here. We spend all our effort and energy to help women give free decisions," she said.

The other member of the family is Hilda's sister who works in the same unit of Asayîş.

* ISIS gang members who carry out violence in the name of Islam violate all Islamic values in Kobanî and the regions they attack. They recently blew up the Hac Reşad Mousque in Kobanî, leaving the Holy Qur'an and Islamic writings under the destroyed parts of the mosque. ISIS gang members, who often use Islamic references in their war against humanity, showed once again with this deed that they do not care about the religious values of Islam.

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Repression in Turkey

We have more news on repression in Turkey and North Kurdistan to report on. These reports have become regular features for us.

* Radikal is reporting that a criminal investigation was launched into a claim that lst year's nationwide Gezi Park protests and resistance were prompted by the Serbian youth movement Otpor and that Turkish actor Mehmet Ali Alabora aided in the plot. According to the report, the National Police Department's Organized Crimes Unit notified the İstanbul Police Department's Organized Crimes Unit on June 15, 2013, that Otpor leader Ivan Marovic met Mehmet Ali Alabora in Cairo and that the actor and his team started rehearsals for the play “Mi Minör” upon returning to Turkey in order to prepare for the demonstrations before initiating the Gezi Park protests. The notice also said that businessman Osman Kavala financed Mehmet Ali Alabora and his team. It was further charged that Facebook and Twitter were used to provoke protesters, turn them against the state, disrupt public order and portray a picture of chaos in the country.

Nazmi Ardıç, then the İstanbul Organized Crimes Unit chief, reportedly demanded access to the phone records of Kavala, Alabora, Alabora's wife Ayşe Pınar Alabora, architect Defne Anter, author Meltem Arıkan and publicist Melin Osasogie Edomwonyi “in order to expose the network and its connections.” Prosecutor Muammer Akkaş pressed charges on June 20, 2013, against these people in an İstanbul court for forming a criminal gang, instigating hatred and animosity among the public and prompting people to join an armed insurgency. Akkaş then demanded to see the individuals' phone records, but it is not clear if the probe was dropped or if any court case was later opened. Akkaş and Ardıç were dismissed from their positions due to their alleged involvement in the corruption investigation that went public last December.

This is the stuff of thrillers and conspiracy theories of the kind which so excite the right-wing nationalists in Turkey. We think that the Gezi resistance would have emerged regardless of what forces, open or underground, might have helped organized it. We note that there was no armed uprising last year. We also point out that Otpor would be an unworthy and incompetent ally.

* We have two cases of people using "the f word" to remark on.

In one case a university student has received a 5-month suspended sentence for writing “F*** your religion” in English on walls in Eskişehir during this year’s May Day demonstration. Prosecutors accused the student of “humiliating all religious values of a pious country” and said that the graffiti could potentially “disrupt public peace” because of its provocative nature."

The student denied that he intended to insult religion and said that he was inspired by the lyrics of a song by the political punk band “The Exploited.” His lawyers argued that the graffiti did not specifically target Islam and stressed that the song in question criticized religion as a whole, which is considered as part of freedom of expression by the European Court of Human Rights. They rejected claims that the graffiti could lead to the disruption of public order, citing the fact that relatively few people in Turkey know English.

The local court in Eskişehir overseeing the case found the student guilty and gave him a suspended five-month sentence.

Turkish-Armenian linguist and writer Sevan Nişanyan and pianist Fazıl Say were both recently convicted of blasphemy for writing and endorsing statements critical of religion. Sevan Nişanyan is currently serving a prison sentence for “illegal construction.” He was also sentenced for committing blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad in a blog post. Fazıl Say was sentenced to 10 months in prison for “insulting religion” after he retweeted several lines attributed to the Persian poet Omar Khayyam.

Last Saturday during a police raid in Yüksekova a police announcement from a tank said, "F..k you, your mum and sister, motherf..kers.” The announcement was aimed at protesters. Local people demanded an apology from the authorities.

Local municipal authorities from the progressive Democratic Regions Party (DBP) and others met with the regional governor and police commissioner about the issue. A joint statement by protesters said, "Not only have the people been provoked by tear gas and real bullets, but also they have been sworn at with f-word to their mothers and sisters. Despite this, people remained calm and didn’t get provoked. We, as the womens' movement, condemn this incident and expect authorities to take the necessary steps.”

The governor’s office later released a statement saying that they have dismissed the responsible police officer. People may feel satisfied about how this matter has progressed, but protests in Yüksekova are on-going. People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Hakkari Province Deputy Adil Zozani also submitted a parliamentary inquiry to Interior Minister asking whether any procedures have been launched against the swearing policeman.

* Turkish soldiers raided a number of houses in the villages of Pirömer (Pilomer), Gökoğlu (Qubîk) and Dedeli in thePatnos district of Ağrı early this morning. The operation involved large numbers of soldiers, gendarmes and special operation teams who entered the houses without any warning, breaking the doors as the raids began and turning the houses upside down. Perhaps 7 people have been detained so far and the number of people detained is expected to increase.

* Soldiers at a control point in front of the Abalı (Korxa) Gendarmerie Station on the Amed-Bingöl road have shot and killed the driver of a car when the driver reportedly didn't stop at the control point. The young man apparently had no drivers' license.

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The struggle for the olive groves in Yırca village

We have previously talked here on this blog about the struggle for the olive groves in Yırca village and against the Kolin İnşaat company. The company cut down about 6,000 olive trees and its security officers beat up villagers who resisted the expropriation in an effort to build coal plant there. A Council of State decision to protect the grove was leaked prematurely to the company, the company cut down the trees in defiance of the pending decision, people pushed back and the power plant project has perhaps now been abandoned.

The company has announced the lay-off of about 100 workers. Security personnel and construction workers have been the first to go. Our understanding is that these security guards are mainly local out-of-work people who functioned as company thugs. They claim that they were offered lifelong job security and retirement packages if they attacked the villagers who opposed the construction. “They made us come here by giving us a guarantee of work and even retirement. They made us attack the villagers. We were used (by the company). Now we will stay here until we get fair (treatment),” one of the security officers has been quoted as saying. The laid-off construction workers have left the area.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç sidestepped this matter and instead said, "There are olive groves all over the country thanks to the incentives our government has provided. Even mountains and high plains are full of olive trees. Those trees have created a lucrative industry, but Turkey needs energy too.” He made these comments after a Cabinet meeting held late yesterday. His statement drew sharp reactions and provoked opposition forces within Parliament.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli took the spotlight to say that “opportunist” companies have grown thanks to state tenders granted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, setting their sights on the resources from which Turkish people earn their living. “Incidents that took place in the Yırca town of Soma last week have revealed the level of unlawfulness and tyranny,” Bahçeli said today. “The Kolin Group, which is a partner of the consortium that won the tender for the third (Istanbul) airport, not only cut down 6,000 trees but also seized the hopes of local people...I am asking you, (Prime Minister Ahmet) Davutoğlu, as you say on every occasion that you stand against brutality: Isn’t what happened in Yırca tyranny and banditry?” The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has also accused the government of favoring certain energy firms at the expense of the environment. These populist expressions have a false tone for us, although it must be said that both the MHP and CHP have a local bases in Yırca and Soma.

Meanwhile, a group of young activists visited Yırca on Saturday and helped people there plant new olive trees in the same area. The area had been blocked off by the company with barbed wire, but villages removed the wire using their tractors.

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Mine workers in Turkey are once more in our news.

Mine workers in Turkey are once more in our news.

On October 28, 18 mine workers were caught in a flood and cave-in in a coal mine near Ermenek in the province of Karaman. It has been said that the miners were eating lunch when the disaster occurred. We commented here that the flood may have come from abandoned workings in nearby mines and that the disaster could probably have been prevented with mapping, coordination and pumps. We have seen nothing to this date that changes our opinions, although the cause of the disaster has not been officially determined. Two of the miners’ bodies were recovered earlier this week. Five people have been arrested and 3 people have been detained and released as charges of “causing death due to conscious negligence” surface as the tragedy is investigated. Those detained and arrested include company executives, the owner and engineers of the mine.

The operating manager of the Has Şekerler Mining Company which operated the mine is one of those who has been arrested. He has testified that water leaks in the mine were tasted in order to determine where the water was coming from, if it was natural underground water or water that was accumulating and coming in from an older nearby mine. If it was flowing in from another mine, the operating manager said, they would realize that the situation was dangerous. This is a very old method of determining the origin of water in a mine and it can hardly substitute for mapping and pumping. Moreover, the decision to mine so close to old workings is a bad one and there is good reason to suspect the motives and competency of officials who would allow that.

The government claims that 94 mines have been shut down after inspections carried out since last May, when at least 301 mine workers were killed in the Soma mine massacre. It is expected that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will announce amendments to Turkey's work safety and mining laws tomorrow.

Still and all, Turkey's energy sector is passing through a chaotic period and the Turkish government plans to double electricity production with coal power by 2018. Turkey produced 32 billion kwH of electricity with coal power plants last year and the plan is to increase this amount to 57 billion kwh in 2018. The country’s coal production will necessarily increase and will do so without planning and at great cost to the environment. This will mean an increasing number of workplace disasters and deaths. It is hard to believe that the construction of Turkey's first nuclear power plant will be safer, more cost-effective or of greater benefit to the population. It is planned to be built over expropriated and destroyed olive groves. Oil moving from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to Turkey has helped drive economic expansion in Turkey but has also made the region's political alliances in the face of ISIS fascism more complex and, in the long run, stands to do much harm to the KRG's economy. The Turkish navy is also being primed to fight over oil drilling projects in disputed areas between Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Unemployment in Turkey is in double digits as all of this takes place. We suspect that the 94 mines which have been shut down were closed as a means of rationalizing production and demand and not as a matter of worker safety and employment.

We note that General Electric announced a $900 million investment plan for projects in Turkey in the 2012-2015 period and that GE has shown great interest in projects in Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan. Mainstream news reports talk in glowing terms about GE's search for improving business environments where shifts in policies and "diversified economies" can be built. It is inconceivable to us that this agenda can be carried out in Turkey without a further shift to more authoritarian state policies.

A GE study is frequently cited by proponents of improving Turkey's business environment which says, “For these countries, further diversifying and strengthening the growth base is a long-standing challenge, particularly in cases where oil imports are a significant burden on external and fiscal accounts. Turkey is a case in point. Large energy imports make the country’s external current account very sensitive to swings in crude oil prices; in some cases this has triggered investors’ concern and weakened foreign direct investment flows.” This is imperialism talking.

And so it is that coal power plants are planned for Afşin, Elbistan, Konya, Karapınar and Ergene. Low-capacity lignite basins will be transferred to the industrial zones without demanding any licensing fees, a long-term ecological and financial disaster in the offing. Oil imports from the KRG and from ISIS continue and the necessary political opportunism to accomplish this is in place for now. We saw how privatization, a surge in production and a drop in prices led to the disaster in Soma. This state of affairs is due in some measure to the special relationships binding the energy and construction sectors to the ruling reactionary governing party and the government. In the first 10 months of this year, 1,600 workers died on the job with the energy and construction sectors prominent.

As matters stand now, only 1,800 of 14,000 mines in Turkey have insured workers, while the machinery in all of the country's mines is covered by insurance policies, according to a column that ran in Hürriyet yesterday.

In other news, one out of three workers who were poisoned by methane gas while carrying out sewage work in the Pasinler district of Erzurum yesterday has died. Necati Aras was part of a crew who entered a sewage plant to remove clogging in the Kaplıcalar neighborhood in Pasinler yesterday. He and two other workers were were taken to the Atatürk University Research Hospital after being poisoned by methane gas in the plant.

[John Dolva]

"Kobanê is our beating heart. If we are here today, it means that the essence behind our left breast still lives...Kobanê is our scream of revolt."

Some news from revolutionary Rojava, the common-front struggle against ISIS and events at the Rojava-Turkish border:

* Rojava's Jazira (Cizîrê) Canton is putting in place a 30-point program to further build and support women's rights. The program was officially announced today. The Jazira (Cizîrê) Canton is the largest of revolutionary Rojava's three and official declared democratic autonomy on January 21, 2014. The canton includes the city of Qamişlo, Amûde, Hesîçe (Al-Hasakah), Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ayn), Dêrika Hemko (Al-Malikiyah), Dirbêsiyê (Al-Darbasiyah) and Tirbespiyê (al-Qahtaniya). We frequently write about Qamişlo, Amûde and Serêkaniyê on this blog. Jazira's population is composed of Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs (Assyrians), Chechens and Armenians. Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac are officially used languages, but all communities have the right to teach and be taught in their native language. Muslims, Christians and Yazidis live there. The two top posts in the Canton are filled jointly by one Kurdish and one Arab leader.

The program calls for "equality between men and women in all spheres of public and private life," insures that women had the right to run for office and an equal right to work, pay and inheritance. The program also provides that women cannot be married before the age of 18, prevents polygamy and says that women have an equal status in the eyes of the law. Men and women have equal rights to divorce under the program and so-called "honor killings" and other violence against women is illegal.

* At a joint press conference organized by the YPG, YPJ Kobanî Command (People's/Women's Defense Forces) and the peshmerga today YPG commander Dijwar Xebat said, "Since the (ISIS) attacks (against Kobanî) began around (ISIS) 3,000 gang members have been killed. The gangs have been seriously weakened. The YPG fighters and the peshmerga are inflicting serious blows." Dijwar Xebat also provided information on the latest situation in the city, saying the initiative was with the YPG forces.

Peşmerge representative Ehmed Kurdî drew attention to the national unity among the Kurds, saying that they are ready to fight anywhere to defend Kobanî and to offer support to the YPG.

A YPJ Kobanî Commander, Hebûn Dêrik, said, "We have a thousand women fighters and at this moment they are at the front. Our fighters carry out very effective actions. Our comrade Arîn Mîrkan is a good example of the brave, self-sacrificing fighters. We will continue our struggle in a determined way, as we remember her."

Dijwar Xebat replied to journalists' asking if there a need for a humanitarian corridor to be opened to Kobanî by saying, “This corridor is needed to defend civilians." The Peşmerge representative Ehmed Kurdî added that a corridor was also necessary for military aid.

The commanders added that there was a need for an increase in the number of air strikes on ISIS, and for the necessary weapons assistance to be provided.

* The Free Art Initiative (Özgür Sanat Girişimi) was formed by film-makers, actors and musicians and joined in the resistance vigil at the Kobanê-Suruç border on the 53rd day of resistance. One of the artists said, "Kobanê is the scream of revolt for the noble resistance of humanity." Dozens of film-makers, artists, actresses, dancers, actors, socialists and musicians have came to Suruç and participated in the vigil of resistance at the Kobanê-Suruç border line.

Researcher-author Temel Demirer said, "Because, we are in Kobanê we are in a geography in which people are screaming 'Enough is enough!' against imperialism. Kobanê is our beating heart. If we are here today, it means that the essence behind our left breast still lives...Kobanê is our scream of revolt."

Musician Özlem Gerçek also said, "Art must take its place in both life and resistance. Even though the hegemonic powers of this country do not see and do not want it, a historic resistance is being exhibited in Kobanê. As real artists, we are with all the people resisting against barbarity and tyranny regardless of race, identity and language. Kurdish people are giving the struggle of freedom. And we are here to become voice of this. We came here in solidarity."

Artist Erol Berxwedan stressed, "We came to the border to act in solidarity with the Kobanê resistance. There has been an on-going resistance in Kobanê for 50 days. Also, we are late in coming here; they have joined in the acts and activities held for Kobanê. On such days artists must become one with the people. We came to Kobanê border. Our heart is bleeding. We are the artists of this people, we exist with them. Kobanê's people are not alone."

Mesopotamia Culture Center artist Özlem Bağlayan said, "Kobanê is the scream of revolt for the noble resistance of humanity. I am gaining belief by seeing the fighters of the YPG...The eye of the world press and public opinion is on Kobanê. The German press reported under the title of 'Hero Kurds, Who are you?'. But Turkey sees the Kurds as same as the bloody gangs of ISIS. We cannot understand this policy of the Turkish state."

* The latest victim of extrajudicial execution by Turkish security forces, 28-year-old Kader Ortakaya, who was shot in the head by Turkish soldiers as she crossed the border to support the Kobanê resistance on November 6, has been laid to rest in Istanbul. Kader Ortakaya was a member of the Social Freedom Party Initiative (TÖPG) and was an M.A. student at Marmara University. Following a religious ceremony at the Yed'i Beyza Zeliha Hatun Mosque in Bağcılar district our comrade was laid to rest at the Habipler Yayha Cemetery.

A comrade of Kader's promised at her graveside to keep her struggle going. Kurdish artist Ferhat Tunç, who was also at the border and witnessed Kader's killing, said that "She left us with a smile on her face. She was happy because she wanted to be in Kobanê." Ferhat Tunç said that Ferhat Ortakaya has entrusted her struggle to her comrades and "to everyone else calling themselves human."

Social Freedom Party Initiative Representative Oğuzhan Kayserilioğlu recalled that Ortakaya had gone to Kobanê to display the solidarity of the working class with the Kurdish freedom movement. He said, “The power of change revealed in Kobanê has taken her out of the libraries and led her up into the storm in Kobanê. Her heart would always beat with the Kurds. Kader will be living in the memory of all women comrades. With her act she has showed what the right things are. We respect her attitude and promise her to be worthy of her struggle.”

ESP (Socialist Party of the Oppressed) Party Assembly member Ali Haydar Akdeniz said that "We shall not think that she has died, as she will be living in the heart of these peoples, just like Serkan Tosun and Nejat Suphi Ağırnaslı."

Representatives from other advanced left-wing political parties and organizations also made statements promising to protect the struggle and heritage left behind by Kader Ortakaya. The commemoration ended with the reading of the Austrian Workers March.

A tent has been put up in front of the HDP (People's Democracy Party) Bağcılar district organization office where Ortakaya's family and friends will be receiving visits of condolence.

* The Movement of Patriotic and Revolutionary Youth (YDG-H) and the Movement of Patriotic and Revolutionary Women (YDG-K) has released a statement in the wake of the killing of Kader Ortakaya by Turkish soldiers at Suruç-Kobanê border two days ago. The statement by the YDG-H and YDG-K called on patriotic youth and all circles in North Kurdistan to “rise up in commitment to the struggle of Comrade Kader who was deliberately shot dead by Turkish soldiers at the Suruç border.”

The YDG-H and YDG-K also called for radical struggle by the Social Freedom Party Initiative (TÖPG), which Kader Ortakaya was member of, and all democratic, left-wing and socialist circles against the policies of denial and destruction.

* The Komalên Ciwan (Youth Organization) Coordination has called on Kurdish youth to rise up and ,in the same way that the ISIS gangs are being routed in Kobanê, to make life uncomfortable for the AKP government across the Kurdish regions. The AKP is Turkey's ruling reactionary party. The Komalên Ciwan Coordination condemns the Turkish state's support for the brutal ISIS gangs in Kobanê and recalls that dozens of Kurdish patriots were murdered by the state in protests. The statement says that people have been slaughtered in Batman, Mardin, Muş, Şırnak and, only 2 days ago, in Suruç (Pirsus) when Kader Ortakaya was murdered.

The statement continues “We state that we will not remain silent at the barbarity of the AKP that wishes to break the will of the Kurdish people and step up the freedom struggle."

The Komalên Ciwan Coordination says that the Turkish state is continuing the attacks it launched in the 1990s and says, “The protests of October 6 exposed the dirty face of the AKP government, and hundreds of young people have joined the resistance in Kobanê to defend Kurdistan lands."

Kader Ortakaya

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

"The resistance against this barbarism represents all of the values of humanism."--The solidarity movement calls for urgently needed help for refugees

As the historic resistance of YPG/YPJ (Rojava’s heroic People’s/Women’s Defense Forces) fighters against the ISIS gangs going into the 58^th day in Kobanê , the Kobanê Crisis Coordination group held a press conference in the Arîn Mîrkan Tent City in the Suruç district of Urfa regarding their report on the refugees sheltered in the district.

The Kobanê Crisis Coordination, which was formed by the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), DBP (Party of Democratic Regions, formerly BDP), HDP (Peoples' Democratic Party), HDK (Peoples' Democratic Congress), the Suruç Municipality and the Rojava Solidarity and Aid Association, organized the press conference regarding the on-going resistance in Kobanê, solidarity and support actions at the border and the situation of Kobanê refugees in the district. HDP Urfa MP İbrahim Ayhan, HDP Mardin MP Gülser Yıldırım, DBP Urfa Provincal Co-chair Celalettin Ekmen, HDP Party Assembly Member Mehmet Doymaz, DBP Suruç District Co-chair İsmail Kaplan and Rojava Solidarity and Aid Association Member Faruk Tatlı all participated in the press conference.

“The Kobanê resistance is representing all the values of humanity”

HDP Urfa MP İbrahim Ayhan made a statement to the press on behalf of the Coordination. Ayhan said, "We are calling on the world from the Arîn Mîrkan Tent City. Our call is to all humanity. The attacks of the ISIS gangs have been going on for two months. The attacks by ISIS are aimed at all humanity in the person and identity of Kurds, Turkmen, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians, Arabs and Alevis. The resistance against this barbarism represents all of the values of humanism."

Call for “sincerity” from government

MP Ayhan criticized the policies of the AKP (Turkey’s reactionary ruling party) government regarding Kobanê, and added, "The AKP government is not fulfilling the requisites of universal contracts and it is also not acting in line with the present…huge inflow of people coming from Kobanê. The approach and attitude of the government is fatal. It is hostile towards the people (making and owning) the resistance of Kobanê. This approach is not for the benefit of anybody. An approach towards Kobanê is an approach towards all the Kurds. I am calling on the government to become sincere and to act in line with international contracts."

Risk of epidemics

Ayhan said the number of refugees coming from Kobanê is as high as 180-190 thousand, and that about 17,000 of these refugees are sheltered in tent cities. Ayhan said, “The matter of health is a matter all by itself. Those who (are not being helped or registered by AFAD, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority) cannot benefit from services apart from emergency clinics in the hospital. There are important problems in feeding, hygiene and heating, as well. Winter is approaching day after day, and there is a need for winter clothes and blankets and etc. All these problems must be resolved as soon as possible. There is a risk of epidemics if the required measures are not taken."

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Resolution and peace talks to restart in Turkey

Pervin Buldan

We have been slow on talking about the resolution or peace process underway between the Kurdish liberation movement and the Turkish state given the roadblocks recently placed in the way of the process by the government and the sensitivity of the issue. Mainstream media has been less concerned about truth and progress.

Still, mainstream media is not entirely wrong in saying that the progressive political opposition and some forces within the government still want the process to move forward. We have emphasized on this blog that Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation struggle, and the Peoples’ Democratic’ Party (HDP) have shown remarkable patience as the loudest voices in the government have argued for abandoning the talks, accused Abdullah Öcalan of duplicity and sought to effectively criminalize the HDP.

“I want to clarify that a mutual will emerged (between the parties of the settlement process) over the continuation of the process yesterday,” HDP Deputy Parliamentary Chair Pervin Buldan said today.

The HDP continues to insist in a principled way that Abdullah Öcalan remains central to the process. “The delegation was composed by Mr. Öcalan, nobody else can determine (who will participate); there will be no change in the delegation,” HDP Istanbul deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder also told the press today. He was speaking directly to the questions of who talks to Abdullah Öcalan, who determines the make-up of the delegation working with Abdullah Öcalan and new demands from the government that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) withdraw their militants from Turkey and that all violence end as preconditions for further forward movement in the peace process. It is expected that the government will put forward additional demands since a Cabinet meeting was held yesterday.

Sırrı Süreyya Önder has responded by saying that said they will not accept any pressure from the government and rejecting a carved-in-stone schedule for the resolution process. From the HDP’s point of view, the main thing is to restart the talks. In line with this, the HDP is stepping past an “unfortunate statement” made by government spokesperson Bülent Arınç which seemed to indicate that the government will not agree to a standing secretariat to work with Abdullah Öcalan through the process. “If you are conducting negotiations with someone, you have to provide working conditions for them…I think Arınç made that statement before he had sufficient information about the issue,” Önder said.

Pervin Buldan warned that blocking delegation visits to Öcalan would be interpreted as a termination of the process. She suggested that government should avoid degrading the whole issue and said, "What really matters is to ensure that Mr. Öcalan can comfortably fulfill his historic role with the beginning of the talks." She also criticized the government for only sharing a draft road map for the rest of the process, and not a detailed one. She argued that if the government wants to ensure public order, it "must establish a fully democratic order." These last remarks refer to government threats and criticism after the October 6-7 mass Kobane solidarity protests.

A meeting yesterday between the HDP-led delegation and government officials and the head of Turkish intelligence produced some movement. That meeting rested in part on a mutual declaration of intent covering the resumption of the dialog process following talks with authorities from the board of resolution formed by the government. The delegation wants to meet with government officials and this week and then visit Abdullah Öcalan this weekend. The delegation well understands that regular meetings with Abdullah Öcalan on İmralı Island must continue. The on-going demand to hold these meetings is a central demand of the moment.

Pervin Buldan put this in full perspective when she said, "First of all, our application to the Ministry of Justice is a sincere expression of will manifested by our party and delegation in order to maintain its historic role in the process of democratic resolution and peace. It is also the most explicit presentation of our determination in order for the peace process to continue despite all the tensions and troubles. Our demand for a visit to İmralı is a part of our efforts to keep the ways of political negotiation open under any circumstances, and is a necessity of our trust in the right to peace and responsibility for the process of resolution…We have clearly declared in an official application that we as the HDP delegation are ready to play our role in order to prevent the emergence of such a consequence. The insistence we make with goodwill and sincere effort however fails to be adequately understood by the government and its authorities. Threats against our party and delegation, intervention and a language of deadlock have been the government's response to the HDP delegation's insistence on peace as a part of its responsibility towards the peoples."

Pervin Buldan also said that it is not possible to come up with a right conclusion from a wrong debate. Her point was to criticize and put in perspective the government’s effort to create a perception which holds the HDP responsible for the disturbances and the environment of violence and conflict in the country after October 6-7. She pointed out that building a completely democratic order based on peace is the only way to eliminate the present conflict-driven environment and to ensure peace.

We can say at the end that Pervin Buldan took a commonsense and principled position when she formulated several suggestions or demands from the delegation and when she stressed that their call and manifestation of a will for peace should be considered as the greatest assurance for peace and democracy, and said that it must be evaluated in line with an appropriate attitude and language, especially by state and government officials and primarily by the Prime Minister.

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Prime Minister Davutoğlu announces changes in workplace safety laws. Now what?

People protest construction site fatalities in Istanbul

Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters today that the centerpiece of new reforms affecting workplace safety and health will be a carrot-and-stick approach under which employers will be financially rewarded for a good safety record and punished for accidents. The Prime Minister indicated that controls will be stepped up in the mining and construction industries, now mainstays of the Turkish economy that account for the bulk of workplace accidents. “A change of mentality is indispensable, whether we are talking about an employee or their employer,” he said.

At least 1,400 fatal accidents at work have been recorded in Turkey thus far in 2014. After the Soma mine massacre last May in which at least 301 mine workers were killed, government and industry leaders were quick to claim that Turkey’s laws were then up-to-date and in line with Europe’s workplace safety laws. The recent disaster at the mine in Karaman’s Ermenek district and numerous recent construction site fatalities showed through such claims.

“We will reward businesses with no recorded accidents. For example, if no accidents were recorded at a firm within the ‘very dangerous job category’ we’ll collect a 1 percent unemployment premium instead of 2 percent,” Davutoğlu said. Companies with recorded accidents will pay higher premiums and might face fines and criminal charges. Companies with fatal accidents will also be barred from public tender offers for a two-year period. “Companies will be banned from public tenders for two years if convicted over liability in a fatal accident in the workplace,” the Prime Minister stated. He promised that these changes will be sent to Parliament “in the shortest possible time.”

We cannot imagine this system working to the benefit of workers since the drive for production and profits and the tendency by companies to work people off of the books are so strong. In industries where there are so many transient workers and conditions of competition are so anarchic there will logically be capitalist resistance to registering workers, reporting accidents and investing in safety and health. A sanction or fine after the fact of a workplace fatality doesn’t save a life.

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Two notes on environmentalism in Turkey

We have been spending more time on this blog talking about environmentalism in Turkey and North Kurdistan. Today we have two items to mention and comment on.

First, we erred in not mentioning here the environmental protest which took place in Trabzon over last weekend. About 5,000 people were there to denounce the energy projects which are doing damage to the environment in the Black Sea region. Local battles against dozens of hydroelectric plants, cyanide gold mining projects, stone quarrying and cement plants are underway in the region, with many of these struggles being taken up in protests and in the courts. The courts have suspended some of the projects. Activists are often able to use incomplete and facile environmental impact assessment reports prepared by the construction firms against the projects.

The Brotherhood of the Rivers Platform (Derelerin Kardeşliği Paltformu) organization is particularly active in the protests. A spokesperson for the platform said, “The attacks by local and foreign companies are not limited to our water streams. They have now set their eyes on our uplands, meadows, forests and underground resources. This struggle is our mission. The one who doesn’t stand for his water, his land, his air, his upland and his bread will not stand for his nation. He will not stand for his freedom and independence.”

Commenting on the so-called “green highway” project, which is being planned to link the isolated uplands in the eastern Black Sea region by road, the platform spokesperson said, “Calling the project a ‘green road’ or the ‘road to heaven’ is a way to make it look cute for locals. But this project will put all assets, both above and under the ground, under the orders of pro-government companies.”

The protesters in Trabzon held banners reading “From Gezi to Soma and from Kobane to the Black Sea we stand for nature, labor and humanity,” “Rivers are free and will flow free,” and “Our rivers and forests are not for sale.” These banners show a continuity of movements and a radical consciousness.

Second, we want to continue to talk about the expropriation of large amounts of land by the energy companies and the government. Mainstream Turkish media is reporting that the government’s Official Gazette shows an increase in the Turkish government’s “rapid expropriation” decisions since 2011. In that year there were 11 cases of rapid expropriation, but the number increased to 160 in 2012 and to 250 in 2013. A change in laws dealing with rapid expropriations in 2011 was driven by the possibilities of emergencies due to wars and natural disasters. The earthquake that hit Van then and the construction which followed gave some justification to these changes.

Still, the application of the law has hit protected and ecologically vulnerable areas as the push for the construction of hydroelectric power plants has increased. The ruling reactionary party often has some relationship with the construction companies involved, we think. Local courts may rule against the construction of the plants on the grounds that the projects will harm the environment, but the legal processes move slowly and much damage is done while the process is underway. Moreover, as we recently saw in the village of Yırca, the construction companies hire thugs to attack people and promise these security personnel certain benefits which the companies do not intend to provide. The company at Yirca also had a privileged and inside track to the government.

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Asya Abdullah: Our demand for a corridor still in place

PYD (Democratic Union Party, Rojava's leading political party) Co-President Asya Abdullah said that their demand for a corridor into the besieged town of Kobanê is still in place and that opening a corridor is essential to support the on-going resistance against the ISIS gangs attacking the town.

Asya Abdullah pointed out that ISIS gangs are continuing to bring in heavy-weapons reinforcements from other regions and that these include tanks and cannons. She also said that the attacks that the gangs carry out with these weapons are targeting the town center and civilian areas and that 8 civilians have been killed in these attacks in the past two days.

The PYD Co-President continued, giving the following information; "Eight civilians have been martyred and 19 others wounded in the last two days. Today's attacks have caused the death of three civilians and the wounding of 12 others, including 5 children and a woman, who have been sent to North Kurdistan for treatment. Other wounded people are receiving treatment in Kobanê through our own means."

Asya Abdullah also said that there were three hospitals in Kobanê and that all of them have been destroyed in the fighting. She added that a recently-built hospital with 260 beds was also demolished in the ISIS attacks.

The PYD Co-President stated that coalition aircraft continued with operations against ISIS but remained weak in counteracting the heavy weapons used by the gangs. Asya Abdullah said that ISIS forces remain in the Botan and Kaniya Kurda neighborhoods and that "they have devastated the scenes of clashes in the town center. The encirclement around Kobanê also remains."

Regarding the needs of the civilians in Kobanê, Asya Abdullah said, "There are civilians in the town, and more are coming, but they have needs to be met. All the villages around the town have been devastated. Inside the town, all the places meeting the daily needs of the people have been destroyed. We call on international aid organizations to develop a project for the rebuilding of the demolished areas in Kobanê. Aid in both military equipment and for civilians needs to reach the town. Opening a corridor is essential in this regard. Kobanê needs international support."

[John Dolva]

Thursday, November 13, 2014

A criticism of an article by Alan Maass and Eric Ruder on the socialistworker.org blog---part one

This article will run in two parts on our blog. It is a departure from our regular news and analysis. We ask your patience.

Alan Maass and Eric Ruder recently published an article on the socialistworker.org website intended to "make the case against a new war in the Middle East." We think that the article has arrived somewhat late given the conflicts in the region that are well underway. We cannot speak in favor of war, of course, but the 8 points provided by Maass and Ruder deserve a response, if only because they find echoes across the US peace, anti-war and anti-imperialist movements and because the authors spend so much space talking about Kurdish issues but do not take a strong position regarding the liberation movement.

The socialistworker.org website speaks for the International Socialist Organization (ISO). We are answering Maass and Ruder here not because we want to attack ISO or because we want to exchange polemics, but because the people running that website have passively refused to run anything from us offering an opposing view. They have yet to run one article specifically supporting Rojava's advanced revolution or the liberation movement in the region (including North Kurdistan) or the revolutionary, democratic or progressive forces in Turkey. They give strong criticism to the US, relatively light criticism to ISIS and say almost nothing about Turkey's government at all. And since they don't clearly take up support for Rojava, we really have little idea of where they truly stand or what solutions they have to offer.

The fallacies of their 8 points are easy enough to take on, but the broader US left and anti-war movements need to be engaged on these points as well. The ANSWER coalition is similarly blind. The Communist Party USA also says nothing about this matter of revolutionary solidarity with Rojava. Portside (a project of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism) remains closed to all but a narrow anti-war position. The In These Times and Z publications will not accept a paid ad from us. Our local Pacifica station has run long pieces by the isolationist Matthew Hoh and repeated a dogmatic anti-war line scores of times without seriously engaging about Rojava's revolution. We hear old leftists excuse themselves by saying that they support Kurdish statehood, but that is hardly the point now. A kind of weak, almost pacifist or isolationist, position prevails in the US. The left here seems to have forsworn international solidarity, real anti-imperialism and building a common or united front against fascism. The refusal to engage on these questions shows a harmful lack of critical thinking. We see this in the Maass and Ruder piece most clearly.

Fortunately, important forces in the Latin American, Middle Eastern and European lefts are not so divorced from the traditions of international solidarity. The FARC-EP, the French Communist Party, various Italian communist organizations, a Trotskyist group in Sweden, the German Left Party, the PFLP, Danish socialist groups and European social democrats have all done outstanding work in supporting Rojava and Kobane. Greens and communists across Europe are in the forefront of efforts to free Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdish liberation movement. We can also note that in Turkey and North Kurdistan the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party, the Socialist Party of the Oppressed, the organizations working through the People's Democracy Party (HDP) and other socialist and communist organizations give their full support to Rojava's revolution and Kobane. If such an international left spectrum can land in the right place, it's fair to ask what's wrong with the US left.

In the US only Solidarity/Against The Current, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, News and Letters and some smaller groups struggle with a principled left position on the questions we raise here. Vijay Prashad often gets it right in his talks, which we have mentioned here, and Noam Chomsky recently helped organize the world day of solidarity with Kobane even as he took a backward position on the matter of the coalition bombings. We have seen some good analysis from the Institute for Policy Studies helping the effort to free Abdullah Ocalan.

We insist that Rojava's revolution is the world's most advanced revolution now underway and that Kobane is the Leningrad of our times. It has all of the humanism which won over Americans to support Vietnam's NLF and the Cuban revolution. Rojava's revolution looks much like revolutionary Spain in the 1930s, reminds us of the heroic USSR during World War Two and has a rhythm more like Colombia and Venezuela, but it has gone further than these revolutions in building popular power and women's power. We admit that Rojava's small size limits its immediate importance, but a revolutionary success in Rojava will influence the entire region. So it is that we believe that the strategies and tactics of the united front against fascism should be in place, even if somewhat modified to suit the present moment, as ISIS attacks Rojava.

We want to state plainly that this blog will not be concerned with left-wing polemics originating in the US. Before taking on the ISO piece, we need to deal with language and words.

Phrases like "the Kurds" or "Syrian Kurds" or "Kurds in northern Syria" do more to hinder discussion than to enable it. Northern Kurdistan now exists within Turkey's (artificial) borders, South Kurdistan is so-called "Iraqi Kurdistan" (under the Kurdistan Regional Government), East Kurdistan is so-called "Iranian Kurdistan and Western Kurdistan is Rojava, or the areas living under democratic autonomy and self-management. In the absence of a fully representative Kurdish national congress---which we have supported here---it is difficult to talk about "the Kurds" without qualifying who exactly is meant by this. To not specify Rojava when talking about the areas under democratic autonomy and self-management is to denigrate Kurdish and revolutionary self-determination and to shelve the national question. We have heard people on the left go even further; a leading local antiwar activist wrote to tell us "Don't be surprised if your friends end up in the same place as the Kurds in Northern Iraq did after Gulf War part 1. They're just pawns in the US' broader policy of trying to get access to oil, military bases, and geopolitical hegemony supporting US corporations." This really is a chauvinist statement. The tired argument that "we support a state for the Kurds" really only says that the speaker has not engaged with the Kurdish liberation movement or the thinking of Abdullah Ocalan or thought about how Rojava's revolution has transformed the national question. Finally, we must criticize the tendency to equate the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) with Rojava's Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's/Women's Defense Forces. Abdullah Ocalan's thought inspires them all, but there are other influences and traditions at work as well and ideas necessarily change when they are put into living practice.

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Wednesday, November 12, 2014

News from Rojava's revolution and the common-front struggle against ISIS today

This is our news this evening from Rojava's advanced revolution and the common-front struggle against ISIS in and around Rojava. We remind our readers that these reports can be contradictory and repetitive. Editing these reports has been especially difficult this evening.

* It has been announced that the Reconciliation Committee of Şêrawa town in Rojava's Efrîn Canton has resolved 5 out of 6 cases brought before it in the last 6 months. The reconciliation committees in Rojava try to resolve social problems among the people with the help of Peoples' Houses in each city, town, village and neighborhood. Unresolved cases are taken to the People's Court in the cities. The Reconciliation Committee in Şêrawa was established in October of 2011 by 3 women and 4 men. They try to find a solution to the problems brought to them.

Mehmûd Ehmed, a member of the committee, told ANHA in an interview that "Despite the emigration to Efrîn Canton that increased the population, there have been relatively few problems. People coming to the People's House themselves resolve their problems. Those that we cannot resolve are taken to the court in the city. The committee tries to reconcile the broken relationships between people having problems and convince them (to accept) a negotiated resolution."

Popular committees working for social peace and consensus have been a feature of Rojava's revolution since the earliest days. The Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) has done much to put such committees in place and provide training and support for people leading the committees even as revolutionary Rojava has been attacked by reactionary forces. The committees come out of councils representing small communities or areas and the people who serve on them re elected without the committees becoming creatures of the councils. There is a separation of powers in place and rules creating gender parity as well.

Committees handle common conflicts and crimes, patriarchal violence, forced marriage, polygamy and other anti-social problems. The women’s organization Yekitiya Star (the Star Union of Women) has greatly influenced the progress and work of the committees. People's courts and justice councils also exist and represents cross-sections of society. People learn in this process how to understand, interpret and dispense justice in the interest of society. An appeals court, a regional court and a constitutional court function somewhat more bureaucratically. The basis of the law is the social contract. Each canton also has a justice parliament, but thee are probably not yet fully functioning and have only existed since January of this year. All in all, hundreds of people are supposed to be engaged in making this system work for the benefit of the people.

Arrests and imprisonment are last resorts in this system.

* Kurdish and Syrian fighters in Kobanê have retaken part of Mashta al-Nur (Miştenûr) hill and have also cut off the Halanj-Ain al-Arab road south of the town, a key ISIS supply route. The hill is strategic as it overlooks Kobanê. From this position the liberation forces will be able to hit ISIS fighters dug in around Kobanê. At least 16 ISIS fighters were killed as the liberation forces retook the hill.

* The forces of Rojava's People's Defense Units (YPG) retook control of Miştenûr Hill in Kobanê. A Kurdish political activist in the city of Ari Harki told media sources that the situation of the war has completely changed with the control of the mountain by the YPG forces aided by the Peshmerga sent to the city from the Kurdistan Region last month.

Miştenûr is the hill where YPJ (Women's Protection Units) fighter Arîn Miîrkan conducted a suicide attack against ISIS fighters and killed a large number of them.

* The YPG Press Office has issued a statement on the 58th day of clashes in Kobanê that started with the attacks of the ISIS gang aiming to occupy the town. The statement said that YPG forces have inflicted heavy blows on the gangs by means of effective attacks targeting them in the town center as well as by the operations on the targets outside the town.

The YPG Press Office reported that 31 gang members, including an Emir of the gangs, were killed in yesterday's fighting. The YPG also said that it launched an operation on the gangs deployed in the Rawiya district of Serêkaniyê.

“At the eastern front of Kobanê, our forces launched various operations on the gangs attempting to infiltrate the town, killing 5 gang members as far as ascertained,” the YPG statement said, adding that their forces also launched a series of operations against the gangs on the Helinc road to the southeast of the town.

The YPG said that 2 vehicles and 1 motorcycle belonging to the gangs were destroyed in the operations while 9 gang members were killed.

“At the southern front, fierce clashes took place the whole night between our forces and the gang groups. Six gang members...were killed in the clashes,” said the YPG.

The statement reported that YPG forces launched an operation against the ISIS gangs in the areas near Minaze village to the west of Kobanê, killing 11 gang members there.

The YPG Press Center also reported that the operations of the YPG forces against the gang groups in the southern and south-western areas of Serêkaniyê continue, and added, “Yesterday afternoon, an operation against the gang groups stationed between the Rawiya district and the border was carried out. Three gang members were killed in the operation.”

* ISIS gangs continue to attack civilians as the YPG/YPJ (People's/Women's Defense Forces) forces are advancing more and more each day in Kobanê, where the clashes continue into the 58th day.
ISIS gangs once again fired mortars on Til Shair, a civilian-populated area at the border, where 3 people previously lost their lives and 10 others were wounded in such attacks. The ISIS mortar attack on the area today caused no casualties.

In yesterday’s attack on the Kobanê town center 8-year-old Azize Kino lost her life and 6 other people were wounded. Two hours later the gangs continued their mortar attacks on Til Shair area, killing 17-year-old Rezan, 60 year-old Ubeyt Mihemed and 8-year-old İwa Ebdo and wounding 10 others.

In the meantime, the YPG and YPJ fighters are inflicting heavy blows on the ISIS gangs on the eastern and southern fronts. YPG/YPJ forces have retaken some positions occupied by the gangs in clashes continuing since last night. Sniper attacks on the eastern and southern fronts are being reported.

[John Dolva]

Friday, November 14, 2014

The Ağı mountain in the Kaz Mountains on Turkey’s Aegean Coast and an olive harvest in Yırca----The need for Turkey's environmental movement

We have two items dealing with environmental issues in Turkey today.

* Turkey’s Environment Ministry has approved a gold mining project run by the Canadian Alamos Gold company in a specially preserved rural area on the Ağı mountain in the Kaz Mountains running along Turkey’s northwestern Aegean Coast. The project will impact 24 villages, a preserved lake and several archaeological sites.

Biologists from Çanakkale’s March 18 University have warned that waste water from the project may threaten Lake Ciğer with extinction. The wetland lake ecosystem there dates back 1,300 years and must be protected in order to be preserved, according to experts who note that the area has a high rate of endemic plants due to its particular characteristics. A project for the ecological restoration of Lake Ciğer (which means “Lung” in English) was submitted to the National Biology Congress in 2012 by a team of academics.

The local administration in Çanakkale has warned that the mining project will contaminate the water resources of 24 villages. The company has promised to build an artificial pond, but it is unknown whether this will solve the water problem that will arise from contamination.

The environmental impact assessment report approved by the ministry says that there are two archaeological sites near the project area. The gold mining site will be built only 14.5 kilometers from the Kaz Mountains national park, an important nature reserves in the region.

The mountain chain is known as the İda Mountains in Greek mythology. The range offers some of the richest flora in Turkey and is well-known for its springs.

* Villagers in Yırca harvested the olives from the trees cut down there by a construction company working for an energy project for the last time. The energy company has a special relationship with the government and destroyed about 6,000 olive trees before they stopped their work. A government order halting the project was leaked to the company before it was made public, but the company destroyed the trees anyway. Security guards employed by the company used violent physical force against protesting villagers but they were later laid-off by the company and promises made to the workers by their employer were broken. We covered this struggle on this blog.

The trees were cut down a week ago so their olives can only be used for making olive oil, the villagers say. These salvaged olives will not bring in much money but the villagers wanted to harvest them so that they would not go to waste.

“All the trees we had have been cut down. We do not know what we will do next year, the future is dark. If there had been an open coal mine I would consider working there, but all of them are closed and the ones that are open do not admit new workers,” said villager Erdem Öksüz . He said that he was not opposed to a new power plant being opened but was against its construction on the land where there were olive trees.

Kolin İnşaat depended upon a “rapid expropriation” decision by the state to build the coal plant over the olive grove in Yırca. Villagers and local activists struggled to prevent the company from clearing the area for construction. Environmentalists had come to the area early on and informed the villagers about the harm that the plant would cause and advised them of their options.

“The villagers are more conscious now, saying the power plant should not be built here. We made the judicial applications. The Council of State has reached its decision. We will do whatever the trial process shows,” Erdem Öksüz told Turkish media. “If the thermal power plant is not constructed then we will continue olive production, but if it is built then we will go and work there.”

Posted by Urun Harvest at 1:29 PM No comments:

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DISK union women leaders support the Kobanê resistance

A group of woman leaders of DİSK (the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions) visited the vigil of resistance at the Kobanê-Suruç border and called on workers to "embrace the Kobanê resistance."

The 16-person DISK Womens' Coordination delegation members came from Diyarbakır, Ankara and İstanbul to the Kobanê-Suruç border and visited the vigil of resistance there. They evaluated the on-going border resistance and their observations for DİHA.

"The Kobanê resistance is vital for workers"

The DİSK women leaders drew attention on the importance and meaning of the resistance and said, "The resistance in Kobanê is of vital importance especially for women and laborers." DİSK Womens' Coordination member Nebile Irmak Çetin said, "The Kobanê resistance is very important for the workers. All the unions and labor associations must embrace this ongoing historical resistance."

"Kobanê's resistance is also the resistance of women"

Coordination member Hatice Özarslan said, "We are working as subcontractors. Therefore, the Kobanê resistance is also the resistance of all of the working women. We regard the on-going resistance in this way." Coordination member Remziye Yünce said, "We, as working women from Diyarbakır, are saluting and supporting this resistance and struggle. Funerals coming from Kobanê are creating a power of resistance on us. Diyarbakır has turned into Kobanê. the October 6-7 incidents were a milestone."

"Resistance must be explained to the West"

Sema Barbaros emphasized that the resistance is going on and this resistance must be explained to people in the West. She added, "When we return, we will enhance the resistance and struggle all around the country. It is crucial to explain this resistance to the West. Women have somehow failed to fully embrace this resistance. The policies of the AKP (Turkey's reactionary ruling party) affected this."

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Thursday, November 13, 2014

“Bijî Obama (Long live Obama) is not our slogan. We can never have such an approach."

This article is circulating through progressive Kurdish media and some mainstream Turkish media.

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) General Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has urged the government to accelerate the Kurdish resolution process, saying that delaying the process would result in more provocations.

“Our party is in favor of launching new meetings that we can call ‘negotiations,’ through which all of its dimensions can be discussed. Both our delegation visiting PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan and our party is ready for that. We want quick steps and accelerated negotiations. The developments in the Middle East, especially in Syria, do not allow us to delay the process,” Demirtaş told daily Hürriyet.

'Dialogue can be resumed very soon if AKP adopts a similar approach'

“The dialogue can be resumed very soon if the government adopts a similar approach. But the negotiation format is up to the government. It should make a decision,” he said. Demirtaş’s statement came as the HDP issued calls to the government to resume dialogue after weeks of tension.

'There are so many circles who want to scratch this wound'

“The government has taken the easy way out. It blamed the HDP and tried to save itself by kicking off a political lynch campaign against the HDP,” Demirtaş said. “The government is chasing the enemy at the wrong address. The danger is not the HDP; the danger is the problem itself, the open wound. There are so many circles who want to scratch this wound...What we should do is heal the wound ... As long as this wound is open, whether the HDP exists or not, there will always be some others who want to scratch it,” he added. Asked whether the process could overcome the turbulence witnessed recently, Demirtaş said there was no properly functioning negotiation process even before the unrest began. “After these recent incidents, the dialogue was cut. It should be resumed and should speedily turn into a negotiation process. It’s wiser to look at the future,” he said.

‘No one wants to live in a climate of conflict’

Calling on the government to limit the tension and to take measures not to provoke violence, the HDP co-chair reiterated that his party would do its best to avoid armed conflict. “What happened recently disturbed every one of us. No one wants to live in a climate of conflict. War is not a normal thing. It should not happen. The death of even one single person is a loss for all of us regardless of his identity. Sergeants killed in Yüksekova, police killed in Bingöl, guerrillas executed in Kağızman, police killed in Diyarbakır---all of them are grave incidents,” he said.

‘Bijî Obama is not our slogan’

“The fact that there will be no elections until 2019 after the next (parliamentary election, scheduled for June of 2015) might be an advantage for the resolution process. The political language shifts before elections. Politicians may move in a much more relaxed manner about solving some fundamental problems,” he said. Demirtaş also touched on the controversy caused by the Kurdish Peshmerga's reported chanting of “Bijî Obama” (Long live Obama) while crossing into Rojava from South Kurdistan via Turkey. “Bijî Obama is not our slogan. We can never have such an approach. It cannot be attributed to us,” he said.

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"We are Mirabel in Dominicia, Arîn in Rojava. We will liberate through the struggle of women."---Women organize in Mersin and Van

The Democratic Free Woman Movement (DÖKH) held a press meeting regarding the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Woman and stated "We are Mirabel in Dominicia, Arîn in Rojava."

The press conference was held in the DBP (Party of Democratic Regions) Mersin Provincial Organization Conference Hall to discuss the November 25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Woman. DÖKH Activist Menice Ürün said, "We will hang notices, use billboards and we will set up free lectures about the day. We will hold panels and people's meetings entitled 'The struggle of woman.' We will send solidarity letters to woman prisoners. Finally, we will hold a march on November 25."

Menice Ürün said, "We are Mirabel in Dominicia, Arîn in Rojava. We will liberate through the struggle of women," and called on everybody to join in the actions.

The Van Metropolitan Municipality has formed a Womens' Policies Department Presidency and has also planned for a womens' budget. this times. Women serving as co-mayors in Van's districts, Van Metropolitan Co-mayor Hatice Çoban, Metropolitan Municipality Womens' Assembly members and women from DÖKH have met in the Van municipality building and have held discussions about the Woman Policies Department Presidency initiatives to be carried out in the next term.

A performance plan and program, a strategic plan and a budget---all required to be prepared by the Metropolitan Municipality---are now in place covering womens' policies in the municipality. In line with this, a womens' budget will be developed with a womens' strategic plan within the scope of the Woman Policies Department Presidency.

The womens' budget will be used for womens' life and solidarity centers, womens' needs and womens' projects.

Posted by Urun Harvest at 9:05 PM No comments:

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Kader Ortakaya commemorated by the German left and solidarity given to Kobanê

A group of German politicians from the Die Linke (Left) party held a joint press conference regarding the killing of Kader Ortakaya, an MA student at the Marmara University in Istanbul, who was shot dead by Turkish soldiers as she joined the resistance vigil at the Suruç-Kobanê border last week. We have given this much coverage on this blog.

Offering their condolences to the family and friends of Kader Ortakaya, the German politicians strongly criticized the AKP (Turkey's reactionary ruling party) government for attacks on civilians who are in solidarity with Kobanê.

The press conference was attended by Die Linke MP Ulla Jelpke, Die Linke deputy for Hessen State, Barbara Cárdenas, Nurnberg City Council member from Die Linke, Marion Padua, Die Linke deputy nominee for Hamburg State, Martin Dolzer, Cologne City Council member, Hamide Akbayır, Yılmaz Kaba and Die Linke’s Working Group for Democracy for Turkey, Peace for Kurdistan.

Speaking first, Barbara Cárdenas, Die Linke deputy at Hessen State, drew attention to the incidents and conflict witnessed during the last month when 40 people were killed by the security forces of the AKP government and pro-Hezbullah counter-guerrilla groups and said, “The Erdoğan/Davutoğlu government prevents solidarity with Kobanê, but allows the ISIS.”

Marion Padua, Nurnberg City Council member from Die Linke, demanded that more pressure be put on the Turkish government to stop the Turkish arms-friendship arrangement with ISIS.

Martin Dolz, Die Linke deputy nominee for Hamburg State, offered condolences to the family and friends of Kader Ortakaya and added that the Federal Government of Germany must recognize Rojava and stop arms sale to the countries supporting ISIS, mainly to Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Ulla Jelpke, Die Linke MP, said that the ban against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) is now outdated as the PKK is now an effective force struggling against the ISIS. Jelpke said that the PKK must urgently be removed from the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.

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The course of Turkish nationalism

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chair has apologized for the massacre in Dersim (Tunceli) in 1938, in which over 13,000 people were killed during a military operation set to repress a Kurdish rebellion during the CHP’s rule. “I apologize a thousand times for every single person who died, every person who was exiled, every person who suffered,” the Deputy Chair said late yesterday. “I apologize (in the name of) the CHP as well, but is that all for the case? Is the case dropped with an apology from the CHP?”

The CHP Deputy Chair also said that the massacre should be more broadly discussed in Turkey. “Let’s say the CHP has apologized, is the case dropped with regards to Turkey? Will we not talk about the incident anymore?” he asked. “The Prime Minister says they will apologize if necessary,” he said, criticizing former Prime Minister (now President) Erdoğan’s “political moves” on the issue. “If the case is about the future of the republic, then this is an issue for all (in Turkey),” he added.

In other news, twelve members of the ultra-nationalist Turkish Youth Union (TGB) who alleged assaulted three US sailors yesterday in Istanbul were released by the prosecution early this morning.
The attackers shouted “Yankee Go Home!” and “Damn American Imperialism!” and threw red dye on the sailors while trying to put sacks over their heads. The sailors were in civilian clothing and escaped by running away.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren has said that the US Department of Defense condemns the attacks, which were carried out by “what appeared to be thugs on the street.” The colonel said that he was confident that the Turkish authorities will swiftly investigate the issue and called the attack “ugly and disturbing.”

“These attackers are a great discredit upon Turks and the Turkish reputation for hospitality. We enjoy a strong relationship with our NATO ally Turkey. We’re confident the Turks will rapidly and effectively investigate (the incident),” Col. Warren said. US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki also condemned the incident.

Can you imagine what would have happened had these young people been leftists instead of fascists?

[John Dolva]

From the clas struggle in Turkey

In the early days of Harvest we focused much attention on workplace occupations taking place in Turkey and North Kurdistan. Those occupations came with the period of the Gezi Resistance. The most successful occupation was carried out by the Kazova textile workers in Istanbul. They were fired in 2013 and did receive the wages due them. A group of the workers occupied their workplace and eventually won a settlement which helped them form a cooperative. They got some contracts for work and moved forward.

“After our resistance was over with victory, we opened up our own store on January 26. Following that, we started to work on launching our cooperative. However, it was hard to (will approval for) our constitution from the officials at the Industry, Science and Technology Ministry," said Kazova Cooperative Board Member Ahmet Demirtaş. “The constitution said that the cooperative will work with a democratic process. However, the ministry said this term was ‘political’ and it couldn’t be a part of the constitution. We said that we already knew this and struggled to make them accept it, but they didn’t.” On the other hand, Kazova Workers are expending their business. Now, they are on a struggle to launch their own workshop and factory."

Ahmet Demirtaş also claimed that that their phones had been tapped in an investigation supposedly set up to fight against terrorism. Turkey’s Terror and Organized Crime Investigation Bureau sent the workers a notice in August saying that they have been included in a technical monitoring and the results showed that “no investigation was necessary.”

Ahmet Demirtaş added that the cooperative have completed all procedures and started up their operation. “There are 12 workers in the cooperative administration. The cooperative will also open a workshop and factory. Our only goal is to start producing as soon as possible. We will continue to produce sweaters. We will open our first workshop in Bayrampaşa, Istanbul. We will also sell the machines that we (had when we) occupied during our resistance and buy new ones. We will sell our products in our store. We want to open our factory within 6 months,” he said.

In other news, we can report that the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız is feeling the pressures brought on him to resign. Thirteen parliamentary deputies allied with the opposition have called for his resignation, but this demand originated with workers and popular organizations after particularly brutal workplace disasters in the mining, construction and agriculture sectors in recent months which took the lives of many workers. At least 301 mine workers died in the Soma mine massacre last May and there have been many other workplace tragedies since then that would not have occurred had better workplace safety laws and enforcement were in effect.

Taner Yıldız disclosed this week that he is discussing a possible resignation with the Prime Minister.
On Thursday night he said, "Don't think that I do not consider resigning. I am a person who has lived by his principles. I offered to submit my (resignation) to the Cabinet after the Soma accident. I will share the suggestion of the 13 deputies with the prime minister once again. Those who know me also know that the easiest way out would be through resigning."

Yesterday Prime Minister Davutoğlu said that the opposition has no business evaluating the performance of ministers or determining if they should resign or not. “As the current prime minister and as a previous Cabinet colleague of (Yıldız), I am someone who knows very well just how the esteemed Taner Yıldız performed during his term as energy minister,” Davutoğlu said. He emphasized that he has taken a hands-on approach to the latest mining disaster and that he “also received briefings in Ankara regarding the issue. Beyond this, we (the government) have already announced a reform package on job safety.”

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Seyit Rıza was hanged 77 years ago today

Today marks the 77th anniversary of the execution of Seyit Rıza, one of the leaders of the 1937-38 Dersim rebellion.

Seyit Rıza was born in 1863 in Lirtik, a village in Dersim. His father's name was Seyid Ibrahim and he came from the Hesenan tribe.

Seyit Rıza was tried and sentenced after a show trial, on November 15, 1937. He and his comrades were not informed of their rights and the details of the case being brought against them and they had no lawyer to represent them. They were not able to understand the language of the trial (which was Turkish) since they were all Zazas. No interpreter was provided.

The trial ended after three hearings over two weeks. The final judgment was given on a Saturday, a day during which the courts do not normally work. Atatürk's was coming to visit the region and the government worried that Seyit Rıza and his companions would use this visit to appeal for amnesty.

The head judge of the court resisted giving his final decision on a holiday and claimed that there was a lack of electricity at night time and that there was no hangman available. The courtroom was then lit with car lights and a hangman was found.

Seyit Rıza, his son and nine others were sentenced to death. Four of the eleven death sentences were commuted to 30-year prison sentences. Seyit Rıza was almost 78 years old when the sentence was announced. This made it impossible to legally hang him, but the court accepted that he was 54, not 78.

The leader of the Dersim rebellion was hanged on Buğday Square in Elaziğ on November 15. It is said that he kicked the stool or box out from under himself on the scaffold. He was buried in a secret place that remains undiscovered to this day. It is believed that archives exist which could be used to find his grave.

Perhaps the best memorial today for Seyit Rıza has come from the Saturday Mothers on the 503rd week of their vigil for their missing relatives and friends. These people were disappeared in police, army and fascist operations taken again the liberation movement. They held a sit-in action today at Galatasaray Square in the Taksim area of Istanbul as usual. The mothers carried placards saying "The perpetrators are evident, where are the murderers?" and the photographs of people who have been lost and sacrificed in unresolved political murders. They again demanded justice for the missing people with red carnations on their hands.

Dayikên Şemiyê and the Human Rights Association (IHD) demanded justice for the disappeared people and their families and the mothers dedicated this week of their actions to Seyit Rıza and his comrades. One of the Saturday Mothers spoke about the massacres of Dersim, Roboski and Shengal and said, "Every day for Kurds is November 15. Everybody knows that the grandsons of Seyit Rıza are here. I am promising just like him. We will never give up (the struggle for) our missing people."

This week's Saturday Mothers statement was made by Maside Ocak. Maside Ocak said, "We have been struggling for 503 weeks. According to the law, it was impossible to execute them. So, the Turkish state changed their ages. Seyit Rıza and his comrades were executed unlawfully 77 years ago. The same mentality of the state is still going on. To say Dersim is to say Seyit Rıza. While Seyit Rıza and his comrades have no graves, the truths of Dersim have been imprisoned in the archives of the state, it will not be enough to say only 'massacre.' Deliver the bodies to their families. Explain the location of their graves."

We offer the following account, which we have edited, and we direct readers to past related posts on this blog as well. The differences in the accounts of the massacre and of the details of Seyit Riza's life must be understood in light of the heroic legends which understandably grow up around such noble people over time.

Dersim was an autonomous region and so became one of the first targets of the nation-state project of the Republic of Turkey. The very identity of the people living there was attacked. Tens of thousands of people, including women and children, were massacred there by the Turkish state in 1937 and 1938.

In 1934, Turkey passed a Resettlement Law aimed at assimilating ethnic minority communities within the country. Measures included the forced relocation of people within the country with the aim of promoting cultural homogeneity. In 1935, the "Tunceli Law" was passed to apply the Resettlement Law to the newly-named region of Tunceli, previously known as Dersim and populated by Kurmanci-speaking and Zaza-speaking Alevis. This area had a reputation for being rebellious, having been the scene of eleven separate periods of armed conflict over the previous 40 years.

Following public meetings in January 1937, a letter of protest against the law was written to be sent to the local governor. The emissaries entrusted with the letter were arrested and executed. Around 25,000 troops were deployed to quell the rebellion. This task was substantially completed by the summer and the leaders of the rebellion, including its leader Seyit Riza, were hanged. However, remnants of the rebel forces continued to resist and the number of troops in the region was doubled. The methods used by the army were brutal, including the mass killing of civilians, the razing of homes and the deportation of people from less-hostile areas. The area was also bombed from the air. The rebels continued to resist until the region was pacified in October of 1938. Seyit Rıza was executed on gallows along with his 6 comrades.

The contemporary British estimate of the number of deaths was 40,000. A 2008 conference organized by Kurdish PEN reached the conclusion that Turkey was guilty of genocide, estimating that 50,000–80,000 people were killed in the aftermath of the Dersim rebellion.

Seyit Riza said at the time of his ecution "Evlad-ı Kerbelayık. Ayıptır, zulümdür, cinayettir. Yapmayın." (We are children of Karbala. This is a shamegul, sinful murder. Do not do this.) and "I could not cope with your tricks and lies, this became a worry for me. But, I did not kneel on in front of you. May this be a worry for you." If Seyit Riza was a backward-looking religious man of the peasantry, he was also brave and a leader of his people.

Despite the passing of 77 years, the state authority is still hiding the location of the graves of the people killed on November 15, 1937. The Dersim Massacre took place in 1937 and 1938 in Dersim province. It was the outcome of a Turkish military campaign against the Dersim rebellion by local people against Turkey's Resettlement Law of 1934. Tens of thousands of Alevi Kurds and Zazas were massacred and many others were internally displaced due to the conflict.

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Continuing house raids and arrests in Turkey and North Kurdistan---Free Ahmet Bolkan!---Elisa Marianne Couvert wins a victory!

We have the following short reports about political repression in Turkey and North Kurdistan to share this morning.

Five people who were taken into custody as result of house raids in a number of neighborhoods in the main Kurdish city of Amed/Diyarbakir were sent from the Diyarbakır anti-terror branch office to the Diyarbakır Courthouse late yesterday. Three of the people who were detained were released while two others, including Kurdish daily Azadiya Welat worker Ahmet Bolkan, were referred to a vacation court with a demand that they be arrested.

The court ordered the arrest of two of the detained people for allegedly being members of the YDG-H (Movement of Patriotic and Democratic Youth) and participating demonstrations on behalf of the youth movement.

Ahmet Bolkan is a political activist involved in the Mevlana Halit Neighborhood Association of Equal and Free Citizens, and the educational movement KURDİ-DER. In KURDİ-DER he works as a teacher. His participation in these efforts was given as evidence justifying his arrest. He is also charged with distributing 10 copies of the progressive Azadiya Welat to a subscriber as this appears in police records as "conveyance of the organization's instructions to the people."

A number of people in the Şemdinli and Yüksekova districts of Hakkari have also been taken into custody by soldiers. Many homes in the villages of Aşağı Tuğlu (Tuyi Bini) and Yukarı Tuğlu (Tuyi Jerî) in Şemdinli district were raided early this morning. Soldiers from the Harunan military post with armored vehicles made a detailed search with jammer devices.

Soldiers from the military post in the Coşanpınar (Vargeniman) village have left there for an operation in the rural areas of Şemdinli.

A large scale house-raid operation in the Yüksekova district and nearby villages last night was carried out and five people have been taken into custody in Yeşildere neighborhood, one in Kamışlı (Sineva) village, one in Kadıköy (Kadyan) village and one in Kuruköy (Meğsudava) village.

Meanwhile, a Turkish court has ordered the government to pay compensation to a French woman who was held in detention during last year’s Gezi Park protests. Police detained Elisa Marianne Couvert in the Socialist Democracy Party headquarters in Istanbul’s Taksim neighborhood on June 11, 2013, after she had taken refuge there while escaping from tear gas fired by police. Couvert was held by police after four days but remained in custody for another 10 days due to a decision to deport her. She successfully appealed against the deportation as the courts issued stay of execution orders for decisions taken by the Interior Ministry and the Istanbul Governor’s Office. Elisa Marianne Couvert was then an intern at the Human Rights Association (İHD). She sued the Finance Ministry for 50,000 Turkish Liras for non-pecuniary damages.

The 7th Istanbul Court of Serious Crimes recently ruled that Couvert’s democratic rights to safety, demonstration and free speech were violated by her detention. The court ordered the Treasury to pay Couvert 500 Turkish Liras plus interest accrued since June 14, 2013.

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Friday, November 14, 2014 The Dersim massacre--an apology sparks reactionary anger and a progressive call for justice

Seyid Rıza

Yesterday we mentioned on this blog that a deputy chair of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) apologized for the 1938 Dersim massacre and pushed for a wider discussion of the massacre in society. This apology is the first given by the CHP in the 76 years that have passed since those terrible events. Today we must say that his apology has created some strife within the CHP and that this conflict comes at a time when the CHP is passing through a minor crisis after the last elections. Still, it is the reaction to this apology which most interests us.

A hardline national CHP deputy has argued that the apology sounds like something that might have come from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). Given the principled positions taken by the HDP and the moves by the government to identify the HDP with violence and the Kurdish liberation movement, these comments by the CHP deputy are potentially incendiary.

CHP deputy Dilek Akagün Yılmaz said that there was “no difference” between the rebellion led by Seyid Rıza in Dersim at the time and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) modern-day rebellion. “For (the deputy chair) Tanrıkulu, it is neither his right nor his place to offer such an apology. Sezgin Tanrıkulu is acting like a HDP representative. Such an apology has no meaning,” Yılmaz said today.

Over 13,000 people were killed as the military brutally repressed the Dersim regional rebellion during the CHP’s single-party rule. Seyid Rıza, the brave leader of the movement in Dersim, was executed in 1937 against all commonsense and legal requirements. The massacres and the exiling of so many people which were carried out at the time depopulated the area. It was one of the early people’s rebellions that came with the founding of the Turkish Republic and has had some determining impact on how we understand Turkish nationalism and anti-nationalism today. This was a majority-Kurdish (Zaza)-Alevi rebellion and the massacre has its echoes today.

There is a certain continuity between Seyid Rıza's cause and the modern liberation movement, but there is no straight line connecting them. Certainly there is no reason to be defensive about this or to deny the historic roots of rebellion. We will also say that it is an honor to be associated with someone as brave as Seyid Rıza was.

Late yesterday CHP, MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) and HDP deputies at the General Assembly session at Parliament hotly debated the apology and the issues raised by it. The liberal/social-democratic CHP allied with the nationalist-fascist MHP to field a candidate in the last presidential elections. The CHP has shown signs of splitting since the election and the MHP has maintained its hard nationalist line. This debate marks one more fissure between the competing parties.

An MHP deputy baited the CHP in the debate and CHP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Engin Altay described what happened in Dersim as “unacceptable and inhuman.” This stopped short of calling the massacre what it really was. Some CHP leaders sought to put some distance between themselves and their party and the apology and took a defensive line. The HDP took the position that the massacre needs to be investigated openly. “Let’s all together, as the Parliament, investigate. Let’s pave the way to confront history. There was no rebellion, no uprising in Dersim. There was an open massacre; what happened was a systematic genocide,” an HDP leader correctly said.

[John Dolva]

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Kobanê and the breakdown of humanitarianism in Turkey---from ROARMAG.ORG

From the good people at ROARMAG.ORG:

by Aysan Sonmez on November 14, 2014

With winter approaching fast, the Syrian refugees from Kobanê living in camps in southern Turkey are faced with numerous hardships on a daily basis.

Photo by Murat Bay for Sendika.org.

The war in Syria has resulted in a massive influx of refugees into Turkey. According to official figures, already more than one million Syrians have sought refuge across the border. The unpredictable nature of the conflict in Syria and the lack of a common strategy of the international community to end the war in the short term makes that the outflow of refugees most likely won’t come to a halt any time soon.

Most of the refugees are being housed in tent camps close to the border in the south of Turkey, but tens of thousands of others have made their way to cities like Istanbul and Izmir where in many cases they have received a cold and heartless welcome. In the Turkish media the plight of the refugees remains very much underreported — perhaps due to a lack of political will from the government to take a clear stance on the issue, or due to the fact that many of the refugees stem from ethnic groups that have a problematic history in Turkey already.

In the second week of October, we visited the district of Suruç in the province of Urfa in southern Turkey. Recently, this region has witnessed large influxes of refugees as a result of the siege of Kobani by the Islamic State (ISIS), which forced more than 160,000 across the border into Turkey.

In Istanbul we have a small group that gets together with the aim of providing assistance during times of crises, and rather than just sending aid we prefer to actually visit people so we can listen to them and better understand their real needs. As a victim of the Izmit earthquake in 1999, I know that most of the time when you are far from a given situation it is hard to guess just what might be needed, and suppositions can be incorrect.

Against Religion and Humanity

When we were in Suruç, everything was calm. Our hosts took us to places along the border where they told us it was safe and pointed out Kobanê in the distance. There weren’t many people around; a few sat on the rocks and peered toward Kobani with binoculars.

While we were there, ISIS launched several attacks at the Mursitpinar border crossing with Turkey, which is in effect the key to control over the city. For a few days they had been bombing the crossing so that the Syrian refugees were stuck and couldn’t come over from Kobanê.

During the day, everything was calm but at night the inhabitants of Suruç and people that came from all over Turkey to show their solidarity patrolled the area to prevent ISIS militants from crossing over. “Otherwise it will be really hard for us,” they said. “If we hadn’t been here, Kobanê would have fallen long ago.”

They said that there were many militants with ISIS who had come from Europe. Apparently a French boxer had been caught a few days before. They explained with amusement that five youths had received quite a beating until they finally got him to give in.

Near a cornfield overlooking Kobanê, we met two women who had also come to watch what was happening in the city. “This isn’t a matter of war. They are attacking our honor,” they said. The bodies of four martyred young women were brought over the night before. ISIS militants had abused the bodies, and even cut off the head of one of the women. It is said that they take the beautiful young women as their wives, saying, “By the grace of Allah, I take you as my wife,” and the ones they consider to be ugly are sold. The two women heaped curses on the militants, saying “It goes against religion and humanity,” as they wept.

Tent Camps in Suruç

When we returned to Suruç from the border, we visited the municipal office to gather information about the camps in the area. We confirmed that the majority of refugees crossing into Suruç from Kobanê were Kurdish.

Despite being divided by the Turkish-Syrian border, the area is largely seen as being a single region due to the kinship bonds that unite families on both sides of the frontier. Almost every family has close relatives on the other side of the border. Because of this, some refugees have been able to take shelter with their relatives in surrounding provinces.

At present, there are 50.000 refugees in the camps and outlying areas of Suruç that have been opened up to them. Generally, women who recently gave birth or have many children crossed the border, while the others stayed in Kobanê to fight ISIS. There is a large number of women and children in the camps, and the streets of Suruç are filled with children.

The municipality has set up a tent camp with a capacity of 1.000. When we were there, they were getting ready to open another tent camp capable of housing 600-700 people. At the moment, however, no one seems to be homeless — they have all been settled in defunct wedding halls, empty shops, newly constructed buildings and mosques, or they have moved in with relatives.

There is another tent city that was set up by the state relief program, and it houses 4.500 people. We were told that it was generally socially engaged individuals and organizations that sent aid, and the Republican People’s Party (CHP) reportedly sent two truckloads of supplies. People complained that the ruling government “says it will help out but doesn’t do anything.” We were also told that the Kurdistan Regional Government sent 230 tents and 600 blankets from Iraq.

At present there are 5.000-6.000 Kobanê residents who are camped out in a field on the border that is surrounded by mines. They hope that, when the situation calms down, they will be able to return to their homes.

Fifty-Thousand Mouths to Feed

Later we went to the state-run hospital in Suruç to ask the doctors there if they were in need of medicine. The doctors are carrying out two kinds of work: treating patients at the hospital, and providing outpatient care at the places where the refugees are staying. They said there was no shortage of medicine and that they were able to procure the medicines they need.

However, the doctors also stated that there is a pressing need for preventative medicine and that the most crucial issue in that regard is food. They are able to treat simple illnesses, and even a lack of shoes isn’t life-threatening, but death through starvation is a concern.

Problems about protecting children had been slightly alleviated thanks to the assistance sent by Kurdish doctors from Berlin. Currently, however, there aren’t enough soup kitchens. The capacity of the existing soup kitchens is 15.000 meals, but as I noted above, food needs to be provided to people who have set up camps and those who have taken shelter with family members.

We were told that the biggest problem is feeding those 50.000 refugees and establishing a proper system so that they receive the nourishment they need.

Need for Baby Formula

We went to a depot with a doctor from the hospital and obtained information from the person in charge there. Local supplies are being used to meet the needs of the refugees in the districts of Siverek, Bozova, Halfeti and Birecik. The large depot was filled with supplies but when there are 50.000 people in need, it still would not be enough to last two days.

At the depot, we noted that there was a problem with the distribution of aid, as was seen after the earthquake in Van. Because aid is being sent randomly, much labor goes into separating the contents of the packages. Even if aid is sent in a single box, the contents should be indicated on the outside. We were told that people shouldn’t send old second-hand clothes, as they end up getting thrown away. Volunteers are needed for sorting out the aid at the depots and for its distribution.

Aid cards have been given to the refugees, but the local population is unable to obtain assistance even when they too face financial difficulties. Depending on the type of card, aid is sent to refugees’ homes or settlements. Currently, as is always the case, the most pressing need is for baby formula. The majority of refugees are women and children, and there is a need for all types of baby formula and milk, but it should not be sent in tins. For a few days now they have been out of such goods, and the refugees are going through hard times.

Pressure on Local Infrastructure

We went to the Rojava tent city, which has 300 tents. Suruç’s infrastructure for water, electricity and sewage was designed to handle the town’s original population of 50.000, but now that the population occasionally soars to 180.000 due to refugees that come and go, the system is on the brink of collapse. Local aid workers were trying to create cesspools for the tent city, which still did not have electricity or running water. It was unclear when those services would start, and for the time being, children are bringing water in buckets.

The municipality is doing the best it can but it does not have enough resources and it has largely been left to its own devices. There is hope for aid from the municipality of Diyarbakır, but it is experiencing its own issues regarding resources, as refugees from Sinjar have settled there and the municipality is having trouble meeting their needs.

Because Suruç is situated on a flat plain, even the lightest of rains cause the tents to flood. A businessman from Lebanon is having platforms installed to solve this problem, in addition to plumbing systems for the tents.

Before going back to Urfa we asked for recommendations concerning the needs of the refugees and the issues they are facing at the camps. The types of aid needed include medicine, clothing and food, in addition to workshops and activities that will provide psychological treatment for the traumas of war.

Undoubtedly people do suffer from long-term traumas, but sometimes from a distance turbulent feelings and urgent needs can be wrongly ascribed just to the disaster. To be honest, after returning from Suruç I thought that the problems facing the refugees in the West of the country are more traumatic in the sense that there is a lack of awareness.

In Suruç a mood of calm prevails, and people go about mourning their losses and talking about tragic events, still somehow managing to lace their narratives with humor. Also, just about everyone is working because there is so much that needs to be done, and they are setting up tents, distributing food and settling newcomers.

Winter Is Coming

As regards the problems created by the war, we should call on official institutions and NGOs in Turkey to take responsibility and request that international aid associations assist those who are fleeing the fighting. In the process, refugees must be treated equally regardless of their religious, ethnic or community background. Individual assistance is very important but it is quite clear that such aid will not bring about permanent solutions.

It is uncertain when the war will come to an end, but the main issue at hand is the chaos that is increasing the burdens not just of the refugees but also of the local population in the region, making life more and more difficult. As winter draws near, there are thousands of people, women, children and elderly who are hungry and literally out in the cold. At the same time, there are a million more refugees whose presence will have an enormous impact on the Turkish economy.

Many refugees who have moved to western Turkey are now left to fend for themselves, often working irregular and underpaid jobs while faced with the hostile dispositions of the local people. Those who are staying in the camps have mostly left everything behind when they fled their homes, and are now completely dependent on aid and charity. The situation requires a strong response from both the local and national government, as well as the international community, to make sure these people will receive the help they need.

Ayşan Sönmez is an artist and activist from İstanbul working with the Bogazici Performing Arts Ensemble.

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After Gezi: Erdoğan and political struggle in Turkey---from ROARMAG.ORG

From the good people at ROARMAG.ORG:

The latest Global Uprisings film chronicles a year of resistance and repression that has left Turkey profoundly divided in the wake of the Gezi uprising.

Political struggles over the future of Turkey have left the country profoundly divided. Former Prime Minister, now President, Tayyip Erdogan, has fueled growing polarization through his authoritarian response to protests, his large-scale urban development projects, his religious social conservatism, and most recently, through his complicity in the Islamic State’s war against the Kurdish people in Northern Syria.

In the year after the Gezi uprising, protests continue against the government’s urban redevelopment plans, against police repression, in response to repression of the Kurdish and Alevi populations, and in honor of the martyrs that lost their lives in the uprising. Most recently, angry protests and riots have spread across the country in solidarity with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units fighting against the Islamic State in Kobanê, Rojava. This film chronicles a year of uprisings, resistance and repression since the Gezi uprising in Turkey.

After Gezi: Erdoğan And Political Struggle In Turkey from brandon jourdan on Vimeo.

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Did RedHack hit the Turkish Electricity Conduction Company and rite off debts or not?

Did this happen or not?

The RedHack hacker group claims to have hacked the passwords of a public electricity company and used the attack to write off the debts of a number of bills.

“We dedicate this action to the villagers of Yırca, to those who resist in Validebağ, and to those who know that there are things more important than money and status in this life,” RedHack said in a tweet yesterday. RedHack published the usernames and passwords for the management panel of the Turkish Electricity Conduction Company (TEİAŞ) and posted a video supposedly showing a hacker infiltrating the system and writing off debts worth 1.5 million Turkish Liras (about $670,000) in electricity bills. “Go and write off your own debts before they shut the website down,” RedHack tweeted.

TEİAŞ officials have said in response to RedHack that no data was compromised and that the debts had already been collected. The Energy Ministry admitted that the TEİAŞ website was hit, but hastened to say that no data was compromised. "Our system doesn't allow a bill to be deleted permanently. The original copies of bills are stored at TEİAŞ. The debt that is allegedly written off was collected on October 27," a Ministry statement said.

Yirca and Validebağ are the scenes of strong environmental protests. We have given these struggles much coverage on this blog.

[John Dolva]

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Aid and solidarity with Kobanê and refugees

We have talked a great deal here about solidarity with Rojava and we have emphasized the support for Rojava's revolution coming from the European left. We want to catch readers up on solidarity and aid work in Europe over the last few days and mention Moustafa Mohamad's fast in Washington as well. We remind readers that this work goes on even as the Turkish government moves forward with their "maritime survey" operations amid at provoking a conflict with Greek Cyprus over offshore gas exploration. We oppose any such "development" in the Eastern Mediterranean, of course, and we note that the present situation involves Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Egypt and other states in a row which can easily escalate at a time when these states might well benefit from a war over resources. The European Parliament has condemned Turkey’s activities as "both illegal and provocative.” Thus, solidarity from the left now is especially important as the need to counter imperialist adventures with support for a people's revolution grows daily.

In the US Moustafa Mohamad, a former Kurdish MP in the Syrian Parliament, was on a strict weeks-long fast for Kobanê as he stood at a traffic overpass at Washington's Dupont Circle and tried to get the attention of passersby, the news media, and the Washington power brokers. Moustafa Mohamad once represented Kobanê in Syria's parliament. Today he works with the American Kurdish Information Network.

Many people passing by have no idea where Kobanê is. They stare at a mannequin placed there dressed in a red robe with a sign next to it saying “ISIS Slave Sale: $500 for Kurdish Women.” A primary demand of Moustafa Mohamad's heartfelt vigil is for a humanitarian aid corridor for Kobanê. Others demands are US support for Rojava's People's Protection Units (YPG) and for Turkey to allow Kurds to cross the border to cross the border and join the anti-ISIS fight. He broke his fast on November 11.

The MLKP (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party), the MLPD (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany) and ICOR (International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations) organized a successful conference on Kobanê and the Middle East in the German city of Gelsenkirchen this week. Among those attending were representatives of the Turkish Communist Party Marxist-Leninist, the Democratic Liberation Front (FDKC), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Marxist-Leninist group Rode Morgen, the Communist Party of Iran (Komalah), and the Communist Building Organization. The conference focused particularly on the importance of the Kobanê resistance and the need for the ending the ban on the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in Germany. That ban has been in effect since 1993.

Stefan Engel spoke on behalf of the MLPD and underlined that Kobanê is giving a challenging fight against imperialist and reactionary powers and has a significant place in the Middle East. He said, "A democratic system based on freedoms has been built up there. It is a truth that the ISIS attacks are being conducted by the reactionary powers in the region...Turkey is quite aggressive internally and externally. Its desire and plan to extend its own zone in the wake of the collapse of the Syrian regime has failed. The reason why Turkey has been attacking Kurds this much is the fact that Kurds were an obstacle to it succeeding in this plan."

Lawyer Roland Meister pointed out that the German ban on the PKK was similar to that on the Communist Party of Germany, saying, "The same mindset banned the Communist Party of Germany...also causing the oppression of millions of people... The PKK ban in Germany is a consequence of this mindset and it remains while the organizations in Palestine and South Africa are being defended." He also said that the implementation of the ban was related with the Turkish-German relationship based on mutual interests and recalled that all Kurdish institutions have been criminalized and all Kurdish refugees negatively affected in Germany because of the ban.

Next week the European Parliament will host a conference in Brussels to discuss the threats being faced by the Êzîdî community and the steps needed to be taken against these threats. The conference will take up the situation of Êzîdî Kurds. The Êzîdîs most recently got international attention after the horrific ISIS attacks on Sinjar in early August. The conference will also hear a presentation from Rima Tüzün, head of the Foreign Affairs office of the European Syriac Union, on the political status of Assyrian Syriacs.

President Erdogan met with a delegation of Kurdish Êzidîs on Friday at the newly built Turkish Presidential Palace.

Meanwhile, delegations from many different countries continue to support and join the resistance of the Kurdish people at Suruç-Kobanê border. A delegation formed by representatives from French Communist Party, the New Anti-Capitalist Party and Liberal Alternative has joined the border vigil in a particularly supportive way. Joel Dutto from the French Communist Party, Mireille Court and Yann Puech from the New Anti-Capitalist Party, Mehdi Leveque from Liberal Alternative, and Yvan Tellier, a political friend of the Kurdish people in Britain, and journalists Bruno Deniel Laurent and Chris Den Hond have visited the Suruç municipality, visited the refugee tent cities and taken a turn at the resistance vigil.

Ten deputies of the German Left Party (Die Linke) unfurled a PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) flag in the Bundestag, the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, and demanded the removal of the ban on PKK this week. The Left Party deputies staged the action in solidarity with the MP Nicole Gohlke, whose parliamentary immunity was lifted after she raised the PKK flag at a demonstration in solidarity with Kobanê in Munich on October 18. Nicole Gohlke, who also urged the German federal government to end the ban on the PKK, said, "At this time people are fighting for freedom, human rights and democracy under this flag."

The ten deputies of the party unfurled the PKK flag in the Bundestag in protest against the German Federal Parliament lifting Gohlke's immunity. The deputies involved in the protest were Diether Dehm, Karin Binder, Sabine Leidig, Pia Zimmermann, Hubertus Zdebel, Wolfgang Gehrcke, Alexander Ulrich, Andrej Hunko, Kathrin Vogler and Ulla Jelpke. "We urge the federal government to remove not Nicole Gohlke's immunity but the ban on the PKK,” the deputies said.

Switzerland has sent additional relief aid to South Kurdistan (so-called "Iraqi Kurdistan"). Tents, blankets, heaters, insulation materials, storage units and other goods are being sent to Erbil in northern Iraq to help people survive the winter. The shipment is being moved on 8 trucks and comes from Swiss Humanitarian Aid in Wabern near Bern. Another shipment arranged by Swiss Humanitarian Aid is being sent from China by air. The estimate is that almost 1.9 million people are now considered internally displaced and are seeking protection in Iraq. About 900,000 people have fled to the Kurdish autonomous region. Many refugees are living in schools which are given over to housing them. The UNHCR will store and distribute this aid.

Representative of the Barcelona FC futbol team will visit South Kurdistan to deliver aid to the Êzidî refugees in the region. Kurdish-Spanish racing driver Isaac Tutumlu has worked to foster good relations between the Kurdistan region and the Barcelona Football club as well as Spain. He will come to Erbil to distribute aid to the refugees.

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Kurds and Christians live in peace in Cezîrê, unite against ISIS---Rodi Khalil

We greatly respect the writing of Rodi Khalil. He is always able to communicate complex issues easily and he is always prepared to offer facts and data. His knowledge of geography and demographics run deep and are never in error. Here is an edited essay by him. The American media sometimes shows some interest in Iraq's and Syria's Christians for opportunistic reasons, but most people in the US are not familiar with the Christians of the region or the kinds of Christianity that they practice. This brief article should serve as a point of departure for people in the US. Let's not stop at interest or curiosity, however. Solidarity is urgently needed!

In the midst of what is "Syria" we are witnessing such painful events, where ethnic and religious cleansing on the ground is being carried out, particularly by ISIS armed groups and other al-Qaeda- affiliated groups including al Nusra, where these groups conduct the most heinous of crimes and massacres against all non-Sunni Muslims or everyone and anyone who rejects their ideology.

Reports confirm that over 200,000 Christian civilians have been displaced from Syrian interior provinces like Homs and Aleppo, where they could not find anyone to protect them in this lawless war. Most of those Christian civilians escaped the Jihadist armed groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. For example, most of Christians of al-Raqqa province fled to the province of Cezîre after ISIS took control of al-Raqqa.

Christians make up from 8 to 10 per cent of the population of Syria. Most of them live in provinces like Homs, Jazira, Damascus and Aleppo. They belong to different national groups, like Assyrians who speak the Assyrian language and the Armenians. Christians tried to remain neutral amid the on-going battles in Syria, and even tried to cope with the new armed masters of their areas, but they could not go on with it anymore after the war spread everywhere and Christians were targeted by many armed Jihadi groups, including ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. This forced them to engage in the Syrian conflict and be a part of it in order to defend themselves and their existence.

The Kurdish canton of Jazira, is a group of cities and towns in the northeast of Syria, like Qamishlo, Derik, SerêKaniyê, Dêrbesiye, Tell Tamer, Amûde, Hassaka, Tell Kochar, Tirbespi and Rumeylan. In addition to many villages in this Kurdish Canton. Jazira Canton is a part of Rojava, Rojava (or "Syrian Kurdistan") is a de facto autonomous region in northern and north-eastern Syria. The region declared autonomy in November of 2013 through a number of Kurdish, Arabic and Assyrian parties and organizations. Syria's Kurdistan region consists of 3 cantons in north and northeast Syria; they are Jazira, Kobanê and Afrin. Christians in Rojava's Jazira canton have at least 50 villages, in addition to 2 other villages mixed with Kurds. Christians also live mostly in the big cities of Qamishlo and Hasaka and the town of Tell Tamr.

In the city of Qamishlo, Christians have one neighborhood near the center of the city, named the al-Wusta neighborhood. In the city of Hasaka, they number about 20,000 out of the total population of the city of 210,000 residents. They live in the Nasrah, Kallasah and Massaken neighborhoods there. In the town of Tell Tamer, which had a population of 7200 in 2004 , Christians make up the majority of the population. There is no an accurate census for the number of Christians in the Kurdish canton of Jazira, but they make up at least 5 % of the total population.

The status of Christians in the Jazira canton is different than their situation in all other areas of Syria, where they have more security than anywhere else in the Middle East. They may raise their own flags and symbols and practice all of their rights as Christians or Assyrians. They are working with the People's Defense Units (YPG), the official army of Rojava, to keep the jihadists out of their areas.

After they were targeted in several places in Iraq and Syria, Christians decided to take up arms to defend themselves and their existence. They formed a group of security forces under name of "Sutoro," which means "Protection." They also officially joined the security forces of Rojava. Sutoro has four headquarters in Rojava in the cities of Qamishlo , Hassaka, Deriki and Tirbespiyê. They work to maintain the security in the Christian neighborhoods and villages alongside of the other security forces of Rojava, like the Asayish. They work under the umbrella of the Ministry of the Interior of Rojava. They also go to frontlines to back up YPG units. Currently, there are a group of Sutoro forces supporting the YPG around the town of Tell Hamis, which the YPG is trying to liberate from ISIS.

The town of Tell Tamer, which is located 40 km north of the city of Hasakah, has a Christian- majority population. It's also worth mentioning that since the armed groups of the Islamic State captured the province of al-Raqqah, many Assyrian Christians from there fled to Tell Tamer and its countryside as refugees. The town of Tell Tamer was attacked several times by different armed Islamic groups, but the YPG army, supported by the Asayish and Sutoro security forces repelled all of the attacks. ISIS forces are now only about 13 kilometers to the west of this threatened town, and they may storm it at an unexpected moment. ISIS has all kinds of heavy weapons, like tanks and heavy artillery, while the YPG and the Sutoro and Asayish security forces have only light weapons. The same situation prevails in Kobane. Still, the YPG continues to repel ISIS offensives there and does not let them close to the town.

If ISIS does storm this town, thousands of Kurdish and Assyrian Christian civilians are going to be displaced, tortured and beheaded and ISIS will take the women and girls as sex slaves, just as they do when they seize control of any new area. The citizens of Tell Tamer are very scared for their future as ISIS threatens them every day and night. The suffering is palpable there. The fear is real. The movement of internally displaced people is constant and on-going. The resistance of the Kurds and Christians of the YPG against ISIS is also on-going. The silence of the world is deafening. Will the world act to help the defenders of this canton? Or are they only going to act only after a disaster befalls Tell Tamer?

[John Dolva]

Monday, November 17, 2014

The peace or resolution process underway between the liberation movement and the Turkish state goes on

The peace or resolution process underway between the Kurdish liberation movement and the Turkish state continues to have its ups and downs. We have been alternately hopeful and despairing as the government has sent mixed signals regarding the process and we have remarked here that the liberation movement has shown incredible patience. Calls from the liberation movement to accelerate the process at key moments---especially as ISIS pressed revolutionary Rojava and Kobane and as people protested against ISIS and in support of Kobane in early October and as state repression followed these protests---seemed not to have been heard by the Turkish state and ruling party. When these calls were heard, the state seemed to be putting up roadblocks and rejecting the commonsense proposals from progressive people involved directly in the process.

The Turkish government has now said that they are closing the door on the involvement of any third party in the peace process and they are again claiming ownership of the process itself. “This process is a local process,” Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan said yesterday. “It is a process which Turkey implemented with its own will. We don’t believe that inclusion of a different country, mechanism, system, organization or structure would be right. Turkey is advancing this process with its own opportunities and capabilities.” He seems to have been speaking in response to a suggestion from liberation movement spokespeople that mediation might be used, perhaps from the US, and in response to on-going pressure to move the talks forward from the movement and other forces as
well.

We frequently directly quote Cemil Bayık, most often associated with the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), on this blog. He has been quoted in an Austrian newspaper as having said, "We have now reached the point where there has to be movement. That is why we are suggesting a third power observe this process. This could be the United States. It could also be an international delegation. We need a go-between, we need observers. We would also accept the Americans. From our view, it is moving in this direction.”

Akdoğan is arguing publicly that involving a third country in the talks would complicate things. He cites the Oslo talks held between state officials and the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) between 2009 and 2011 as an example of how things can go wrong. Those talks collapsed in 2011 as the people's armed struggle briefly picked up in response to state repression. We argue that it is too much to expect total peace and the disarmament of the liberation forces now and under current repressive conditions. We also argue that what happened in the 2009-2011 period cannot be used to reject third-party involvement now. Conditions are much different now. On the other hand, we do not believe that the US can mediate a just peace in Turkey and North Kurdistan. We also do not think that Akdoğan and his government are fully sincere in wanting the process to move forward in a fair way.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leaders most involved in the process continue to show optimism and a will to move forward even in the face of Akdoğan's remarks. After a meeting between HDP leaders and Akdoğan, HDP deputy parliamentary group chair İdris Baluken described the meeting as “positive” and said that discussions about keeping dialogue channels open and the process moving forward are on-going. “We have arrived at a consensus to keep dialogue channels open. Important assessments have also been made about moving on in a more constructive way, in regards to the language being used and policies that are being spoken of, for the acceleration of the negotiation process,” İdris Baluken said. Akdoğan seemed to take a softer line after the meeting.

HDP leaders are willing to let the talks "continue under any circumstances" they say, once more showing their interest in a peaceful resolution to the conflict. They do not believe that there will be any objections to expanding their delegation or to meeting with Abdullah Öcalan in the future. The HDP leaders want to create a body of "wise people" to observe the process and they do not see a block to this.

Imprisoned Kurdish liberation movement leader Abdullah Öcalan does not have the free hand he needs in this situation since he remains a captive of the Turkish state and has no working and recognizee secretariat helping him in the negotiations process. The HDP leaders involved in the process must get state permission to visit Abdullah Öcalan and this certainly slows things down. No date has been set for the next meeting between Abdullah Öcalan and the HDP leaders.

At the same as this is taking place it should be mentioned that representatives of the Geneva Call NGO have met with KCK leaders in Kandil, the area in northern Iraq held by the liberation movement. KCK co-presidents Besê Hozat and Cemil Bayık provided some analysis for the Geneva Call representatives at the meeting.

Besê Hozat of the KCK told the Geneva Call representatives that the resistance by YPG/YPJ (Rojava's People's/Women's Defense Forces) forces and local people prevented the fall of Kobanê, as the world expected, and that this has enabled the creation of a unity by the world's democratic powers in support of the resistance in Kobanê. The KCK co-president also said that Turkey provided support to ISIS as they attacked Kobanê and Rojava and that Turkey's ruling party and government are working to eliminate the democratic autonomous system developed in Rojava under the leadership of the Kurds. She said that these policies and the government's attacks on the HDP and the Kurdish people in North Kurdistan showed that the government had no intention of coming up with a democratic and political resolution to the Kurdish question. "The (governing party's) policy of denial and extermination against Kurds has failed already. Should an all-out war be transferred into practice, it will not be the Kurds but the AKP (the ruling reactionary party) and Turkey who will lose," she underlined.

The Geneva Call co-founder who was present stated that the rescue of the Êzîdîs in Sinjar by Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) guerrillas from ISIS attacks has changed the approach towards the Kurdish liberation movement. The Geneva Call representative said that she hoped that the PKK will soon be removed from the list of terrorist organizations.

Cemil Bayık stated that the PKK has met all of the criteria of accepted international rules of war and that the Turkish state has used prohibited weapons, such as cluster bombs fired from the bordering Oramar region, to hit the Media Defense Areas (Kandil). Cemil Bayık also pointed out that many women and children fleeing state and male violence are joining the Kurdish liberation movement and that they, as an organization fighting on the basis of the paradigm of a democratic, ecological and women-liberating society, try to protect them. “At the same time, children in states with a capitalist regime are being deflected to get involved in drugs, prostitution, rape and bad habits. Children and minors do therefore see the liberation struggle as a way out of the capitalist system. The minors joining our ranks are being trained in a secure environment distant from war and provided with opportunities to maintain their lives,” he said.

Cemil Bayık answered the accusation made by the Turkish state last year that the PKK abducts children by saying, “Abduction of children by the PKK cannot be even a matter of discussion,” also noting that some families whose children took to the mountains were used for this black propaganda.

Besê Hozat said that she considers the work done by Geneva Call against sexual violence and for the achievement of gender equality important. The KCK and the women's liberation movement have not signed Geneva Call's Deed of Commitment because it sets lower standards and measurements than the Kurdish women's liberation movement, she said. Elisabeth Decrey Warner of Geneva Call responded that they want to keep the standards high but had to determine the present ones in order to be able to maintain their relations with other organizations.

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Turkey's workers face tough conditions

Workplace fatalities and injuries in Turkey and North Kurdistan continue in the news.

Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik has said that the number of workers injured or killed in work-related accidents over the last 12 years is 1.1 million. According to Çelik, 13,510 people were killed on the job between 2002 and 2013.

According to statistics provided by the minister, there were 191,247 incident reported in 2013, with 1,356 workplace fatalities recorded in that year alone. The 2013 statistics are incomplete. In 2011, 69,227 workplace tragedies occurred, with 1,700 worker deaths recorded--the highest number in 12 years.

The minister also listed the death toll resulting from work-related accidents over the past 12 years as follows: 872 workers were killed in 72,344 accidents in 2002; 810 workers in 76,668 accidents in 2003, 841 workers in 83,830 accidents in 2004; 1,072 workers in 73,923 accidents in 2005; 1,592 workers in 79,027 accidents in 2006; 1,043 workers in 80,602 accidents in 2007; 865 workers in 72,963 accidents in 2008, 1,171 workers in 64,316 accidents in 2009; 1,444 workers in 62,903 accidents in 2010; 1,700 workers in 69,227 accidents in 2011; 744 workers in 74,871 accidents in 2012; and 1,356 workers in 191,247 accidents in 2013. We have a problem with the word "accidents" since this implies something which occurred without a definite, discoverable or purposeful cause. We believe that the rush for profits drives most workplace fatalities and injuries. The killing and maiming of 1.1 million workers might better be described as a massacre.

On October 28, eighteen mine workers were trapped in a mine in Ermenek. Two of the trapped mine workers were found dead on November 6 and two more bodies were recovered from the mine today.

New regulations on workplace safety went into effect last week but the intent of these laws may be to ease public pressure on the government rather than to ensure workers' safety. For instance, draft bills submitted to Parliament in the past requiring mine operators to establish refuge chambers were not passed and we now see new regulations quickly forced through Parliament taking this up. We have noted here that government and industry claims that Turkey's laws are either superior to or the same as those in the European Union are simply false; if this were indeed true, then there would not be a pressing need to pass more laws so quickly. No government can be anti-union, support "yellow unions" as a matter of convenience and claim to be for workplace safety all at the same time.

Alongside of this question of workplace safety stands the related questions of unemployment and worker's living standards. From a worker's point, the three issues are linked. Turkey's unemployment rate now stands at over 10 per cent, with unemployment particularly high for women and young people. Just over 22 per cent of employed people work in the agricultural sector, 20 per cent in the industrial sector, 7.5 per cent in the construction sector and 50.5 per cent in the services sector. We have noted on this blog that Turkey's inflation rate is at double digits, that wage increases are not keeping pace with inflation or increases in the costs of living and that the traditional staples of the Turkish diet are seeing price increases.

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"May they release our children. Enough is enough. May they not torture us."---Political repression in Turkey today

Reports on political repression in Turkey and North Kurdistan have become a regular focus for this blog. Today we have the following items to report.

* Abdurrahman Olcay was 18 years old when he was detained by Turkish gendarmerie forces on Oct. 20, 1995 in the Dargeçit district of Mardin. He never returned from detention and was recorded as being a missing person. In July of 2013 bones were found in a cesspool in the Aysun village of Mardin’s Kızıltepe district and these have now been determined to be the remains of Abdurrahman Olcay.

Human Rights Association (İHD) Mardin branch leader Erdal Kuzu held a press conference with Olcay’s father Mehmet Ali Olcay and his sister Meryem Olcay on Saturday to talk about the case. Erdal Kuzu said that Abdurrahman Olcay was one of the seven people who had been listed as missing under detention on the same date and at the same location. Erdal Kuzu charged that these people were murdered by the Jandarma İstihbarat ve Terörle Mücadele (JİTEM), a “deep state” counter-insurgency intelligence organization. Bones belonging to five of these people have been found in other excavations. The suspect in all of these cases regarding these missing people is the state,” he added. The Olcay family was furious and heartbroken.

Mehmet Ali Olcay said that he wants the state to find his son’s murderers, speaking in Kurdish during the press conference. Meryem Olcay said that she is heartbroken and shocked after learning that her brother was found in a cesspool. “I was still hopeful that my brother was alive and would return someday after 19 years, but at some point I was preparing myself for the news of his death. I am shaken to hear that his bones were found in a cesspool. I was ready to hear about any death, but not this one. How could a person become that wild and possess such a hatred? I cannot accept a death in a cesspool. I demand the prime minister find the killers,” she said in Kurdish.

* Report run by the DİHA news service have repeatedly noted that Turkish police used extensive violence against the Kobanê solidarity movement during the October 6-7 incidents across North Kurdistan and Turkey and detained and jailed dozens of people. Over 40 people lost their lives due to police violence during the protests. Turkish police are continuing to raid homes, as we have reported on this blog. Thousands of homes have been raided and hundreds of people have been taken into custody in these raids for allegedly having participated in the protests.

According to figures provided by Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, 386 people have been arrested in relation with the October 6-7 Kobanê solidarity actions. In the Gevaş district of Van a sit-in action was held to protest police violence under especially tense conditions. Police raided some houses on October 15 and detained 10 people, including 4 minors. During a raid on Umut Tunuç's house, police threatened his father with their weapons. Umut Tunuç's father, Şefik Tulaç, suffered a heart attack and died.

In the Pınarbaşı (Matmanis) neighborhood of Gevaş the police detained and jailed a 14-year-old boy. The boy burst into tears and said to his mother, "Mum, tell them not to take me, I didn't do anything!" during the raid. The boy’s two brothers have since shown some psychological or emotional problems since the raid and the boy’s mother says, “My son is melting inside the prison…There was not such a big tension or incident in Gevaş to justify the arrests of 10 people. When I saw my son after a long time, I could not stand it and burst into tears. My son is very small. How can they imprison him? The state is even afraid of children. How can they raid our house with such heavy weapons? What is that? Our children did not do anything. May they release our children. Enough is enough. May they not torture us."

* On Saturday the Saturday Mothers (Dayikên Şemiyê) group in Şırnak held their 309th action, repeating their demand for justice for the disappeared people and calling attention to the unsolved murders in the Cizre district of Şırnak. The Saturday Mothers in Şırnak carried carnations and photographs of the disappeared people with a sign reading "The album of the disappeared" as they explained their cause to people passing by.

Party of Democratic Regions (DBP) leaders, Human Rights Association (IHD) leaders, the Peace Mothers Assembly, union representatives and people from other organizations joined the Saturday Mothers in their sit-in. Dayikên Şemiyê highlighted the cases of Mehmet Fındık, Ömer Fındık and Ömer Kartal, all of whom were summoned to a gendarmeria military post in 1995 and then disappeared.

Ömer Kartal's brother Mehmet Kartal spoke at the gathering and said, "They called my brother and told him to bring one turkey for them to the military post. As there were lots of extrajudicial killings at that time, he did not go alone. Three of them went together. When they did not return home at night, we, along with the villagers, went to the military post. The soldiers said, 'They left the turkey and went to police station.' However, both the police and soldiers did not tell the truth. With this, all of our villagers came together in front of the police station. The police cut the power and opened fire on the villagers and us. We were threatened by the soldiers prior to this incident...We did not accept the village guardship enforced by the state. We demand justice."

* We have written much about Ceyda Sungur, the "woman in red" made famous by the photograph of her being sprayed by teargas by police during last year's Gezi protests. She works as a research assistant at the Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ). Most recently we wrote about her facing an internal investigation over an email sent from her university account defending a colleague who had been sacked, criticizing the İTÜ administration and calling on the board of the Architecture Faculty to investigate her colleague's case. Now she is facing a faculty investigation for putting up teachers’ union posters calling for a strike. The investigation centers on allegations that she hung posters inside the university campus for two teachers’ unions, Eğitim-Sen and Türk Eğitim-Sen, calling for a strike on September 24. She is clearly being harassed with on-going investigations and claims of allegedly “provoking other research assistants.”

* A group of politicians led by Mustafa Özçelik has sent a petition to the Interior Ministry for the formation of a new political party named “Partiya Azadiya Kürdistan” in Kurdish and meaning “Kurdistan Freedom Party.” The party demands separation from the Republic of Turkey and a separate state in North Kurdistan and works under the slogan “Kurdistan, right now!”

The Interior Ministry has not concluded its examination of the documents submitted by the party, but a senior ruling party official said yesterday that “If you are planning to establish a separate entity within the Turkish Republic, it’s not possible. It’s against the Political Parties Law. It cannot be formed.

* Turkish businessman Ethem Sancak, owner of vehicle manufacturer BMC, has apparently won the biggest share in a recent tender for 251 TOMA water cannon vehicles held by the National Police Department. Fifty TOMAs will be produced by armored car developer Nurol, another 50 by fire pump and engine producer Volkan and the balance by BMC. The tender was held on November 7 through secret agreements with the companies. This report comes late and through mainstream Turkish media. Sancak has close relations with the government and the ruling party.

In early October Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu reacted to mass protests by saying that more TOMA vehicles will be provided to the police force. “For each TOMA set on fire, five to ten TOMAs will be bought if necessary,” Davutoğlu said at the time. It was thought then that the Katmerciler A.Ş. company might get the contract for supplying the hated TOMAs since the company is owned by former ruling party deputy İsmail Katmerci. Katmerciler is scheduled to provide 65 TOMAs. All in all, the government will purchase 316 TOMAs.

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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Kobanê Defense Minister: Everyone Needs To Support The Resistance

İsmet Şêx Hesen, the Minister of Self-Defense for the Kobanê Canton, spoke with Ersin Çaksu and İbrahim Aslan in a new interview for ANF which also appeared in Özgür Gündem. In the interview Hesen discusses the course of the fighting around Kobanê, now entering its third month, and the condition of the canton more generally. We took out version of this article from The Rojava Report and we have not edited the article.

The minister began by noting that Kobanê has not only been besieged for two months, but has been fighting off attacks and suffering under embargo for much longer, saying “the Battle of Kobanê has been going on for around a year and six months. Before it was mostly groups like the El-Nusra Front and Ahrar-i Sham and others that were attacking Kobanê. Kobanê has been surrounded for a year and a half. Kobanê has been deprived of its basic needs such as water, electricity and trade. The battle which today is entering its third month is part of this history. I do not look at the attacks upon the Kobanê Canton as a battle with ISIS. We look upon ISIS as the agent of an international partnership. This agent has such partners in many parts of the world. It has partners in Afghanistan, China, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Turkey and many other places. Many different states have a hand in this group. For example they received a lot of support from places such as the Baath regime and Turkey. It was from there that they got the courage to attack Kobanê.

What Is Important Is That We Are Resisting With Limited Resources

Hesen stressed that although the defenders of Kobanê had been resisting for two months and had suffered losses, ISIS was unable to capture the the city, saying “They could not take over Kobanê like they had been able to take over other places. And this is because of the resistance of the YPG/YPJ (Rojava's People's/Women's Defense Forces) and the value of its freedom martyrs. For example they captured many places in Syria such as Rakka, Minbic, Bab and Dera Zor within days and even hours. They were saying that with our tanks and our artillery we will capture Kobanê in the same fashion. In attacking Kobanê with all the weapons they had captured in Rakka, Mosul and from the 17 Division they were aiming to threaten the whole of Kurdistan by threatening Kobanê. But they came to Kobanê it turned into their graveyard. Last year too they were saying ‘we are going to go to Kobanê and perform our Eid prayers there.’ But they couldn’t do it then and they can’t now. YPG/YPJ fighters have been resisting with limited means and small arms for a year and a half. Because we are surrounded on all sides we can’t get weapons from the outside. We resisted against their tanks and artillery with our own small weapons. We proved to the whole world how we will resist against tanks and artillery with our own kalashnikovs. The truth is that it has become a historical resistance. There might be a war against evil and terror around the world but the important thing is our resistance with limited means. This is perhaps the first time in Syria that an organization with heavy weapons has been defeated by an organization with only small arms. The world saw it this way too and has commented upon it.”

A Foundation Has Been Laid For A National Defense Force

Hesen went on to say that Kobanê had provided an important example of Kurdish unity and that a foundation had been laid for the formation of a national defense force, saying “another thing of course is that now everyone needs to see and recognize the Kurds. But not how they used to look at and recognize the Kurds. They should not recognize the Kurds as the enemies of the Kurds who surround us make them recognize us. Because they presented Kurds to the world as terrorists. But in the Kobanê resistance the Kurds showed the whole world who was fundamentally fighting against terror and who wanted to get rid of it. It is the Kurds who are carrying out the real fight against terrorism. It is the Kurds who are defending democracy and equality. It is necessary to see how the YPG/YPJ, with its small force, stopped ISIS which until then no one had stopped. It is necessary to see how the will of the peoples are behind this struggle.’

The Arrival Of The Peshmerga Was An Important Step For Kurdish Unity

The minister also commented on the arrival of peshmerga forces to Kobanê following the Duhok agreement last month. Hesen stressed that it was the first time that two Kurdish forces had come together to such an extent for a common fight, saying “this is something worthy of respect. It is something important. It was an important boost for morale that they came all the way here from South Kurdistan. It was something that pulled at the heart strings of the Kurds while going against all those who said that Kurds could not come together. It was good for morale. It was an important step for Kurdish unity. Because they used to be facing massacre and destruction. In the time of Şêx Seîd, Seyid Rıza, Qazi Mihemed ve Halabja the Kurds were facing massacres and genocide. For that reason there has always been a desire for Kurdish unity. As a people they have always wanted to be unified, but not as a party or an organization. For this reason it is important both spiritually and for the formation of a foundation for unity that the Peshmerga have come here.”

Our Enemies Did Not Allow Us To Recognize One Another

Hesen also touched upon the support Turkey has given to the ISIS gangs, saying “we have been protecting the borders of Rojava for three years. Not a single person along the border from Efrin to Endiwar has gotten as much as a bloody nose from our forces. We did not fire a single bullet into Turkey. Because we look upon Turkey as a neighbor. We said that ISIS is something that will come and go but the people of Rojava will remain. And we showed with our resistance that it is us who will last on these lands. Everyone saw how much Turkey supported ISIS. If they turn away from these bad calculations and reconsider them they will recognize the Kurds better. Up until today many of our neighbors have defined the Kurds in the same way that ISIS has defined the Kurds. Our enemies have not allowed the peoples here to recognize one another. Whether it was the Turks, the Arabs, or the Persians we could not recognize one another. Our two month resistance has shown the whole world who the Kurds are. Kobanê is now the castle of resistance for the four parts of Kurdistan. Let everyone know that the will of the peoples is above all else. When the people rise up with their own will then neither tanks, nor artillery, nor planes nor any force can destroy that will.”

ISIS Is A Threat To The Whole World

Hesen also stressed that ISIS was everyone’s problem, saying “insomuch that there is a clear threat to everyone everyone needs to struggle against it. Everyone needs to contribute in the fight against this gang organization that recognizes neither morality, borders nor humanity. From this perspective we find the air attacks to be justified. As Kobanê was showing such a resistance the provision of such support was what was wanted. The support that has been provided has been the proper thing.”

We Can Say That Thousands Have Died

On the subject of the number of ISIS fighters that had been killed in the fight for Kobanê Hesen said that they could not provide exact figures, but that the number is likely in the thousands, saying “there is a difference between how they came in the beginning and how they are coming now. We know that thousands have died. But before they made it to Kobanê many different sources and intelligence agencies said that they were attacking with around 8,000 men. If today they still had such a force the violence of the clashes would be different. We can say that thousands have died. They have lost many of their men here. You have also seen it, there are lots of bodies all over.”

The Condition Of Civilians And The Destruction Of The City

Hesen also stressed that ISIS continued to threaten civilians in Kobanê, and spoke about the situation of civilians in the city, saying “in recent days there have been mortar attacks against our people along the border. Many people lost their lives. Children lost their lives. Many were injured. They are still using heavy weapons. As long as no corridor is opened to Kobanê it is necessary to say that civilians will continue to be under threat. For that reason we are renewing our call. Our city has been reduced to ruins. The International public and their states need to see this and provide support. The mortars, artillery, shelling and explosions have caused a great deal of destruction across the city. Kobanê was already under embargo. Now it has been brought back decades. The international public needs to see the situation of Kobanê, the situation of its scattered people and the city. If they do not provide support then the situation of the civilians will grow worse. Because a large part of the people who have left Kobanê are living in tents.”

Finally Hesen added that everyone needed to support the resistance, saying “I am renewing my call to the youth of Kobanê to come and join in the resistance alongside the YPG/YPJ. I also offer my condolences to the families of our martyrs and wish a speedy recovery to the injured”

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Rojava Democracy

The following article “Rojava demokrasisi“ was written Metin Yeğin by and appeared in Özgür Gündem. It has been translated into English below. We took our version from our friends at The Rojava Report. We have not edited this article.

The reason for the title of this piece “Rojava Democracy” is not because I want to talk about the kind of system that people are attempting to build in Rojava but because, just the opposite, I want to suggest a concept that knows no borders and which I can recommend everywhere. In using this name I wanted to refer to a form of ‘oppositional democracy’ that opposes the capitalist/neo-liberal system and the prison regime which in every part of the globe is day by day creating ever worse conditions for a humanity that is worked and subjected to extreme conditions of control. I think that this is a beautiful new name for the kind of ‘freedom and equality’ that can be realized in a society with ecological democracy, collectives, cooperatives, communes, radical participatory democracy and a vitality which remains ever more creative than these theories. Once more I believe it is entirely appropriate that the structural arrangement defined as radical participatory democracy with all its internal dynamics take a collective name from the world’s zero-point – “Rojava.”

You may think that however ‘well-intentioned’ we are here it is an exaggeration to suggest that ‘Rojava Democracy’ be applied to the whole world, but this goes to what I am been insistently trying to explain for two-three years – do not let the claim that ‘Rojava is the world’s zero-point’ come as shocking. It is called ‘Rojava Democracy’ because in a world where one experiences the overlapping spatial dimensions of race, class and state interference on almost every street and in a Middle East which has been everywhere divided by borders marked with minefields it is attempting to bring to life radical participatory democracy as a form of governance and has worked within all its essential bodies, in contrast to the rest of the world, to not only include minorities from every ethnic-religious community but to believe that it is absolutely necessary to include them.* The Rojava popular committees in which Arabs, Alevis, Yezidis, Christians, Turkmen, Syriacs, Armenians, Assyrians and of course Kurds are participating together singles directly the fracturing of the overlapping spatial dimensions of ‘race, class and state inference.’

It is a name which needs to be employed around the world because ‘Rojava Democracy’ is the opposite of borders, and because women – who have been made outcasts in everywhere corner of the world and in its neoliberal ghettos in particular – have become a foundational subject of this radical democracy in a Middle East which is one of the sharpest and clearest examples of this exclusion. For women – who are excluded, made into a second class, bot celebrated for and then confined to their work with children, both exhibited and covered, both rapped and taken under protection, and in all events objectified – it is nothing other than a liberation struggle.

I want to look conceptually at this attempt at subversion as Giacometti commented upon his own work. Giacometti always spoke about his sculptures as part of one complete work. This is to say all the files and hammers, the sculptors and all the tools in his workshop, the broken and the shaped fragments, the dust and debris as one piece. All of his sculptures were once piece. Yet at the same time all of these sculptures were formed from all of that dust and fragments and thus as one piece they were formed from everything. Rojava Democracy is a part of the whole world and is building itself from its dust and its fragments…

And Giacometti’s statues were a masterpiece…

*Here I should also remark that the sects and denominations of religious communities are ultimately and in the last analysis defined as a kind of ‘race-ethnicity’