Proposed Military Strike on Syria

[John Dolva]

1,128 academics from 89 universities in Turkey, and over 355 academics and researchers from abroad including figures such as Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler, Etienne Balibar and David Harvey have signed a text calling on state of Turkey to end state violence and prepare negotiation conditions.

The petition is ongoing.

As academics and researchers of this country, we will not be a party to this crime!

The Turkish state has effectively condemned its citizens in Sur, Silvan, Nusaybin, Cizre, Silopi, and many other towns and neighborhoods in the Kurdish provinces to hunger through its use of curfews that have been ongoing for weeks. It has attacked these settlements with heavy weapons and equipment that would only be mobilized in wartime. As a result, the right to life, liberty, and security, and in particular the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment protected by the constitution and international conventions have been violated.

This deliberate and planned massacre is in serious violation of Turkey’s own laws and international treaties to which Turkey is a party. These actions are in serious violation of international law.

We demand the state to abandon its deliberate massacre and deportation of Kurdish and other peoples in the region. We also demand the state to lift the curfew, punish those who are responsible for human rights violations, and compensate those citizens who have experienced material and psychological damage. For this purpose we demand that independent national and international observers to be given access to the region and that they be allowed to monitor and report on the incidents.

We demand the government to prepare the conditions for negotiations and create a road map that would lead to a lasting peace which includes the demands of the Kurdish political movement. We demand inclusion of independent observers from broad sections of society in these negotiations. We also declare our willingness to volunteer as observers. We oppose suppression of any kind of the opposition.

We, as academics and researchers working on and/or in Turkey, declare that we will not be a party to this massacre by remaining silent and demand an immediate end to the violence perpetrated by the state. We will continue advocacy with political parties, the parliament, and international public opinion until our demands are met. (BK/TK)

* For international support, please send your signature, name of your university and your title to info@barisicinakademisyenler.net .

[John Dolva]

Tuesday, January 19, 2016 7:55 PM

NEWS DESK - ANF

Hawar News Agency (ANHA) has reported that Turkish troops have entered Syrian territory through Jarablus border crossing Tuesday evening.

According to the ANHA report which is grounded on local sources, the Turkish force of military vehicles and heavy equipment accompanied a mine detection and removal device. After crossing the border, Turkish soldiers moved westwards within the Syrian territory.

Sources reported that ISIS gangs in the area were all unresponsive to the activity of Turkish soldiers, and just watched them as they moved.

According to another unconfirmed report,a Turkish troop of thousand soldiers has now been deployed on Syrian land close to the border.

NEWS DESK – Turkish President Erdoğan’s party AKP’s support to radical jihadi gang groups in Syria continues.

It has been reported that Turkish AKP government sends munition and aid to radical jihadi groups on “Turkmen Mountain”. Pictures from the mountain show that jihadi groups use tents of the Turkish Red Crescent which is an official organization.

In front of the tents, there is a Turkish flag flying. The pictures and videos from the region also show that this region is also used as a base for the jihadi gangs where Turkish government sends munition and heavy weaponry. The etiquettes on the munition read Makina Kimya Endüstrisi that is the official department of Turkey producing military equipment.

(lg)

[John Dolva]

https://www.rt.com/news/329793-alleged-kurd-civilian-shooting/

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.rt.com/news/329793-alleged-kurd-civilian-shooting/video/"frameborder="0" allowfullscreen/></iframe>

Edited January 23, 2016 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

Latest news

31/01

PYD co-chair Moslem: We won't recognise a Geneva-3 excluding Kurds

31/01

Still no news from the basement, mothers walking to the scene detained

30/01

YPG: We will no more remain silent on Turkey's violation of Rojava border

30/01

HDP MP in Cizre calls on Red Cross to mediate for people in basement

30/01

No contact with the wounded in Cizre basement for 5 hours

30/01

Berkin Elvan's mother: Every child killed in Botan is a Berkin to me

30/01

Wounded cannot go out after demolition of the basement's wall

30/01

Another death in Cizre basement upon attack by state forces

30/01

People trapped in Cizre basement expected to be retrieved today

30/01

Blast in Cizre leaves one dead

29/01

First images from the basement where humanity is dying

29/01

Building where dozens remain trapped targeted by mortar attack

29/01

Constitutional Court rejects application for measure on those in basement

29/01

Ambulances once again denied access to the basement in Cizre

[John Dolva]

Peace talks collapse, aggression continues against Syria

By Joe Mchahwar posted on February 9, 2016

As the war against Syria draws closer to entering its fifth year, peace talks have once again fallen apart, as anticipated. The Western powers, right- wing regional regimes such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and the terrorist-ridden opposition refuse to recognize Syria’s sovereignty in the fight against such reactionary forces as the Islamic State group (I.S.), Al Nusra and the Islamic Front. Those seeking to overthrow the Syrian government call for a ceasefire while they themselves continue to bomb and destroy Syria.

Russia and Syria, on the other hand, have continued to fight against these reactionary terrorist elements and have recently made major gains. With all the strife at the negotiating table, some governments have made serious threats, which, if taken to their conclusion, could make this regional war a global one.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Jan. 31 that Turkey is building up forces on its border with Syria, possibly with the intention of invading. Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of the border say that Turkish forces have crossed the border and are building fortifications on Syrian land. (presstv.ir)

Turkey’s President Erdogan made provocative statements Feb. 7 that are only building upon these fears. “We don’t want to fall into the same mistake in Syria as in Iraq,” Erdogan said to journalists when returning to Turkey from a trip to Latin America. (bloomberg.com) The statement references the Turkish Parliament’s 2003 decision not to let the U.S. use Turkish land for the invasion of Iraq.

Turkey is making these threats while the Syrian government makes military advances in the north near the border with Turkey. The Erdogan regime responded to these advances by shelling the Syrian Army and killing one soldier on Feb. 1.

Spokespeople for both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates stated Feb. 6 that they are prepared to send troops to Syria to combat I.S. (cnn.com) This is despite their ideological ties to I.S.; in fact, many sources say these two countries directly support I.S.

Another factor complicating the proposed military operation against I.S. is that both Saudi Arabia and the UAE still openly seek the fall of the Syrian government, an objective they share with I.S.

With the help of Russia and Lebanon-based Hezbollah liberation fighters, the Syrian government has been making tremendous military gains in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and in several other areas. These gains have prompted recent threats of aggression against Syria. Syria and Russia have not taken these threats lightly.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem warned, “Any ground intervention in Syria, without the consent of the Syrian government, will be considered an aggression that should be resisted by every Syrian citizen. I regret to say that [any foreign soldiers] will return home in wooden coffins.” He repeated this statement three times. (Al Jazeera, Feb. 6)

[John Dolva]

The Feminist, Democratic Leftists Our Military Is Obliterating

5 February 2016

by Debbie Bookchin, originally published in The Nation

Right now, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is undertaking a massive assault on Kurdish communities in southeastern Turkey in an effort to wipe out the only truly democratic movement in the Middle East. In December, he unleashed a force of 10,000 soldiers, armed with tanks and mortars, who have cut water and electricity supplies, imposed draconian curfews, and razed buildings; they are following shoot-to-kill orders against local residents who venture from their homes to seek food, first aid, or alternative shelter. Already more than 200 Kurdish defenders, and 198 civilians, including children, teenagers, and the elderly, have been murdered. In photos, the areas under siege look like war zones, comparable in destruction to Syria and Bosnia.

Reuters estimates that as of late December 200,000 people from 19 cities had been displaced, becoming refugees in their own country. Erdogan has justified this rampage in the southeast as an act to “cleanse every place” of militant Kurds affiliated with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), the organization that has fought the Turkish state for independence on behalf of some 15 million Kurds living within its borders who’ve been subjected to decades of repression.

The PKK is labeled a terrorist organization, not just by Turkey but also by the United States and many countries in Europe. This label has stuck despite the fact that the PKK in 1999 initiated a unilateral cease-fire that lasted until 2004, and in 2013 again halted its violent confrontation with the Turkish state for two years, trying to negotiate peacefully for greater autonomy for Kurds until Erdogan withdrew his support for the talks.

European Union parliamentarians from Holland, Denmark, and Iceland have stated recently that the EU countries’ continued designation of the PKK as a terrorist organization is hypocritical, because Europe supports the PKK’s Syrian Kurdish sister militias, the People’s Protection Units (the YPG and the all-female YPJ), which have successfully fought off the Islamic State and are ideologically allied with the PKK. Worse, they say, the designation is hampering peace by giving Erdogan license to abandon the negotiations with the PKK that began in 2013 and ended last year. It’s no accident that Erdogan’s assault on Kurdish cities was stepped up dramatically just days after the EU voted against delisting the PKK as a terrorist organization, and that some of those murdered have been members of a Kurdish opposition political party.

What exactly is the PKK political model for autonomy that Turkey—and, apparently, Washington and the EU—find so frightening? Imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, and the Kurds in Turkey and Syria who follow him, seek to create communities that enshrine the values of direct democracy, non-hierarchy, the empowerment of women, ecological stewardship, a moral economy, and religious tolerance. Abandoning their ideological bent toward Marxism and demand for an independent Kurdistan, these activists have instead focused on democracy-building: putting power in the hands of local citizens.

Unlike the Iraqi Kurds in Erbil who, with US support, have implemented a capitalist, consumerist, and decidedly patriarchal mini–nation state, Öcalan proposes a decentralized political system through the establishment of local assemblies and councils that prioritize self-managed, municipal-based economics, ecological harmony, and gender equality.

As Öcalan has noted, this model, which he calls “democratic confederalism” and which deliberately eschews a centralized state, is based on the ideas of my late father, Murray Bookchin, a social theorist and historian, who called this philosophy “libertarian municipalism” or “Communalism.” The notion of citizen empowerment at the core of this philosophy has its roots in the Greek city-state of Athens; it can be seen in the Committees of Correspondence preceding the American Revolution, and still lingers today in the form of Vermont town meetings. It represents an extraordinary development in the Middle East, one that deserves widespread support.

In the region of northern Syria along the Turkish border known as Rojava, the power vacuum created by the Syrian civil war has allowed the Kurds to more fully implement Bookchin and Öcalan’s vision. In Rojava, roughly the size of Connecticut, the Kurdish YPG and YPJ militias have pushed the Islamic State out of thousands of square miles of territory. At the same time, under conditions of war and deprivation, they have instituted ground-up neighborhood assemblies in the four “cantons” that comprise Rojava, encouraging citizens of every ethnicity—including Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen—to participate in the decision-making processes of all aspects of communal life: land distribution, industry, agriculture, business, healthcare, education, and self-defense. My father believed that this kind of participatory assembly democracy would transform, and in turn be transformed by, an increasingly enlightened citizenry. It would allow us to reclaim and redefine politics not as a detested thing done to us but something we dofor ourselves, remaking society into a place where all human beings could fulfill their highest potential: as liberated, creative subjects living in harmony with the natural world. Communalism, he believed, provided the alternative path in the longstanding debate between Marxists and anarchists over whether to work within the state or outside it.

The pushback against this decentralized, democratic model has come in both direct and subtle forms: Not only Turkey but also the Iraqi Kurds have implemented embargoes that have prevented medical aid, building materials, and other desperately needed supplies from reaching devastated Rojava towns such as Kobani, some of which are still under attack from the Islamic State. And in October 2015, Amnesty International released a widely publicized report, accompanied by a hyperbolic press release, criticizing the Kurdish militia for forcing local Arab residents in some YPG-controlled areas to leave their homes, which were then demolished. The YPG issued a point-by-point rebuttal that raised serious questions about the methodology and accuracy of the account, including the reliability of some of the witnesses, who, according to the YPG, were working with the Islamic State. However, the YPG response received far less media attention than the original Amnesty International report.

As the YPG, the autonomous government, and non-Kurdish residents of the region have noted, the level of cooperation among ethnic groups in Rojava is widespread. Power-sharing arrangements actively encourage the participation of non-Kurdish residents and particularly emphasize a role for women. In addition to having full legal rights and privileged decision-making powers over all women’s issues via separate women’s councils, and serving as co-presidents in every significant administrative position, women are, by law, empowered to make up at least 40 percent of every governing body in Rojava. In a contrast with ISIS that couldn’t be starker, the Rojava Kurds have achieved something unparalleled almost anywhere else in the world: the creation of a stateless, religiously tolerant, pluralistic, anticapitalist, ecological, egalitarian society. It’s a model of meaningful political change that should inspire progressives all over the world—and for which the American left should show its strong solidarity.

For about a decade, Kurds in the southeast region of Turkey have also begun to put into practice Öcalan’s ideas, creating directly democratic governance structures over institutions such as schools, libraries, and health clinics, even while coexisting with local Turkish officials. A new generation of young people, largely aged 15–25, has formed militias within these towns to defend this self-rule. Calling themselves the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement, or YDG-H, they are committed to Öcalan’s vision of democratic confederalism, vowing to protect this nascent experiment in their neighborhoods by keeping out Turkish armed forces. These are the insurgents that Erdogan is targeting.

Erdogan says Turkish forces killed 3,100 PKK members in 2015. In December, Erdogan’s government told 3,000 teachers to vacate southeastern towns in what observers feared was a move to isolate the YDG-H youth who remain behind—and who Erdogan has vowed “will be annihilated.”

During that December assault by Turkish troops, the YDG-H youth employed trenches, blockades, and small firearms to keep out the tanks. More recently, as the world has largely ignored the plight of these besieged cities, the violence has escalated. Recently, the PKK took responsibility for a police-station bombing that killed five civilians as well as police officers. Diplomats have been quick to blame the PKK for this escalation of violence, but as others, including Noam Chomsky and 1,200 academics, have pointed out, it is the chaos created by Erdogan that has led to this tragic downward spiral. The PKK should not succumb to Erdogan’s bait by engaging in acts of retaliatory terrorism—but the West should be ashamed for its hypocrisy in failing to take the president to task for the deaths of some 200 civilians, including 39 women and 29 children, at the hands of a government that is aiming artillery strikes and executions at the civilian population as a whole. The answer to the question of who is really terrorizing southeast Turkey is all too clear.

There can be no doubt that the Obama administration, when it wants to, can influence Turkey directly. When Turkey encroached upon Iraqi territory in December, President Obama asked Turkey to withdraw its troops, and Erdogan promised to do so. Common wisdom suggests that the US and EU are reluctant to intervene because they are playing realpolitik with their NATO ally—appeasing Erdogan in exchange for their continued use of Turkey’s airbases for anti-ISIS missions and his preventing refugees from migrating to the West.

But despite massive military aid, Erdogan has proved the most unreliable of allies, preoccupying himself with bombing PKK outposts in northern Iraq rather than fighting ISIS. He has helped smuggle ISIS fighters and weapons across Turkey’s borders and is widely suspected of purchasing ISIS crude oil, thus providing direct economic assistance to the Islamic State. And he has repeatedly tried to undermine the only consistently successful fighting force against ISIS in Syria: the Kurds.

As academics and newspaper editorial boards have pointed out, Erdogan no longer cares about democracy or liberal values. Praising “Hitler’s Germany” as an effective model for the consolidation of power he seeks, Erdogan makes no secret of his authoritarian leanings, clamping down increasingly on press freedom, torturing political prisoners, and polarizing the country’s population by labeling dissidents as “terrorists.” When the 1,200 Turkish and foreign academics from a group calling itself “Academics for Peace” signed a petition in mid-January calling for an end to the violence, Erdogan accused them of being enemies of the Turkish state. In the intervening weeks, 27 of them living in Turkey were detained and some were dismissed from their posts; some of their offices have been raided; and investigations have been launched that could send them to jail for five years if convicted. Erdogan has also initiated investigations of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party and threatened its co-chair, Selahattin Demirtas, with prosecution for a statement supporting Kurdish self-rule.

Why would Erdogan resume the peace process when his NATO allies give him tacit permission to brutalize his own people in the name of combating terrorism? As long as the West supports the PKK’s terrorist designation, Erdogan is cynically betting that Washington and the EU will remain silent while he doubles down on his longstanding goal: to obliterate the Kurdish freedom movement altogether and mop up every last political opponent.

So far, he has been right. But it is time for Obama and his European counterparts to call Erdogan’s bluff.

Western diplomats should insist on the immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from the towns of southeastern Turkey, before a complete slaughter of political opponents and Kurdish youth is committed in the name of “protecting” the people from the PKK. And if American and European officials truly believe in human rights and the need to foster democratic values in the Middle East, they should revisit Öcalan’s social vision, clearly spelled out in Rojava’s constitution, the “Social Contract”—which reads like a modern-day Bill of Rights—and follow the advice of the Dutch, Icelandic, and Danish parliamentarians and other experts in delisting the PKK as a terrorist organization.

To help end the violence, and as a matter of human rights, Western negotiators should pressure Erdogan to end Öcalan’s isolation on the prison island of Imrali. They should insist that Syrian Kurds be included in any negotiations about the future of Syria, and they should mediate a settlement that will support autonomy for the Turkish Kurds just as the United States has for the Kurds in Iraq—not only because the PKK’s sister militias in Syria have been the only consistently effective fighting force against ISIS in the Middle East, but because it is time to recognize that all Kurds deserve what has been so long overdue them: the freedom to rule their own lives.

If the United States refuses to send Erdogan the message that his vengeance on opposition parties and the Kurdish people will not be tolerated, it’s time to ask what exactly the West is aiming for in the Middle East and what kind of “democracy” it believes it is fostering. Last summer, Kurdish leaders stated that they would gladly abide by a US-mediated cease-fire. Every death since then has been blood on our hands.

Debbie Bookchin, journalist and author, is co-editor of The Next Revolution: Popular Assemblies and The Promise of Direct Democracy (Verso Books, 2015), a collection of essays by her father, Murray Bookchin. She served as presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ press secretary from 1991-1994. Follow her on twitter @debbiebookchin

[John Dolva]

Thursday, February 11, 2016 5:25 PM

ŞIRNAK - ANF

31 more corpses have been recovered from the area of the basements in Cizre's Cudi neighborhood where dozens of trapped people were massacred while awaiting evacuation 3 days ago.

The newly recovered 31 bodies, which were also burnt and fragmented like all the others previously retrieved from the same area, known as the 2nd basement, were taken to Cizre State Hospital.

Two days ago, as many as 29 corpses were evacuated from the scene after the operation conducted by Turkish forces on the building on Cudi neighborhood's Narin Street where 10 slain and 52 wounded people were three days ago.

Yesterday, 12 more corpses were taken from the area and take to Cizre State Hospital.

On the other hand, there were 7 slain, 15 wounded and 9 exhausted people in the other basement, which was the first to be revealed, on Bostancı Street of the same Cudi neighborhood. While there is still no news available as to their aftermath, two bodies retrieved from the scene and identified through autopsy yesterday turned out to be of Sultan Irmak and Fehmi Dinç, both of whom had remained stuck in this basement. With this most recent development, it came out that the first basement was also targeted by state forces on the day the offensive against the second basement.

In the meantime, it came out yesterday morning that 45 other people were stuck in another basement in Sur neighborhood. Turkish forces have been shelling this building as well, as a result of which 22 people lost their lives since yesterday. 23 other people, many of whom were with wounds, were also awaiting evacuation when they were last reached.

A total of 82 corpses have been retrieved from the area of three buildings where 149 people were known to be sheltered before the offensives of Turkish state forces.

[John Dolva]

Saturday, February 13, 2016 11:30 AM
STRASBOURG - ANF

Kurds in Europe flock to the French city of Strasbourg today to condemn the 15 February plot against Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan. A march and rally under the main slogan “Freedom for Öcalan, Status for Kurdistan” will be staged in Strasbourg city today to mark the 17th anniversary of the plot.

Thousands have started to gather at Boulevard de Nancy and Boulervard de Metz along the Central Station of Strasbourg as of early this morning. More from across Europe are still arriving in the city to join the rally which is also supported by revolutionary organisations from Turkey as well as European friends of Kurds.

Demonstrators, mainly made up of women and youths, will also protest the Turkish state's massacre against Kurdish people in Cizre and other North Kurdistan towns under siege.

Besides banners in French, German, Kurdish and Turkish that condemn the international plot against the Kurdish leader, protesters are also carrying flags of Kurdish movements PKK, KCK, HPG, YPG and YPJ.

The march to Parking des Vanneaux will begin soon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQjw5JhG_58#t=59




Saturday, February 13, 2016 10:30 AM
NEWS DESK - ANF

PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan who was brought to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy on 15 February 1999 remains in isolation in İmralı Island Prison since.

An international delegation led by South African Leader Nelson Mandela's lawyer Essa Moosa from the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative has planned a three-day visit to Turkey on February 14th to contribute efforts for the ending of the isolation on the Kurdish leader and the ongoing war in North Kurdistan.

The 11-person delegation which will arrive in Istanbul tomorrow will meet committees from HDP, CHP and AKP before being granted a visit to the Island of İmralı on 16 February. Judge Essa Moosa will be accompanied by the following names during the three-day talks in Turkey;

- Independent author, copy editor, and graphic artist Janet Biehl from America

- Political activist, writer and publisher Dimitri Roussopoulos from Canada, co-founder of International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace

- Academic Federico Venturini from the University of Leeds, UK,

- Academic Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley from the University of Cambridge, UK

- Social justice activist Dr. Radha D’Souza from UK

- Andrej Hunko, member of the German Parliament, Bundestag

- Author Eirik Eiglad from the New Compass, Norway

- Edgar de Jesús Lucena González from the Venezuealan Parliament

- Joe Ryan, Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace, UK

- Francisco Velasco Andrade, former Minister of Culture for Ecuador.

Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Janet Biehl and Andrej Hunko spoke to ANF before the visit to Turkey which is meant to provide contribution to efforts for the ending of the ongoing conflict and re-initiation of peace process.

JEFFREY MILEY: ÖCALAN'S IDEA NEEDED

Academic Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley from the University of Cambridge called attention to the deadlock faced today with regards to the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey, adding; "While Turkey's intellectuals who speak against the escalated conflict and human rights violations are being threatened and suppressed, Turkey faces the risk of witnessing a war like in Syria which would storm through the entire region. This is the very reason why Abdullah Öcalan's idea is needed. His voice is of great importance for peace, and the democratic confederalism model put forward by his side is the only alternative to the atrocity, chaos and war ongoing in the Middle East. For all these reasons, we want to go to İmralı and talk to him."

Pointing to AKP government's failure to embrace the HDP's political project and results of elections, Miley said the followings; "AKP and Erdoğan treated HDP's success as a threat against their authoritarian system. One other factor is the growing sympathy for the Kurdish Freedom Movement that put up brave resistance in Kobanê. These two developments have mobilized the warlike reflexes of those holding the ideological and power tools of the Turkish state which consequently resorted to violence. However, Kurdish Freedom Movement cannot be suppressed and defeated this way."

JANET BIEHL: TURKEY SHOULD RECOGNISE THE RIGHTS OF KURDS

Independent author and copy editor Janet Biehl also called attention to Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan's role in the resolution of the Kurdish question, saying; "The goal of the delegation's visit is to enable the re-initiation of dialogue in order for the resolution of the Kurdish question through peaceful ways. Mr. Öcalan has a major role in this regard. The ongoing aggravated isolation imposed on him since April is anti-democratic and unlawful. There exists an urgent need to end the military operations on Kurdish towns, massacre of Kurdish civilians, isolation on Öcalan and re-initiation of peace process."

Drawing attention to Kurdish people's inalienable right to live freely in their own land with their own identity, Biehl criticised the suppression of Kurdish people's self-rule demand through military ways, adding; "The Turkish state is suppressing the Kurdish minority, denying their existence utterly, bombing Kurdish towns and implementing genocidal policies against Kurds whom it sees as terrorists. It is doing this with merciless atrocity. In this age, the Turkish state should recognise the existence of Kurds and grant them the right to live freely together, which will also bring along democratization."

ANDREJ HUNKO: TURKEY IS COMMITTING A CRIME

Another member of the delegation, Andrej Hunko, member of the German Parliament, put emphasis on the urgent need for both sides to return to the negotiation table, for the accomplishment of which - he said- Öcalan must be free. He noted that they will have a series of talks in Istanbul and Ankara during their visit.

Hunko described the Turkish state's massacres in Kurdistan as unacceptable and a crime according to the international law, adding; "In spite of this bare truth, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has remained silent on Turkey's practices on the excuse of the refugee problem. This is a shame."



State forces in Cizre burn buildings where they committed massacre

Details still remain unclear regarding the massacre Turkish state forces committed in several neighborhoods of Şırnak's Cizre district.

Friday, February 12, 2016 7:00 PM
ŞIRNAK - ANF

Details still remain unclear regarding the massacre Turkish state forces committed in several neighborhoods of Şırnak's Cizre district.

While a total of 110 corpses have been retrieved from several areas around the first and second basements in Cudi neighborhood, no news has been received yet about the situation in the third basement in Sur neighborhood where 23 slain and 23 wounded people were awaiting evacuation. While the area was under fire of state forces when they were last reached yesterday morning, smokes are rising from the street where this third building is located.

As the mentioned building remains on a huge fire that can be seen from the entire town, the people trapped here are guessed to have been massacred. State forces have once again prevented families from reaching the scene earlier today.

HDP Şırnak deputy Faysal Sarıyıldız who is also in the town since the beginning
Saturday, February 13, 2016 11:30 AM
STRASBOURG - ANF

Kurds in Europe flock to the French city of Strasbourg today to condemn the 15 February plot against Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan. A march and rally under the main slogan “Freedom for Öcalan, Status for Kurdistan” will be staged in Strasbourg city today to mark the 17th anniversary of the plot.

Thousands have started to gather at Boulevard de Nancy and Boulervard de Metz along the Central Station of Strasbourg as of early this morning. More from across Europe are still arriving in the city to join the rally which is also supported by revolutionary organisations from Turkey as well as European friends of Kurds.

Demonstrators, mainly made up of women and youths, will also protest the Turkish state's massacre against Kurdish people in Cizre and other North Kurdistan towns under siege.

Besides banners in French, German, Kurdish and Turkish that condemn the international plot against the Kurdish leader, protesters are also carrying flags of Kurdish movements PKK, KCK, HPG, YPG and YPJ.

The march to Parking des Vanneaux will begin soon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQjw5JhG_58#t=59




Saturday, February 13, 2016 10:30 AM
NEWS DESK - ANF

PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) leader Abdullah Öcalan who was brought to Turkey as a result of an international conspiracy on 15 February 1999 remains in isolation in İmralı Island Prison since.

An international delegation led by South African Leader Nelson Mandela's lawyer Essa Moosa from the International Peace and Reconciliation Initiative has planned a three-day visit to Turkey on February 14th to contribute efforts for the ending of the isolation on the Kurdish leader and the ongoing war in North Kurdistan.

The 11-person delegation which will arrive in Istanbul tomorrow will meet committees from HDP, CHP and AKP before being granted a visit to the Island of İmralı on 16 February. Judge Essa Moosa will be accompanied by the following names during the three-day talks in Turkey;

- Independent author, copy editor, and graphic artist Janet Biehl from America

- Political activist, writer and publisher Dimitri Roussopoulos from Canada, co-founder of International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace

- Academic Federico Venturini from the University of Leeds, UK,

- Academic Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley from the University of Cambridge, UK

- Social justice activist Dr. Radha D’Souza from UK

- Andrej Hunko, member of the German Parliament, Bundestag

- Author Eirik Eiglad from the New Compass, Norway

- Edgar de Jesús Lucena González from the Venezuealan Parliament

- Joe Ryan, Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace, UK

- Francisco Velasco Andrade, former Minister of Culture for Ecuador.

Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Janet Biehl and Andrej Hunko spoke to ANF before the visit to Turkey which is meant to provide contribution to efforts for the ending of the ongoing conflict and re-initiation of peace process.

JEFFREY MILEY: ÖCALAN'S IDEA NEEDED

Academic Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley from the University of Cambridge called attention to the deadlock faced today with regards to the resolution of the Kurdish question in Turkey, adding; "While Turkey's intellectuals who speak against the escalated conflict and human rights violations are being threatened and suppressed, Turkey faces the risk of witnessing a war like in Syria which would storm through the entire region. This is the very reason why Abdullah Öcalan's idea is needed. His voice is of great importance for peace, and the democratic confederalism model put forward by his side is the only alternative to the atrocity, chaos and war ongoing in the Middle East. For all these reasons, we want to go to İmralı and talk to him."

Pointing to AKP government's failure to embrace the HDP's political project and results of elections, Miley said the followings; "AKP and Erdoğan treated HDP's success as a threat against their authoritarian system. One other factor is the growing sympathy for the Kurdish Freedom Movement that put up brave resistance in Kobanê. These two developments have mobilized the warlike reflexes of those holding the ideological and power tools of the Turkish state which consequently resorted to violence. However, Kurdish Freedom Movement cannot be suppressed and defeated this way."

JANET BIEHL: TURKEY SHOULD RECOGNISE THE RIGHTS OF KURDS

Independent author and copy editor Janet Biehl also called attention to Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan's role in the resolution of the Kurdish question, saying; "The goal of the delegation's visit is to enable the re-initiation of dialogue in order for the resolution of the Kurdish question through peaceful ways. Mr. Öcalan has a major role in this regard. The ongoing aggravated isolation imposed on him since April is anti-democratic and unlawful. There exists an urgent need to end the military operations on Kurdish towns, massacre of Kurdish civilians, isolation on Öcalan and re-initiation of peace process."

Drawing attention to Kurdish people's inalienable right to live freely in their own land with their own identity, Biehl criticised the suppression of Kurdish people's self-rule demand through military ways, adding; "The Turkish state is suppressing the Kurdish minority, denying their existence utterly, bombing Kurdish towns and implementing genocidal policies against Kurds whom it sees as terrorists. It is doing this with merciless atrocity. In this age, the Turkish state should recognise the existence of Kurds and grant them the right to live freely together, which will also bring along democratization."

ANDREJ HUNKO: TURKEY IS COMMITTING A CRIME

Another member of the delegation, Andrej Hunko, member of the German Parliament, put emphasis on the urgent need for both sides to return to the negotiation table, for the accomplishment of which - he said- Öcalan must be free. He noted that they will have a series of talks in Istanbul and Ankara during their visit.

Hunko described the Turkish state's massacres in Kurdistan as unacceptable and a crime according to the international law, adding; "In spite of this bare truth, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has remained silent on Turkey's practices on the excuse of the refugee problem. This is a shame."



State forces in Cizre burn buildings where they committed massacre

Details still remain unclear regarding the massacre Turkish state forces committed in several neighborhoods of Şırnak's Cizre district.

Friday, February 12, 2016 7:00 PM
ŞIRNAK - ANF

Details still remain unclear regarding the massacre Turkish state forces committed in several neighborhoods of Şırnak's Cizre district.

While a total of 110 corpses have been retrieved from several areas around the first and second basements in Cudi neighborhood, no news has been received yet about the situation in the third basement in Sur neighborhood where 23 slain and 23 wounded people were awaiting evacuation. While the area was under fire of state forces when they were last reached yesterday morning, smokes are rising from the street where this third building is located.

As the mentioned building remains on a huge fire that can be seen from the entire town, the people trapped here are guessed to have been massacred. State forces have once again prevented families from reaching the scene earlier today.

HDP Şırnak deputy Faysal Sarıyıldız who is also in the town since the beginning of the most recent curfew two months ago, posted the followings on his Twitter account; “Interior Minister announced the ending of operations in Cizre yesterday. Yet, houses are being burnt today. Are the evidences of crimes being obfuscated?”

of the most recent curfew two months ago, posted the followings on his Twitter account; “Interior Minister announced the ending of operations in Cizre yesterday. Yet, houses are being burnt today. Are the evidences of crimes being obfuscated?”

[John Dolva]

American Tanks Will Leave Diyarbakir

Local residents in Diyarbakir are voicing their anger at the United States and European countries for providing Turkey with weapons while failing to condemn its security services’ attacks against civilians – reports an article from Özgür Gündem.

As the resistance in the Sûr district of Diyarbakir concludes its 69th day, Turkish state security forces are continuing to use tanks purchased from the United States and Europe on the condition they be not used against civilians in order to bombard civilian populations in their homes.

Residents of Sûr have reacted to the presence of American tanks in their neighborhood, claiming that the United States and all other countries which sell weapons to Turkey while ignoring these attacks share some responsibility for the massacres which have taken place.

Fesih Kaya from the Lalebey neighborhood in Sûr, for example, said that such countries will pay a price for these attacks in the international courts together with Turkey, adding that although it is widely known that these weapons are being used against civilians there has been no public condemnation or intervention from the international community: “The United States and Nato are a party to these war crimes” he said, “they are both providing the weapons and then ignoring these attacks.”

Mehmet Tayrak, a resident of of the Alipaşa neighborhood, noted how shelling by tanks had completely destroyed his home and claimed that Turkey had committed war crimes, adding that “it is not us who will leave our living spaces but the American and European tanks which are being used to carry out war crimes.”

These Streets Are For Children, Not Tanks

A third local resident of Sûr, Remziye Ay, said that they would not leave their homes despite the attacks from these tanks, saying “this war will end and these places will still belong to us. Tanks are passing up and down these streets when it should be children. The United States and the countries of the European Union which talk about human rights have transformed the living spaces of these children into war zones.

Finally Sûr resident Aynur Atman lamented how the streets on which she had grown up in Sûr were not full of tanks.

[John Dolva]

The following is an interesting article because under the Dictatorship of Erdogan, while his extreme bigotry is well known, it is very dangerous to upset him, (iow to talk openly about him in ways that are not flattering). He's a very cowardly killer. It will be interesting to see how this person fares.


"President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been using ISIS to advance his Middle East policy and suppress the Kurds, and Ankara’s elite maintains vibrant economic ties with the terror group and harbors its militants, a Turkish MP has told Russian media.
TrendsIslamic State

“Erdogan uses ISIS [islamic State/IS, also known as ISIS/ISIL] against the Kurds. He can’t send the Turkish Army directly to Syrian Kurdistan, but he can use ISIS as an instrument against the Kurds. He has a greater Ottoman Empire in his mind, that’s his dream, while ISIS is one of the instruments [to achieve it],” Selma Irmak, a Turkish MP from the Peace and Democracy Party told RIA Novosti on Monday.

There are many signs that the Turkish leadership is aiding Islamic State and benefiting from it, Irmak argued.
Read more
FILE PHOTO © Mahmoud Hassano Turkey ‘won’t let’ Azaz, Syria, fall to Kurdish militia, shells YPG targets for 3rd day

“Wounded militants are given medical treatment in Turkey. For ISIS, Turkey is a very important supply channel. They are allowed to pass through the Turkish border, being given IDs [and other documents],” she added.

“ISIS has training camps in Turkey,” Irmak stressed, citing other examples of Turkey providing IS with certain capabilities, including the fact that all militants go back and forth into Syria through Turkish territory.

Both the Turkish elite and the terrorist group enjoy economic ties as well, Irmak argued.

“ISIS’ oil is sold via Turkey. All of ISIS’ external [trade] operations are being carried out via Turkey and involve not only oil.” Part of the terrorist group’s criminal business trafficking hostages as well as female slaves of Yazidi and Assyrian minorities, while “the government is, of course, well aware of it,” she added.

More proof could be the absence of any violence between the Turkish military and Islamic State militants.

Syrian army advances into #Raqqa seizing strategically important areas in anti-ISIS assault https://t.co/LgPTgLUHfrpic.twitter.com/ZbnrqsBNhy
— RT (@RT_com) February 15, 2016

“ISIS never attacked Turkish positions and claimed no responsibility for terror attacks in Turkey’s cities. There were three large terror attacks [in 2015] in Diyarbakir, Suruc and Ankara. Each attack caused harm to the Kurds and opposition activists supporting them,” the MP noted.

Turkey only intervened when the Kurds retook territory from the IS-held Kurdish city of Tell Abyad in northern Syria.

“Turkish warplanes formally bombarded the ISIS-held territory and conducted two airstrikes to show it fights the Islamic State. And in the meantime, Turkey made 65 airstrikes on Qandil [the PKK stronghold in mountainous northern Iraq].”

According to Irmak, Ankara feels free to take on the Kurds because the West is unwilling to harm its interests in the region and beyond.

“Unfortunately, the international community is indifferent towards these events. Turkey has taken Europe prisoner by using Middle Eastern refugees as an instrument of blackmail. The US keeps silent too, having common interests with Turkey. For instance, the US wants to keep using the Incirlik airbase […] and the Turkish Army is emboldened by such impunity.” "

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 11:35 AM
ISTANBUL - ANF

The 11-person international delegation that has been on a three-day visit to Turkey to make efforts for the re-initiation of peace talks has returned without getting a response for their demand to visit Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı prison.

The delegation led by South African Leader Nelson Mandela's lawyer Judge Essa Moosa conveyed to the Ministry of Justice their request for a meeting Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı, but wasn't answered.

Yesterday, members of the delegation today held a press conference in Istanbul where they voiced disappointment over the Justice Ministry's abstinence from any effort to have a talk with their side.

Regarding the delegation's demand to visit Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan in İmralı Prison, Moosa said they had already applied to the Ministry of Justice for a meeting with Öcalan who plays a major role in peace process, but the Ministry said they haven't received the letter yet.

The delegation therewith sent another letter to the Ministry yesterday. Still, they received no response to the application conveyed by their side on 30 January, upon which they have ended the visit and left Istanbul last night. The delegation had reiterated their request for İmralı visit on 3, 5 and 13 February.



Monday, February 15, 2016 9:00 AM
NEWS DESK - ANF

On 15 February 1999, Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was captured in Kenya by Turkish special agents acting in connection with CIA and Mossad, while en route from the Greek embassy to Nairobi airport. The capture of Turkey’s “enemy number one” was claimed by the authorities in Ankara as their victory against the Kurds who had been waging a mass uprising against the policies of denial and discrimination; a struggle Öcalan had led since the 1980s. The capture of their leader was regarded by the Kurds as the outcome of an “international conspiracy” involving the security services of several nations including the CIA, MI5 and Mossad.

Öcalan's capture was followed by a show trial during which Turkish prosecutors sought to portray the Kurdish leader as a "terrorist". Instead, Öcalan used his defence to articulate the case for peace and reconciliation between Turks and Kurds based on the recognition of Kurds' cultural and national differences within a unitary state.

For many years Öcalan was held in solitary confinement in hazardous conditions on Imrali island off the coast of Istanbul. His health condition was said to be deteriorating because of the harsh environment of the prison. But despite all his personal difficulties, Öcalan has continued to play a central role in Turkey's politics and exerts an influence among the Kurdish movement that cannot be ignored. He has advocated a negotiated settlement by putting forward detailed proposals calling on both sides to take steps to bring about a permanent end to the conflict. He has used his stature among the Kurds to urge repeated unilateral ceasefires on Kurdish guerrillas to give peace a chance which they have repeatedly adopted in the face of continued aggression by the Turkish military.

Insisting that he is a political prisoner, Öcalan and the Kurdish national movement have maintained a consistent stand for a peaceful conclusion to the conflict based on the achievement of justice for the Kurdish people. Through continuous discussions their proposals have evolved into the current demand for “democratic autonomy” inside Turkey, a policy which envisages the granting of local decision-making powers in the regions through social and cultural rights such as the use of the Kurdish language and mother tongue education, thus fulfilling longstanding key Kurdish demands.

What is clear is that Turkey, since Öcalan’s detention has failed to achieve the elimination of the Kurdish movement, just as it has failed in its insistence on seeing Abdullah Öcalan as a criminal or terrorist. Talks between Öcalan and representatives of the Turkish state underlined the gradual realisation on the Turkish side that Öcalan’s influence remains crucial to achieving an end to this protracted conflict.

[John Dolva]

YPG denies involvement in Ankara attack

YPG General Command said they have no links to the Ankara attack, remarking that Davutoğlu put forward this accusation to pave the way for an offensive on Rojava and Syria.

Thursday, February 18, 2016 11:35 AM
NEWS DESK - ANF

The General Command of YPG (People's Defense Units) has released a statement in response to Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu who blamed the YPG for yesterday's attack in the heart of Turkish capital Ankara which left 28 people dead and 64 others wounded.

YPG General Command said they have no links to the attack, remarking that Davutoğlu put forward this accusation to pave the way for an offensive on Rojava and Syria. The General Command stressed that YPG hasn't engaged in any kind of military activity against the Turkish state so far in spite of all its attacks and provocations.

We hereby publish the full text of the related statement by YPG General Command;

"As is known to our people and the public opinion, Rojava revolution has entered its 4th year. As YPG forces, we are protecting our people in Rojava region from the very first day on. Under challenging conditions, we are protecting our people from barbaric gangs such as ISIS and Al-Nusra. Countless states and media outlets have repeatedly reported about the support Turkey has been providing to these terrorist groups. Apart from the terrorist groups attacking us, we as YPG have engaged in no military activity against the neighboring states or other forces. Despite all its provocations and attacks on Rojava border, we have acted with historic responsibility and never retailated Turkey. During the past 4 years, Rojava is the safest area of Turkey-Syria border, and there has been no military action conducted by our side during this period. This truth is best known to the Turkish military and AKP government. They are deliberately distorting the truths and holding us responsible for the explosion in Ankara.

We would like to reiterate our message to the peoples of Turkey and the world; We have no links to this incident. It is not specific to this case alone, as we have never been involved in an attack against Turkey. The Turkish state cannot possibly prove our engagement in any kind of attack on their side because we were never involved in such an action. Turkish Prime Minister Davutoğlu's remarks "Ankara attack was conducted by YPG" is a lie and far away from the truths. With this statement, Davutoğlu wants to pave the way for an offensive on Syria and Rojava, and to cover up their relations with the ISIS which is known to the whole world by now.

As People's Defense Units-YPG, we state once again that we have no links to the explosion in Ankara, and we call upon all neighboring states and forces to respect the Rojava revolution and will of peoples."

[John Dolva]

Evidently Turkeys Dictator (Erdogan) continues to lie about his close ties to terrorists, supporting Washingtons latest attempts to destroy Syria:

THE UNITED NATIONS, February 18. /TASS/. Turkey may provide training to terrorists of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) not only for fighting in Syria but for their further possible transfer to Russia, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the UN Vitaly Churkin said in a letter to the world organization’s Security Council.

"Reportedly, representatives of ISIL - with the help from the Turkish intelligence services - have established an extensive network in Antalya for the recruitment of individuals who have arrived in Turkey from the post-Soviet States, to enable their participation in the Syrian conflict and possible transfer to Russia," says the letter posted on the UN Official Documents System Search on Wednesday.

Churkin provided names of recruiters, with natives of Russia and Azerbaijan among them.

"They are led by a Russian Federation national, Ruslan Rastyamovich Khaibullov (also known as Baris Abdul or by the pseudonym ‘The Teacher’), born on 1 April 1978 in Tatarstan. He lives with his family in Antalya. He has a Turkish permanent residence permit," he wrote in the letter.

Recruitment "takes place with the knowledge of the temporary detention center administration" in Antalya.

"If a detainee agrees to accept Islam and engage in terrorist activity, the recruiters promise to ‘make a deal’ with the Turkish law enforcement agencies and offer, free of charge, the services of a Turkish lawyer, Tahir Tosolar," the diplomat said.

In the meantime, another Turkish national named Sultan Kekhursaev, a Chechen, makes visits to those detention centers as well.

Russia’s envoy said that in September 2014 a group of over 1,000 fighters of the Islamic State terrorist group, "who had come from countries in Europe and Central Asia" were allowed to cross into Syria from Turkey in the locality of at Alikaila (Gaziantep).

The routes of militants’ crossings pass in the vicinity of the Turkish-Syrian border through Antakya, Reyhanl·, Topaz, Sanl·urfa and Hatay.

Besides, since last December the Turkish intelligence services have organized "an air route for moving ISIL fighters from Syria through Turkey to Yemen using Turkish military air transport," the letter says.

"An alternative means of transporting fighters is by sea to the Yemeni port of Aden," Churkin said.

Besides, Churkin mentions in the letter training camps in the Turkish province of Hatay, where the country’s intelligence services had assisted to set up camps "to gather illegal migrants and provide training in preparation for the dispatch of extremist gangs to Syria."

Russia’s ambassador to the UN pointed out that the militants wounded in Syria had been undergoing treatment and were provided with rest places in Turkey’s areas neighboring Syria. Thus, in Gaziantep "at least 700 fighters" underwent rehabilitation.

Along with this, Churkin exposed a scheme of weapons supplies to terrorists in Syria through Turkish funds - Insan Hak Ve Hurriyetleri Ve Insani Yardim Vakfi (IHH), Imkander and Oncu Nesil Insani Yardim Dernegi.

Supplies of weapons, military hardware and ammunition "are arriving from abroad via the Turkish port of Iskenderun," he said. Then the military equipment is transported from there through the Hatay Province (Oncupinar border crossing) to the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib on the trucks belonging to these Turkish funds. Churkin listed the vehicle registration plates in his letter. Later on, in Syria the weapons and ammunition are distributed among Turkmen fighters.

Russia’s envoy said that weapons and medicines were transported through the Ceylanp·nar border checking point in the Reyhanl· district.

On September 15, 2014 the shipment was escorted via the Turkish territory "by a vehicle carrying MIT personnel (Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization eds. TASS)."




Thursday, February 18, 2016 2:20 PM
NEWS DESK - ANF

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 500 Islamist fighters on Wednesday crossed the Turkish border and headed for the Syrian town of Azaz in northern Aleppo province. Trusted sources confirmed to the observatory that the fighters’ moving was under the supervision of the Turkish authorities.

The Syrian Observatory published also on the 15th of February that about 350 fighters of a rebel faction armed with light and heavy weapons, entered through Atamah military border crossing in the northern countryside of Aleppo. Accordingly, some of them reached the town of Tall Rifat accompanied by modern weapon, and Turkish authorities allowed them to pass and oversaw their transition process from the countryside of Idlib to the northern countryside of Aleppo through its territory.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel, told Agence France-Presse that; “At least 500 rebels have crossed the Bab al-Salam border crossing on their way to the town of Azaz, from which they want to help the insurgents in the face of gains made by Kurdish forces in the north of the province.”

On the other hand, another report by Reuters stated that Syrian rebels have brought at least 2,000 reinforcements through Turkey in the past week to bolster the fight against Kurdish-led militias north of Aleppo, rebel sources said on Thursday.

Turkish forces facilitated the transfer from one front to another over several nights, covertly escorting rebels as they exited Syria's Idlib governorate, traveled four hours across Turkey, and re-entered Syria to support the embattled rebel stronghold of Azaz, the sources said.

"We have been allowed to move everything from light weapons to heavy equipment, mortars and missiles and our tanks," Abu Issa, a commander in the Levant Front, the rebel group that runs the border crossing of Bab al-Salama, told Reuters, giving his alias and talking on condition of anonymity.

[John Dolva]

Friday, February 19, 2016 2:45 PM
ŞIRNAK - ANF

Despite the AKP’s attempts to cover up the massacres in Cizre, more evidence has emerged on the banks of the Tigris River today. Body parts belonging to the people massacred in the basements of savagery were dumped along the riverside.

Evidence of AKP massacres, that the Turkish Constitutional Court as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) approved, emerges and clarifies the details of the Turkish state’s savagery. State forces breaking all laws of war and employing brutal tactics that are more savage than those of ISIS, massacred people trapped in basements and dumped their body parts along the banks of the Tigris River.

Residents of Cizre were shocked when they discovered the body parts dumped by state forces. Numerous arms, legs and other body parts were found, and Cizre residents began to collect them for burial purposes.

Local sources report that Turkish state forces cleared rubbles of destroyed buildings as well as body parts, and dumped everything along the river. Bomb parts were also found at the riverbank, where residents expect to discover more body parts in the near future.

[John Dolva]

20.02.2016 15:14 News

EFRÎN – The Turkish army continues shelling Efrîn Canton and providing munition to the gang groups who are preparing to launch an intensive attack on the canton.

The Turkish army has been shelling the neighborhoods of Efrîn near the border for one week. The Turkish forces launched their attacks after fighters of Ceyş El-Siwar, that recently joined Democratic Syria Forces, defeated gangs of Jabhat Al-Nusra and Ahrar Al-Sham in the northern regions of Aleppo.

Receiving military support from Turkey, the gangs of Nusra and Ahrar are now consolidating their powers to launch an intensive attack on Efrîn, espeacially near Dêr Belût village of Cindirês.