NEWS
1. Turkey admits mistake in deadly air strike
2. Turkey kills ‘smugglers’ in air strike aimed at Kurdish guerrillas
3. 35 Kurdish civilians killed by Turkish warplanes – Video
4. Diyarbakır and Yüksekova demos attacked by police
5. PKK: No guerrilla activity in the area of massacre
6. Demirtaş: KCK trial led by Ankara, not the court
7. Lawyer says KCK case overshadowed
8. Released journalist says evidence is fabricated
9. Kurds in Turkey: arrests and violence threaten to radicalise a generation
10. Lawyers: There is no such law or evidence, only a secret witness
11. Turkish crackdown on Kurdish journalists
12. KCK Operations: 36 People Arrested
13. Kurdish political activist Eyyüp Doru arrested
14. OSCE media freedom representative asks for justification of mass arrests of journalists in Turkey
15. Expert: Tamil Solution for PKK Does Not Work
16. Turkey devises new methods of struggle against Kurds?
17. Mandatory Turkish puts Kurdish pupils at disadvantage
18. Turkish deputy PM: “Denial of Kurdish identity in the past resulted in the torture and killings of Kurds”
19. Turkey aims to limit France’s Mideast role
20. New Kurdish Council set agenda for Syria
21. Exxon Mobil-Kurd oil deal spat spotlights Iraq’s juggling act between politics and investment
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
22. The Epidemic of Terrorism under Turkey’s Mubarak
23. Kurdish politics in the shadows
24. Leyla Zana: We demanded autonomy, but today we believe it is not enough
25. Is model Turkey sliding into authoritarianism?
26. Arab world: forecast for 2012
27. What will happen to Kurds?
28. Turkish deep state and Greek forest fires 29. Robert Fisk: Turkey’s long road to reconciliation
30. The desperate plight of Iraq’s Assyrians and other minorities
STATEMENTS
31. EUTCC press release on the arrest of European BDP representative Eyyüp Doru
32. CPJ writes to PM Erdogan condemning journalist arrests
33. Euskal PEN Kluba (Basque PEN) releases statement on journalist arrests
NEWS
1. Turkey admits mistake in deadly air strike
29 December 2011 / Al Jazeera
A Turkish air raid that killed at least 35 people in a Kurdish-dominated village in the country’s southeast mistakenly hit a group of smugglers rather than separatist fighters as was intended, the ruling party says. Huseyin Celik, a spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party, said that those killed in the strike on Thursday “were not terrorists” and that officials are now investigating possible intelligence failures which led to the incident. He expressed regret for the deaths and suggested that the government could compensate the victims. “If it turns out to have been a mistake, a blunder, rest assured that this will not be covered up,” he told reporters, adding that it could have been an “operational accident” by the Turkish military.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/12/20111229824112567.html
2. Turkey kills ‘smugglers’ in air strike aimed at Kurdish guerrillas
29 December 2011 / Guardian
Up to 35 people are reported to have been killed by the Turkish air force in an attack along the country’s south-eastern border with Iraq, with claims that many of the dead were smugglers mistaken for Kurdish militants. The air strike on Wednesday night was launched after unmanned drones spotted a group of people moving in the area and occurred in a region where guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) are regularly attacked by Turkish forces.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/29/turkey-kurds-air-strike-pkk
3. 35 Kurdish civilians killed by Turkish warplanes – Video
29 December 2011 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
35 Kurdish civilians have been killed by Turkish warplanes in last night’s raid, local sources tell us. Sirnak City Council Deputy Chair Erset Edis has said in a statement, “The bodies were burnt to a crisp. Vehicles cannot go into the area due to severe snow. People are trying to reach the area by their own means”. The footage below shows bodies piled on top of each other in a truck, with families crying and weeping for their lost ones.
http://kurdishrights.org/2011/12/29/35-kurdish-civillians-killed-by-turkish-warplanes-video/
4. Diyarbakır and Yüksekova demos attacked by police
29 December 2011 / ANF
A demonstration in Diyarbakır organized to protest against the massacre carried out by
Turkish warplanes in the province of ùırnak (village of Roboski) on Wednesday night has been heavily attached by police. At least 10 thousand people took to the street in the main Kurdish city to protest at the latest massacre which claimed the life of 35 people, many very young. Police attacked the crowd and BDP city co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt has been wounded along many other people.
http://en.firatnews.eu/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=3797
5. PKK: No guerrilla activity in the area of massacre
29 December 2011 / ANF
In a statement to ANF about the air assault of the Turkish army which has killed at least 36 civilians on 28 December night, HPG (People’s Defense Forces) Command Member Bahoz Erdal contradicted the statement released by the Turkish General Staff. Bahoz Erdal said that “There is a distance of at least 10 km between the real scene of the slaughter and the alleged Sınaht area of Haftanin. The slaughter was carried out in the border region of Serê Saş close to the Roboskî village.”
http://en.firatnews.eu/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=3799
(Above are only a small number of selected articles from online news agencies relating to the massacre in Uludere, with the last articles added at 6pm on 29 December 2011. For the latest developments and a list of all related news articles from around the world, follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/brdggkh)
6. Demirtaş: KCK trial led by Ankara, not the court
26 December 2011 / ANF
BDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, DTK Co-chair and Mardin MP Ahmet Türk, DTK Co-chair and Van MP Aysel Tuğluk, BDP Muş MP Sırrı Sakık and BDP Diyarbakır Co-chair Zübeyde Zümrüt are attending the main trial of the ‘KCK’ case where 152 Kurdish politicians stand trial. Making a statement before the trial in Diyarbakır, BDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş started his speech remarking that not a single progress has been made although the trial continues for the last three years.
http://en.firatnews.com/index.php?rupel=article&nuceID=3784
7. Lawyer says KCK case overshadowed
27 December 2011 / Turkish Weekly
One of the defense lawyers in the ongoing Kurdistan Communities Union/Turkey Council (KCK/TM) trial yesterday requested a criminal complaint against Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay for his earlier comments on the case. “The legislation has overshadowed the judiciary with Atalay’s statement. We expect the court to take a stance against this. We demand a criminal complaint be filed,” said Mehmet Emin Aktar, head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association and one of the defense lawyers in the KCK probe. The court, however, turned down his request.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/128835/lawyer-says-kck-case-overshadowed.html
8. Released journalist says evidence is fabricated
27 December 2011 / Turkish Weekly
One of the journalists detained last week within the scope of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) trials said she was questioned on her connections to Kurdish ROJ TV and the Fırat news agency while in custody. “Neither we nor our lawyers could obtain any information regarding our file due to the decision of confidentiality, which has become standard fare in all political trials,” Arzu Demir said in the article she pennedafter her release.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/128824/released-journalist-says-evidence-is-fabricated.html
9. Kurds in Turkey: arrests and violence threaten to radicalise a generation
29 December 2011 / Guardian
Since the beginning of the Arab uprising Turkey has been held up as a blueprint for the emerging Middle Eastern democracies to copy. But many observers question whether its treatment of its Kurdish minority gives it the right to be treated as a role model. This year more than 4,000 people have been arrested under arbitrary terrorism charges, including dozens of journalists arrested last week, military operations against Kurdish separatists have intensified, with at least 27 killed in December alone, and guerrillas have stepped up violent attacks on security forces and civilians.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/28/kurds-turkey-arrests-violence-radicalise?intcmp=239
10. Lawyers: There is no such law or evidence, only a secret witness
27 December 2011 / Dicle News Agency
The results of the Police raids to DİHA, Etkin Agency, Özgür Gündem daily) and Azadiya Welat daily, Demokratik Modernite Montly Magazine, and Fırat Distribution Company, on the 20th of December which ended in 35 journalists being arrested are continued to be condemned.
http://www.diclehaber.com/2/22/1/viewNews/288198
11. Turkish crackdown on Kurdish journalists
22 December 2011 / Index on Censorship
In the latest wave of arrests of those the state claims are linked to the separatist group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), 41 people were detained across Turkey on Monday including many journalists. Initial reports placed the number of media workers arrested at 25, but this number rose in the aftermath of the crackdown. Mustafa Özer, the Agence France-Presse photographer, was among those detained in the operation, which is reported to have taken place in the wee hours of the day. Dicle News Agency’s offices in İstanbul, Ankara, Diyarbakır, Van, İzmir and Adana were raided and ten staff members were detained, including the agency’s news director, editor in chief and various reporters.
http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2011/12/turkish-crackdown-on-kurdish-journalists/
12. KCK Operations: 36 People Arrested
26 December 2011 / Bianet
Most of them journalists working for Dicle News Agency (DİHA), Özgür Gündem daily and dissident publications, 36 people have been arrested and sent to jail by an Istanbul court. They were taken under custody during the latest wave against the alleged pro-Kurdish organization KCK, last Tuesday. Suspects were interrogated at by the prosecutor’s office on Friday, where seven among them were released.
http://bianet.org/english/freedom-of-expression/135025-kck-operations-36-people-arrested
13. Kurdish political activist Eyyüp Doru arrested
24 December 2011 / Kurdish Alliance
Eyyüp Doru has been arrested in Germany because of an arrest warrant issued on Interpol in 2007. BDP representative in Europe has said toANF, “Mr. Doru was arrested on 15 December after his car was stopped by police in Münich city where he was going to appear in the BDP delegation to meet with Diyarbakır MP Leyla Zana.” Adding,“Our representative Eyyüp Doru is a Kurdish politician who has been living in Europe and never been to Turkey for more than 25 years.”
http://kurdishrights.org/2011/12/24/kurdish-political-activist-eyyup-doru-arrested/
14. OSCE media freedom representative asks for justification of mass arrests of journalists in Turkey
20 December 2011 / OSCE
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, said she was alarmed by the mass arrests of journalists in Turkey today and called for swift investigations. “It is important to know exactly why these media professionals were arrested. Although governments have an unquestioned right to fight terrorism, it should be carried out without silencing the press and curbing the public’s right to be informed. This right includes reporting on sensitive issues, such as terrorism,” the Representative said.
http://www.osce.org/fom/86437
15. Expert: Tamil Solution for PKK Does Not Work
23 December 2011 / Rudaw
Professor Henri Barkey told Rudaw in an interview that the idea of isolating and weakening the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) will not work. “A Tamil solution is not in the cards for Turkey,” he said, in reference to Sri Lanka’s fierce military operations that defeated Tamil rebels in 2009, ending a 25-year war. “You can weaken the PKK temporarily, but chances are it will come back stronger.” Henri Barkey is professor of international relations at Lehigh University. He served as member of the US State Department policy planning staff and intelligence, working primarily on the Middle East, from 1998 to 2000. He has taught at several prominent US universities and wrote several books, among them Turkey’s Kurdish Question with Graham Fuller.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/4254.html
16. Turkey devises new methods of struggle against Kurds?
26 December 2011 / Panarmenian.net
Ankara hosted a meeting of Turkish diplomatic missions in foreign countries, with the struggle against Kurdish militants among priority issues on discussion agenda. The Turkish dimplomats were instructed to continue with anti-Kurdish policy line while upholding democracy principles, seeing as “European states are using Kurds to counter Turkish authorities.”
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/87637/
17. Mandatory Turkish puts Kurdish pupils at disadvantage
28 December 2011 / Guardian
In a village in eastern Turkey at 8.30 in the morning, around 20 children gather outside a small square building for the daily anit, the student pledge: “I am a Turk, I am honest, I am hardworking.” It is cold, and some of the smaller children shiver while they repeat the lines after one of their classmates. Since 1972, the pledge ends with Ataturk’s famous line: “How happy is the one who says ‘I am a Turk.'” Yet not one of the children – or the teachers – is Turkish. There are an estimated 11-15 million Kurds in Turkey. In schools they have to speak Turkish. And that, according to teachers at this small, rural primary school, is where the problems begin.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/28/mandatory-turkish-kurdish-pupils-disadvantage?intcmp=239
18. Turkish deputy PM: “Denial of Kurdish identity in the past resulted in the torture and killings of Kurds”
23 December 2011 / Times.am
Turkish Deputy PM Bulent Arinc announced during his speech in Parliament that more rights should be given to the Kurdish minority in Turkey. “All ethnic groups in the country will be granted all constitutional rights”, Hurriyet announced Arınç as saying. “Anybody who lives in this land, be they Kurds, Arabs or Bosniaks, should be comfortable in revealing their identity. We will respect that identity. We will grant and acknowledge all the cultural and constitutional rights of that identity,” Arınc announced.
http://times.am/?l=en&p=3222
19. Turkey aims to limit France’s Mideast role
26 December 2011 / Turkish Weekly
Turkey’s sanctions aim at limiting French presence in the Mideast and Caucasus and will remain even if the French Senate disapproves the ‘genocide’ bill. Turkey’s military and political sanctions against France over the adoption of a controversial “genocide” bill aim to limit French influence in the Middle East and Caucasus, two important regions associated with ongoing ethnic and sectarian conflicts. Immediately after the French Parliament voted Dec. 22 in favour of a bill penalizing the denial of the 1915 events as genocide, the Turkish government announced that it would retaliate in kind with sanctions falling into eight categories. Four of them are military-related, three are political and the last spells out the cancelation of an economic and trade meeting.
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/128798/turkey-aims-to-limit-france%C3%ADs-mideast-role.html
20. New Kurdish Council set agenda for Syria
28 December 2011 / Rudaw
Abdusalam Ahmed, the co-leader of the new National Council announced last week that they have stepped closer to the Kurdish National Council and other political parties based outside Syria. Ahmed made this announcement following the Council’s first major conference since its foundation this month. Ahmed said that his and the Kurdish council have some common ideas to solve the Kurdish issue in Syria and that a joint committee will be formed for this purpose.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/syria/4270.html
21. Exxon Mobil-Kurd oil deal spat spotlights Iraq’s juggling act between politics and investment
28 December 2011 / Washington Post
An oil exploration deal between U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region is fueling political tensions in a country where a post-U.S.-troop withdrawal spike in violence and political turmoil is clouding the climate for foreign investments sorely needed by Iraq. Baghdad’s anger over the deal highlights the long-simmering power struggle between the Kurdish and central governments. The dispute is building momentum as Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki faces criticism over his stewardship of a country where, years after the 2003 U.S.-led war to topple Saddam Hussein, development remains a distant dream for millions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/exxon-mobil-kurd-oil-deal-spat-spotlights-iraqs-juggling-act-between-politics-and-investment/2011/12/28/gIQAzbbrLP_story.html
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
22. The Epidemic of Terrorism under Turkey’s Mubarak
27 December 2011 / Mrzine
A new epidemic has broken out in Turkey. It’s called “terrorism.” This ideologically transmitted disease (ITD) appears to be extremely infectious. Otherwise how can we explain the large and growing number of terrorists in the country? The Associated Press carried out a survey on terrorism convictions in the world. The figures are worrying. According to the findings of the survey, at least 35,000 people were convicted of terrorism in the world in the last ten years. 12,897 of them were convicted in Turkey. (For comparison, China, with a population of 1.3 billion, has 7,000 people convicted of terrorism.) In other words, Turkey alone accounted for one third of the world total. A rough estimate shows the size of the epidemic of terrorism in Turkey: of every 5,500 Turkish citizens, one is a terrorist.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/buglalilar271211.html
23. Kurdish politics in the shadows
24 December 2011 / Kurdish Globe
Given no voice in Turkish sovereignty, Kurds in Turkey face arrests and political oppressions. With the decision to work on drafting a new Turkish constitution, the Kurdish public expected a positive reply on the Kurdish issue and military attacks against the PKK. But while Turkey escalates its military operations, the Turkish police launched simultaneous operations on December 20 in the central and branch offices of pro-Kurdish media, mainly Dicle and Etik news agencies, “Ozgur Gundem,” the daily newspaper, “Democratic Modernity,” a magazine, and the Gun printing office, detaining 58 pro-Kurdish political activists, 42 of them reporters and media workers.
http://www.kurdishglobe.net/display-article.html?id=923EE00D406523FC014014A02B21BADC
24. Leyla Zana: We demanded autonomy, but today we believe it is not enough
27 December 2011 / Rudaw
Last week, Rudaw met with prominent Kurdish politician and MP Layla Zana. Zana was in Munich, Germany to attend a conference about the history of Kurdish migration to Europe. In an interview, Zana discussed the current political situation in Turkey and the Kurdish struggle for self-determination.
http://www.rudaw.net/english/news/turkey/4265.html
25. Is model Turkey sliding into authoritarianism?
26 December 2011 / The Christian Science Monitor
All of them are among the mounting number of Turkish lawyers, politicians, journalists, and academics put behind bars in recent months on dubious terror charges that are stoking fears that Turkey’s courts and police are being used to crush political dissents. Critics say that such cases are evidence that Turkey is sliding toward authoritarianism, even as it is lauded by Western governments as a role model for the Middle East – particularly in the wake of this year’s Arab uprisings.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1226/Is-model-Turkey-sliding-into-authoritarianism
26. Arab world: forecast for 2012
23 December 2012 / Voice of Russia
Interview with Dr. Alon Ben-Meir , a Middle East expert and a professor from the Center for Global Affairs at New York University: “(…)I think Turkey has deviated dramatically from the course it has taken a few years ago. Erdogan was wise enough to create openings for the Kurds, allowing them to use their language, allowing them to have their own TV, their own schools and then started to back-slide again. That was a terrible, tragic mistake (…)”
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/12/23/62760936.html
27. What will happen to Kurds
26 December 2011 / Today’s Zaman
Iraq is quickly being pulled into the quicksand of religious conflict. In fact, a regional struggle for power is also affecting Syria. Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia are natural actors in this struggle while Israel tries to manipulate it with what is available to itA regional Sunni-Shiite conflict that worries Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may be in the making. The region may be going headlong into a new upheaval.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-266805-what-will-happen-to-kurds.html
28. Turkish deep state and Greek forest fires
27 December 2011 / Today’s Zaman
We now have a growing crisis at hand with Greece. All of a sudden it appears that the Greeks have found a plausible explanation for some of the devastating forest fires in the past. And it seems to me that this will lead to a serious crisis between Greece and Turkey.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-266931-turkish-deep-state-and-greek-forest-fires.html
29. Robert Fisk: Turkey’s long road to reconciliation
24 December 2011 / Independent
Just for a moment, put aside the current Franco-Turkish war over the 20th century’s first Holocaust – of the Armenians – and remember that Nicolas Sarkozy’s electoral venality (500,000 French-Armenian voters want to hear him tell the truth) and Turkish nationalism (which feeds on holocaust denial) make a bad cocktail. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-turkeys-long-road-to-reconciliation-6281198.html
30. The desperate plight of Iraq’s Assyrians and other minorities
24 December 2011 / Guardian
Inspired by the violent exhortations of a preacher during Friday prayers earlier this month, hundreds of young Kurdish men in the northern Iraqi town of Zakho went on a riot. Over four days, they set dozens of liquor stores alight, later threatening proprietors with further violence if they dared reopen their businesses. They also attacked an Assyrian church and homes in the neighbouring village of Mansouriyah and destroyed property including four hotels, a health club and an Assyrian social clubin Dohuk.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/24/iraq-minorities-assyrians
STATEMENTS
31. EUTCC press release on the arrest of European BDP representative Eyyüp Doru
25 December 2011
“Turkey’s persecution of legally elected Kurdish representatives, media members, lawyers, trade unionists and Kurdish spokespersons in and outside Turkey, seems to have no end. More than 5000 people have so far been arrested accused of having links to PKK – the so called KCK operations. December 15th Germany again acted as Turkey’s extended arm in Europe by arresting the BDP Europe representative Mr. Eyyüp Doru in Munich due to a warrant issued by Turkey on Interpol in 2007 (…)”
https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/release-eyyup-doru-immediately-eutcc/
32. CPJ writes to PM Erdogan condemning journalist arrests
22 December 2011
“Dear Prime Minister Erdoğan, The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to condemn the arrests of as many as 29 journalists in raids on Tuesday as well as the ongoing media repression that has earned Turkey a reputation as one of the world’s worst press freedom violators and done grave damage to the consolidation of Turkish democracy (…)”
http://www.cpj.org/2011/12/cpj-condemns-journalist-arrests-in-turkey.php
33. Euskal PEN Kluba (Basque PEN) releases statement on journalist arrests
23 December 2011
“Basque PEN Club expresses its concern and angriness for the serious steps taken by Turkey again the freedom of speech and the human basic rights. On 21st December 45 journalists and media workers were arrested. Most of the belonged to Kurdish and leftist publications, specially to the DIHA News Agency (…)” http://www.euskalpen.org/default.cfm?atala=albistea_erakutsi&hizkuntza=2&id=204&kategoria=&uneko_erregistroa=1#
Peace in Kurdistan 