NEWS
1. 679 people taken into custody in four days
2. VIDEO: Kurdish protesters clash with police
3. Turkish riot police attack Kurds for celebrating Newroz – New clashes!
4. Early Nevruz demonstration cause tension in Turkey
5. BDP Executive Dies from Gas Bomb during Newroz ‘Celebrations’
6. Riot police attack Kurds celebrating Newroz in Turkey
7. Kurdish MP hospitalized in Turkey Nevruz clashes
8. Turkish police killed one Kurd injured dozens
9. Turkish police, Kurds clash at New Year celebrations: Officials
10. Newroz Came with Tear Gas and Police Violence
11. Prosecutor asks 10 years for Zarakolu and 15 for Ersanlı
12. Academic Ersanlı Alleged of Being KCK Executive
13. 104 Journalists and 35 Distributors in Prison
14. Sener and Sik threatened on twitter and Sik faces new investigation
15. Five Turkish Police Killed in Clash With Kurdish Militants
16. In Diyarbakir, Kurdish Education Finds a Place in the Arts
17. Armenian language courses launched in Turkish province
18. Kurd militants threaten Turkey if it enters Syria
19. Turkish PM denied German award amid protest rally
20. PUK chief Mala Bakhtiar meets Kurds on EU tour
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
21. In Turkey’s Kurdish Southeast, an Incendiary Celebration
22. Rebellious days
23. Turkey may sideline Öcalan, PKK in new Kurdish strategy
24. No Academic freedom in Turkey in 2012
25. “Students are forced not to be oppositional”
26. Turkey’s Syria Calculations: the Kurdish dimension
27. Iran Consul General: Kurds Take Wise Approach Toward Syria
REPORTS
28. Report on the Halabja Conference in the EP published
STATEMENTS AND PETITIONS
29. Newroz Statement by the Honourable Jim Karygiannis
30. BDP Statement: BDP Executive board member for Istanbul/Arnavutkoy has been killed by the Turkish Police
31. Statement by Jurgen Klute: On new information concerning the situation of jailed Kurdish children in Sincan prison
32. PETITION: HEAR THE CALL FOR HELP OF THE KURDISH FROM TURKEY
NEWS
1. 679 people taken into custody in four days
22 March 2012 / ANF
Between 18 and 21 March some 679 people have been taken into custody in Turkey. From the 1st of March to the 21st the number of detained people rises to 1095. The government had banned all Newroz celebrations planned before 21 March but people took to the streets as the main demonstrations have always been celebrated on the Sunday before 21 March. The police attacked the crowd intending to join the demonstrations since the early hours of the morning. And clashes followed. Celebrations have been held in 130 areas, organised by the BDP (Peace and Democracy Party).
2. VIDEO: Kurdish protesters clash with police
20 March 2012 / Reuters
Turkish police use water cannons to break up Kurdish demonstrations for Newroz, the Persian new Year.
3. Turkish riot police attack Kurds for celebrating Newroz – New clashes!
20 March 2012 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
In Yuksekova, which is a district in the Hakkari province of Turkey, Kurdish people have been targeted once again for celebrating Newroz. One Kurdish politician is reportedly hospitalised, Ahmed Turk, and many others injured, including 32-year-old Alaattin Okan who was hit in the head with a gas canister in Êlîh (Batman). Here are some of the pictures from Yuksekova where Kurds were attacked for gathering.
4. Early Nevruz demonstration cause tension in Turkey
18 March 2012 / World Bulletin
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters attempting to hold an unauthorized demonstration in celebration of Nevruz in İstanbul’s Kazlıçeşme Square. Protesters barricaded roads near Kazlıçeşme Square in Zeytinburnu and threw stones at security forces as police used tear gas and high-pressure water hoses to disperse the group. Passengers in cars and buses passing by the area were also affected by the tear gas. Police also stepped up security on all forms of public transportation that can be used to reach Kazlıçeşme, searching and checking the identity cards of suspicious individuals. Tram operators were also instructed not to stop at Topkapı, the stop nearest to Kazlıçeşme. A police helicopter was also used to secure the area.
5. BDP Executive Dies from Gas Bomb during Newroz ‘Celebrations’
19 March 2012 / Bianet
BDP district executive Hacı Zengin died after he was hit by a gas bomb thrown by the police during heavy interventions against thousands of people who wanted to celebrate Newroz. The Ministry of the Interior denied permission for the celebrations this year. Hacı Zengin, Arnavutköy (Istanbul) District Chair of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), reportedly died during a police intervention against this year’s Newroz celebrations on Sunday (18 March). According to information of BDP Istanbul provincial executives, Zengin was wounded at his head by a gas bomb thrown by the police and died as a result of the injury. BDP Co-Chair Gülten Kışanak announced on his Twitter account that Zengin passed away as the result of the attack. BDP Deputy Co-Chair Filiz Koçali told bianet that Zengin died at his home.
6. Riot police attack Kurds celebrating Newroz in Turkey
18 March 2012 / Alliance for Kurdish Rights
Dozens have been injured after Police tried to prevent Newroz celebrations in Diyarbakir, and elsewhere in Istanbul one Kurdish MP was injured. Riot police used pepper spray and tear-gas on Kurdish civilians who were on their way to celebrate Newroz. In many areas, police tried to prevent Kurds reaching the main square where thousands will celebrate Newroz. Turkish police, according to Yekun Alp who was in Diyarbakir and wanted to get into the ‘celebration area’ designated for today threw stones at people. We sent one of our European correspondents to Diyarbakir last week. In a brief statement she told us; ‘We are being attacked by water canons, tear-gas’ and ‘we’ve been running away from them trying to bypass riot police’. Later on, she was able to unite with thousands of other Kurds who wanted to celebrate Newroz.
7. Kurdish MP hospitalized in Turkey Nevruz clashes
20 March 2012 / World Bulletin
Ahmet Türk, an independent Kurdish deputy from the southeastern province of Mardin, was hospitalized after inhaling pepper spray used by the police to disperse a crowd that gathered to celebrate Nevruz in Batman province on Tuesday. Türk was hospitalized after a pepper gas canister hit a BDP bus that was carrying Türk and other BDP officials. Initial reports said he is in good health. In Turkey Nevruz, a festival based on the vernal equinox, is mostly celebrated by Kurds and has been restricted to being celebrated on March 21 by the government.
8. Turkish police killed one Kurd injured dozens
19 March 2012 / Roj Helat
Tens of thousands of Kurds poured to the streets on yesterday to celebrate Newroz, the Kurdish New Year, despite the governorships’ bans. Turkish police attacked the demonstrators in Istanbul and Amed, the Kurdish capital, where a BDP executive was killed on the spot and dozens, including two children, were seriously injured. According to DIHA News over 150 people were also taken into custody. Despite police attacks with tear gas, tens of thousands Kurds in Istanbul and a million in Amed resisted and celebrated Newroz. The roads were blocked from early morning to prevent the masses from entering the squares where celebrations were planned.
9. Turkish police, Kurds clash at New Year celebrations: Officials
20 March 2012 / Press TV
Security sources say 24 people have been injured in clashes between Turkish police and Kurdish citizens in southeastern Turkey. Clashes broke out in the city of Batman, capital of Batman Province, the town of Cizre in Sirnak Province, and the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari Province on Tuesday. Fifteen people were injured in Batman, where about 10,000 people took to the streets to celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz. Police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the Kurds, and they in turn hurled stones at the officers.
10. Newroz Came with Tear Gas and Police Violence
21 March 2012 / Bianet
Newroz, the beginning of the Iranian new year celebrated as a Kurdish tradition, was going to be celebrated on 20 March (Tuesday) in the south-eastern cities of Batman, Van, Mersin, Cizre in the province of Şırnak and Viranşehir in the province of Şanlıurfa. Those who went out to celebrate encountered massive police interventions facing tear gas, truncheons and water cannons. One of the harshest interventions occurred in Mersin on the eastern tip of the Mediterranean Sea.
11. Prosecutor asks 10 years for Zarakolu and 15 for Ersanlı
19 March 2012 / ANF
The indictment on the KCK (Kurdish Communities Union) case in which professor Büşra Ersanlı and publisher Ragıp Zarakolu stand as defendants have been published. Prosecutor Adnan Çimen is asking sentences ranging from 10 to 15 years for the defendants. In particular he asked 15 years for Büşra Ersanlı (accused of membership of illegal organization) and 10 for publisher Zarakolu (accused of supporting of an illegal organization).
12. Academic Ersanlı Alleged of Being KCK Executive
20 March 2012 / Bianet
Special Authority Istanbul Public Prosecutor Adnan Çimen prepared the indictment on the trial related to the Union of Kurdish Communities (KCK), an organization founded by Abdullah Öcalan, imprisoned leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). According to the indictment, Prof Büşra Ersanlı from the Marmara University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science is being charged with “leading an illegal organization” while Nobel Peace candidate Ragıp Zarakolu stands accused of “aiding and abetting an illegal organization”.
13. 104 Journalists and 35 Distributors in Prison
19 March 2012 / Bianet
104 journalists are still being detained in Turkish prisons after the Istanbul 16th High Criminal Court released journalistsNedim Şener and Ahmet Şık and Odat TV writers Coşkun Musluk and Sait Çakır pending trial on 12 March. 104 journalists and 35 newspaper distributors/media employees were initially arrested under allegations of “membership in an armed illegal organization”. Later on they were charged with “committing a crime on behalf of an illegal organization without being a member of the organization” and/or “willingly and knowingly assisting an illegal organization and being part of its hierarchic structure”
14. Sener and Sik threatened on twitter and Sik faces new investigation
21 March 2012 / Mesop
A blog post by Reporters Without Borders on March 19 reported an alarming threat that they witnessed through twitter targeting the two newly released investigative journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener. Reporters Without Borders expressed that they were “very disturbed by a message posted on Twitter on the night of 16 March about an alleged plot by the shadowy ultranationalist network Ergenekon to murder Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, two investigative journalists who were released conditionally on 12 March after a year in detention.
15. Five Turkish Police Killed in Clash With Kurdish Militants
21 March 2012 / Wall Street Journal
Five Turkish police officers were killed on Wednesday in a clash with Kurdish militants while skirmishes erupted between police and Kurdish demonstrators for the fourth consecutive day. The incidents underlined heightened tensions across Turkey’s restive southeast as Kurds marked their traditional new year. Turkey’s interior minister Idris Naim Sahin said the five police officers were killed in clashes with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in the mountains of Sirnak province in the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, while several others were injured.
16. In Diyarbakir, Kurdish Education Finds a Place in the Arts
20 March 2012 /The Journal of Turkish Weekly
On the outskirts of Diyarbakir, in a three story building filled with young students and the mixed sound of violins and goat skin drums (Erbane), an experimental culture and education project is under way. Named after a Kurdish-Armenian singer who was born in Kamishli, Syria, to the parents of a family from Diyarbakir, the Aram Tigran City Conservatory offers an alternative education in cinema, music, folklore, theatre and painting.
17. Armenian language courses launched in Turkish province
17 March 2012 / Panarmenian.net
The Sur District Municipality in the Turkish southeastern province of Diyarbakır has launched Armenian language courses for both its employees and other enthusiasts, building upon its earlier initiative to provide Kurdish courses. “We want the same for those outside of us as what we want for ourselves. That is a must for democracy. If I want Kurds to have the right to education in their mother tounge, then I also want this for Armenians, Syriacs and other peoples, too,” said Sur District Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş.
18. Kurd militants threaten Turkey if it enters Syria
22 March 2012 / Reuters World Bulletin
Turkish Kurd militants threatened on Thursday to turn all Kurdish populated areas into a “war zone” if Turkish troops entered Syria, a sign the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has allies in Syria may be taking sides in the conflict there.vA renewed alliance between Damascus and the PKK would anger Turkey and could prompt it to take an even stronger line against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his brutal repression of anti-government protesters.
19. Turkish PM denied German award amid protest rally
18 March 2012 / Zee News
Organisers of a German prize for humanity and tolerance on Saturday decided against honouring Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as 25,000 people protested against him receiving the award. The plan to hand Erdogan the 2012 Steiger Award had been heavily criticized in Germany, where Turkish authorities have been accused of human rights abuses, notably against the minority Kurdish population.
The award organisers said they changed their mind because Erdogan was not travelling to Germany to receive the award at a ceremony yesterday night in the western city of Bochum, German news agency DPA reported.
20. PUK chief Mala Bakhtiar meets Kurds on EU tour
19 March 2012 / AK News
One of the influential senior members of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Mala Bakhtiar, is on an official visit in EU countries which will see him meet with PUK communities in different European countries. PUK chief Mala Bakhtiar EUPUK politburo chief Bakhtiar will visit the Party of European Socialists (PES) and European politicians in Belgium and the Netherlands. He will also participate in a conference on Kurdistan and Iraq in the Netherlands’ parliament.
COMMENT, OPINION AND ANALYSIS
21. In Turkey’s Kurdish Southeast, an Incendiary Celebration
20 March 2012 / Time
On Sunday morning on the outskirts of Diyarbakir, the biggest city in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, a pair of boys, no older than 12, took a break from throwing stones at a burning carcass of a truck to set the record straight. “We were the ones who set fire to it, and also to the others,” one of them proudly told me, pointing to a row of nearby vehicles swallowed by flames. The trucks had belonged to Turkcell, Turkey’s biggest mobile phone operator. Before I could ask what had made the vehicles a legitimate target — perhaps the widespread rumor that the company had colluded with Turkish authorities to wiretap Kurdish activists — a police car approached. The boys scampered off.
22. Rebellious days
22 March 2012 / The Economist
“FROM here on we must stop serving in the Turkish army, paying taxes and using the Turkish language. A new phase has begun.” The call for defiance came from Murat Karayilan, the top field commander of the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). He issued it after another spate of bloody clashes in the predominantly Kurdish south-east. The unrest was sparked on March 18th when, in defiance of a government ban, tens of thousands of Kurds massed in the streets of Istanbul and Diyarbakir to celebrate the Kurdish new year (Nowruz).
23. Turkey may sideline Öcalan, PKK in new Kurdish strategy
22 March 2012 / World Bulletin
Turkey has adopted a new strategy in its bid to solve the Kurdish issue, whereby the state will not negotiate with the jailed leader of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, but instead will only hold talks with the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and will invite the president of the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, to act as a negotiator to broker any deals with the PKK. Many officials in Ankara now say Turkey has a “Turkish problem” rather than a “Kurdish problem.”
24. No Academic freedom in Turkey in 2012
21 March 2012 / Mesop
Galatasaray University student Kırmızıgül was arrested while waiting for the bus because he allegedly attended a demonstration. The evidence shown for his arrest was the Keffiyeh he had wrapped around his neck. Kırmızıgül has been imprisoned for two years now. During this time he was unable to continue his studies and his request for permission to take his exams in the prison were declined by the prison management.
25. “Students are forced not to be oppositional”
21 March 2012 / Mesop
The students, the friends of whom had been arrested, spoke to the HaberVs team about the “climate of fear and control” that they are living in. At the panel on “Fear, Control, Punishment,” which was held at Bogazici University on March 14, the ongoing arrests at the universities were discussed. Assistant Professor Vangelis Kechriotis from Bogazici’s History Department moderated talks by journalist Pınar Öğünç, attorney Deniz Gedik, Assoc. Professor Zeynep Gambetti from the Department of Political Sciences at Bogazici University and Ahmet Saymadi from TODI (Initiative for Solidarity with Students in Prison).
26. Turkey’s Syria Calculations: the Kurdish dimension
22 March 2012 / Fikra Forum
In recent months, as uncertainty over Assad’s future continues, Turkey’s position with regard to its potential military or humanitarian intervention has been heavily debated. While Turkish leaders have condemned the Syrian government’s brutal suppression of dissent since February 2011 and warned several times that Turkey may intervene militarily, questions remain over how clearly that discourse will translate into concrete action. In addition to issues regarding the regional balance of power, a key concern limiting options in Turkey’s toolbox is the intertwined nature of the Kurdish issues in Turkey and Syria and the perception of political Islam as being a rival to Kurdish nationalist movements.
27. Iran Consul General: Kurds Take Wise Approach Toward Syria
19 March 2012 / Rudaw
In this interview with Rudaw, Iran’s consul general in Erbil Sayed Azim Hosseini, speaks about the events in Syria. He praises the Kurds for not getting involved in the revolution and says the media isn’t telling the truth about what is happening in Syria.
Rudaw: A year has passed on the Syrian people’s uprising, many people have been killed and Bashar al-Assad is still in power. Has Iran reached the conclusion that it is time for him to leave?
Sayed Azim Hosseini: Iran has always been on the side peoples and we are proud that since the success of the revolution of 1979, our relations have been always with people, not only the peoples of the region but the whole world.
REPORTS
28. Report on the Halabja Conference in the EP published, 9 March 2012
STATEMENTS AND PETITIONS
29. Newroz Statement by the Honourable Jim Karygiannis, Monday 19th March 2012.
30. BDP Statement: BDP Executive board member for Istanbul/Arnavutkoy has been killed by the Turkish Police, 20 March 2012.
31. Statement by Jurgen Klute: On new information concerning the situation of jailed Kurdish children in Sincan prison, 21 March 2012.
32. PETITION: HEAR THE CALL FOR HELP OF THE KURDISH FROM TURKEY
17 March 2012 / Kurdish Freedom
Mr. Secretary General, Since 2009, in absolute violation of the most basic democratic rights and freedoms, the Turkish government has jailed nearly 9,000 Kurds, including 6 Members of Parliament, 31 mayors, 96 journalists, 36 lawyers, 183 leaders of the BDP (Party for Peace and Democracy), trade unionists, human rights defenders, students and nearly 2,000 children, known as “stone throwing children”.
Peace in Kurdistan 