The Briefing Room
General Category => World News => Topic started by: EC on April 17, 2015, 07:15:26 pm
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Note - this is in no way official, it is based off a twitter account only (@Firyayek) and I do expect a little bit of exaggeration, especially about gains against the scum. Still, they seem pretty accurate and they are reporting the news that "our world" doesn't bother to report.
The English of the tweets is pretty variable at times. Not going to post everything they tweet, but enough for the flavor of what is going on.
Kurdistan News @Firyayek 5m5 minutes ago
#Kobane Southeast
23 ISIS Members Killed By YPG/YPJ. most Chechen And Afghan.
#TwitterKurds
Kurdistan News @Firyayek 3m3 minutes ago
SOUTH FRONT TACMAP: 17APL 1312EST. JTF resumes airstrikes on S Front. #Kobane #Kobani #Kobanebattlemap
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Thanks for the updates brother and thank God for the Kurds!
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Note - this is in no way official, it is based off a twitter account only (@Firyayek) and I do expect a little bit of exaggeration, especially about gains against the scum. Still, they seem pretty accurate and they are reporting the news that "our world" doesn't bother to report.
The English of the tweets is pretty variable at times. Not going to post everything they tweet, but enough for the flavor of what is going on.
Thanks so much.
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Kurdistan News @Firyayek · 4h 4 hours ago
Brave YPG captured a #daeshbag in Kobanê.
Please watch and share +18
http://on.fb.me/1DgtTfu
Subtitle #English #BlackFlagDown
Kurdistan News @Firyayek · 4h 4 hours ago
Kurdistan News retweeted barzan iso
Kurdish jouro @barzaniso [known for his work on Kobane etc] tweets that he has been arrested at Sabiha airport
Kurdistan News @Firyayek · 4h 4 hours ago
Turkish Police has raped 16 and 18 years old Kurdish girls!These are the police of the Turkish government! #SiirtİçinAyağaKalk #TwitterKurds
Kurdistan News retweeted
Rami @RamiAlLolah · Apr 16
#Iraq|i mother carrying her disabled son flee #Ramadi as it is closing to fall to #ISIS v @zyaad_alsenjary
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Sounds like ISIS has just about taken Iraq.
**nononono*
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Sounds like ISIS has just about taken Iraq.
**nononono*
the twitter feeds I follow....it doesn't look good. Yemen and Syria as well.
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Kurdistan News @Firyayek 26m26 minutes ago
#BreakingNews YPG captured 4 villages in Kobane ! #TwittterKurds #Kobane
0 retweets 0 favorites
Kurdistan News @Firyayek · 4h 4 hours ago
Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1029274.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer=http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/768813137?-19931:3597 … #ISIS #TwittterKurds
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Kurdistan News @Firyayek 17m17 minutes ago
YPG: 19 gang members killed in Kobanê and Til Temir - http://www.kurdishinfo.com/ypg-19-gang-members-killed-in-kobane-and-til-temir … … - #TwitterKurds #Kurdistan #Rojava
Not gangs like Mexican street gangs - scum thugs that pretend to enforce "the law" in areas they have taken over.
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Kurdistan News @Firyayek · 4h 4 hours ago
Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/a-1029274.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer=http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/768813137?-19931:3597 … #ISIS #TwittterKurds
interesting info.
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Love this pic and post......
Masoud Manaf @MasoudManaf Apr 17
Kurdish kids demand in #Iran: "Education in mother tongue is our RIGHT" #TwitterKurds
63 retweets 60 favorites
https://twitter.com/hashtag/twitterkurds?src=hash
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Not gangs like Mexican street gangs - scum thugs that pretend to enforce "the law" in areas they have taken over.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CC5I7lOWAAA3LhX.jpg:large)
YPG...kurds right?
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Yep. Yekineyeen Parastena Gel, roughly translates as Peoples Protection squads. Kurdish Militia and their defacto army in the regions bordering and inside Turkey. The Peshmurga do the same job further south.
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Yep. Yekineyeen Parastena Gel, roughly translates as Peoples Protection squads. Kurdish Militia and their defacto army in the regions bordering and inside Turkey. The Peshmurga do the same job further south.
check your pm :seeya:
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YPG Defense Units @DefenseUnits 1h1 hour ago
Apr. 18: Defense Units continued to operate against Daesh (#ISIS) terrorists in #Kobane and Cizîrê regions http://ypgrojava.com/en/index.php/statements/597-continuing-battles-against-terrorist-forces-in-kobane-and-cizire …
ÊzîdîPress @EzidiPress Apr 17
#Ezidi father, Aug. 2014 : "Without the #YPG, we'd all be dead. The female fighters have saved our children"
#Shingal
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YPG Defense Units @DefenseUnits 18m18 minutes ago
Apr. 19: Resistance against Daesh (#ISIS) Attacks in #Kobane and Cizîrê Continue in Full Force http://ypgrojava.com/en/index.php/statements/599-resistance-in-kobane-and-cizire-continue-in-full-force …
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 39s39 seconds ago
Burkan Firat #YPGb#FSA) captured 3 villages (including Mitras) near Sarrin town, see below #TwitterKurds #Syria
The Liberty Lions @Firyayek · Apr 18
US civilians and veterans leave home for Isis fight with help from social media http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/18/us-volunteers-isis-fight-veterans-recruitment … …
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 2m2 minutes ago
If you want to understand Islamic State follow the money, not Islam #ISIS http://ow.ly/LYoNc
The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 3m3 minutes ago
#YPG forces captured Agbash village, 25km west of Tall Abyad, #TwitterKurds #Kobane #Syria
The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 8m8 minutes ago
#ISIS executed 2 #peshmergas near #Tikrit #Daesh #ISIL #IS #TwitterKurds
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 52s53 seconds ago
#ISIS Stoned 2 man to death in #Homs On charges of homosexuality #Syria #IS #ISIL
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The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin 14s14 seconds ago
YPG evacuating civilians from clash zones around GireSur village. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin · 3m 3 minutes ago
GireSur village (southwest of Kobani) liberated by YPG. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin · 42m 42 minutes ago
clashes between YPG and ISIS around ZerKutek continues. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin · 43m 43 minutes ago
ZerKutek village liberated by YPG. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin · 42m 42 minutes ago
trapped civilians in ZerKutek village rescued by YPG. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin · 5h 5 hours ago
15 ISIS boats attacked ZerKutek villages west of Kobani. #TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
curdistani @curdistani · 5h 5 hours ago
Kurdish fighter Delil Dozvan, who wounded during Turkish Army attack in Agiri fell martyr #TwitterKurds via @Rewin3
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 6m6 minutes ago
Female Kurdish fighters winning the war against ISIS #TwitterKurds #YPJ http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/04/26/08/02/the-female-kurdish-fighters-winning-the-war-against-isil …
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin 4h4 hours ago
tonight attack on Hassake is to distract YPG from its main objective. ISIS suffered heavy losses on SereKaniye-Til Tamir front #TwitterKurds
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It is amazing about these female fighters! May God bless and protect them - may God help them achieve victory against this terrible enemy! Amen!
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The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin 1d1 day ago
YPG: 65 ISIS members killed by YPG on Til Tamir fronts (bodies of 31 of them in hands of YPG) #TwitterKurds
98 retweets 50 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Avashin @Avashin 1d1 day ago
YPG: 12 YPG fighter martyred in heavy clashes with ISIS on Til Tamir fronts. #TwitterKurds
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Had to stitch these RT together in the correct order:
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 1h1 hour ago
[1] YPG commander M.Berxweden intervieved by @mutludc regarding the latest situation in Kobane and claims of US airstrike killing civilians.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 1h1 hour ago
[2] M.Berxwedan: Ongoing operation to liberate villages around Kobane. 5-10% (20-25 villages) still under ISIS control. #TwitterKurds #Syria
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 58m58 minutes ago
[3] M.Berxwedan. Morale of ISIS fighters low since they were broken in Kobane. They are getting killed, give up or are fleeing from clashes.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 52m52 minutes ago
[4] Regarding the claims that US airstrikes killed civilians in an airstrike in Birmehle village YPG cdr M.Berxwedan says:
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 47m47 minutes ago
[5] M.Berxwedan: From the day the US lead coalition initiated airstrikes in Kobane until this event,we havent seen any mistakes [from them].
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 45m45 minutes ago
[6] M.Berxwedan: [On the contrary] they [US] been careful of not targeting civs, asked whether there are civilians or not [close to target].
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 41m41 minutes ago
[7] M.Berxwedan: US often determine this themselves by using UAVs in order to not target civs. They´ve refrained fr some attack bc of this.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 39m39 minutes ago
[8] MBerxwedan: Regarding this village [Birmehle] its the last Kurdish village still under ISIS control on the southern front.
#TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 37m37 minutes ago
[9] M.Berxwedan: We were very surprised when we heard these claims. Its a Kurdish village, and they have all left the village.
#TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 32m32 minutes ago
[10] M.Berxwedan: But they say those who are killed are Arab villages which is strange since its a Kurdish village and at the front.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 30m30 minutes ago
[11] M.Berxwedan: We are not sure how any villagers would end up there. If there were any civilians there, ISIS used them as human shields.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 27m27 minutes ago
[12] M.Berxwedan: ISIS uses this as a last resort. We liberated many villages around Kobane, Shiyiukh for examples, but this never happened.
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 3m3 minutes ago
Dozens of #ISIS gangs killed by #YPG during clashes several #Rojava villages via @k4veh #TwitterKurds #Syria
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The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 1h1 hour ago
Women's Defence Forces of #Rojhelat (HPJ) carried an action against a military post of Iranian regime in Bane-Seqiz
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Coldkurd™ @ColdKurd 2h2 hours ago
#Al_Haskah southern countryside
#IS brings tens of bodies to the villages and towns , who were killed in battles of Tel_tamer and Al-Hasaka
15 retweets 9 favorites
That first tweet makes me nervous.
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That first tweet makes me nervous.
Why? Women fighting?
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Why? Women fighting?
Gods no! They fight well. More the problem of a three front war developing with my friends in the middle of it. The Kurds are already dealing with ISIS and constant harassment from Turkey. Iran as well will be too much for even them.
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Gods no! They fight well. More the problem of a three front war developing with my friends in the middle of it. The Kurds are already dealing with ISIS and constant harassment from Turkey. Iran as well will be too much for even them.
I didn't think so, yet had to ask why you are concerned. Thanks EC.
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:beer:
I got any foolishness about "women in combat" slapped out of me the first time one of them took me down in training, totally effortlessly. Don't even think her breathing sped up. The very bored look certainly never left her face!
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The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
The operation Remembering Commander Rûbar Qamishlo in the Canton Cizîre is in its 10th day and still continuing!
View conversation
1 retweet 2 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
Clashes on the Serêkaniyê front: The village Gozeliye, the hamlet Şiwêş and the petrol station Şêx are now under the control of YPG
View conversation
4 retweets 3 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
Road between #Heseke and Tal Tamir: YPG/YPJ forces have liberated 3 hamlets
View conversation
4 retweets 1 favorite
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
The major building, health centre and the school of the village are now controlled by YPG/YPJ/MFS forces
View conversation
3 retweets 4 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
FLASH - YPG/YPJ/MFS seized control over few positions in the Assyrian village of Tal Hormoz, Tal Tamir (ANHA) #TwitterKurds
12 retweets 5 favorites
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 8m8 minutes ago
#BreakingNews group of ISIS members cornered by YPG in Til Hurmiz. #TwitterKurds
Via @Avashin
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Thanks for the updates EC!
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My pleasure. At least someone is DOING something.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 2h2 hours ago
[1] 9 villages liberated in Kobane and Cizre Canton last 24 hours and 39 ISIS members killed in YPG/J led ops. (ANHA)
#TwitterKurds #Syria
11 retweets 9 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 2h2 hours ago
[2] Villages liberated in Cizre Canton. 12 km west of Tel Temir; Lîlan, Emriya, Western Rêhaniyê & one hamlet named Abu Heyya.
#TwitterKurds
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 2h2 hours ago
[3] Villages Til Fîtêtat&Hûda 6km south of Til Temir. In Kobane following villages liberated: Sheshê,Girikê Hemêr, Korik & northern Bîrnasi.
View conversation
5 retweets 7 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
A Dunon @ArjDnn 2h2 hours ago
ANHA: Hewice village in Tel Temir area liberated by YPG/J. 15 Assyrian and Arabic villages in area surrounded by YPG/J. #TwitterKurds #Syria
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Still plugging away at cleaning out the nests.
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
The military operation continues towards the village Rawiya, southwestern of Mabrouka.
View conversation
8 retweets 4 favorites
The Liberty Lions retweeted
Cahida Dêrsim @dilkocer 2h2 hours ago
BREAKING - YPG/YPJ forces have liberated the village Dehma, southwestern of Serekaniye and northwestern of Mabrouka (ANHA) #TwitterKurds
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The Liberty Lions @Firyayek 2m2 minutes ago
#BreakingNews #Isis are using human shields while fighting #YPG In #Gire_Sipi
RT.. #TwitterKurds #GireSipi #TelAbyad
No surprise. The scum always do that. Nothing like a few innocent deaths to go viral.
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Extraordinary scenes in Kobani as grateful Kurds line the streets to bid a hero's farewell to US soldier who died fighting ISIS
Opening paragraphs:
Hundreds of grateful Kurds have bid a hero's farewell to a U.S. soldier who died fighting against the Islamic State in Syria after traveling to the war-torn country because he felt it was 'God's will'.
Residents waved flags and applauded as Keith Broomfield's casket was driven through the streets of Kobani in a white van on Thursday - more than a week after he died in a battle between Kurdish forces and ISIS.
The 36-year-old's body was handed over to his grief-stricken family at a Turkish border crossing, Kurdish official Idriss Naasan told AP. It was not immediately clear which of Broomfield's relatives received his body at the Mursitpinar gate.
Broomfield, from Westminster, Massachusetts, was killed on June 3 in a battle in a Syrian village near Kobani, making him likely the first U.S. citizen to die fighting alongside the Kurds against the terror group.
More on this story plus a number of pictures at link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3120870/Hundreds-grateful-Kurds-bid-hero-s-farewell-soldier-died-fighting-ISIS-Syria-traveling-overseas-God-s-will.html#ixzz3coMk8cbp
I wonder what the Kurds think of our C-in-C, Barack Obama.
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July 17: Major Offensive Against ISIL Terrorists Beleaguered Inside Hasakah
Created on Friday, 17 July 2015 14:04 | Print | Email | Hits: 93
Immediate Release for the Media and Public Opinion
HASAKAH, Rojava (July 17, 2015) - Constant military operations conducted by joined forces of the People’s Defense Units (YPG) and the Women’s Defense Units (YPJ) continue to confront the Daesh (ISIL) terrorists attempting occupation efforts near the city of Hasakah, Rojava, Syria.
In Hasakah, combined forces last night carried out an assault operation of two axis against members of terrorist group ISIL positioned in the city center. First seal of this attack progressed from the direction of Penitentiary (Children Prison) and targeted the village of Tal’a where fierce clashes took place between our Units and the ISIL terrorists. During this part of the operation an unconfirmed number of enemy forces were killed, 4 bodies found on the battlegrounds.
The second wing of the plan moved correspondingly from the neighborhood Azizya and advanced toward southern Hasakah. As result of a successful performance for the movement, the village Fallah was fully secured of terrorist elements. Enemy forces’ casualties could not be immediately verified.
Kobani – Enduring military operations in the south and east of the city of Kobani, the Defense Units have experienced several engagements with ISIL terrorists over the past few days.
Last night in south Kobani, ISIL terrorists launched concurrent attacks on the villages of Qilhayde, Sina, Argane, Nurali and Arabic Sepata using heavy weaponry and intense mortar fire. No casualties have been suffered by our forces and the Defense Units have been able to respond and repulse the attacks to the same extent as the hostile activities.
In east Kobani, ISIL terrorists attempted for another assault on the village of Faatfe, led to a clash between our forces and the attackers near the stated location. According to what has been verified by field reports, 5 ISIL fighters were killed, two corpses discovered in the area where the terrorists withdrew from. Also there, two thermal scopes were seized by our troops.
Mabroukah – A terrorist attack was carried out last night on the village of Nastal, 24 kilometers to the far west of the town Mabroukah, Serekaniye. A group of terrorists, formed of 3 individuals, tried to infiltrate into the site which is barely half kilometers far from the border with Turkey. Monitoring the group, the Defense Units intervened against the targets and clashed with them, killed one of their members. However, another terrorist element could cross the border and fled to Turkey. Security Force’ operation to find and capture the last affiliate of the group – suspected to be wounded and hiding somewhere around – is continuing.
http://ypgrojava.com/en/index.php/statements/766-july-17-major-offensive-against-isil-terrorists-beleaguered-inside-hasakah
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Peshmerga @KURDISTAN_ARMY 6m6 minutes ago
The killing of a Turkish policeman near the Syrian-Turkish border
Is part of the film To give legitimacy to enter the Turkish army to #Syria
Hey, I did warn you their English is not always the best.
Linked story: http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,175327.0.html
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News about Ergodan and his defection to a global caliphate? Have seen protests, and believe the people are against his regime. Hoping so.
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Heval Soro @Firyayek 2m2 minutes ago
#BreakingNews turkey have blocked Twitter in Kurdish Areas.
They do everything to silences Kurds so they can kill Kurds.
#twitterkurds
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Heval Soro @Firyayek 2m2 minutes ago
#BreakingNews turkey have blocked Twitter in Kurdish Areas.
They do everything to silences Kurds so they can kill Kurds.
#twitterkurds
Thought they were busy "helping us kill ISIS". **nononono*
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Heval Soro @Firyayek 8m8 minutes ago
#BreakingNews 10 Turkish soldiers just got killed in #Bingöl
#TwitterBlockedİnTurkey #twitterkurds #SOSKurdishLife
6 retweets 1 favorite
Shit's flaring up again.
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Heval Soro @Firyayek 9m9 minutes ago
They are shouting that they don't want military action they want genocide Kurds.
#twitterkurds #SOSKurdishLife
Regarding a demonstration in Turkey.
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Peshmerga retweeted
Masoud Barzani @masoud_barzani 3h3 hours ago
Today visited His Holiness Mar Gorgis III, new patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East in Erbil. 1/4
Peshmerga retweeted
Masoud Barzani @masoud_barzani 3h3 hours ago
We welcome decision to relocate the seat of the Assyrian Church of the East from Chicago, USA, to Erbil. 2/4
Peshmerga retweeted
Masoud Barzani @masoud_barzani 3h3 hours ago
Rights of Christians and all other religious and ethnic communities are protected in Kurdistan. 3/4
Peshmerga retweeted
Masoud Barzani @masoud_barzani 3h3 hours ago
Discrimination against religious and ethnic groups has no place in Kurdistan. 4/4 #CoExistence #TwitterKurds
Now THIS is interesting. There is no doubt the Kurds will protect the Assyrians as fiercely as they do the Yazadi. There are a lot of Assyrians in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, who tend to be the sort of people you want as part of a countries backbone. Smart move by both parties.
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Now THIS is interesting. There is no doubt the Kurds will protect the Assyrians as fiercely as they do the Yazadi. There are a lot of Assyrians in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, who tend to be the sort of people you want as part of a countries backbone. Smart move by both parties.
"We welcome decision to relocate the seat of the Assyrian Church of the East from Chicago, USA, to Erbil. 2/4"
What a sad, sad sign of the decline of the USA. Things are progressing quickly now. **nononono*
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No, my sister. It's not a sign of decline this time. :beer:
They are simply going home, now that they have a safe place to return to in their ancestral lands. A rather unexpected safe place, it's true, but appropriate.
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No, my sister. It's not a sign of decline this time. :beer:
They are simply going home, now that they have a safe place to return to in their ancestral lands. A rather unexpected safe place, it's true, but appropriate.
Yes, you are correct. I wasn't thinking of it that way. :thumbsup:
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(http://smokeandink.com/images/other/kurd1.jpg)
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(http://smokeandink.com/images/other/kurd1.jpg)
I love those people!
And they love us even after all our betrayals of them. Don't know why.
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Heval Soro @Zuttish 12m12 minutes ago
5 Kurdish town are under attack by Turkey and Syria. You have #AlQaeda attacking Kurds in #allepo and turkey in #slivan #Nusaybin #Amed
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Great thread. Very informative.
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Thanks! :laugh:
Zuttish is by way of being friends of mine (it's about 8 of them run that account). One almost got nabbed by the Turkish Police today during house to house searches in Silvan looking for Kurds - was hiding out in a cellar with 4 kids. Heartbreaking.
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Aftermath of ISIS' failed attack to retake Mt Kizwan (Abdulaziz) from YPG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-uploademail&v=cobp8n9l53Q
Note: some bodies.
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Aftermath of ISIS' failed attack to retake Mt Kizwan (Abdulaziz) from YPG.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-uploademail&v=cobp8n9l53Q
Note: some bodies.
I hope those are all ISIS bodies.
I can't imagine having to live your life in a war zone. I pray that these people's hellish suffering is over someday soon.
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All ISIS. According to the commander the Kurds had minor injuries (I think. He's talking some bastard dialect of Sorani that is horrible to make out.)
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International brigade of Rojava
Finlay our documentary online !
These are the women fighting Islamic State - and, says former SAS soldier 'Big Phil', you "wouldn't want to mess with them".
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October 14 at 10:39pm · Public
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Film is 43 minutes. https://video-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xpa1/v/t42.1790-2/12074250_1731600930458669_622263771_n.mp4?efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InNkIn0%3D&oh=ad3c89754657bb671f4260a9b1b73faa&oe=5620B956
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I enjoyed this tweet
(http://smokeandink.com/images/other/kurd2.jpg)
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I enjoyed this tweet
(http://smokeandink.com/images/other/kurd2.jpg)
I love this, may I save the picture to my files and use it elsewhere?
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I love this, may I save the picture to my files and use it elsewhere?
I definitely would but my main computer is on the fritz at the moment and I am confined to this damned tablet!
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Please do! It's from one of the Kurdish twitter accounts - can't remember which one.
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Please do! It's from one of the Kurdish twitter accounts - can't remember which one.
Thanks EC!
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Video military operation of the Peshmerga and US Army in Hawija
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNvs0dvtoc0&feature=youtu.be
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Rojava Defense Units @DefenseUnits 10m10 minutes ago
1/3 #Syria'n Democratic Forces #QSD clear remaining extent near Tishrin Dam as they pushed #ISIS off the strategic region today in S #Kobane
17 retweets 16 likes
Rojava Defense Units @DefenseUnits 7m7 minutes ago
2/3 Large numbers of IEDs are set up in the area as this turns into #ISIS’ last resort, #QSD units continue a quick advance since Dec. 23
9 retweets 9 likes
Rojava Defense Units @DefenseUnits 2m2 minutes ago
3/3 After losing the dam, #ISIS elements are reported to be fleeing the town #Manbij in #Aleppo, western Euphrates. Statements to follow.
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Given this article it's own thread, seeing as the antics of the Turks have gotten worse.
Turkish Security Forces Attack Newroz Celebrations Across the Country
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,199486.msg818547.html#msg818547
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Euphrates front line against ISIS - The foreign volunteers
15 minute video: https://vimeo.com/160044143
The report takes us into the new front against ISIS on the Euphrates River in Syria (Rojava for the Kurds).
On the east bank of the river the Kurdish guerrilla - YPG. On the west bank - ISIS in the city of Jarabulus .
Kurdish women are firing across the river on the positions of ISIS and explain the added value of the women in the battle against Jihadists.
We focus on volunteers who came to Syria to fight alongside YPG against ISIS.
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http://ekurd.net/ Kurdish news.
http://www.aina.org/news.html Assyrian news.
Kurdish Forces to Keep Territory Taken From Syrian Govt Forces Under Qamishli Truce
Posted 2016-04-24 17:49 GMT
(Reuters) -- Regional Kurdish security forces will keep territory taken from pro-Syrian government forces during a three-day outbreak of violence in northeastern Syria, a truce document announced on April 24 showed, with both sides to release prisoners taken during the clashes.
Fighting broke out between Kurdish Asayish forces and pro-Syrian government security forces on April 20 in Qamishli, near the Turkish border. A peace accord took effect at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) on April 22 and the truce was holding on April 24.
A Syrian Kurdish YPG official said this was the second biggest outbreak of fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's government and regional Kurdish forces since Syria's civil war began in 2011.
During the fighting, Asayish forces seized control of a number of government-controlled positions in the city of Qamishli in Hasaka province as well as its main prison.
The truce agreement said "the prevailing military situation will be maintained as it is," indicating territory taken from government control will not be returned.
Syrian Kurdish regional interior minister Canaan Barakat, speaking in Qamishli on April 24 to announce the terms of the truce, said 17 civilians, 7 Asayish members and 3 YPG members had been killed in the clashes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group tracking the five-year-old war in Syria, said 22 members of Syrian government forces died and 80 were taken prisoner. It said 23 civilians died during government shelling of Kurdish-controlled areas.
Read more at: http://www.aina.org/news/20160424134916.htm
The Assyrian International News Agency is good, Ekurd is okay but not too easy to navigate for me.
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Assyrians, who are Christians seem to largely be in the same boat as the Kurds. I follow the news on AINA.org, the Assyrian International News Agency; so perhaps some of their stories can be posted here as well.
Assyrian Genocide Documentary to Premiere in US Theaters
Posted 2016-04-26 17:36 GMT
(AINA) -- Silence After The Storm, a 25-minute reflective documentary about the current Assyrian Genocide, will premiere in Chicago at the Logan Theater on May 7th, In Phoenix at the Super Saver Cinemas on May 14th, and in Beverly Hills at the Laemmle's Music Hall on May 22nd.
Directed by Sargon Saadi, the film was shot on the ground in Iraq, Turkey, and Syria over two months in spring of 2015 immediately after ISIS invaded the 33 Assyrian villages of Khabour.
The film features many exceptional characters who give great insight into the condition of the Assyrian people in the Middle East. Fadi Khiyo, a struggling local artist from Syria, Savina Dawood, a charismatic young activist from Iraq, and Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo, a socio-cultural historian from Australia.
Sargon Saadi is an LA-based cinematographer born and raised in Syria. His latest film is an award-winning documentary called The Last Plight.
The film is sponsored by Kanusoft, Assyrian Aid Society, A Demand For Action, and Institute for Global Engagement.
The Chicago Premiere is sponsored by Iraqi Christian Relief Council. The LA Premiere is sponsored by the Assyrian American Association of Southern California, and the Phoenix Premiere is sponsored by Assyrian Student Association of Arizona and Assyrian American Cultural Organization of Arizona. Events are managed by Marodin Thomas-Zadeh, the film Associate Producer.
For tickets and info on the film visit Silence After the Storm.
http://aina.org/news/20160426133622.htm
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If you're interested this is how ISIS fights against the Kurds.......just to show how disorganized they are when they go out on their own......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM3ElTvF52I
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Bill on genocide of Yazidi Kurds (In Iraq) submitted to Armenian Parliament
YEREVAN,— A draft law condemning the genocide of Iraqi Yazidi Kurds has been submitted to the Armenian National Assembly. The Sinjar Yazidi National Union participated in the elaboration of the bill.
Boris Murazi, who heads the public organization, said today “the Yazidi people will benefit both if the bill passes and if it fails to pass.”
“The document is not vulnerable in any respect, because it refers to international resolutions and laws adopted by the UN, which Armenia has also joined,” he told reporters in Yerevan.
He said the genocide continues today, as people are denied entry to their homes.
“If Armenia recognizes this genocide, it will provide Yazidis with an opportunity to present themselves on the international arena with concrete documents, to say that the US and Armenia have recognized the genocide,” he said.
The EU, US and UK parliament recognize Islamic State killing of Yazidi Kurds as ‘Genocide’.
Islamic State group (IS) has captured most parts of the Yazidi Sinjar (Shingal) district in northwest Iraq on August 3, 2014 which led thousands of Kurdish families to flee to Mount Sinjar, where they were trapped in it and suffered from significant lack of water and food, killing and abduction of thousands of Yazidis as well as rape and captivity of thousands of women.
http://ekurd.net/genocide-yazidi-kurds-armenia-2016-05-19
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67 PKK militants surrender in Turkey's southeast
(http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/news/201605/n_99711_1.jpg)
A total of 67 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) surrendered to Turkish security forces on May 26 as clashes intensified in two neighborhoods of the southeastern district of Nusaybin despite a statement from the group announcing a redeployment outside the district.
Some 42 PKK militants, including 10 women and 32 men, reportedly surrendered to the authorities on May 26 as operations intensified in Nusaybin’s Fırat and Yenişehir neighborhoods.
The militants surrendered following repeated calls from security forces, reports said, adding that a total 10 were injured.
The wounded militants were brought to Nusaybin State Hospital for treatment.
The surrender on May 26 was the highest number of PKK militants to yield to security forces in the district, just a day after 25 militants surrendered on May 24.
The 25 militants surrendered after reportedly being cornered in Nusaybin’s Fırat neighborhood. Reports indicate that initially only one militant waved the white flag and that she later convinced 24 others to follow.
More At: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/67-pkk-militants-surrender-in-turkeys-southeast.aspx?pageID=238&nID=99711&NewsCatID=341
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Senator McCain Sends Letter on Assyrians to Kurdish President
President Massoud Barzani,
I write to you to express my concerns regarding alarming new reports that allege the mistreatment of the Christian Assyrian community in the Nineveh Plains region by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Despite heightened political instability and violence in the region, it remains essential to not only protect, but also respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the Assyrian community and similarly vulnerable peoples in Iraq.
I recently had the pleasure to meet with the Christian Assyrian community in Phoenix, Arizona, many of whom have relatives and loved ones living in Iraq, and they expressed their collective concerns regarding the treatment of Christians in Northern Iraq. While listening to their testimony, I was troubled by their reports that the KRG has denied basic services to the Assyrian community, prevented their freedom of movement and assembly, and confiscated weapons desperately needed to defend the community from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Of further concern were their reports of land confiscation and statements you have made regarding Kurdish territorial claims to the Nineveh Plains region. I hope you will address these allegations and I ask for your clarification on these important issues.
The Christian Assyrian community has a long history in Iraq and they have contributed significantly to the country's unique social fabric. They deserve the same rights and protection as other groups and minority communities in the region, including the Kurdish community. Therefore, I encourage you and your government to respect and protect their fundamental rights and freedom, and work with local Assyrian community leaders on communal governance initiatives.
The United States deeply values its strong relationship with the KRG and Peshmerga forces, and we are proud to provide assistance to your government including up to $480 million for food, fuel, medical supplies and stipends for Peshmerga fighters as well as two brigade sets of equipment. The Peshmerga forces have been instrumental in the fight against ISIL, and the KRG has routinely proven itself a reliable ally. But as ISIL continues to threaten our collective security, we cannot afford to endanger our partnership through actions that could undermine the shared values at its foundation. I hope you will work towards a more cooperative relationship with the Christian Assyrian community and honor the commitment you made to protect the Assyrians and similarly vulnerable peoples in the Nineveh Plains. I look forward to continuing my support for your government's efforts and working with you to fulfill our collective humanitarian obligations.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
http://aina.org/releases/20160528013501.htm
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No More Talks With The PKK?
An ethnic Kurdish parliamentarian, Orhan Miroglu, himself a member of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), recently told a Turkish TV channel that in this “new era” there will be no talks whatsoever with the PKK or the HDP, unlike the last two years. The “dialogue will now be with all the layers of the people and the Kurdish population,” he said.
“It is not only PKK terror that we are fighting against,” Miroglu said. The PKK has become “an organization of the Iranians, of Syrians, Europeans, Americans, and of the Assad regime and [they plot to] dismember Turkey.”
Confidential talks between the Turkish government and PKK officials broke down last summer. Unconfirmed reports from the government side indicated that the Kurdish side was raising demands that included a separate region with a separate flag and security force that, in the Turkish view, came close to de facto independence. The collapse of talks ended a cease-fire agreement between the two parties and the PKK resumed its terror attacks, with the Turkish military and security forces fiercely hitting back.
Kurdish militants increased their bombings of public and civilian targets in urban centers. According to an International Crisis Group survey, 350 Turkish police and security forces and 250 civilians have been killed in hostilities related to Kurdish militantcy since July 2015. The HDP, though publicly expressing regret about “all kinds of violence,” has demonstrated a reluctance to clearly condemn terrorist attacks, maintaining its rhetoric that such attacks are a “reaction” to the “just and suppressed” demands of the Kurdish population.
Read More At: http://www.rferl.org/content/turkey-kurdish-talks-pkk-akp-hdp-kurdistan-workers-party/27765156.html
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VOA video of the Syrian Democratic Forces up at the front lines, no violence.
http://www.voanews.com/media/video/islamic-state-using-civilians-as-human-shields-in-syria/3361515.html
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Germany starts trial of alleged Turkish and Kurdish militants
MUNICH,— Ten people with Turkish and Kurdish backgrounds went on trial in Germany on Friday accused of belonging to a left-wing militant group in Turkey, a case defense lawyers say is politically motivated.
The nine men and one woman face charges of organizing propaganda events, raising funds and recruiting for the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML), founded in 1972 and listed among a dozen active militant groups in Turkey.
Defense lawyers say the trial panders to President Tayyip Erdogan, whose relations with Germany are under strain after the German parliament labeled the 1915 mass killings of Armenians an act of genocide. The lawyers have told German media that a large part of the files presented in court were supplied by Turkish authorities.
More At: http://ekurd.net/germany-trial-turkish-kurdish-2016-06-17
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Assyrians Demonstrate in Sweden, Germany Against Kurdish Land Grabs in North Iraq
Stockholm (AINA) -- Assyrians in Europe took to the streets on Saturday, May 28 to protest the ongoing Kurdish expropriation of Assyrian lands in North Iraq (AINA 2016-04-14). Demonstrations were held in Gutersloh, Germany and in Stockholm and Gothenburg in Sweden. The street protests were organized by the Assyrian Confederation of Europe, an umbrella for the national Assyrian federations in EU countries.
The issue of Kurdish land expropriation in Assyrian areas in North Iraq was recently highlighted by Human Rights Watch in a report on the most recent case which took place in April this year in an area called Nahla valley. Following a familiar pattern, an influential Kurdish businessman with ties to the ruling Barzani clan started building on Assyrian owned lands in the Nahla valley. When Assyrians of the area tried to stage a protest outside the regional parliament in Arbil they were met with armed peshmerga and Kurdish security known as Asayish.
More At: http://www.aina.org/news/20160530134729.htm
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Thanks @SunkenCiv
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/turkish-military-given-immunity-as-erdogan-seeks-allies-3fcpwc2jk
President Erdogan has handed wide-ranging legal immunity to the Turkish military, in the latest sign of a détente between the former enemies.
A bill signed off by Mr Erdogan on Wednesday and published in the Official Gazette yesterday protects soldiers taking part in domestic security operations from prosecution by requiring government approval for legal cases to proceed.
Cases against commanders must now be approved by the prime minister, while those against lower-ranking soldiers can be signed off by district governors.
The military is increasingly taking the lead in operations against the Kurdish militia the PKK in the east of Turkey.…
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Iraqi government warns Kurdish Peshmerga not to enter Mosul, Barzani promises supportive role
ARA News August 1, 2016
ERBIL – The President of Iraqi Kurdistan region Masoud Barzani met a US delegation headed by General Joseph Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and discussed the battle for Mosul, where Kurdish Peshmerga forces and allied Iraqi troops are fighting the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS).
According to Hemin Hawrami, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)’s foreign relations chief, the US delegation shared details about the Mosul operations, and Barzani expressed his view for the necessity of a political agreement before the operation to begin.
The Kurdish president also praised the relations between the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and the US-led coalition.
“US delegation thanked and appreciated President Barzani’s leadership in the fight against ISIS and the great achievements thus far,” Hawrami said.
President Barzani also held talks with Arab tribal leader on Sunday and discussed the future of Mosul–which has been held by ISIS since summer of 2014.
The Kurdish president said that Mosul operations without the Peshmerga forces are impossible.
“They will have supportive role but will not enter the city,” Barzani said.
The Iraqi Defence Minister Khalid Obeidi said last week that the Iraqi government will not allow the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to liberate the city of Mosul.
Moreover, the Shia Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) threatened the Iraqi Kurds and warned the Peshmerga forces not to enter Mosul.
Reporting by: Wladimir van Wilgenburg
Source: ARA News
http://aranews.net/2016/08/iraqi-government-warns-kurdish-peshmerga-not-enter-mosul-barzani-promises-supportive-role/?
************
So was it actually Dunford that gave this order?
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So was it actually Dunford that gave this order?
He was most likely just relaying it. The Iraqi government will not permit the Kurds to a foothold in Mosul for the same reason they are so obsessive about getting it back from IS hands - whoever controls Mosul controls something like 70% of the water of the country
(and a goodly chunk of the electrical capacity), thanks to the dam.
Masum and al-Abadi are neither blind nor fools. They can see that the autonomous region will be an independent state within 10 years irrespective of what happens, so they're protecting their own.
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Thanks @SunkenCiv
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/turkish-military-given-immunity-as-erdogan-seeks-allies-3fcpwc2jk
(over month goes by, and...) thanks! Listening to news once in a while of late, and found out that Erdogan is pron. erdowan, like erdowan kenobi.
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During the debate did someone say that Aleppo is a mess? Get Turkey OUT of NATO? Why or why not?
"Turkey claims air raid killed up to 200 Kurdish fighters in Syria raid"
"A Turkish air raid killed as many as 200 Kurdish militia members north of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday, according to the Turkish military."
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/20/middleeast/turkey-syria-air-raid/index.html
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Iranian Kurdish KDPI accuses Tehran of bombing office in Iraqi Kurdistan
Posted on December 21, 2016 by Editorial Staff in 1 Top News, Kurdistan
Khalid Azizi, the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran (KDPI)
KOY SANJAQ, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— An Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group accused Iran on Wednesday of a bombing that killed five of its fighters and an Iraqi Kurdish policeman in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
A twin explosion late on Tuesday hit the offices of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) in Koy Sanjaq, east of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region.
After the first blast, a second, larger one went off as members of the group and police rushed to the spot, KDPI central committee member Asso Hassan Zadeh told Reuters.
More: http://ekurd.net/kdpi-accuses-tehran-bombing-2016-12-21
It shows how confusing it is over there and it's a bit bad if Iran bombed the Kurds.
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Kurds in Germany: Fear is in the air
Following the attempted coup in July, the tense situation in Turkey has been mirrored within Germany. The Kurdish community here is growing increasingly afraid.
Ali Toprak doesn't know where to begin. The chair of Germany's Kurdish community advocacy group, the KGD, is shocked - and disappointed, not just in politicians, but in the German media, too.
"I've been on the ZDF [German state] television board since July," he says. "I get to represent the migrant population. Whenever I bring up subjects like this, there's embarrassed silence on the German side."
With "subjects like this," Toprak is referring to the rift in Germany's Turkish community. Toprak is afraid. In the interview with DW he speaks of a "witch hunt," and grows agitated. "Does someone in this country have to get killed by Erdogan supporters before German politicians will finally acknowledge the seriousness of the situation?" he asks.
Divided community
Around three million people in Germany, most of them Sunnis, Alevis and Kurds, have Turkish origins. They constitute by far the largest group with a migrant background.
Gokay Sofuoglu is the federal chair of the Turkish community in Germany. His organization aspires to represent the whole of the community, but at the moment this is very difficult. Terrorist attacks by the Kurdish PKK, crackdowns since the failed coup: Turkey's domestic political climate is charged with fear and hate. Will its internal conflict spill over into Germany?
Continued: Die Welt via http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/kurds-in-germany-fear-is-in-the-air/ar-AAlINcH
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Two arrested in bombing of Iranian Kurdish party, perpetrator on the run
By Rudaw 3 hours ago
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Two suspects in the Koya bombings that targeted the headquarters of a Kurdish armed party of Iranian Kurdistan, killing seven, have been arrested, Kurdish security announced Monday. The main perpetrator is still on the run.
"The security agency was able to arrest two suspects on suspicion of being involved in the crime," reads a statement from the Kurdistan Region's Asayesh released on Monday. The security agency "has been able to identify the main perpetrator who is on the run now."
The Asayesh had formed a high level committee, coordinating with security agencies of several cities including Erbil and Sulaimani to investigate the twin bombings in Koya.
Following up on solid leads, the security committee confiscated materials belonging to the main perpetrator and have intensified their efforts to arrest those responsible for the bombing that are still at large.
Last Tuesday, two bombs targeted the headquarters of the Iranian Kurdistan Democratic Party (PDK, KDP-I), known locally as HDK, killing five of its Peshmerga fighters, two members of the Kurdish security forces, and wounding three others in Koya, 70 kilometres east of Erbil.
http://rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/261220163
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@EC,
I'm not sure if I'm losing track of who is who there or not . . .
Aren't the Kurds . . . the tribal group spread across Turkey's border with Iraq? Turkey would like to exterminate them and definitely to not allow them to match up with Kurds in Iraq and carve out a country of their own?
Have always felt sorry for the Kurds . . . don't recall why.
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@EC,
I'm not sure if I'm losing track of who is who there or not . . .
Aren't the Kurds . . . the tribal group spread across Turkey's border with Iraq? Turkey would like to exterminate them and definitely to not allow them to match up with Kurds in Iraq and carve out a country of their own?
Have always felt sorry for the Kurds . . . don't recall why.
You are pretty much right. The Kurds are spread over a chunk of Northeastern Syria, Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq. Their ideal is to consolidate all their traditional territory into a nation in it's own right.
One of the oddities of the Kurds is their very specific territoriality - they want every single inch of their traditional homeland, but not one inch more. There has been plenty of opportunity for the Kurdish Autonomous region of Iraq to expand south and west recently, but what they consider their border there remains the same as it always was, despite them fighting far south of it.
Nice people, mostly. Very can do sorts, and ALWAYS laughing and singing. I like them a lot.
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You are pretty much right. The Kurds are spread over a chunk of Northeastern Syria, Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq. Their ideal is to consolidate all their traditional territory into a nation in it's own right.
One of the oddities of the Kurds is their very specific territoriality - they want every single inch of their traditional homeland, but not one inch more. There has been plenty of opportunity for the Kurdish Autonomous region of Iraq to expand south and west recently, but what they consider their border there remains the same as it always was, despite them fighting far south of it.
Nice people, mostly. Very can do sorts, and ALWAYS laughing and singing. I like them a lot.
That was my impression, too.
They seem to have a lot of positives, as a culture, a tribal group.
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And they are in Iran too.
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5,000 US ground troops stationed near Mosul, says Iraqi army commander
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The United States has moved to step up its military intervention in Iraq nearly three months into the operation that started in October to drive ISIS gunmen out from their last holdouts in the country, stationing some 5,000 soldiers around the embattled city of Mosul, according to a top Iraqi commander.
The deployment of the military personnel near the war zone in northern Iraq, which is seen as a notable escalation of US involvement in the fight against ISIS in the country, also represents a shift from earlier US military strategy that has so far ruled out direct ground combat for its troops in both Iraq and Syria.
"There is a deal among Iraq, America and Kurdistan Region regarding the operation and it's being implemented now," said the Iraqi army commander who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity.
The commander said the deployment of nearly all US army personnel in Iraq to Nineveh Plains "could ruin Mosul, but it may also have a positive side as it will prevent clashes among Iraqi armed groups" after eliminating ISIS in the city.
The White House raised its cap on US forces in Iraq from 4,647, to 5,262 troops ahead of the Mosul operation in October, many of whom are described as military advisors who assist Iraqi and Kurdish troops fighting their common jihadist foes.
More: http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/31122016
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Demographically, they are suppose to outnumber Turks in the not to distant future; they could just try to be more patient.
@Quix
I thought Mount Ararat was in the Kurdish area. That's where Noah's Ark is purported to be.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ntkvCbMhO7I/VBOi_KHVCZI/AAAAAAAASMc/Q8oPRXR6trg/s1600/mt%2Bararat.gif)
Greater Kurdistan is a huge part of Turkey, maybe not so much of the other countries.
(http://www.nawrozrestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kurdistan-Map.jpg)
Maybe not on this map, barely missing but it extends up to Georgia and into Aizerbaijan too. Looks like wiki says they speak a language related to Iranian.
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Very sobering.
Thanks for that information.
May God be with our troops in that extremely hazardous area.
Sigh.
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Demographically, they are suppose to outnumber Turks in the not to distant future; they could just try to be more patient.
@Quix
I thought Mount Ararat was in the Kurdish area. That's where Noah's Ark is purported to be.
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ntkvCbMhO7I/VBOi_KHVCZI/AAAAAAAASMc/Q8oPRXR6trg/s1600/mt%2Bararat.gif)
Greater Kurdistan is a huge part of Turkey, maybe not so much of the other countries.
(http://www.nawrozrestaurant.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Kurdistan-Map.jpg)
Maybe not on this map, barely missing but it extends up to Georgia and into Aizerbaijan too. Looks like wiki says they speak a language related to Iranian.
I didn't realize there area was that big. I can see why the Turks would be more than a little concerned and fierce about turf!
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@EC @Quix
This appears negative, Turkey is going along with this deal because it won't split Syria up, if Syria gets split up, the Kurds could have their own autonomous area (own country?), as it is, they may have an "autonomous zone" in the larger scheme.
Also, why maybe the US wasn't invited to the ceasefire talks. There is a book called "Orphans of History", you really have them in South East Asia but they are likely about everywhere, people without a real homeland nation of their own, kind of like the Karen, Hmong, etc.
I'm no expert, that's kind of the drift I get here, I guess the article still states there will be autonomous zones.
Russia, Turkey And Iran Agreement Means Syria Won’t Be Broken Up
The agreements between Russia, Turkey and Iran on the Syrian settlement will not result in the division of Syria, said Turkish political analyst and diplomat Aydin Sezer.
In late-December, Reuters reported citing sources that Syria would be divided into informal zones of regional power influence and Bashar Assad would remain president for at least a few years under a deal between Moscow, Ankara and Tehran.
“Such a deal, which would allow regional autonomy within a federal structure controlled by Assad’s Alawite sect, is in its infancy, subject to change and would need the buy-in of Assad and the rebels and, eventually, the Gulf states and the United States,” the report read.
Continued: http://www.eurasiareview.com/03012017-russia-turkey-and-iran-agreement-means-syria-wont-be-broken-up/
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/02/briton-ryan-lock-killed-while-fighting-against-isis-in-syria
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,241897.0.html
That Brit said the Kurds he was fighting for did get bombed badly by the Turks.
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That's certainly an interesting development.
Will see how it pans out.
Federalism . . . I increasingly hate that word.
@EC @Quix
This appears negative, Turkey is going along with this deal because it won't split Syria up, if Syria gets split up, the Kurds could have their own autonomous area (own country?), as it is, they may have an "autonomous zone" in the larger scheme.
Also, why maybe the US wasn't invited to the ceasefire talks. There is a book called "Orphans of History", you really have them in South East Asia but they are likely about everywhere, people without a real homeland nation of their own, kind of like the Karen, Hmong, etc.
I'm no expert, that's kind of the drift I get here, I guess the article still states there will be autonomous zones.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/02/briton-ryan-lock-killed-while-fighting-against-isis-in-syria
http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,241897.0.html
That Brit said the Kurds he was fighting for did get bombed badly by the Turks.
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Kurds are enemies of ISIS; not sure what this is about. These people may have been ill-informed but reading the story, there seems to be more variables. More to the story than just the headline.
UK Kurds jailed for trying to join IS
From the section Coventry & Warwickshire
Two Kurds living in the UK are jailed for terror offences after trying to join so-called Islamic State fighters in Iraq.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-38501003
Azeez, of Washington Road, Sheffield, was sent to the UK by his family to keep him safe after battling extremists with the Kurdish Peshmerga separatist group, Kingston Crown Court heard.
The two were discovered by police sleeping at a Birmingham mosque on 17 May, days after several of Azeez's worried relatives had called 999 with concerns about what he was planning.
Sleeping in a British Mosque and planning to join ISIS. Wow.
Nutty story but how could any Kurd be planning to join IS?
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Syndicated News
Iraq Military Chief Says PKK Stopped American Team From Saving Yezidi Village
Rudaw
Posted 2017-01-07 19:14 GMT
Iraq's former army chief of staff Babakir Zebari says that a special American team tried to save thousands of Yezidi civilians from abduction and imminent massacre at a village near Shingal in the summer of 2014 but that they were stopped by members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) present in the area at the time.
"When Daesh (ISIS) invaded the Shingal area I went to the Americans and told them to do something about Kocho village because there were four thousand people there," Iraq's then army chief of staff told Rudaw TV in an exclusive interview.
Zebari recalls the Americans telling him that they could force the ISIS militants to withdraw by bombing their positions which they failed to do because of PKK objection to their presence on Mount Shingal from where they planned to target ISIS.
"The Americans said if they bombed ISIS positions they will be forced to withdraw and for that they went to the top of Mount Shingal," Zebari said.
"But as the Americans got there and were heading to Kocho village the PKK came, planted their flag and threw rocks at them," Zebari, the veteran Kurdish army man in the Iraqi military said of the days the Americans responded to the ISIS invasion of Kurdish areas in August 2014.
More: http://aina.org/news/20170107141435.htm
Bad story if so and it's probably so; but there seems to be a hitch to what the "PKK" did; still trying to understand it. Horrible.
We all remember a few years ago, when they said the Peshmerga Kurds needed international aid and receded to the protection of a mountain top.
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Bad story if so and it's probably so; but there seems to be a hitch to what the "PKK" did; still trying to understand it. Horrible.
We all remember a few years ago, when they said the Peshmerga Kurds needed international aid and receded to the protection of a mountain top.
PKK has Marxist roots which is probably why it is said to be well organized. We label it a terrorist group.
YPG is said to be aligned with PKK.
Peshmerga seems to be the the most decent of the lot. They were said to be factious and disorganized at the beginning of this horror show but apparently came together well enough.
After that it becomes complicated.
@TomSea
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The story has a current date but looks like an old story to me. Something to watch, no one else is reporting this.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2017/01/08/ISIS-kidnaps-1-200-Yazidis-moves-them-to-Mosul.html
ISIS kidnaps 1,200 Yazidis, moves them to Mosul
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Sunday, 8 January 2017
Text size A A A
At least 1,200 Yazidis have been kidnapped by ISIS militants and moved to central Mosul, according to the acting governor of Sinjar district in Iraq’s Nineveh.
Mahma Khalil also added that there were other Yazidis from the districts of Tal Afar and Al-Baaj who were kidnapped and being held hostage inside Mosul.
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I Fought ISIS with the Kurds In Syria. This Is What It Was Like
I dropped out of school to join the fight against tyranny. I learned much more than I had expected.
“The Jews and the Kurds, we are alone in the Middle East,” a fighter named Zagros told me as I was leaving Syrian Kurdistan. “Go back to Israel and tell the Kurdish Jews in Israel that they are welcome back here in Kurdistan.”
I had been there for almost six months fighting ISIS alongside Kurdish soldiers. A year before, I had been a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem studying politics and sociology. But after I saw the horrible images of the rape and destruction of Yazidi communities in Iraq, and without any previous military training, I put down my studies and went to Syrian Kurdistan to fight.
Continued: http://www.thetower.org/article/i-fought-isis-with-kurds-in-syria-this-is-what-it-was-like/
The benefits of such a friend would be economic as well as strategic. Like Iraqi Kurdistan, Rojava is rich in oil. Israel’s economic alliance with Iraqi Kurdistan has been so fruitful that 77 percent of Israel’s oil supply now comes from the area. Unfortunately, due to a Turkish blockade, Rojava’s oil reserves have not yet been explored by the West. This kind of animosity is a constant in Turkey’s relationship with the Kurds. It has long opposed any recognition of Kurdish autonomy anywhere and has only recently established relations with the KRG. The Islamist-leaning government in Turkey has both actively and passively fostered the expansion of the Islamic State; not necessarily for ideological reasons, but because it fights the common Kurdish enemy.
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Kurdish Filmmaker Cancels Planned U.S. Visit over Trump Actions
by Naharnet Newsdesk 3 days ago
(http://images0.naharnet.com/images/195945/w460.jpg?1485550256)
Citing President Donald Trump's visa crackdown, Kurdish filmmaker Hussein Hassan has scrapped plans to attend the U.S. premiere of his critically acclaimed film on the Yazidi minority, it was announced Friday.
Jaie Laplante, director of the Miami Film Festival, where the Kurdish-Iraqi movie "The Dark Wind" is to be screened in March, said Hassan had decided to withdraw his visa application in protest at Trump's forthcoming executive orders that are set to suspend the U.S. refugee program and restrict visas to citizens of certain countries, including Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
"One of Miami Film Festival's core values is to bridge cultural understanding, to provoke thought and discussion, and 'The Dark Wind' is one of the most timely, moving and important films in this year's festival," Laplante said.
Continued: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/224492-kurdish-filmmaker-cancels-planned-u-s-visit-over-trump-actions
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Kurd-led Syrian militia says Trump sent it armoured vehicles
#SyriaWar
Syrian Democratic Forces receive first shipment of armour from US, but Pentagon says supply order had been 'in the works for some time'
(http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_article_page/public/main-images/SDF%20with%20new%20armoured%20vehicles.jpg)
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kurd-led-syrian-militia-claims-trump-government-sent-armoured-vehicles-1743395167
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Syria forced to deny Bashar al-Assad sick after stroke rumours
#SyriaWar
'The presidency denies all these reports. Assad is in excellent health': Syrian government responds to claims of president's poor health
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-forced-deny-bashar-al-assad-sick-after-stroke-rumours-1086672400
Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii Democrat Rep. was just over there; she met with Assad it is said. I wonder if she could have added anything to this.
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Trustees appointed to administration of another pro-Kurdish municipality
Provincial governor Cemil Sarıoğlu has been appointed as a trustee to replace Burhan Kocaman, the mayor of Elazığ’s Karakoçan district who was elected on the ticket of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Regions Party (DBP).
Turkey has stepped up political pressure on Kurdish politicians in recent months ...
Continued: http://www.turkishminute.com/2017/02/01/trustees-appointed-administration-another-pro-kurdish-municipality/
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-38812873
Briton who fought with the Kurds, killed himself rather than be captured by ISIS.
The original story was covered in the forums. May The Lord Have Mercy.
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Some parts of Turkey are very dense in the Kurd population per a map I saw, parts may be 80% or more Kurdish. I hope they can work something out.
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Erdogan Is Wrecking Turkey
Erdogan is wrecking Turkey
Trevor Rayne
On 21 January 2017, 339 out of 550 MPs voted in Turkey’s National Assembly for constitutional changes that are to be put to a referendum, to be held no later than the third week of April 2017. These changes are described as transforming the 94-year-old republic from a parliamentary to a presidential system; this misrepresents what will be the establishment of autocratic one-man rule.
More: http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3817-erdogan-is-wrecking-turkey
New website to me, referenced in that BBC article.
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(http://kurdishquestion.com/visual/article/800x550/0f8efe6957b3c7e49681469fc3e39943.jpg)
http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3812-islamic-state-will-never-conquer-free-kurdish-women-ypj-fighter-jinda-welat
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Anti-IS Syria force launches new phase in Raqa campaign
Aaliyah (Syria) (AFP) - US-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters announced on Saturday a new phase in their campaign for the Islamic State group's Syrian stronghold of Raqa, but said they needed more weapons to win.
The Syrian Democratic Forces launched their campaign to capture the city last November and have taken some ground further up the Euphrates Valley but are still some distance away.
The SDF "announce the beginning of the third phase to liberate Raqa and its surroundings, which will target the eastern part of the province," spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said.
Speaking in the village of Aaliyah, north of the city, Ahmed said 750 more Arab fighters had joined the SDF after being trained by the US-led coalition.
Continued: https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-syria-force-launches-phase-raqa-campaign-000438498.html
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Three generations of Kurds in the same prison (Turkey)
Kurdish Question
Three generations of the Sezek family are imprisoned in the same prison in Siirt, in Turkey's Kurdish region.
80 year-old Haci Isa Sezek was taken into custody on 10 December, and after two months in custody was sent to Siirt E Type prison, where he has been kept since, with his son and two grandchildren.
The 80 year-old suffers from many ailments, the cause for which are the tortures he was subjected to in the 1990s. Visiting the elderly man in prison, his daughter and daughter-in-law said Sezek had lost a lot of weight and looked gaunt.
"My father is a well-loved man. It's the same in prison. Despite all the difficulties he has a strong will. He is remaining positive. But a man of his age and with his ailments should not be in prison, this is an injustice. The Turkish Penal Code says anyone above the age of 65 should not be imprisoned. They are violating their own laws," says Ayse Sezek.
http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3827-three-generations-of-kurds-in-the-same-prison
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Americans have fought valiantly in support of the democratic movement in northern Syria. We should make sure their efforts weren’t in vain.
The Anglo-American hero Winston Churchill once said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” There is no better way to describe the impact that the March 2015 victory in Kobanî had on the war against the Islamic State. ISIS’s defeat in this north Syrian city will go down in history as the moment the group began to decline. There would be death throes over the subsequent years, as ISIS scored victories in places such as Palmyra and Ramadi, but the group’s rapid growth and aura of invincibility were be shattered in Kobanî by the heroic fighters of the YPG (Kurdish People’s Protection Units) and YPJ (Women’s Protection Units).
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/444626/syria-civil-war-rojava-revolution-american-heroes-democracy-ypg
(http://legalinsurrection.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/keith-broomfield-kurd-tweet1.png)
Discussed in the article.
Americans, Australians, British, Canadians and others have all fought to aid the Kurds; other groups in that war.
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KCK leader asks US, Russia to not support Turkey's anti-Kurdish 'conspiracy'
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/120220174
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The leader of the Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) has called on Russia and America to avoid giving credence to Turkish officials’ anti-Kurdish “conspiracy” messages and advocated for a Kurdish National Conference this year, according to Kurdish news outlets.
UK defense chief meets Kurdish PM and President with Mosul top of agenda
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/120220171
Jaysh al-Thuwar claims Syrian regime handed over al-Bab to Turkish forces
Kurdish Question
Jaysh al-Thuwar (The Army of Revolutionaries) stated that the Syrian regime handed over al-Bab to Turkish forces, and denied the claims that it handed over some towns in north of Aleppo to the Syrian regime.
Jaysh al-Thuwar issued a written statement on the recent developments in al-Bab and northern Aleppo.
http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3841-jaysh-al-thuwar-claims-syrian-regime-handed-over-al-bab-to-turkish-forces
Turkish army continues to target SDF west of Manbij
Kurdish Question
The Turkish army continues to target positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) west of Manbij city in northern Syria. Turkish forces bombed the SDF-held towns of Arima and Kawkali on Friday evening.
Local sources reported that the Turkish army heavily bombarded SDF positions in both towns, located about 20 kilometers west of Manbij, using heavy machine-guns and artillery fire.
This is not the first time the Turkish army targets the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in western Manbij. On 17 January, Turkey’s military launched a similar attack, targeting SDF headquarters.
http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3837-turkish-army-continues-to-target-sdf-west-of-manbij
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Semi-Sultan Erdogan’s Payments to General Flynn; Turkish State Terrorism and the Kurds
Written on December 4, 2016
By Dr. M. Kamiar:
On the American Election Day of November 8, 2016, retired Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn, now President Trump’s National Security Advisor, suggested the U.S. should extradite coup suspect Mr. Gulen to Turkey. On the Election Day, General Michael Flynn (November 8, 2016) penned an article for The Hill newspaper entitled, “Our ally Turkey is in crisis and needs our support.” He argued, “Turkey is vital to U.S. interests. Turkey is really our strongest ally against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as well as a source of stability in the region.” General Flynn is accurate in saying Turkey “is facing calamity and needs America’s help. But, the situation is a byproduct of the implication of radical Islamist policies of fascist Sultan Erdogan. The General’s recommendation came after he was paid as a lobbyist for Ankara. America should not assist Turkey’s murderer Sultan. The new honeymoon in progress between Ankara and Washington will give the Turkish tyrant an opportunity to kill more Kurds.
Continued: http://kurdistantribune.com/semi-sultan-erdogans-payments-to-general-flynn-turkish-state-terrorism-and-the-kurds/
If one was pro-Kurds, I think one welcomes the news of Flynn stepping down. As I said, I'm no expert but reading the tea-leaves, it looks like he is on the wrong side here.
I've posted from that "Turkish Minute" website numerous times, a website by Turks, largely in exile. They are not particular fans of Erdogan definitely.
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If one was pro-Kurds, I think one welcomes the news of Flynn stepping down. As I said, I'm no expert but reading the tea-leaves, it looks like he is on the wrong side here.
I've posted from that "Turkish Minute" website numerous times, a website by Turks, largely in exile. They are not particular fans of Erdogan definitely.
I agree, Tom. Erdogan isn't on the right side.
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I've posted from that "Turkish Minute" website numerous times, a website by Turks, largely in exile. They are not particular fans of Erdogan definitely.
It's fine Tom. Appreciated, in fact.
You are NEVER going to find unbiased sources regarding the Kurds - so a range of sources is about as good as we can do. :beer:
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It's fine Tom. Appreciated, in fact.
You are NEVER going to find unbiased sources regarding the Kurds - so a range of sources is about as good as we can do. :beer:
Preach it brother! And the ones talking largely don't know what the hell they are talking about!
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Syrian Kurds Vow to Fight Turkey If They Get Close to Raqqa
Kurdish Officials Confident They'll Keep Getting US Aid
by Jason Ditz, February 15, 2017
Print This | Share This
Fresh off of discussions between US and Turkish officials about a joint operation in the ISIS capital of Raqqa, and Turkish statements that Raqqa is the next destination for their invasion force in northern Syria, Kurdish YPG officials are openly talking about fighting against Turkey if they do so.
Turkey’s invasion of Syria, which began in August, came with the intention of stopping the Kurds from taking any more land away from ISIS, and the two sides have clashed intermittently since then, usually with Turkish airstrikes hitting Kurdish forces.
More: http://news.antiwar.com/2017/02/15/syrian-kurds-vow-to-fight-turkey-if-they-get-close-to-raqqa/
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Currently, VP Pence has been talking to the Kurds and Turkey.
The Latest: Pence meets leaders of Iraq, Iraqi Kurds
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/national-govt--politics/the-latest-pence-meets-leaders-iraq-iraqi-kurds/uUQstZs4tGRX81l07JgvbP/
VP Pence Talks Independence with Kurdish President Barzani
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/vp-pence-talks-independence-with-kurdish-president-barzani/2017/02/19/
President Masoud Barzani discuss independence 'seriously' with Vice President Pence
http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/180220174
MUNICH, Germany--President Masoud Barzani "seriously discussed" the issue of Kurdistan independence with the the US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday in Munich, Barzani's senior advisor, who also attended both leaders' meeting, told Rudaw TV.
“The question of Kurdistan’s independence was seriously discussed,” Hemin Hawrami said. “President Barzani discussed this issue with the US Vice President very seriously.”
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Iraqi Kurdish TV reporter killed in Mosul
Shifa Gardi, killed by a roadside bomb, is the latest among scores of journalists to fall victim to conflict in Iraq in recent decades
(http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_article_page/public/main-images/C5hAxY8WUAQ--N8.jpg_large_0.jpeg)
Shifa Gardi reporting in Mosul for the Rudaw TV channel (Rudaw)
A female reporter working for Iraqi Kurdish channel Rudaw was killed by the explosion of a roadside bomb Saturday during fighting between government forces and militants in Mosul, her channel said.
"Prominent Rudaw war reporter and journalist Shifa Gardi has been killed in Mosul as she covered clashes," Rudaw said on social media.
See More At: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/iraqi-kurdish-tv-reporter-killed-mosul-1947006660
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To counter Turkey, Damascus sidles up to Kurds
[AFP]
Sammy KETZ
AFPMarch 1, 2017
A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces, largely made up of US-backed Kurdish fighters, pictured near the village of Bir Fawaz, 20 km north of Raqa, Syria during their offensive on Islamic State group stronghold on February 8, 2017 (AFP Photo/Delil SOULEIMAN)
Beirut (AFP) - Worried over Turkish advances in Syria's north, the Damascus regime has formed an alliance of convenience with the country's Kurds to prevent their common enemy from gaining ground.
President Bashar al-Assad's government has repeatedly criticised Turkey's operation in Syria, which saw Ankara in late August send troops across the border where they are working with local rebels.
Turkey's invasion has also been fiercely opposed by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which is dominated by Kurdish fighters.
"For the government, just as for the Syrian Kurds, the enemy is (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan. They want to counter his project of invading the border territory," said Waddah Abed Rabbo, editor-in-chief of Syria's Al-Watan daily.
Continued: https://www.yahoo.com/news/counter-turkey-damascus-sidles-kurds-155453406.html
Who knows if this is true, I do believe there are reports in the news today, Turkey bombed some Kurdish forces today, the ones they call terrorists.; which is pretty screwed up to me.
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Turkey to cut U.S. access to airbase if Washington teams with Kurds
March 1, 2017 - 17:02 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Ankara could forbid Washington from using its Incirlik airbase if the United States cooperates with the Kurdish forces, such as the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Popular Defense Units (YPG), Sputnik reports.
The Yeni Safak newspaper reported on Wednesday, March 1, citing own sources, that Ankara could end the permission in case of cooperation between Washington and the Kurds during operations against the Islamic State terrorist group in the area of Raqqa.
The newspaper added that Ankara was also considering the possibility to close the country's airspace for U.S. aircraft.
The United States, along with several other countries, uses the Incirlik base for aircraft involved in the anti-IS campaign in Syria.
Continued: http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/233895/
The Syrian Kurds and Allegations of War Crimes
Critics respond to Roy Gutman’s special report on the Syrian Kurdish militia.
By Meredith Tax and Roy Gutman
February 21, 2017
In a two-part investigation for The Nation, published here and here, Roy Gutman has accused the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, of systematically violating human rights in the area it controls. Below is a response from critics, followed by Gutman’s rejoinder.
The War of Disinformation
By Meredith Tax, with Joey Lawrence and Flint Arthur
Photographer Joey Lawrence, who has spent time embedded in both the Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), calls the Syrian civil war “a war of disinformation.” Roy Gutman’s two Nation articles accusing the YPG of war crimes can be seen as a salvo in that war. Gutman charges the YPG with
Political expulsions that forced out “Tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of Arabs”
Creating refugees: “over 500,000 Kurds fled rather than submit to YPG rule and abuses”
Collusion with ISIS; Gutman sees “a surprising pattern of seeming collaboration between the YPG, ISIS, and the Assad regime with the purpose of expelling moderate rebel forces.” He says that in case after case, ISIS gave villages and cities over to the Kurds without a fight.
Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/the-syrian-kurds-and-allegations-of-war-crimes/
Dicey situation, we don't know if all of this is true especially from the Nation which is severely left wing but good to examine all angles. Take with a grain of salt.
What could possibly go wrong over there?
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U.S. Should Consider Building a Kurdish Incirlik in Iraqi Kurdistan
Posted on March 1, 2017 by Editorial Staff in Exclusive, Politics
A US Air Force boeing at Incirlik, Turkey
There is one word that explains why the US is a second-rate power in a third rate region dominated by Turkey and the fourth rate government of Iraq. Incirlik.
t is time the US builds in Iraqi Kurdistan military air facilities that match or beat what’s available to them in Turkey. Turkey holds all the cards because it can grant or withhold permission to land or take off, using Turkish air space and ground facilities. This means that much of American diplomatic power throughout the Middle East fights with one hand tied behind its back. Turkey is the knot.
Iran might not like the idea of Kurdistan hosting a massive US military airbase just the other side of a pomegranate grove. So what. The Iranians aren’t likely to nuke a base where thousands of their tribesmen live and work. We had that war under Saddam. If the US wanted to blow up Iranian nuclear facilities, the weapon would be fired from under a mountain in Montana.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/us-building-kurdish-incirlik-2017-03-01
Screw Turkey, this base gets built, lower dependence on Turkey. I even heard someone say we should have set up a base in Iraq; we've been in Korea forever, why not here as well? The lid came off after we left. We already have bases everywhere and probably some we could close.
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Think I briefly saw earlier, that with the US's approval, we allowed the Kurds to return some village to Assad, the Damascus regime or something like that. The war hasn't been run that bad after Obama in my opinion, allowed the Pentagon to step in and have a more forceful role.
YPG Kurds collaborate with Syria regime over Manbij
The Syrian leftist Kurdish separatist movement, the People’s Protection Units, also known as the YPG, have ceded control of territory around the northern city of Manbij that they currently hold in order to protect themselves against advancing Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) opposition fighters.
The Manbij Military Council, part of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), that is primarily controlled by the YPG and other Kurdish militants, announced that it had “transferred defence of the frontline” to forces loyal to the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad.
According to a statement released by the YPG-controlled group, they had already agreed this move with Russia. This could represent a further conflict between Russia and Turkey, who recently set aside many of their differences over their separate interventions in Syria and the downing of a Russian bomber by the Turkish air force.
Continued: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170302-ypg-kurds-collaborate-with-syria-regime-over-manbij/
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Decent analysis on that situation between the Kurds and Turks.
Analysis - Turkey, U.S. on collision course over Kurdish role in battle for Syria's Raqqa | Reuters
Reuters Mar, 02 2017 22:06:25 IST#Reuters
By Samia Nakhoul and Nick Tattersall
| ANKARA/WASHINGTON
ANKARA/WASHINGTON Turkey is ruling out compromise with the United States over the involvement of Kurdish militia fighters in an assault in Syria, an obstacle for Washington's plan to deploy its strongest allies on the ground in a decisive showdown with Islamic State.Donald Trump has made defeating Islamic State one of the key goals of his presidency, and his new administration received a draft Pentagon plan on Monday to accelerate the campaign.Raqqa in Syria, one of Islamic State's two de facto capitals along with Mosul in Iraq, is expected to be the scene of the final battle to crush the jihadists' self-proclaimed Caliphate sometime this year, after a U.S.-backed Iraqi government assault on Mosul already under way since October.But putting together a united ground force to take Raqqa has so far proven a confounding task in Syria, where the United States, Turkey, Russia, Iran and Arab states have all backed local forces in a multi-sided civil war since 2011. All the foreign powers oppose Islamic State, but their Syrian proxies have mainly fought against one another.Turkey, with the second largest army in NATO, is adamant that Washington should switch support for the planned Raqqa offensive from the Kurdish YPG militia to Syrian rebels Turkey has trained and led against Islamic State for the past year.For the U.S. administration, nervous about whether the Turkish-backed force is large enough and sufficiently trained, the decision sets Trump's wish for quick battlefield victories against the need to maintain its strategic alliance with Turkey.Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian extension of the Kurdish PKK militant group, which has fought an insurgency in Turkey's southeast since 1984 and is considered a terrorist group by both the United States and European Union."
More: http://www.firstpost.com/world/analysis-turkey-u-s-on-collision-course-over-kurdish-role-in-battle-for-syrias-raqqa-reuters-3312004.html
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Civil war between Kurds is treason, HDP spokesperson
Osman Baydamir, the spokesperson for the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) says a “civil war” between the Kurds is “treason”, and calls for it to stop, in reference to the clashes that erupted between the Kurdish Rojava Peshmerga forces with the Shingal Protections Units (YBS) in Shingal Region on Friday morning.
“Civil war is not acceptable,” Bayadamir posted in a tweet. “Civil war is treason for the Kurds. Civil war has to stop.”
Live Updates: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/03032017
Kurds fighting Kurds? Iraq, Sinjar province.
http://ekurd.net/clashes-rival-kurdish-sinjar-2017-03-03
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Why the battle for Manbij will make or break Trump's relations with Turkey
Friday 3 March 2017 12:28 UTC
Ankara's plans for safe zone could see it fighting against US-backed allies in Syria
On 12 February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists that the Turkish army will press on to Islamic State-held Raqqa.
"After Al-Bab is over, our next target will be Manbij and Raqqa," he said. Recently, Turkish armed forces and its allied Free Syrian Army have almost seized full control of the strategic town of Al-Bab in northern Syria.
Manbij will serve as the first real test of the alleged change in Washington’s Syrian policy under US President Donald Trump
Initially, Turkey embarked on its “Euphrates Shield” operation to realise three primary objectives:
Cleanse the northern stretch of Syria from the blood-soaked cult of IS, which has carried out brutal attacks against Turkish targets not only in Syria but also in Turkey
Create a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border provinces
Preclude the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from establishing their autonomous canton on the threshold of Turkey
Turkey views the YPG as an outlawed, aggressive militia and a splinter of the banned PKK, that has waged an armed mutiny against Turkey for over three decades.
Continued: http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/battle-manbij-will-decide-trump-s-syria-policy-and-relations-turkey-1244202159
This battle of Manbij is rather messy.
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U.S. forces look on as Turks, Kurds clash in north Syria
Posted on March 4, 2017 by Editorial Staff in 1 Top News, Kurdistan
US special operations forces in Syrian Kurdistan
US special operations forces in Syrian Kurdistan, May 2016. Photo: AFP
MANBIJ, Syrian Kurdistan,— US soldiers aboard Humvee armoured vehicles have been watching from a distance as two of their allies, Turkish-backed forces and a Kurdish-led alliance, battle it out for control of Manbij in Syrian Kurdistan (northern Syria).
An AFP correspondent on Friday saw the American soldiers on patrol north of the city of Manbij, just miles from the fierce clashes taking place further west.
Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels have tried since Wednesday to capture Manbij, a former bastion of the Islamic State group, now under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/us-forces-turks-kurds-syria-2017-03-04
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(http://kurdishquestion.com/visual/article/800x550/0c22a535087717329f8490358a406819.jpg)
Family sets up memorial fund for Ryan Lock who died fighting Islamic State
Kurdish Question
The family of Ryan Lock, the British man who died fighting the jihadist Islamic State group in Syria has set up a fund to raise £5,000 for a memorial stone and bench.
The 20-year-old former chef, who joined the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in Rojava in September died on 21 December after turning a gun on himself to avoid being taken hostage.
His father, Jon Plater, said: "The family has slowly been coming to terms with losing Ryan. The love and unity within our family has helped us cope.
Continued: http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3859-family-sets-up-memorial-fund-for-ryan-lock-who-died-fighting-islamic-state
Good picture of the lad.
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US armored vehicles appear in Manbij, next target of Erdoğan
Five days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey’s next target in Syria would be the northern Syrian city of Manbij, which was controlled by Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces, a convoy of US armored vehicles appeared near the city on Sunday, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported.
The AFP released photographs of the convoy of US armored vehicles driving near the village of Yalanlı, on the western outskirts Manbij, on March 5.
Erdoğan announced at a press conference in Ankara on Feb. 28 that Turkey’s next target in Syria would be Manbij, which has become a subject of disagreement between Washington and Ankara.
Continued: http://www.turkishminute.com/2017/03/06/us-armored-vehicles-appear-manbij-next-target-erdogan/
This is a sensitive situation, some press has written that the US would defend Kurdish troops.
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Turkish minister: ISIL, PYD (Kurds) and Assad regime cooperating on Manbij
Turkey’s Defense Minister Fikri Işık said on Sunday that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Syrian regime have been cooperating on the northern Syrian city of Manbij, the state-run TRTHaber reported.
“The whole world has started to see how DEAŞ [ISIL], the PYD and the [Assad] regime are cooperating on Manbij,” said Işık during a program in Kocaeli organized by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“One of the most important priorities of Turkey is to prevent the PYD, which is close to committing a genocide against the Kurds, from creating a territory. It will absolutely not be allowed to create a sovereign territory. Turkey will at all costs not allow the PYD to unite the cantons [Afrin, Kobani, Jazira],” said Defense Minister Işık.
More: http://www.turkishminute.com/2017/03/05/turkish-minister-isil-pyd-assad-regime-cooperating-manbij/
"..the PYD, which is close to committing a genocide against the Kurds.."
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Kurdish healer: Trump is possessed; I can cure him by beating soles of his feet
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Kurdish healer who claims to draw his knowledge and powers from God says that US President Donald Trump is possessed and unless he is cured he will either go insane or be killed before finishing his first term in office.
Known as Mala Ali Kalak and based in a small town outside Erbil on the road to Mosul, he says he has treated many cases of cancer and HIV, including government officials.
“Trump is possessed and I need to beat him on the soles of his feet to get the jinni out of his body,” Mala Ali told Rudaw in an interview. “He has lost his mind and oversteps his boundaries all the time. He needs help. Unless he is cured he will continue to act like he does now.”
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/060320173
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Questions linger on who controls Syrian town of Manbij
BEIRUT – Reuters
(http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/images/news/201703/n_110494_1.jpg)
A convoy of US forces armoured vehicles drives near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, on March 5. AFP photo
Manbij in Syria’s north is under the protection of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Kurdish-allied militia that controls the city said, raising fresh questions over who controls the border town, which is described as “critical” by Turkey.
Manbij has come into renewed focus since Turkey declared it the next target of the campaign it is waging with Syrian rebels in northern Syria to keep both ISIL and Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) forces and its armed wing the People’s Protection Unit (YPG) away from its border.
Ankara says the PYD and the YPG are extensions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Continued: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/questions-linger-on-who-controls-syrian-town-of-manbij.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110494&NewsCatID=352
@EC
Pretty curious news in all of this.
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Could Turkey’s misstep in Manbij provide template for Raqqa?
Turkish move blocked by Syrian forces
Summary
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest threat complicates Pentagon planning to oust the Islamic State from its so-called capital; United States provides intelligence for Iraqi strike in Syria.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/turkey-misstep-manbij-syria-template-raqqa-erdogan-iraq.html#ixzz4aYpnuSjg
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@EC
Pretty curious news in all of this.
@TomSea
It's a nervous situation. Turkey is, as usual, full of it when it comes to the YPG. They may be cautiously co-operating with Assad. They're killing every ISIS they see.
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Another story on foreigners joining the Kurds to fight.
Fight IS, Start 'Revolution': Why Foreigners Join Syria Kurds
by Naharnet Newsdesk Yesterday
Captivated by the idea of fighting jihadists, or dedicated to starting a "revolution," foreigners have diverse reasons for joining the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
The group is the key component of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, now advancing on the Islamic State group's stronghold of Raqa.
Hundreds of foreign fighters have fought alongside the YPG in Syria, of whom at least 25 have been killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says.
- Kimmy -Kimmy Taylor, a 27-year-old British citizen, travelled to northern Syria in 2016 to write about women's rights after studying politics at university in Sweden.
She had planned a 10-day visit but, after just three days, she decided to stay.
Kimmy says she fell in love with the system of "autonomous administration" Kurdish authorities have implemented across northern Syria, describing it as "an answer to everything that I've seen wrong with the world".
Continued: http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/226615-fight-is-start-revolution-why-foreigners-join-syria-kurds
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Turkey warns U.S. relations at risk if Syrian Kurds help retake Raqqa
Posted on March 9, 2017 by Editorial Staff in Kurdistan, Politics
ANKARA,— The United States risks major damage to its relationship with NATO ally Turkey if the U.S. includes Syrian Kurdish forces in the fight to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de facto capital, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Thursday.
Turkey and the U.S. are locked in a heated dispute about U.S. plans to liberate Raqqa, with Turkey insisting its own military and allied forces in Syria should mount the fight and that U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds should be excluded.
Though the U.S. has been hoping to include both Turkey and the battle-hardened Kurdish forces, Yildirim insisted Turkey wouldn’t be part of any operation including the Syrian Kurdish force known as the YPG, considered by Ankara to be terrorists who threaten Turkey’s security.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/turkey-warns-us-kurds-2017-03-09
So, if Turkey wants to lead the charge on Raqqa, that would mean less Kurds and others who would be sacrificed.
Wash. Post also reports the above: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkey-warns-us-relations-at-risk-if-kurds-help-retake-raqqa/2017/03/09/f48a344e-04c5-11e7-9d14-9724d48f5666_story.html
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McCain warns of war between Turks and Kurds in Syria
By Jamie McIntyre • 3/9/17 12:20 PM
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain is warning that the Trump administration is not paying enough attention to the possibility of open warfare between NATO ally Turkey and U.S.-backed Kurds in northern Syria.
"Unless something changes, I foresee a train wreck here," McCain, R-Ariz., said during questioning of Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of the U.S. Central Command who is responsible for the battle against the Islamic State in Syria.
"I think there's a possibility of an impending conflict between Turkey and the Kurds, as opposed to us working together to try to defeat ISIS and remove them from Raqqa." McCain said.
Continued: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mccain-warns-of-war-between-turks-and-kurds-in-syria/article/2616918
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Kurdish vocalist Aynur Dogan receives prestigious award for excellence
By Rudaw
(http://www.rudaw.net/ContentFiles/290088Image1.jpg)
Kurdish vocalist Aynur Dogan who has achieved a prominent place in the Kurdish music since she released her first album Kecha Kurdan (Kurdish girl) more than a decade ago. Photo: Dogan's official website.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish vocalist Aynur Dogan is to receive the Master of Mediterranean Music Award on Thursday in the United States from Berklee College, the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world.
Launched in 2014, the award recognizes excellence in the Middle Eastern music.
Dogan born in the Kurdish city of Dersim and raised in Istanbul has been a rising star in Kurdish music.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/turkey/150320171
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Gorran says Barzani’s KDP responsible for killing protesters in Sinjar
Posted on March 15, 2017 by Editorial Staff in Politics, Yazidis
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which is headed by Massoud Barzani, is responsible for killing and wounding residents of Sinjar in northwest Iraq, the Change Movement (Gorran) bloc said.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/gorran-kdp-responsible-sinjar-2017-03-15
Barzani is the Kurdish President for that area I believe.
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Self-immolations on the Rise Among Iraqi Kurdish Women
By Laurene Daycard
AL Monitor
Posted 2017-03-16 03:39 GMT
Female Kurdish fighters, who represent less than 1% of the roughly 200,000 peshmerga forces, have become "the bankable icon" of the fight against the Islamic State. But beyond the illusions of a land that supports women's rights, the reality in Iraqi Kurdistan is much less glamorous.
According to nongovernmental organization Wadi, 57% of Iraqi Kurds between 14 and 19 years old underwent an excision of the clitoris. Honor killings by male family members are still common in Kurdistan, and many other women face forced and underage marriage, domestic violence or polygamy issues. Worse still, since the early 1990s, several thousand Iraqi Kurds died of self-immolation. In 2015, the Kurdistan Regional Government listed 125 deaths by self-immolation. In most cases, deaths are concealed behind the excuse of a random home accident, but Bahar Munzir, a popular activist for the rights of Kurdish women, told Al-Monitor that 500 such deaths occur each year.
More: http://aina.org/news/20170315233924.htm
Full article: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/immolations-iraq-kurdistan-women-violence.html
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The Kurds ring in the springtime; but Turkish government cancels the celebration. Well, does this look like celebrations?
Gov’t cancels Nevruz celebrations
By TM - March 16, 2017
(http://www.turkishminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/696x418xBELGAIMAGE-76475452-696x418.jpg.pagespeed.ic.1T7ARQuXHg.jpg)
A Kurdish man jumps over a Nevruz fire during celebrations marking the Kurdish New Year, on March 22, 2015 in İstanbul. Nevruz, which means "new day" in Kurdish and marks the first day of Spring, is also celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bahrain, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, as well as among various other Iranian and Turkic peoples in Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, northwestern China, the Caucasus, the Crimea, and the Balkans. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC / AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC
Celebrations planned for the spring festival of Nevruz in İstanbul and Ankara have been cancelled by the governors of the cities for security reasons, news website Diken reported on Thursday.
The governor’s offices expressed as a justification for the cancelations concerns about possible “tension and provocations between people who will participate in the celebrations and others.”
Nevruz is a spring festival traditionally marked in the second half of March and has a highly symbolic meaning for Kurds, with colorful celebrations across the predominantly Kurdish Southeast of Turkey.
Continued: http://www.turkishminute.com/2017/03/16/govt-cancels-nevruz-celebrations/
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In Iraq:
Kurdistan TV female reporter attacked by security forces in Sulaimani
Posted on March 17, 2017 by Editorial Staff in Journalism
(http://ekurd.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Kurdistan-TV-female-reporter-attacked-by-security-forces-in-Sulaimani-Mar-16-2017-nrt.jpg)
Kurdistan TV female reporter Nashmil Mohammed attacked by security forces in Sulaimani, Iraqi Kurdistan, March 16, 2017. Photo: NRT
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— A female Kurdish journalist from Kurdistan TV, which is close to KDP party, was hospitalized on Thursday after Kurdish security PUK forces attacked her while she was covering a football match in the city of Sulaimani.
...
Mohammed is now in a coma at Sulaimani Emergency Hospital, Aziz told the advocacy center.
More: http://ekurd.net/reporter-attacked-kurdistan-2017-03-17
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Iraq receives first batch of South Korean T-50 fighter jets
http://ekurd.net/iraq-south-korean-fighter-2017-03-17
Kurdistan
The pilot who defied Saddam's orders to gas Halabja
KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region — In a neighborhood of Kirkuk lives a family of a Baathist-executed Iraqi air force pilot.
The pilot Aydn Mustafa defied orders from Saddam Hussein, refusing to drop poisonous gasses on March 16, 1988, when 5,000 people were killed, 10,000 were injured and many continue to suffer from lingering effects.
Mustafa, a Turkmen, was born in 1949 in Kirkuk. He was held in solitary confinement until being executed August 29, 1988.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/170320172
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Although, the persecution in these reports is nothing compared to ISIS or even other parts of the world where Christians are persecuted, there does seem to be an uptick in such stories and also, as related to the persecution of Kurds in Iran.
64 ‘poorest of Iran’s poor Kurds’ kolbar died in 2016, report
By Rudaw yesterday at 11:45
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Sixty-four kolbar, Kurdish cross-border porters, “the poorest among Iran’s most poor Kurds,” lost their lives in 2016, according to a new report.
“n 2016 alone, 42 Kolber workers were directly shot dead, 30 were injured, and 22 drowned or died of hypothermia and other causes,” stated the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) in their annual report on the kolbar published Thursday.
The kolbar are semi-legal porters who carry goods on their backs, across the mountains from the Kurdistan Region to Iran. The France-based KHRN described the kolbar as one of the most forgotten groups, “the most abandoned section of the Iranian society. They are the poorest among Iran’s most poor Kurds.”
More: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/30032017
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Kurdish voters stabbed by Turks outside Turkey’s consulate in Brussels
BRUSSELS,— Three Kurds were attacked by knife-wielding supporters of the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Kurdish …
March 31, 2017 | 1 Top News, Kurdistan
According to Le Soir.be, there was a brawl at 4pm local time between opponents and supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/kurdish-voters-turkish-brussels-2017-03-31
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Six rescued bears set free in Kurdish national park
(http://static.vod-platform.net/VideosThumbsImages/rudawtv/200000/Poster-275478-11-8968179-1.jpg)
Asiatic brown bears are released into a park in the mountainous Kurdistan Region. Video: Rudaw
CHOMAN, Kurdistan Region — Six hand-raised Asiatic brown bears were set free on Monday in the wilds of Halgord National Park, a wildlife sanctuary north of the Kurdistan Region.
The bears had been working animals, forced to perform tricks like dancing and languished inside uncomfortable cages for much of their life, according to the Kurdish-American Organisation which secured their release.
The six bears had partly been trained for survival in the wild by the organisation before releasing them in the wild nature.
“They were being kept in very poor and inhumane conditions in different places across the Kurdistan Region. The owners made money by showing them to the public or simply making them dance,” said Bilind Birifkani, head of the Kurdish-American organisation, a joint venture that promotes friendly ties between Kurdistan and the US.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/090420171
I didn't realize they had national parks in the Kurdistan region or what country this is in exactly, I guess Kurdistan.
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The 14th of April, seems to be the day Saddam's crimes against Kurds are remembered, some call it genocide.
Iraqi parl’t approves proposal on remembrance of anti-Kurd Anfal campaign
Posted on April 15, 2017 by Editorial Staff in 1 Top News, Politics, Politics
BAGHDAD,— The Iraqi Parliament has approved a proposal regarding the Ba’ath Regime’s Anfal campaign against the people of the Kurdistan Region.
The fourteenth of April is the anniversary of the Anfal campaign against Kurds, which is believed to have killed and caused the disappearance of an estimated 182,000 Kurds.
The Anfal campaign, launched and led by Ba’ath Party Secretary-General Ali Hassan al-Majid – also known as Chemical Ali – is widely understood to have begun in 1986 and lasted through 1988. Ground offensives, aerial bombardments, systematic destruction of villages and mass deportations were used as part of the campaign.
A chemical weapons attack on Halabja in 1988, as part of the Anfal campaign, killed up to 5,000 people and wounded thousands more.
Continued: http://ekurd.net/iraqi-approves-proposal-anfal-2017-04-15
It's stylish to say nowadays, we should have never gone into Iraq; not sure. It is something to debate. I think we were a bit undermanned but it's not easy to talk when others lives are on the line.
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Turkey jails another pro-Kurdish deputy, bringing total to 14
By TM - April 20, 2017
(https://www.turkishminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/burcucelik-696x400.jpg)
HDP deputy Burcu Çelik
As part of an investigation launched into the outlawed the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Burcu Çelik was arrested by a Muş court on Wednesday for “membership in an armed terrorist organization” and “attempting to destroy the unity of the state and nation.”
Çelik was reportedly sent to Muş Prison late on Wednesday.
With the arrest of Çelik, the total number of pro-Kurdish deputies in jail has reached 14 including the party’s co-chairs Selahattin Demirtaş and Figen Yüksekdağ.
Continued: https://www.turkishminute.com/2017/04/20/turkey-jails-another-pro-kurdish-deputy-bringing-total-to-14/
I know folks see the UN as largely impotent but shouldn't all of this be taken to the UN?
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Here is something, at least, Amnesty International, I don't care for because of their platform on "reproductive rights"; but one thing doesn't make everything they do bad. It may mean that one is less likely to give them a donation though.:
April 21, 2017 12:00AM EDT
Joint Letter to Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the Deterioration of Human Rights in Turkey
Members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
21 April 2017
Re: Addressing the serious deterioration of human rights in Turkey
Dear Assembly Member,
We are writing, ahead of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to call on you to support the recommendation included in the report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) to reopen the monitoring procedure on the situation in Turkey until the grave concerns raised by the Rapporteurs are duly addressed by the Government of Turkey.
We believe that a decision by PACE to reopen the monitoring procedure would send a strong message to Turkey and indicate a commitment to holding the government and president accountable for their repeated failure to respect their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and as a member of the Council of Europe.
Only a decision to reopen full monitoring of the situation in Turkey would acknowledge the grave human rights violations documented in the country in recent years, including the severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, the practice of torture and ill-treatment in detention, arbitrary detentions, prosecutions, dismissals, confiscation of passports and property, and continued violence and serious abuses in South East Turkey. It would allow for greater scrutiny by members of the Parliamentary Assembly and create a more appropriate forum to debate the actions the Turkish authorities should take to address the Assembly’s concerns. It would provide a recognition by the Assembly of the rapid deterioration since July 2016 of the functioning of democratic institutions and backsliding on human rights and the rule of law in the country.
Turkey is under a state of emergency imposed after a failed coup last July, allowing President Erdoğan to head the cabinet and rule the country by decree, with weakened parliamentary and judicial oversight.
Independent mainstream media in Turkey have been all but silenced, with over 160 media outlets and publishing houses closed down since July 2016, and around 150 journalists and media workers currently jailed pending trial. Over 100,000 civil servants have been summarily dismissed or suspended without due process and over 47,000 people have been jailed pending trial. They face charges of involvement in the coup plot and of association either with the Fethullah Gülen movement, branded a terrorist organization by the government, or with Kurdish political activism that the government considers is linked to the armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Among those jailed are the two leaders of the opposition Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) and 12 other members of parliament from the party.
The constitutional amendments approved by referendum on April 16, 2017 will give the president an immediate right to playing a leading role in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in parliament and the power - as president and through parliament - to control most appointments to the Council of Judges and Prosecutors. The impact of this will be to ensure the president wields enormous influence over the entire judiciary. In a context where courts are already under political influence, the future prospects for judicial independence in Turkey will be scant. After elections in November 2019 the president will have full authority to appoint all ministers, legislate by decree, and dissolve and reconstitute parliament. The constitutional changes will fundamentally curtail parliamentary oversight of the executive, including by ending no confidence motions and by ending the precondition of parliamentary scrutiny and approval of the president’s budget.
The 16 April constitutional referendum took place in a highly repressive climate. The continuation of the state of emergency measures, the control of media by the government and the detention of critical journalists and leaders of the pro-Kurdish parliamentary opposition contributed to severely restrict the possibility for open public debate on the constitutional amendments. The PACE and OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions raised serious concerns about the climate for the referendum and criticized the decision to accept ballots in envelopes not bearing official polling station stamps. Several opposition parties raised profound concerns about possible election fraud and irregularities during the constitutional referendum. On 18 April, the European Commission called on the authorities to launch transparent investigations into alleged irregularities.
Finally, the cabinet’s decision to extend the state of emergency for three months shortly after the announcement of the referendum result and the president’s support for reintroducing the death penalty further endanger the human rights situation and the rule of law in the country. In a statement on 19 April, the PACE Rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty stressed that “reintroducing the death penalty would be simply incompatible with Turkey’s continued membership of the Council of Europe.”
The government of Turkey has largely ignored the concerns raised by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe in a 13 March opinion on the constitutional amendments and about holding a referendum on the constitution in such a context.
By considering the report on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Turkey” of its Monitoring Committee, the Parliamentary Assembly has a unique opportunity to uphold the principles and obligations contained in the European Convention on Human Rights and the values of the Council of Europe. We urge you once again to vocally support the recommendation contained in this report “to reopen the monitoring procedure in respect of Turkey until its concerns are addressed in a satisfactory manner.”
Over the past decades, and in July 2016 by opposing the attempted coup, the population of Turkey has demonstrated its attachment to democracy and human rights. It deserves your full support in calling for the restoration of full respect for human rights in Turkey and for the reaffirmation by the Turkish authorities of their respect for international and regional human rights commitments.
Sincerely,
Amnesty International
Article 19
Human Rights Watch
PEN International
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/21/joint-letter-parliamentary-assembly-council-europe-deterioration-human-rights-turkey
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LIVE UPDATES: Five Peshmerga killed in Turkish air strike on Mount Shingal
By Rudaw 1 hour ago
Video: Aftermath of Turkish airstrikes on Mount Shingal.
The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in a statement to condemn Turkish airstrikes which left five Peshmerga dead and nine others wounded announced the “imposed presence” of PKK fighters in the Shingal region resulted in the incident.
“Once again, we remind our people and all the other parties of the fact that this incident or any of such kind is due to the inappropriate imposed presence of the PKK in the Kurdistan Region, which has not brought any benefits, only chaos.”
PKK also lays the responsibility on the shoulders of the PKK for preventing the reconstruction of the region and seeking out confrontations.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/250420171
Reportedly, Turkey bombing Iraqi Kurdistan.
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@TomSea
It's a nervous situation. Turkey is, as usual, full of it when it comes to the YPG. They may be cautiously co-operating with Assad. They're killing every ISIS they see.
@EC
It appears to me that Obama has accomplished in Turkey with Erdogen what Carter accomplished in Iran with the Mullahs!
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This bombing of Kurdish fighters in Iraq is being reported on fox on the hour radio news; maybe there is the possibility this could flare into something more and bigger.
Turkey air strikes kill Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq
25 April 2017
At least 18 Kurdish fighters battling the so-called Islamic State in Syria have been killed in air strikes by Turkey.
The Popular Protection Units (YPG) militia said its positions were hit by multiple strikes early on Tuesday.
The group is backed by the United States, which sees it as a key component of the fight against IS.
But Turkey said it hit "terror hubs" linked to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring organisation, said a dawn strike on Tuesday morning targeted Kurdish positions in Hassakeh province in north-east Syria, hitting a media centre and radio station.
A separate series of strikes hit a base near Sinjar in northern Iraq, close to the Syrian border, killing at least six fighters from the Peshmerga, the military forces of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39708909
Pretty darn serious.
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Iraq
Reporter recounts being 5 meters away from death
By Hunar Ahmed 12 hours ago
(http://www.rudaw.net/ContentFiles/298715Image1.jpg)
A Rudaw team of reporters and cameramen come dangerously close to the fight for Mosul. Photo: Rudaw TV
This is a personal narrative of Rudaw war reporter Hunar Ahmed, whose team was covering the Mosul offensive near the southern town of Hamam al-Alil on April 23, 2017. The Rudaw team was safe after the close call.
My team set out at dawn with two other Rudaw teams toward Mosul. Upon arrival on the right bank of the city, we parted ways with the other two teams. We headed to the place where the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism forces were fighting ISIS.
Before we got there, I contacted Brigadier Maan Saad, one of the Iraqi commanders, who told me his forces were not going to make any advances. I then contacted the other Rudaw teams, telling them we were heading back to the place where the Iraqi Federal Police were assigned
We arrived at Arej area where the Federal Police’s general command is based, waiting there for their media chief to take us to the frontlines on the right bank of Mosul. We waited longer than normal for him to show up — compared to our experiences in the past.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/250420172
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Coalition confirms ISIS used chemical weapons in Mosul
By Rudaw 21/4/2017
(http://static.vod-platform.net/VideosThumbsImages/rudawtv/200000/Poster-280716-11-9687527-1.jpg)
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The extremist group ISIS has used chemical weapons in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the spokesperson of the US-led global coalition against ISIS confirmed to Rudaw on Friday.
Colonel John Dorrian referred to the chemical attack unprompted as he was commenting on the progress of the Iraqi forces, helped by the coalition, in western Mosul where the operation seems to have slowed down as the advancing Iraqi forces make their way into the densely-populated and narrow streets of the Old City.
“The Iraqi Security Forces know that it is important to finish ISIS in the west side of Mosul, because they have created tremendous human suffering in the urban areas they have controlled. They have used human shields, they have used chemical weapons,” Dorrian told Rudaw TV.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/210420171
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Turkey threatens further strikes on US-allied Syrian Kurds
Associated Press | Published — Sunday 30 April 2017
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country may take further military action against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, saying US support for such groups “must come to an end.”
He said he would discuss the issue at a meeting with US President Donald Trump next month.
Continued: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1092511/world
Barzani is the Kurdish President of that region. So, what this article below is saying is Barzani is the only Kurd party not opposing Turkey.
Everyone but Barzani’s KDP opposes Turkey: PUK’s Adel Murad
Posted on April 30, 2017 by Editorial Staff in Politics, Politics
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— PUK official Adel Murad criticized Turkey’s attacks on Iraq’s Sinjar (Shingal) and Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) carried out in collaboration with the KDP, and said “The KDP sides with Turkey at a time when the rest of the world opposes it.”
Continued: http://ekurd.net/everyone-barzani-opposes-turkey-2017-04-30
Our troops are in the area, hoping to lend some security to the Kurds.
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Is Turkey’s War on Syrian Kurds Becoming a War on the United States?
President Erdogan seems to believe he can bully Trump into abandoning his allies in the fight against ISIS.
By Juan ColeTwitter
April 28, 2017
(https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/us-military-ypg-rtr-img.jpg?scale=896&compress=80)
A US military commander walks with a commander from the YPG as they inspect the damage at YPG headquarters after it was hit by Turkish airstrikes near Malikiya, Syria, April 25, 2017. (Reuters / Rodi Said)
he Trump administration was unusually subdued this week after the Turkish air force launched a bombing campaign against facilities of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria. The State Department said it “asked” Turkey to stop killing US allies in the fight against ISIL (ISIS, or the Islamic State). The Pentagon complained that Turkey not only hit its allies but failed to coordinate with the US Air Force, which is flying in the area. In essence, Turkey acted as a hostile power against the US war effort. In the aftermath, a fierce firefight has broken out at the Syrian-Turkish border between YPG forces and Turkish army units operating in northern Syria.
The YPG personnel are close allies of the United States in the fight against ISIL in northeast Syria. On coming to power, President Trump increased the number of US troops embedded among them to some 500. Just this week he gave the Defense Department under Jim Mattis the authority to make further determinations about needed troop levels in Syria and Iraq.
...
Now Turkey is more or less at war with the United States in northern Syria, inasmuch as its bombing of the YPG could easily hit US Special Forces embedded with them. Likewise, the possibility of an aerial dogfight between the US Air Force and its Turkish counterpart cannot be ruled out. The United States cannot hope to retain credibility as a battlefield ally of YPG fighters risking all to take on ISIL if it cannot even protect them from a NATO member like Turkey. Erdogan appears to believe that he can bully Trump into abandoning the Syrian Kurds as allies. It remains to be seen if he has calculated correctly.
https://www.thenation.com/article/is-turkeys-war-on-syrian-kurds-becoming-a-war-on-the-united-states/
Good article, even if the Nation is notoriously, left-wing, they are not the irreverent leftist press; the Nation has been around forever, one of those old publications like Harper's or the Atlantic.
It doesn't look like Turkey will budge on this situation.
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Really hate seeing this about the Kurd martyrs from that Turkish bombing about a week ago. Note, this has a very leftist slant in calling the US and occupier, back when it happened, of Indochina. This is real communist preaching below, mentioning Che Guevara? PKK of the Kurds are called Communists. So, this makes this a bit controversial.
(http://kurdishquestion.com/visual/article/800x550/0fdce34ae179730abc118a75a79e3cf0.jpg)
0/04/2017 - 08:39 0 0
Rojava: Martyrs don't die
Marcel Cartier
To live like the fallen will be the revenge of humanity against fascist aggression
Death is of course a major, indeed fundamental, part of war. No revolutionary struggle worthy of the name can be fought, and certainly not won, without a tremendous degree of sacrifice in which humanity’s most precious sons and daughters often live for what only seems like a flash. The young are the ones to not only make revolution, but to carry the burden of often not living to see it made. Their moment in history in terms of years spent on the earth seems even more insignificant than those who live ‘full lives’ of 80 or 90 years. Yet, their often exceptionally brief time on this planet -- because of their ultimate sacrifice -- manifests in deaths that, to echo what Mao Zedong once said, are heavier that Mount Thai in contrast to the reactionaries whose deaths are lighter than feathers. Kurdish culture is one in which mountains have a key significance, so the idea of the Chinese revolutionary conveyed more than half a century ago is one that I’m certain has some degree of relevance for a modern revolutionary struggle half way across the world. It is often said, after all, that Kurds have no friends except these mountains.
The number of young warriors who are taken from this world at an appallingly young age in conflict is almost impossible to conceive of in the contexts of the relative comfort of western society today. The struggles of the 20th century bare out just how much blood had to be spilled onto the battlefields of Asian, Africa and Latin America in struggles that were principally about national liberation, not to mention the second world war in which up to 27 million Soviets gave their lives to smash fascism. 1.5 million perished in Algeria to boot out the supposedly democratic French state. Millions more died in Indochina to kick out the same initial colonizer, and later the United States. Struggles in Africa against the Portuguese, Spanish, British and French claimed millions more. We know all too well the optimistic and romantic revolutionary sentiments associated with such monumental suffering. Che Guevara once said it didn’t matter if he fell anywhere in the world as long as another comrade came to pick up his gun. It was an idea I was to hear repeated throughout my time in Rojava.
Continued: http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3914-rojava-martyrs-don-039-t-die
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See previous post:
28/04/2017 - 14:22 0 1
Syrian Christian group condemns Turkish airstrikes on Rojava
Kurdish Question
(http://kurdishquestion.com/visual/article/800x550/3a45a1bce363ffe5cba2206653c708fb.jpg)
The Syriac Military Council (MSF), a group within the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has condemned the Turkish airstrikes that killed 18 Kurdish fighters on 25 April.
In a statement the group accused Turkey of continuing the "genocidal and anti-democratic campaigns of the Ottoman Empire."
Continued: http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3912-syrian-christian-group-condemns-turkish-airstrikes-on-rojava
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You know backroom talks happen between the US and Turkey, notice, the Kurdish-Turkish spat was not in the headlines this past week.
Syrian Kurds plan enclave stretching to Mediterranean: Report
Head of Kurdish federalism project reported as saying Kurd will seek US support for plan in return for taking Raqqa from IS
Kurdish leaders are to press for US support to extend their territory across Syria to the Mediterranean sea to create a trade route and bolster Kurdish enclaves in the north in an expansion plan that will infuriate their opponents in neighbouring Turkey.
A senior Kurd official told the Observer newspaper that Syrian Kurds wanted more territory in the north in return for helping the US retake Raqqa from the Islamic State group and laid claim to a "legal right" to a trade corridor to the Mediterranean.
Senior officials from the self-declared autonomous "democratic federation of north Syria" said its Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which contain Kurd, Arab and Assyrian Christian militia, were preparing to occupy Raqqa after its liberation and then move further southeast towards Deir Ezzor.
Continued: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrias-kurds-plan-enclave-stretching-mediterranean-report-865706939
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Joshua Landis is a faculty member at Oklahoma University and has a blog for surely, the most enlightened and intellectual types. Since his latest entry deals with the Kurds, I am posting here. This article, like many he posts is not by him. I guess he would be an expert, I wish he'd relay his thoughts more on the whole situation rather than just post stories from over there. I'm not even sure what the gist of this article is. College reading I suppose. A good website to look around on and maybe one can find an article, speaking for myself only, that one can make some sense out of, that is not too complex.
The End of the PKK in Sinjar? How the Hashd al-Sha’bi Can Help Resolve the Yazidi Genocide
Posted by Matthew Barber on Tuesday, May 30th, 2017
This article was published May 30, 2017 by NRT, a media service in Iraqi Kurdistan. The original article is available here. Photos and Images have been added to this re-post that were not present in the original.
by Matthew Barber
Sinjar is at a pivotal moment of transition and the next phase of its future will likely be determined by what happens over the next few weeks. This environment of change offers the US, UN, and EU a significant opportunity to help resolve the political crisis in Sinjar, and some specific recommendations for action will be detailed in this article.
Background on the Yazidi Hashd
Observers who have followed events in Sinjar over the past few years have probably seen the KDP-PKK rift as the salient competition in the area. This dynamic is now complicated by the presence of a third major actor, the Hashd al-Sha’bi and their quickly growing local Yazidi battalions.
The Hashd al-Sha’bi (or Popular Mobilization Units—PMU) are mostly known as a set of Shi’i militias, but the Hashd Body (or PMU Committee – هيئة الحشد), the institutional entity under which the Hashd al-Sha’bi are administrated, also serves as an umbrella for affiliated forces among many other Iraqi communities, including Christians, Turkmen, Sunni Arabs, and Yazidis.
Continued: http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/end-pkk-sinjar-hashd-al-shabi-can-help-resolve-yazidi-genocide/
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US-backed Syrian coalition takes Raqqa district from Islamic State
Coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups take Qadisia, in west of Raqqa, after three days of intense fighting
(http://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/main_image_article_page/public/main-images/raqqa%202_0.jpg)
Members of Syrian Democratic Forces, alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, advance farther into Islamic State group's Syrian bastion earlier this month (AFP/file photo)
A US-backed Syrian coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups advanced against Islamic State (IS) in the militants' Syrian capital of Raqqa on Sunday, taking the al-Qadisia district, they said.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began its assault on Raqqa earlier this month after a lengthy campaign to isolate IS inside the city.
It took Qadisia, located in the west of Raqqa, after three days of intense fighting, it said in a statement on one of its official social media feeds.
Continued: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-backed-syrian-coalition-takes-raqqa-district-islamic-state-1303561330
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Fighting on the Kurds side, YPG.
Quote:
List of International Volunteers killed in action in Rojava-Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
1. Ashley Johnston 23 Feb 2015 AUS
2. Kosta Scurfield 2 Mar 2015 UK/GR
3. Ivana Hoffman 7 March 2015 GER
4. Mihemed Kerim 5 May 2015 IRAN
5. Keith Broomfield 3 Jun 2015 USA
6. Arnavut Karker. 26 June 2015 AL
7. Reece Harding 27 June 2015 AUS
8. Kevin Jochim 6 Jul 2015. GER
9. John Gallagher 4 Nov 2015 CAN
10. Gunter Hellstern 23 Feb 2016 GER
11. Mario Nunes 3 May 2016 POR
12. Jamie Bright 25 May 2016 AUS
13. Levi Jonathan Shirley 14 July 2016 USA
14. Dean Carl Evans 21 July 2016 UK
15. Martin Gruden 27 July 2016 SLO
16. Firaz Kardo 3 August 2016 SWE/EGYPT
17. Jordan MacTaggart 3 August 2016 USA
18. William Savage 10 Aug 2016 USA
19. Michael Israel 24 Nov 2016 USA
20. Anton Leschek 24 Nov 2016 GER.
21. Ryan Lock 21 Dec 2016 UK
22. Nazzareno Tassone 21 Dec 2016 CAN
23. Paolo Todd 15 January 2017 USA
24. Albert A Harrington 25 January 2017 USA
25. Merdali Süleymanov 23 April 2017 KAZ
26. Robert Grodt 5 July 2017 USA
27. Nicolas A Warden 5 July 2017 USA
28. Luke Rutter 5 July 2017 UK
(http://kurdishquestion.com/visual/article/800x550/47c95479c3226d4a018b83ea60221fd0.jpg)
Read More At: http://kurdishquestion.com/article/3964-three-ypg-internationalist-volunteers-killed-in-raqqa-battle-against-islamic-state
Per their "Kurdish Revolutionary Names", the 3 above are Grodt, Warden and Rutter. Maybe they were caught in the same ambush.
God Bless Them All. More of men than I will ever be and fighting truly, an evil that can be matched by such as the Nazis, imo.
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Syrian rebels killed in Kurdish clashes
Fifteen dead in hit-and-run clashes with US-backed fighters in the country's north, says monitoring group.
More than a dozen Syrian rebel fighters have been killed in hit-and-run clashes in a Kurdish-controlled area of northeastern Syria near the border with Turkey, a monitoring group has said.
The Turkish-backed fighters were locked in a second day of fighting on Tuesday with units from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Syrian coalition of Kurdish and Arab groups, around the village of Ain Daqna.
"Since Monday, 15 fighters from Syrian rebel factions were killed in the clashes and four SDF fighters were wounded, including one in critical condition," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Tuesday.
Ain Daqna, in Aleppo province, has been held by the US-backed SDF since February.
Continued: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/07/syrian-rebels-killed-kurdish-clashes-170718105951987.html
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Turkey and the Kurds are on the brink of war — and the Pentagon is right in the middle of it
Daniel Brown
dbrown@businessinsider.com
Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) run across a street in Raqqa, Syria July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG) run across a street in Raqqa. Thomson Reuters
Turkey and the US-backed YPG forces — which have been helping the coalition fight ISIS in Syria — have been clashing off and on since at least April.
At the end of that month, the two sides exchanged rocket fire, which Turkey says killed 11 YPG fighters. In early July, Turkey deployed troops to the Kurdish-held border in northwest Syria, which the YPG commander called "a declaration of war."
YPG and Turkish-backed rebels — who the YPG call mercenaries — clashed in northwest Syria on Monday, Reuters reported. The YPG said it killed three Turkish-backed rebels and wounded four more.
Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist group and extension of the PKK, which has been trying to set up its own Kurdish state within Turkey for decades. And the US has placed itself right between the two sides.
Turkey is the third-largest purchaser of US weapons, and in early May, the US began supplying weapons to the YPG to help in the coalition's fight against ISIS.
More: http://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-and-the-kurds-are-brink-war-the-us-the-middle-2017-7
Business Insider is not topflight journalism by any means but they do offer up some interesting articles. Speaking of journalism, I haven't heard much from Zero Hedge lately, what's happened?
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Good lengthy article on the SDF and Kurds:
Excerpt:
On a recent night Shir led his men, on foot, to cross the western perimeter deeper into ISIS-controlled Raqqa. Huddled in groups of seven, they took up positions in the cover of darkness. At dawn they moved, taking control of a small group of buildings across a road that had served as a front line. They crossed into contested territory without incident and spent the morning trying to clear buildings of mines. Equipment was improvised. They tossed gunpowder wrapped tightly in masking tape into buildings, to set off any booby traps left behind by ISIS. To clear roadways, they stuffed gunpowder into empty cigarette boxes and wrapped them with electrical wire, stringing them into chains and laying them out onto the streets before setting them off.
In the early afternoon, an ISIS fighter driving an explosives-laden car began hurtling toward them. There was momentary panic, but the men opened fire on the vehicle with everything they had, finally causing it to explode.
From: The US Is Far More Deeply Involved In Syria Than You Know
https://www.buzzfeed.com/borzoudaragahi/the-war-on-isis-in-raqqa?utm_term=.fcOkwg8mb#.dnl6MA4E0
And then sniper fire came suddenly, pinning Shir’s men down.
Muzzle flashes could be seen from the sniper’s position inside the city. But there was nothing Shir or his men could do — at this point, retreating would be just as dangerous as advancing. So they did what they have to whenever ISIS manages to outmaneuver them in Raqqa: call for a US airstrike. They radioed in the coordinates of the sniper’s position to Halab, who passed them on to his SDF superiors. They sent the coordinates to their American counterparts, who relayed fresh orders to the US warplanes that swirl above the city 24 hours a day.
Within minutes, a series of rockets slammed into the building. The explosions could be heard for miles and sent a cloud of smoke spreading across the sky over the city. That was the end of the sniper fire, at least for the day.
So, sort of war stories type reading.
US involvement in the war against ISIS has changed markedly since Trump and his coalition of generals came to power. During the first years of the war against ISIS in northern Syria, under former president Barack Obama, the US kept a hands-off approach to the conflict, trying to limit its involvement. A US-led coalition aircraft might spot an ISIS position or vehicle and open fire, and fighters would move in afterwards if they were nearby. But now, under Trump, there is far closer coordination, in part because the US is less concerned about upsetting NATO partner Turkey by getting too close with Syria’s Kurds. When the SDF fighters get into trouble or need help to pave the way, they call in US airstrikes and artillery fire. And when the US forces see an opportunity to strike, they do so, before alerting Syrian fighters on the ground to move in. Acting in part on the recommendations of the outgoing Obama administration, the US has also expanded the flow of weapons and ammunition to the SDF.
@EC
You might enjoy this one.
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Those following the Kurds and those international fighters will find the article interesting. Summing up, he says the Kurds did not really give them much training for this mission. Also, he says he doesn't believe Ryan Lock, the Brit, killed himself as has been concluded but that ISIS killed him.
We were cut to pieces’: First eyewitness account of how a Canadian died in Syria
By Stewart Bell National Online Journalist, Investigative Global News
Eight months after a Canadian anti-ISIS fighter and his British comrade were killed in northern Syria, a member of their unit who survived the deadly clash has come forward with the first eyewitness account of what happened.
In an exclusive interview with Global News, Andrew Woodhead said he was with Nazzareno Tassone, a 24-year-old from St. Catharines, Ont., and Ryan Lock, 20, when they came under fierce attack from the so-called Islamic State.
Hours later, Tassone and Lock were dead. The Iraqi doctor who examined Tassone’s body said he had been tortured with cigarette burns. A U.K. coroner concluded that Lock shot himself to avoid being captured by ISIS.
Continued: http://globalnews.ca/news/3676959/canadian-died-syria-eyewitness-account/
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US announces opposition to Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum
Kurds react with outrage on social media, accusing the US of betrayal after joint battle against Islamic State
An Iraqi Kurd holds a Kurdish flag during an event to urge people to vote in the upcoming independence referendum in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq (AFP)
Saturday 16 September 2017 10:36 UTC
Last update:
Saturday 16 September 2017 15:50 UTC
The US officially declared its opposition to the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum on Saturday, as the Kurdistan parliament unanimously voted in favour of holding it on 25 September.
"The United States does not support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s intention to hold a referendum later this month," the White House said in a statement on Friday. "The United States has repeatedly emphasized to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS [the Islamic State group] and stabilize the liberated areas."
"We therefore call on the Kurdistan Regional Government to call off the referendum and enter into serious and sustained dialogue with Baghdad, which the United States has repeatedly indicated it is prepared to facilitate."
Continued: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-officially-announces-opposition-iraqi-kurdish-independence-referendum-354535518
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Kurdistan
Rally planned for Kurdistan Region’s referendum in Washington on Sunday
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kurds in the United States and others will rally at the Washington Monument in the heart of the US capitol on Sunday afternoon, on the heels of the US advising against the referendum and saying they cannot support it.
The Kurdistan Regional Government's Representative to the United States encouraged people to come.
"Join the Kurdistan referendum rally in Washington, D.C., this Sunday..." Representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. "Live Kurdish music, flags, and fanfare."
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/NewsDetails.aspx?pageid=329460
I hope the Kurds' situation can be fixed, this is talking about them in Iraq versus Syria.
Twitter: Lawk Ghafuri @LawkGhafuri
#US has lost over 4500 of it's Soldiers in #Iraqi territories, guess what ! #US lost 0 US soldeirs in #Kurdistan territories.
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 15, 2017
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Proposed Referendum
The United States does not support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s intention to hold a referendum later this month. The United States has repeatedly emphasized to the leaders of the Kurdistan Regional Government that the referendum is distracting from efforts to defeat ISIS and stabilize the liberated areas.
Continued: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/09/15/statement-press-secretary-kurdistan-regional-governments-proposed
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Nouri al-Maliki killed more Arabs than Israel ever did: Kurdish official
By Rudaw 9 hours ago
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The deputy speaker of Kurdistan’s parliament has slammed comments from the Iraqi vice president about a “second Israel” in Kurdistan, saying the Iraqi leader killed more Arabs during his tenure than Israel ever did.
Maliki told US Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman on Sunday that they will not allow a “second Israel” in Iraq, referring to Kurdistan’s planned referendum on independence.
“Israel has not killed as many Arabs as this man did,” Jafar Imniki, the parliament’s deputy speaker said in a statement. “He cut the bread of Kurdistan, Israel did not.”
The Iraqi government under then-Prime Minister Maliki decided to withhold the Kurdistan Region’s share of the Iraqi budget in 2014 following plans to export oil to international markets independent of Baghdad.
Continued: http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/180920176
The Kurds have had a referendum for an independent state in Iraq; beyond that, I'm not too informed on the situation.
It's hard to put some of these figures in a box and say all they did was bad, per Maliki. Maybe it's the truth; but not in my view.