Contrary to what the Turkish government would like you to believe, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, was not born out of thirst for baby’s blood. No, the Kurdish guerrillas in the mountains of Turkey are not all callous sociopaths who gain pleasure from terrorizing villages and kidnapping women and children. The propaganda machine, that is the Turkish state, has been hard at work since the 1970’s trying to paint the most horrific image of the Kurdish movement, and it has been relatively successful in swaying the opinions of major world powers, and a large portion of the general public.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by a number of countries and international institutions, including the United States and the European Union. Since what constitutes “terrorism” has yet to be defined in international law, let’s take a look at what the word means according to Turkish law. In Article 1 of Turkey’s Anti-Terror Law (TMK), “terrorism” is defined as “any kind of act done … with the aim of changing the characteristics of the Republic as specified in the Constitution.”

Based on that description alone, one can infer that in Turkey any form of dissent can be categorized as terrorism. And when you take the racist nature of the country’s constitution into consideration, it becomes disturbingly clear that any advocacy of minority rights is severely punishable under Turkish law. This is the reason why dozens of local and international organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have called for the abolition of TMK.

Nevertheless, the US and EU stand firmly behind Turkey’s “war against terrorism”.

So what is it about the word “terrorism” that gives states license to persecute and harass without repercussion? In fact, when the term first appeared in the English language during the 18th century, it meant “systematic use of terror as policy”. Today, however, the word is vastly distorted and abused by oppressive governments to incite fear and intolerance in the populace. In recent years, we have witnessed a transformation of the term “terrorism” from denoting an instrument of governance to being synonymous with “opposition”.

It was Noam Chomsky who said “the terrorism they don’t like is called ‘terrorism’ and the terrorism they do like, because they carry it out or their allies carry it out, is called ‘counter-terrorism’”, which brings us to the Turkey-PKK issue.

Turkish intellectuals, in an effort to complicate the matter, present the conflict as a “chicken and egg” dilemma; an endlessly looping question of which came first and who is at fault. While the Turkish state cunningly uses the expression “counter-terrorism” to give the illusion that it is simply defending its sovereignty from vicious criminals who emerged suddenly to quench their thirst for destruction. But what they neglect to mention is the decades of brutal oppression and genocide that was imposed on the Kurdish population before they took to the mountains and began to fire back. It is noteworthy that when the PKK first began the armed struggle, most of its commanders and leaders had served prison sentences for pursuing civil and political rights for the Kurds within the democratic and legal boundaries of the Republic.

At this time, I’d like to pose this question to the dear reader: Who is the terrorist, the state that systematically arrests, represses, tortures and slaughters, or the disenfranchised minority who finally stands up and defends itself?

True, both parties employ violence in pursuit of political aims, but considering the scope and scale of the Turkish military and police forces – not to mention the state propaganda system – there is no way the two can be compared logically.

Perhaps even more damaging than the physical violence inflicted on Kurds in Turkey is the psychological terror. Since the country was established on false notions of cultural homogeneity and linguistic uniformity, the indigenous Kurdish population has suffered a distinctive sort of ethnic cleansing. Immediately following the formation of the Turkish Republic, the Kurdish language, along with schools, associations and publications – all manifestations of Kurdish identity – were prohibited. The term “Kurd” was banished. Turkish Army General and the country’s second president, Ismet Inonu, summarized the ideology of the new state in these terms: “Before the Turkish majority other elements have no kind of influence. At any price, we must Turkify the inhabitants of our land, and we will annihilate those who oppose.” Thus began the psychological war.

The policies and practices of devastation, depopulation and dismantlement of the Kurdish society continued into the 21st century, but these appalling facts are presented to the public under a different light. In a letter sent to his prime minister, former President Turgut Ozal suggested: “The scope of our activity in releasing press statements, leaking news, and if need be, spreading ‘disinformation’ should be increased.” This has been the government’s number one weapon in maintaining the status quo, as founder of Kurdish Institute in Paris, Kendal Nezan, explains, “Skillful and effective misinformation convinced a segment of the public that the Turkish state was in essence only defending its territorial integrity against terrorist maneuvers.” While sustaining this false appearance of virtue, Turkey has succeeded in rallying international support for its war against the Kurdish people.

Storming through neighborhoods, kicking down doors, snatching mothers and fathers away from their petrified children during late hours of the night; is this not terrorism? Perpetual arrests are standard for Kurds living in Turkey. Police regularly raid homes and offices of Kurdish individuals and organizations. Being Kurdish is all that’s necessary to fit the state’s vague depiction of a terrorist. Turkish prisons are overflowing with thousands of Kurdish activists and human rights defenders, as well as children, journalists and lawyers.

Violently attacking peaceful demonstrators; is this not terrorism? One characteristic of a democratic society is freedom of assembly, but in Turkey almost every nonviolent gathering organized by Kurds is brought to a bitter end by brutal police intervention. Time and again, peaceful protesters have been killed or severely injured by gas grenades, high pressured water cannons, rubber bullets, and – in the recent cases of Ayhan Yildirim and Murat Elibol – actual bullets.

Deliberately dropping bombs on civilian areas, killing scores of innocent children, and leaving others orphaned; using illegal chemical weapons; proudly posing for photos with mutilated corpses; continually shelling and conducting military raids during a ceasefire; are these acts not the embodiment of terrorism? And can the men and women who order and engage in such behavior not be regarded as terrorists, notwithstanding the flag under which they serve?

On the subject of terror and violence, Nelson Mandela famously stated that, “it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor.” The PKK’s “terrorism” is an easy scapegoat for Turkey, but we mustn’t let be forgotten the decades of merciless persecution the Kurdish people endured before they resorted to armed action. The Kurds have repeatedly declared that they do not wish to change the borders of Turkey. And although making it clear that their struggle is for equality and fundamental human rights for minorities within a democratic Turkey, the state continues to label Kurdish activists as “terrorists” and “separatists”. Through official propaganda, the Turkish government breeds racism, intolerance and ignorance in the populace, allowing for this vicious circle of terror to persist.

In essence, Turkey’s Anti-Terror Law is an instrument of institutionalized racism, as it gives the government consent to round up Kurdish politicians and civil servants under the fallacious pretext of wiping out terrorism. Turkey is further emboldened, not only by the west’s continuing silence in regards to atrocities committed against the Kurds, but by its willingness to provide weapons and arms under the spurious justification of “fighting terrorism”. Additionally, the international media continues to accept and regurgitate Turkey’s psychological warfare of misinformation and lies, leading to the utter criminalization of the Kurds’ legitimate struggle for basic rights and freedoms. Only after Turkey abolishes its undemocratic Anti-Terror Law and, together with its western allies, decriminalizes the legitimate demands of the Kurdish people, will a peaceful and political solution to Turkey’s most fundamental issue be possible.

When an entire people are systematically oppressed and marginalized, small actions to make their story heard can have dramatic consequences. Similarly, small actions to silence their voice can have dramatic and tragic consequences.

RojTV is one of the only international Kurdish language channels available to Kurds. It broadcasted everything from children’s programmes to Kurdish music and film. But most importantly, it filled the large gap of Kurdish news and politics, information that is ignored or censored from mainstream media. For over a year, RojTV had been embroiled in a long legal battle after being accused of violating Danish anti-terrorism laws. Perhaps you’ve read an article related to the case over the last year, or had been following it avidly. Or maybe the first time you ever heard of RojTV and its legal battle was when the case was closed. Kurds celebrated when RojTV kept its license, despite being found guilty of “terrorism” and charged a hefty fine.

Kurdish celebration was short lived, however. On January 19, Eutelsat Communications decided to stop broadcasting RojTV, effectively shutting down one of the biggest sources of Kurdish news in the world.

With the closing of RojTV, Kurds lose a powerful voice, one that frequently was the only one on their side. With the closing of RojTV, Turkey will no longer be held accountable for the arrest of hundreds of journalists, activists, academics, and even children. Iran can continue to hide the murder of Kurdish migrant workers on the Iranian border, and the arbitrary detention and execution of Kurdish activists. Images of Turkish massacres, like the most recent in Roboski, will no longer flicker across the screens of thousands of people, who can then mobilize to demand justice for their dead.

To you, perhaps, the only emotion you felt was “good riddance”. RojTV was provocative, some say. Or worse, an incitement to terrorism. Its messages had no place in anyone’s living room, you claim.

Dear reader, we’re here to tell you your claims are wrong.

Differences in political opinions should flourish. We’re not telling you to think exactly like us. But the dangers in silencing any political opinion are always more dangerous than any political opinion itself. The censorship of RojTV by the Danish courts, Eutelsat Communications, and by the pressures of Turkey itself extend far beyond the closure of this one Kurdish station. With the closing of RojTV, the voice of the Kurds has been silenced, and because Kurds are humans, who proudly claim their basic human rights, a voice of humanity has been silenced.

For you see, the Kurdish struggle isn’t just the Kurdish struggle, just like the Palestinian struggle isn’t just the Palestinian struggle, and the Egyptian struggle and Bahraini and Syrian. Wherever people sacrifice their time, and their lives, for greater freedom for their people, all of us who are invested in human rights and social justice gain. We, the authors of this letter, aren’t Kurds. One of us is Bahraini, the other Syrian. We’re from two countries run by dictatorships. Our people understand very sharply how valuable freedom is. It is only because we value freedom in our own countries that we feel a duty to stand with the Kurds. We cannot advocate for our own voices while we accept the silencing of others.

This is what motivates us. This is our cause. We are not terrorists, nor advocates of terrorists. Odds are, the word doesn’t mean what you think it means anyway. But either way, there is no political agenda behind our efforts. We merely speak up against violations of human rights, something the Kurds suffer far too often.

And because we speak up, we, as Arabs, are the target of some of the same attacks that Kurds face themselves. We receive hate mail and threatening comments, usually in the name of extremist Turkish nationalists. Our site has faced numerous hacking attempts. All because we stand up for Kurds. If we, as non-Kurds, face this abuse, then what do our Kurdish brothers and sisters have to put up with, simply for claiming their right to their rich historical and cultural background? For asking to live with dignity?

We realize we are reaching out to an unfamiliar audience. You may have never met a Kurd, or have your own opinions regarding the Kurdish struggle. Regardless of anything else, everyone has a basic human right to a voice, and a voice that is heard. Despite centuries of abuse, despite their very language being banned, the Kurdish voice has never been louder. At the very least, you have an obligation to hear them out. Banning TV stations and imprisoning journalists won’t silence the Kurds, but it will lay the foundations for a dangerous world where we all surrender our basic human rights to the people in power, where surveillance and censorship are valued more highly than dignity and liberty.

The Kurds are facing a painful battle for their freedom, one they’ve paid for with their lives. With your support, crimes against the Kurdish people will no longer weigh on humanity’s conscience. Speak up for a world where everyone can be heard regardless of ethnicity or faith. Freedom is non-negotiable. If these crimes are allowed to go unnoticed and unpunished, you could be next.

In solidarity,
S. Boulad
E. Al Shafei
The Alliance for Kurdish Rights

It was a wicked invention; everything good and beautiful became revolting and disgusting when reflected by the mirror.

One day, the Devil flew around in the air with his mirror, reflecting the divine sky but it was too much beauty for the mirror to handle. It broke into millions of pieces, some as small as grains of sand. They fell onto the ground, but also into the hearts and eyes of men, women and children whose heart froze to ice and whose eyes could now only see that which was unpleasant and evil.

The Verdict Of ROJ TV

Not many miles away from the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen and merely 137 years and a few months after his death, the verdict of the trial of the Kurdish TV-channel ROJ TV was announced.

We were 500 snowmen outside the court in Copenhagen, paralysed and silenced by the cold gushes of wind. Then, we heard a scream of joy; we all melted and became a sea of flames.

I was burning and freezing when I turned my back to the dancing crowd, bowed my head and tweeted ”we won.”

We did not win. Yes, ROJ TV was allowed to keep broadcasting from Denmark but only because of formalities in the Danish penal law; a penal law so vague and obscure that the satellite provider, Eutelsat, suspended its agreement with ROJ TV and shut down its satellite signal to avoid being part of ”terrorist activities.”

The Danish court ruled that ROJ TV has acted as a mouthpiece for terror. This ruling was based on the judge’s conviction that ROJ TV is controlled by PKK, a Kurdish rebel group listed as a terror organisation by the European Union, the United States and Turkey, in regard to both finance and content. Therefore, the court sentenced the two companies behind ROJ TV to pay a fine of approximately 900,000 dollars, a verdict that was appealed to High Court three days later.

The verdict of ROJ TV is 190 pages long. The following section will present the essential conclusions that were summarised by the Danish newspaper, Jyllandsposten.

1 – From February 7, 2008 to February 10, 2010 ROJ TV has acted as a mouthpiece for the terror organisation, PKK.

2 – The TV-station has repeated messages from PKK without presenting other views. The guerrilla is portrayed in a positive way and manner that indicates more than sympathy for PKK.

3 – There is however no proof of these links between ROJ TV and PKK in the period June 10, 2006 to February, 2008 which had also been a count in the charge against ROJ TV.

4 – PKK has ”to a great extent” supported ROJ TV financially from 2006 to 2010

5 – The decision about what ROJ TV is allowed to broadcast is made by a media company in Belgium. The department in Denmark has no influence on what programmes to broadcast.

6 – Documents found in Belgium show that individuals with close relations to PKK have had the final word in regard to what ROJ TV should or should not broadcast about PKK.

7 – The two companies, ROJ TV A/S and Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S, have promoted PKK activities and are therefore sentenced to pay a combined fine of approximately 900,000 dollars.

8 – The companies are acquitted prosecutors’ demand of suspending the broadcasting license in Denmark. The Danish penal law cannot on legal basis confiscate the rights of companies, associations, etc.

One Man’s Terrorist

When the trial of ROJ TV started in August 2011, the court not only had to decide whether ROJ TV was a mouthpiece for terror or not, but also if PKK was indeed a terror organisation as Turkey, the European Union and the United States have listed it to be.

The judge looked at the terror lists, she looked at the extracts from ROJ TV’s programmes selected by the prosecutors and then found herself enlightened enough to declare PKK a terror organisation.

Now, this can nothing but enrage people seeking justice and expecting nothing but justice from a court in Denmark that holds its freedom so dear, so dear.

How can anyone regard Turkey’s terror list trustworthy when Turkey is infamous for its treatment of journalists and its restrictions on freedom of press and freedom of speech all the while referring to its terror law?

How can anyone regard the US’ terror list trustworthy when the US only removed Nelson Mandela from the list 4 years ago, when the US is ignorant enough to think that “by killing people who has killed people we can teach people not to kill people” and when the US still has not closed the most terrifying man-made institution on this Earth, Guantanamo Bay?

How can anyone regard the EU terror list trustworthy when the European Union Court in 2008 annulled its ruling that PKK was a terror group?

How can anyone regard terror lists trustworthy when it is common knowledge that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter?

How can anyone regard terror lists trustworthy when it is always the ”state”, ”the richest and the biggest” that has enough money and power to make up a list, put people on it and say: ”There you go, one terror list, please follow it or I will make your life a living Hell.”

How?

The judge did not even allow for ROJ TV lawyer, Bjoern Elmquist, to present his material about ROJ TV to the same extent as the prosecutors. This has given the prosecutors, who have been criticised for their close and friendly relationship with the authorities in Ankara, plenty of opportunities to portray ROJ TV and PKK as terrorists without the risk of being proven wrong by Elmquist.

An Unjust Law

The entire trial of ROJ TV has been a curious one. This has caused many experts to comment upon the fact that the judge did not take into consideration that she was dealing with a TV-channel and should therefore judge ROJ TV by the rules that apply for the media.

If the media is not allowed to interview the part in a conflict called the terrorist, then who is? Yes, ROJ TV may have portrayed the Kurdish guerrillas as freedom fighters, but PKK is after all the resistance movement that was formed as a re-action to Turkey’s oppression of the Kurdish people, a tyranny and brutality only condemned in vague words by the rest of the world.

The Kurdish people and ROJ TV are puppets in a play dominated by world leaders. If the Kurdish people do not speak up, it is massacred by the Turkish state, but if it does speak up, it is silenced by the European Union and United States.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), author of the essay “Civil Disobedience”, wrote:

Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his con science to the legislator? Why has every man a con science, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. […] Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well disposed are daily made the agents of in justice.

If the law is seeking to silence the rightful rebellion of the Kurdish people against the barbaric and heartless oppression, then the law is unjust; then the governments are what Thoreau calls the agents of injustice.

ROJ TV has a conscience that cannot remain silent under Turkey’s oppressive regime and is therefore offering itself as being the mouthpiece for the Kurdish people, dwell on this for a moment: mouthpiece for the Kurdish people.

The Kurdish people consist of freedom fighters, only freedom fighters. Kurdistan is freedom for it is borderless and those who fight for freedom are Kurds.

We Face Death

Everything is relative and has to be seen in its context. ROJ TV is not the average TV-channel whose viewers are safe at home and free to speak the language they want, read the books they want, sing the songs they want or even wear the clothes they want.

There was an incident during one court session. The prosecutors were showing an excerpt from ROJ TV and they pointed out that the journalists were wearing PKK-clothing. The looks from the Kurdish audience in the courtroom must have been those of incredulity and astonishment; this was merely another ignorant comment from the prosecutors who, if they had done their research properly and if the judge had not dismissed all Elmquist’s witnesses including Leyla Zana, would have known more about the Kurdish culture and understood that the ROJ TV journalists were wearing Kurdish clothes.

ROJ TV is much more than the average TV-channel; it gives the Kurdish people a sense of unity that one rarely feels because of the brutal division and oppression of Kurdistan. It is the symbol of the peaceful Kurdish struggle for freedom; it is a mouthpiece for freedom, a mouthpiece for our freedom fighters like members of BDP, the pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, and the passionate Kurdish youth fighting for its identity.

ROJ TV is perceived a mouthpiece for terrorism because the world does not know what terrorism is.

ROJ TV is perceived a mouthpiece for terrorism because the human being is a suppressor of oppression.

ROJ TV is perceived a mouthpiece for terrorism because it is alive, it is not afraid of man-made institutions or death.

To be a freedom fighter is to be alive because being constant aware of death makes you kiss the earth softly, rest your cheek on the scabrous bark of a tree and lay your head on sweet smelling moss. To be alive is what the rest of the world fails to be because being safe and comfortable is to be dead. You are only alive if life tastes like the salty sweat that evaporates from your body when you are fighting in what seems to be Hell.

Boiling Blood

Denmark is the kingdom of the Snow Queen and the West is her empire; she reigns it with a coldness that renders her vassals motionless and speechless. The cold winds carry flakes of snow, which the Snow Queen weaves into the clothes of her subjects, thereby hindering the small pieces of the Devil’s wicked mirror from leaving the eyes and hearts of men.

The Snow Queen’s most loyal servant, the vicious and despicable troll, the worst of trolls, the Devil is laughing, his plan is working: Every single one of the cold, dead vassals see only a distortion of that which is beautiful, stunning, ravishing, alive!

The troll and his empress have a weakness, though, Hans Christian Andersen revealed: the small pieces of the troll’s wicked mirror can be melted and oh, who is better to melt ice than the burning Kurd with the boiling blood?

The Snow Queen and the wickedest of trolls can easily be defeated. Every Kurdish freedom fighter has flames shooting from his fingertips, flames kept alive by the blazing, roaring Sun.

As long as the Sun is burning so long will ROJ TV burn; because ROJ TV is the mirror in which the Sun reflects itself.

While we hear about the achievements of Turkey’s AKP government especially in the Middle East after the Arab Spring, AKP’s government internally is facing a real challenge after the further detonation recently in ties with the minority Kurds that are making around 20% of Turkey’s population.

It’s widely believed that since AK Party came to power in 2003, a silent revolution has undertaken.  That revolution has swept all aspects in Turkey’s post-Kemalism era. Similarly, AKP has tried to solve Kurdish question through a process that called Democratization, by giving individuals more freedom. As the government has opened a 24 hours TV channel, TRT6, that airs programs in Kurdish. However, Kurds are accusing AKP for misleading the decades-standing Kurdish question. Kurds in the violence-ridden southeastern Turkey say AKP tries to erase Kurdish culture through TRT6, by airing twisted stories in Kurdish to convince the ordinary Kurds. Moreover, Layla Zana one of the prominent Kurdish leaders said the Kurdish question can’t be solved through giving more individual freedoms, but by giving Kurds their rights as a nation. Recently, the already detonated ties between government and Kurds worsen further after Turkish army jets killed 35 civilian, smuggler Kurds.

Kurds say that shows how AKP government is still continuing the same policy of previous governments regarding Kurds in another style, while challenged all others blemishes. The worsening in ties between Kurds and Turkish government may lead to an uprising in the Kurdish cities in the wake of Arab Spring, as the anger of Kurds already turned to daily demonstrations in both Istanbul and southeastern region. PKK, which through his political wing, BDP, got 80% of the votes in latest election in southeastern region called on the Kurds to upraise against the Turkish government, as promised to ascendant attacks against Turkish army. Diyarbakır, the capital of southeastern Turkey, displays its politics. Graffiti throughout the city cheers PKK. Lately, more popular demonstrations has taken place in Diyarbakır, but aggressively quashed by the police. Meanwhile, Pro Kurdish Peace and Freedom Party or BDP lawmakers asked for the referendum in the predominately Kurdish southeast as a test for democracy in Turkey. Worthwhile, Kurds putted autonomy as a minimum demand regarding a solution for Kurdish question before. In respond, AKP strongly refused such demand, and claimed it threats Turkish unity. Turkish president Abdullah Gul many times described Turkey’s diversity as a source for richer Turkey, but never reflected in the real life. One of the local leaders of BDP in Diyarbakır told me Turkish prime minister delegitimizing the Al-Asad’s regime in Syria for Killing civilians and suppressing peaceful demonstrations, but same thing is happening here; last week at least 35 civilians Kurds killed and the peaceful demonstrations similarly suppressed. The local residences in the area believe that situation will continue until the Kurdish problem gets solved.

The predominately Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey are vividly ignored compared to the Turkish cities, as the Turkish state has tried to erase Kurds as a nation since the foundation of the republic in 1923. It would be rational to give all provinces inTurkey more power, even if the state doesn’t want to name it autonomy. It firstly takes off the more burdens that are facing the government with the government engaged further in the regional politics. Also it won’t differ Kurds from the rest of the country which government afraid to claim separation and get independence one day.  Moreover, Kurds still doesn’t have the right to study in their native language, as a first step, if government makes Kurdish an optional material in the predominately Kurdish cities, it can gradually solve the language problem as well. That brings peace to the southeastern area and then PKK, as promised, may lay down its weapon which Turkish army annually spending 10 billion dollars in fighting it; it also stops the imprisonment of thousands of Kurdish activists that have arrested in the name of terror recently, that’s in one hand. At the other hand, government needs to take those steps to make the economy’s flourishing continue. Last year, Turkish government unleashed a goal to make Turkey one of the 10 biggest economies in the world, engaging southeastern region is very important to reach this goal because this region makes one third of Turkish land and 20% of Turkish population.  The area is rich with agriculture, as there’s huge cheaper labor force, and with the historical places, it can be turned to a tourism hub. That will also accelerate government’s efforts to make Turkey one of the 10 first economies globally.

Turkey is witnessing a radical political standoff between government and Kurds anyways, as the whole region is chaging which that may weaken Turkey’s external ambitions. At the end either AKP government should give Kurds their rights as a nation firstly through the new promised civilian constitution that suppose to be ready by the second part of this year, or inspired by the Arab Spring Kurds will revolute loudly against AKP’s silent revolution, and take their rights by their own.

We are often frightened by the uncanny velocity with which time flies. I mean, it has already been a year. Can you imagine? This one long ride into a new decade, now to an end! And yet, we often seem to manage to do the things we all planned to do, at their assigned times. The birthdays, the homework, the dates, the job interviews, the Christmas presents – as if life turned into a one high-speed train we all have to jump on, before it vanishes together with our dreams in the horizon. As they did in Roboski.

No, we’d be giving the Turkish authorities way too much credit if there’d be any high-speed trains in a Kurdish village such as Roboski, in the poor Kurdish region of Turkey. The only glimpse of advanced technology Turkey gave to the villagers was the fast F-16 planes that dropped death upon defenseless villagers, who saw their own children’s corpses burned beyond recognition.

38 young men died in Roboski a mere day ago, in the ages between 16 and 20. The Turks claimed that a mistake must have been committed in their otherwise so calculative war-machine that currently violates their own population in the south-east. The military has vowed to investigate the matter and eventually find out what and who was the cause of the supposed mistake.

As for the 38 burned bodies and the mothers who are about to bury their own children, the investigation means yet more time. More time to wait, more years to see pass, more visits from the military, more violations and more oppression. They are quite used to waiting – the wars, rebellions and oppression are soon going to have their 100-year anniversary as the Turkish republic will celebrate the founding of the state a century ago. When it comes to patience the Kurds are not only suggested to wait, but patience has become a defining element of what makes you a Kurd. You have to wait. You need to wait. You cannot do much else besides waiting. Because you are not in power of your own destiny, nor can you even dream of the power to make your son stop burning or blow life into the napalm-covered body of his. Time is therefore your sole companion when you wait for justice that never comes, when you wait for others to act, to see, to protest, to do a little more than squeeze in a sigh of frustration in their schedule before continuing to watch Scrubs on the TV.

Time is everything for the villagers. For Roboski. As life left the bodies of the 38 youngsters, as Turkish warplanes dropped the bombs, big bundles of time fell upon the heads of the mothers – who had no choice but to pick them up and accept them into their frail, tiresome lives. It was wrong, it should have been the other way around! the mother might yell. Why give the parents all the time, the time that was denied our own children? What of those 60-70 years every young man had left? What about those few days before New Year’s Eve? Couldn’t you have waited for just a few more days?!

But the war-machine never waits – that is what the victims do.

Your year may have been quite a short one. So has mine. And yeah, it truly is amazing how fast time flies for some of us. The lucky few of us. Those of us who weren’t in Roboski who aren’t in Kurdistan, who can set the sky aflame when we enter 2012 while others sink down their kids into early graves beneath snow-covered, bloodied earth.

Let 2012 be a year where we, the lucky few, take time off the shoulders of the many, so that their years can fly as fast as our own, so that they won’t have to wait. Let us become their sons and daughters, helpers in need, providers in distress, supporters in mourning and fellow humans in this world and the next.

Let us help Roboski and Kurdistan, readers. For they are waiting.

As its obvious there are strong ties between Iran and Iraq’s ruling, Shiites, especially with the Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki which remained in power by a secret deal between Iran and United States. However, Al-Maliki is highly connected with the leaders in Iran regarding whatever he could do on Syrian case, as we have seen a delegation from Iraqi government arrived in Damascus to show Iraq’s support to Al-Asad’s Syria, even though Iraqi government announced they are trying to mediate that’s in one hand. On the other hand, Iraqi Sunnis have a strong tie with Turkey; Tariq Al-Hashimi, in particular, has a special relation with the leaders of Turkey’s AKP government, only this year he met with Turkish authorities many times. The recent tension between Iran and Turkey on Syria and NATO missile defense has certainly affected on the Iraqi leaders, especially Iran wants to move the center of attention from Syria to other friendly countries like Iraq.

The declaration of the Sunni cities of Salahadeen, Anbar, and later Dyala to become regions by the Saudi-Turkish support is another reason, as Shiites accuse such a step as a sectarian one that tries to divide the country. That led Muqtada Al-Sadr’s Mahdi militia to intervene in Dyala that around 20% of the province’s population is Shiites. Moreover, according to some sources, another possible scenario is linking part of the Sunni region withJordan, specifically both cities of Anbar and Dyala. Whereas, Jordan’s King Abdullah arrived in London recently to discuss this possible scenario with the British officials, including British prime minister. According to the source,Britainis the spearhead of the scenario of linking part of the Iraq’s Sunni region with Jordan. While Mosul province which is dominated by the Iraqi parliament speaker’s Sunni leader, Asel Nujifi will become a federal region under Turkish supervision. Furthermore, Arabs will go out from Kirkuk, only Kurds and Turkmen will remain there, and both Kurdistan and Turkey will share the oil revenues with giving Mosul province some of the revenue, as well.

Nouri Al-Maliki’s autocratic approaches also part of the tension. Paul Bremer defined Al-Maliki as the Saddam of Shiites. In the recent years, after his partial success in limiting violence Al-Maliki strengthened its hand over the government and security forces. Only one day-afterUnited States’ official withdrawal fromIraq, Al-Maliki accused Tariq Al-Hashimi for being behind terrorist attacks in Iraq. In addition, today Nouri Al-Maliki officially dismissed Salih Mutlaq from his position as deputy prime minister because Mutlaq described Al-Maliki as a new dictator while described Saddam as a good dictator, in an interview with CNN. A close source from Tariq Al-Hashimi told me, Al-Hashimi also has strong evidence that proves Al-Maliki’s engagement in terrorist attacks, but he will keep it for now. Most of the politicians in Iraq, including Shiites believe that Al-Maliki is trying to erase his rivals, including his Shiite allies one day. Nevertheless, Al-Maliki denies this; he says the diverseIraqwith a wide range of parties in parliament won’t become dictatorship again. The days will, at the end, show how Al-Maliki’s desire for power will end the state called Iraq.

Kurds who try to show themselves as neutrals aren’t, in reality. Historically, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has strong ties withIran, which that clearly reflects in the many visits of Talabani to Iran. After the accusation of Al-Hashimi, he tried to meet with Talabani, but he refused. Paradoxically, the other Kurdish leader, Masoud Barzani the president of Kurdistan region met with Al-Hashimi, and refused to surrender him to the Iraqi authorities in Baghdad. Barzani has strong ties withTurkey, last year Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a historic visit to Barzani’s stronghold, Kurdistan region’s capital, Arbil. Erdogan is the first Turkish high official ever has visited Kurdistan. The regional game even divides the Kurdish leaders in Iraq. The formula is obvious.

A radical political dilemma is looming in Iraq, the recent standoff is only the fore. However, this political game will lead either to a bloody internal war that the consequences unknown, or to a demise of a country called Iraq. Let’s see!

Blog: abdullahawez.com

Twitter: @abdullahawez

The arrests came under the premise of alleged links to the Union of Committees in Kurdistan (KCK). Turkish “anti-terrorism” police specifically targeted pro-Kurdish media, mainly DIHA and ETHA news agencies, the Özgür Gündem daily newspaper, the Demokratik Modernite magazine and the Gün printing press. Turkish state media alleged that the recent wave of arrests was part of a two year long investigation into the KCK and its members. In addition, French Kurdish photographer Mustafa Ozer, who works for the French news agency Agence France Presse, was detained, smiling as he was carried away by security officers.

This wave of arrests is only the latest in Turkey’s sustained assault against the KCK and all those affiliated with it. The new arrests brings the number of journalists alone in Turkish prisoners over 90, making Turkey one of the worst countries in the world for imprisoning members of the media. Along with journalists, Turkey has been undertaking a systemic campaign of arresting children, activists, academics, politicians, and arguably any other powerful voice of dissent in the country.

Although for the most part Turkey’s unjust actions against the Kurds go unnoticed, the arrest of 40 Kurds, most of whom are journalists, has received some of the criticism is deserves. Hundreds of journalists gathered in Taksim Square in Istanbul to protest the arrests and demand that freedom of the press in Turkey be preserved and protected. “The imprisonment of journalists means the usurpation of our right for information” read the statement released at the demonstration. “We are here today to defend both our colleagues and the right of information.”

In addition, the international organization Reporters Without Borders released a statement saying they were “very concerned” by the latest arrests, and called on the Turkish government and authorities to “stop trying to criminalize journalism, including politically committed journalism.”

The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) also released a statement, calling on all those who support the right of information and freedom of the press to protest Turkey’s many human rights abuses.

The detention of 40 journalists, all seeking to reveal the same truth about the situation of Kurds in Turkey, is in fact affecting the entire profession of journalism. With 40 less people reporting on Turkey’s marginalization of the Kurdish community, Turkey is further quashing voices of dissent in the name of anti-terrorism and clearing the path for even more human rights abuses in the future.

This article first appeared on our website KurdishRights.org.

Mass Arrests of Kurdish Intellectuals in Istanbul:

My father-in-law was one of fifty people arrested on Friday morning, and while the police were civil at his house—calling him beyefendi (sir) and taking care not to break anything—in other parts of Turkey they kicked in doors and turned homes inside out. Read more.

Low-Level Torture—A Letter From An Istanbul Prison:

My father in law has been transferred to Kandıra prison in Izmit. They’ve split all the prisoners, sending them willy nilly to different high security prisons around the country. We had hoped for a visit this holiday, but were told that there would be no visits at all this week. Read more.

BDP threatens to boycott Parliament:

Turkey’s main Kurdish political party has threatened to withdraw from parliament due to arbitrary arrests of its MP’s in the past months. Read more.

Offices of Kurdish lawyers raided:

The offices of Asrin Hukuk Burosu in Istanbul were raided by Turkish police, and elsewhere in Turkey 70 people were taken into custody, 48 of them were lawyers. Among them is BDP’s former executive lawyer Huseyin Calisci. Read more.

Busting Moves for the Revolution: Kurdish Songs Against Assad:

As the Syrian revolution runs into its ninth month, protesters on the ground in Syria have yet to run out of ideas to creatively express their discontent with the regime and their demand for freedom. Read more.

Kurdish girl arrested in Iran:

A Kurdish Med student has been arrested in Iran. Rojin Mohemedi was arrested upon her return to Iran. She studied at Manila Medical School of Philippines and has been transferred to Evin prison.

The charges against her include incitement of propaganda against the regime. She is a Human rights activist, and has been vocal about the Iranian regimes horrendous human rights record. Read more.

Kurdish workers attacked by Nationalists in Turkey:

Kurdish workers were attacked in Tokat city, Turkish nationalists chanted “We don’t want Kurds here” as they continued their verbal abuse of Kurdish workers. Read more.

Turkey sanctions Syria for Human Rights Abuses:

Turkey wants to create the illusion that it upholds Human Rights, lets take a look at Turkey’s treatment of Kurds. Read more.

European Lawyers federation urge Turkey to release Kurdish lawyers:

European lawyers federation AED and ELDH have urged the Turkish government to release Kurdish lawyers imprisoned in the KCK investigation. Read more.

76 Kurds put on trial for attending politics classes in Turkey:

Legal action has been taken against 76 Kurdish politicians, including 30 detainees who were taken into custody for taking part in political classes. The detainees are charged with “spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation”. The classes were organised by BDP, which is a legal Pro-Kurdish political party, with 36 seats in parliament. Read more.

More Kurdish politicians arrested in Turkey:

Police raided the houses of many Kurdish politicians in Diyarbakir and Bitlis today. According to ANF, 21 people have been taken to custody. In the past 6 months alone, hundreds of Kurdish politicians, activists and journalists have been detained by Turkish police. Today’s arrests is a reminder of Turkey’s brutal and systematic discrimination against Kurdish people. Read more.

21-year old Kurdish student killed by Turkish police:

Thousands of people turned up to a meeting in Amed, with BDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, BDP deputies and Sur Mayor Abdullah Demirbaş, as well as civil society organisations. Security forces in Amed used tear-gas and live ammunition to disperse an open-air meeting between Kurdish activists. Murat Elibol was shot in the back, and died later in hospital. Read more.

121 Kurdish activists arrested this week — new arrests!

In a new wave of arrests, 24 people have been taken to custody today. Among them five BDP executives, association chair Evrim Konak and executives Murat Kur, Deniz Kırbağ and Hıdır Yıldız.

Earlier this week, 21 people were taken into custody, and 76 were arrested for attending politics classes — a total of 121 have been arrested this week alone in Turkey. Read more.

Kurdish Politician Mahmut Alınak arrested:

Kurdish politician Mahmut Alınak has been arrested on suspicion of being associated or having links with KCK. Last month, he was arrested in Istanbul and later released because it could not be established that he had secret ties with KCK. Read more.

Children jailed for being part of KCK in Turkey:

Dicle News Agency reports that 7 people have been detained, among them 2 children with alleged links with KCK. Earlier this month, 121 Kurdish activists were detained on similar grounds, including a prominent Kurdish politician and former MP Mahmut Alınak. Read more.

Kurdish prisoners forced to say Turkish national anthem:

New report released by IHD Adana branch highlights the Human rights violations of Kurdish activists in prison. The report concludes the following; Children prisoners forced to say Turkish national anthem. Expired or rotten food were given to both children, and women. Read more.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is one of the leading contenders for the position of Person of the Year, supposedly for his hand in the democratic aspirations of the Middle East uprisings and for his moderate Islamist leadership. Not one mention of the Kurds and of the years of discrimination against Kurds is ever brought up. Should TIME magazine name Erdogan Person of the Year, they would once again be denying the Kurdish people the suffering that they felt under Erdogan’s government, and would contribute to a major step backwards to activists passionate about the Kurdish cause everywhere.

The following is a statement that the Alliance for Kurdish Rights has compiled in protest of the nomination. Please endorse this statement, and then pass it on to TIME magazine, at letters(at)time.com. We cannot let the Kurdish struggle once again be sidelined.

Official Statement:

TIME magazine’s Person of the Year award is an internationally recognized achievement that despite its original intention, awards a certain amount of honor and prestige onto its recipient. At the very least, it is an indication that the recipient has changed the world, usually for the better, but always in a significant and deep way. The nomination of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as TIME’s Person of the Year is not an innocuous statement. Erdogan has been nominated for supposedly being an icon of the Arab Spring, a protector of justice and human dignity, and a strong leader not just in Turkey but in the Middle East.

However, for Turkey’s Kurdish population, Erdogan is recognized for overseeing the countless crimes committed against human dignity by his government. Erdogan’s reputation as a positive leader contradicts the fact that there are presently thousands of Kurds in Turkish prisons, and that the Turkish army, under the policies of his government, regularly carries out military assaults in Iraq and Iran, which often result in civilian casualties and the destruction of innocent people’s livelihoods. Additionally, Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws remain among the strictest in the world, and are often used to target Kurdish activists and censor both Kurdish and non-Kurdish journalists, professors, and even those that merely choosing to defend the Kurdish people’s rights. Under Erdogan’s leadership, anti-terrorism laws have been strengthened rather than overturned. In fact, according to the International Press Institute, Turkey imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world, including China. Despite assuming power on a platform of democratic reform for the entire country and an open dialogue with regards to the Kurdish question, Erdogan’s eight years in office have proven to be a step backwards for human rights and dignity.

Considering how rarely the plight of the Kurds is acknowledged in mainstream media, the nomination of Erdogan for the Person of the Year award will further normalize his image as a proponent rather than a frequent abuser of human rights. Erdogan’s crimes are already concealed behind a reputation of innovation and change. In fact, Foreign Policy magazine nominated him as one of the top 100 Global Thinkers of our time, waxing poetic about his influence in the region and his supposed stance on behalf of freedom in the Arab world without a single mention of the Kurds. If TIME were to join the ranks of Foreign Policy Magazine in singing Erdogan’s praises, 15 million Kurds in Turkey will again see their voices silenced, their suffering invalidated, as the person responsible for their injustice once again gets rewarded.

This article first appeared on our website KurdishRights.org, which documents the persecution against the Kurdish people in the Middle East.

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