Istanbul police fire tear gas on protesters rallying over crackdown in Kurdish areas

December 20, 2015 By administrator

Turkish police have fired tear gas on several hundred protesters in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Reuters reports.

The protesters gathered to demonstrate against security operations and curfews in the southeast, where more than 100 have been killed this week.

The offensive in the largely Kurdish region began last week in an effort to “cleanse” the area of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) “militants.”

In Istanbul, riot police chased protesters and pushed shoppers and tourists out of the way. Shops closed their shutters and at least two protesters have been detained.

Iran’s FM Spokesman Hossein Jaber-Ansari concern Azerbaijan intensified wave of arrests and the killing of Shias

December 12, 2015 By administrator

Iranian people hold a demonstration in front of Azerbaijan Consulate in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz on December 10, 2015 in protest at Baku’s intensified crackdown on Shia Muslims. © ISNA

Iran has warned of plots by ill-wishers to harm the country’s relations with Azerbaijan, stressing the importance of remaining vigilant to thwart such schemes.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber-Ansari said on Saturday that the Iranian people are concerned about Azerbaijan’s intensified wave of arrests and the killing of Shias in Nardaran district, north of the Azeri capital of Baku.

“The Iranian Foreign Ministry closely monitors different aspects of these events and is in constant contact with the country (Azerbaijan)’s relevant officials,” he said.

Following close consultation between Iranian and Azeri officials, a more suitable condition was created for Azeris to respect Islamic ceremonies as well as the sanctity of religious sites in Azerbaijan, including mosques, Jaber-Ansari said.

Azerbaijan has been carrying out a fresh wave of attacks on the majority Shias since November 26 when security forces killed four members of the Movement for Muslim Unity (MMU) during a raid in the village of Nardaran. At least 14 people were nabbed in the raid, including the MMU leader Tale’ Bagirzade, who is also known as Sheikh Bagirov.

In a later attack on Nardaran on December 3, policemen shot and killed five Shia Muslims and arrested 32 others.

Azerbaijan is a majority Shia state of more than nine million people. Shias account for 85 percent of the population.

The secular government of President Ilham Aliyev suppressed a Shia-dominated popular uprising in 2010 amid international outcry over his heavy-handed crackdown.

On Thursday, ethnic Azeris in the northwestern Iranian province of East Azarbaijan gathered in front of Azerbaijan’s Consulate in the provincial capital of Tabriz to denounce Baku’s crackdown on Shia Muslims in Nardaran.

The protesters, who were marking the demise of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), called on Azerbaijan’s government to stop its anti-Islamic moves and immediately release those arrested in Nardaran over the past days.

Thousands Protest in Baghdad Against Terrorist State of Turkey Deployment of Turkish Troops to Iraq

December 12, 2015 By administrator

Thousands of protesters, including members of Iraq’s Shiite paramilitary forces, gathered in downtown Baghdad on Saturday demanding the pullout of Turkish troops from the country, local TV Alsumaria reported.

Turkey sent troops and tanks to a base in northern Iraq last week setting off an angry diplomatic row with Baghdad.

Ankara insists it deployed forces near Mosul to protect military instructors working with Iraqi soldiers at the base, but Baghdad demands their immediate withdrawal and brought the matter before the UN Security Council.

Saturday’s protest rally in Baghdad was initiated by paramilitary groups of the Hashad al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces, dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias.

“As the leader of a military brigade, I am not fully satisfied with the government’s action, and we are here to say that Iraq’s patience has run out,” Ali Rubaie, the commander of a unit stationed west of Baghdad, told AFP on Saturday.

The demonstration was mostly attended by young men in military uniforms and was well organized, with large processions converging on Tahrir Square in central Baghdad.

Iraqi Kurdistan people protesting Turkish deployment in Mosul

December 9, 2015 By administrator

People are taking to the streets to protest the dispatchment of Turkish military forces to the Mosul region, which political parties describe as an occupation of Kurdistan.

SULAIMANIA – ANF

Turkish state’s deployment of military forces in Mosul has caused reactions acros South Kurdistan.

People are taking to the streets to protest the dispatchment of Turkish military forces to the Mosul region, which political parties describe as an occupation of Kurdistan.

Police have denied permission for a demonstration in Bağê Gışti area of Sulaimania at 15:00 this afternoon. Security forces withdrew from the area after talks with political officials.

PUK Politburo member Hero İbrahim Ahmed, some deputies and Tevgera Azadi executives are also joining the demonstrators.

Protest demonstrations against the Turkish deployment of military forces will be staged in Kelar tomorrow and in Kirkuk on Friday.

Istanbul police fire tear gas, water cannon at protest over killing of top Kurdish lawyer

November 28, 2015 By administrator

Some 2,000 people gathered in central Istanbul in Turkey on Saturday, to protest the killing of a prominent Kurdish lawyer. Police attempted to disperse the crowd in Taksim Square with tear gas and water cannon.

People took to the streets in Istanbul following the murder of Tahir Elci. The prominent campaigner for Kurdish rights was shot dead in southeast Turkey earlier in the day.

Police used water cannon and tear gas, ordering protesters to disperse, RT’s William Whiteman reported from the scene. He himself and an RT cameraman were also teargased during the clashes, the reporter added.

The president of the bar association, who had been criticized for challenging Turkey’s official stance of calling the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a terrorist organization, died of gunshots to the head after he was targeted while making a media statement in Diyarbakir province.

Massive protests and skirmishes with police have taken place in Turkey over the past couple of days. On Friday, several thousand people rallied in Istanbul and Ankara. People gathered in support of two prominent journalists accused of treason over publishing photos of weapons allegedly brought to Syria by Turkish intelligence. Police in the Turkish capital used pepper spray on the protesters.

Kurdistan region ‘Iraq: Kurdish protesters attack KDP party offices in Iraqi Kurdistan

October 10, 2015 By administrator

ERBIL-Hewler, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Protesters attacked several offices of the main political party in Iraq’s Kurdish north on Saturday in a third day of violent unrest that threatens to destabilize the region at a time of war with Islamic State militants.
The demonstrations that began on Oct. 1 initially targeted the autonomous region’s government, which many Kurds blame for an economic crisis that has left them struggling to pay the bills.
But the anger took a partisan turn on Friday when protesters in the city of Qaladize torched an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) after at least one demonstrator was killed.

The region’s president, Massoud Barzani, called for calm but young men blocked a main road in the town of Said Sadiq on Saturday and pelted a KDP building with stones, said Farouq Abd al-Karim, a local party member who was present.

Live footage from Said Sadiq broadcast on Kurdish channel NRT showed riot police holding back protesters, some of whom wielded slingshots. Shops were shuttered and a tire burned in the street.

There were also protests in the city of Sulaimani and the town of Kalar, where demonstrators threw stones at a KDP office.

The pattern of unrest reflects long-running political divisions in the autonomous region of three provinces that have been exacerbated by a power struggle over the presidency of Barzani, who is also head of the KDP.

Sulaimani province, where the protests are taking place is dominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) party and former opposition movement Gorran, which are seeking to weaken the KDP’s grip on power.

In Erbil and Duhok provinces, where the KDP is strong, security was tightened around offices of the PUK and Gorran to avert any retaliatory attacks.

The KDP, Gorran, PUK and two of the region’s other parties have been wrangling over the terms of an extension of Barzani’s tenure since it expired on Aug. 20.

The stalemate has polarized Kurdish politics and compounded an economic crisis that began in early 2014 when Baghdad slashed funds to the region. A drop in oil prices has pushed the region further towards bankruptcy.

Massoud Barzani has led Kurdistan region as president from 2005 for two executive terms and his last term was extended in 2013 by ruling KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) for two more years on the condition that he can no longer run as president.

Iraqi Kurdistan parliament speaker, Yousif Mohammed Sadiq said in August “Extending Barzani term is against the laws in Kurdistan. Law No. 19 passed in 2013 … clearly says the president’s term ends on Aug. 19 and cannot be extended,” Sadiq added.

Political risk analyst Kirk Sowell said in August that “If it were a stable democratic system in Kurdistan, they would just vote him (Barzani) out of office. But it’s not,”

In April 2014, Massoud Barzani has sets condition to leave power, he told Sky News Arabic that he was ready to leave power only if the Kurdish enclave parties reach an agreement over the way to govern Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Source: eKurd

Kurds in Europe protest against Turkish state aggression

September 19, 2015 By administrator

BERLIN,— Kurdish people living in Europe continue their actions in protest at the Turkish state aggression within the scope of the war policies implemented by the ruling AKP party against the Kurds in Turkish Kurdistan in the country’s southeast. Kurds took to the streets in Cologne and Berlin in Germany and Torino in Italy on Friday.

COLOGNE

Members of the Peace Mother’s Initiative and Viyan Women’s Assembly held a joint press conference in Cologne under the slogan with the participation of some a hundred women on Friday.

The participants first visited the tent set up for protest action going on since Monday and then held a press conference in front of the main entrance of the Dom Church, where they also opened a banner reading “We women say no to war”.

Women stressed that the pain did not have any particular language, religion or race and added that the women demanded the ending of deaths of both soldiers or guerrillas without making any difference. Women also underlined that no one must be a part of the AKP’s war.

BERLIN

Kurdish people held a three-day action, starting on Wednesday and ending on Friday, at Brandenburger Tor in the German city of Berlin in protest at the state terror in Cizre and the racist attacks launched against HDP buildings in Turkey and North Kurdistan. The activists distributed leaflets in German and English during the action.

TORINO

Kurdish people in Italian city of Torino protested the isolation of the Turkey’s jailed Kurdish Leader Abdullah Ocalan and the attacks on the Kurdish people.

The action at Castello Square was supported by Torino Kurdish Culture Centre, Apini Liberi group and many other NGOs and political friends of Kurds. Torches in yellow, red and green colors were lit in the action while demonstrators also carried posters of Ocalan and flags of PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party), PYD (Democratic Union Party) and KCD-E (European Kurdish Democratic Societies Congress).

Kani Miran on behalf of KCD-E made a short speech following one minute’s silence for all those who fell for Kurdistan and world revolution.

Kurds in Turkey demands to establish an autonomous Kurdish region and more cultural rights for ethnic Kurds, who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 75-million population but have long been denied basic political and cultural rights, their goal to political autonomy. A large Turkey’s Kurdish community openly sympathise with PKK rebels.

Source: eKurd.net

Armenia: Baghramyan Blvd Breakup: Police clear Electric protest site in central Yerevan

September 12, 2015 By administrator

Armenian police used force on Saturday morning to push scores of demonstrators out of a central avenue that remained blocked for hours in protest against a recent electricity price hike.

Hundreds of protesters, most of them young people, had occupied a section of the Marshal Baghramyan Avenue leading to the presidential palace on September 11 evening after their leaders accused the government of not fulfilling its pledge to fully subsidize the rise in electricity tariffs.

No To Plunder, a civic group that organized the protest, demanded that the authorities revoke the decision on the 16-percent rate increase that the government approved in June, threatening a repeat of nonstop protests that took place in Baghramyan Avenue in late June and early July.

After repeated warnings that the protest was “unlawful”, police officers gave the demonstrators until 5 am to unblock the venue voluntarily or face action.

Half an hour after the expiry of the “deadline” police launched their operation, breaking up the line of about 50 protesters who did not actively resist. The police, who did not use batons, water cannons or other riot gear in their action, rounded up the demonstrators, pushing them to the sides of the avenue. In an operation that lasted for about 20 minutes all demonstrators were removed from the avenue section. More than a dozen protesters were taken to police stations. By 6 am traffic in Baghramyan Avenue was restored.

It remained unclear on Saturday morning whether activists of No To Plunder and other civic groups campaigning against the rise in electricity prices planned any more protests during the day. Earlier, their leaders said they would stage street protests until their demands were met by the administration of President Serzh Sargsyan.

Source: Armenianow.am

Thousands of Iraqis protest against government corruption

August 8, 2015 By administrator

This is the second Friday of protests in Baghdad and across Iraq, with people initially calling on authorities to address the country’s chronic electricity problems as temperatures in the capital soared above 50 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit).

But with little action from the Shiite-dominated government following last week’s demonstrations, the call for a government shake-up intensified, the AP reports.

As Haider al-Abadi nears his one-year anniversary since assuming the role of Iraq’s prime minister, he faces his biggest challenge yet as an economic crisis and crippling war with the Islamic State group put a choke on domestic services. Discontent is rising, even among the country’s Shiite majority, with protests springing up in cities from Baghdad to Basra.

“Change, that’s what we need,” said schoolteacher Najlaa Malek, one of the protesters in the square Friday.

“The problems in this country have become too many to list. And our leaders talk a great deal but then they do nothing to fix them.”

One man circled the square holding a mock donations box, with the written message: “proceeds go to the house of representatives.”

The protesters represented mixed political and religious affiliations, organizers of the protest saying that about 75 percent were liberals, communists, linked to various political groups for youth, or independent.

Professional syndicates were on hand, with the members of the lawyers syndicate marching in their judicial
robes through the square demanding basic human rights.

Armenians, Kurds stage protest in Washington against Turkey’s complicity in terrorist attack

July 25, 2015 By administrator

Washington area Kurdish and Armenian Americans joined together for a protest against the Turkish government’s complicity in the ISIS attacks on Suruc, the Armenian National Congress reported on Facebook.

During the protest they drew attention to similar assaults against Kobane, Kessab, and Der-Zor.

As reported earlier, at least 32 people were killed in a terrorist attack in the town of Suruc in Turkey.

A group of young people from different regions of Turkey gathered in Suruc to voice their protest against terrorism and transport clothes and toys to the children of Syria’s Kobane town.

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