Kurd Suruç people gather at the border in solidarity with Kobanê people

September 3, 2016 By administrator

suric people People in Suruç district of Urfa have gathered at the border in solidarity with Kobanê people who continue a vigil against Turkish military occupation for the eight day.

URFA – ANF

People in Suruç district of Urfa have gathered at the border in solidarity with Kobanê people who continue a vigil against Turkish military occupation some 150 meters to Mürşitpınar Border Crossing for the eight day.

Demonstrators who chant “Kobanê people are not alone” are supported by a delegation made up of HDP deputies for Urfa and representatives of non-governmental organisations. The delegation intends to cross into Kobanê and make a statement to the press after talks with Turkish officials.

Turkish Kurd grief: ‘They don’t even let us bury our dead’

August 15, 2015 By administrator

Kurdish families are distraught that the bodies of loved ones are not being allowed home

By Selin Girit BBC News, Suruc,

A room is full of women looking like they have cried for hours, if not for days.

Sat on the floor leaning against each wall, they don’t say much. Instead, they wail, wipe their tears and hug each other to share the pain.

Ayse Aygun’s 18 year-old son Salih had gone across the border to Syria, to join the Kurdish YPG militants and fight against the Islamic State group (IS).

He was killed two weeks ago in a clash at the town of Sirrin.

Ayse’s family and friends try to be there for her in these difficult times.

It is more than losing a child for Ayse. The Turkish authorities will not allow her son’s body back into the country to be buried.

“My son wasn’t fighting the Turkish army” she says. “He was fighting the IS. IS beheaded people. They killed the elderly. Why aren’t they allowing my son back? This is an insult.”

More than 4,000 people from Turkey, predominantly Kurds, have gone to fight against the IS since the assault on Kobani started late last year.

Up until recently, those killed were allowed back for their funerals. Over 200 YPG fighters have been buried in Turkey so far.

But now the bodies of 23 fighters have been stopped at the border.

Salih’s aunt Islim says they spoke to the local governor to help them bring his body into Turkey.

“He told us it was beyond him. He said there was a cabinet decree. He told us there was nothing he could do” she says.

“But we want our brother to be buried in our land. We could go visit his grave, say a prayer. He should be near us.”

Families suspect, all this is part of a measure to keep the border town of Suruc calm. Here, an attack by the group calling themselves Islamic State killed 32 people last month.

The culture centre where the bomb went off still bears the scars of the attack.

Pictures of the dead young activists, along with various toys for kids they intended to take to Kobane are laid out in the garden – at the exact spot where the attack took place.

But on the streets of Suruc life is back to normal. There are security forces present of course, but that has been part of daily life for some time, given the proximity to the Syrian border.

What happened in this predominantly Kurdish town across the border from Kobane changed Turkey and the security landscape dramatically.

After the attack, the Turkish government launched what it called “a synchronised war on terror” on several fronts.

Operations against IS were followed by a crackdown on the Kurdish militant group PKK and other radical leftist groups.

The level of threat in the country has increased to extent not seen in recent years.

Early this week the most violent attacks since the crackdown took place, in retaliation for the increasing military operations against the PKK.

As the once solid ceasefire is in tatters, many fear peace is now something of the past and there’s more trouble ahead.

Ayse had 11 sons. One is now dead in Syria. Another is a soldier in the Turkish army. And another is a policeman.

She says she wants peace so that mothers won’t have to shed any more tears.

But the soldier son, who speaks on condition of anonymity, is more pessimistic.

“We were more than brothers, Salih and I. We were best friends. I’m a soldier. He died in Kobane. We want peace.

“But how is peace attainable when they don’t even let us bury our dead?” he asks.

Turkey: Gov’t whistleblower says recent attacks in Suruç, Kilis were plots designed by Turkish officials

July 28, 2015 By administrator

A screenshot taken from whistleblower fuatavni’s Twitter account. (Photo: Today’s Zaman)

The suicide attack in the southeastern town of Suruç on July 20 and the shooting of a soldier in the southern province of Kilis on Thursday, both of which were supposedly carried out by militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), were in fact plots designed by Turkish officials, a government whistleblower has said. Report by ZAMAN

Fuat Avni, a Twitter figure who regularly reveals inside information on allegedly secret meetings of high-ranking government officials, claimed on his account on Sunday evening that a secret meeting was held by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the presidential palace on Thursday.

Avni claims National Intelligence Organization (MİT) head Hakan Fidan, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and former Interior Minister Efkan Ala were present at the meeting.

The whistleblower said word had broken out a short while before the meeting began that a soldier had been killed in Kilis.

“What coincidence that those who said they’d send four people to Syria and fire eight rockets at Turkey to start a war were also at the meeting,” Fuat Avni said, referring to Fidan, adding, “Instead of eight rockets there were 10 ISIL militants.”

In March 2014, a conversation in which the voices of then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Sinirlioğlu, Fidan and Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler are heard discussing whether Turkey should conduct a military incursion into Syria was leaked online.

In the audio tape Fidan is allegedly heard saying: “If needed, I will dispatch four men to Syria. [Then] I will have them fire eight mortar shells at the Turkish side and create an excuse for war. We can also have them attack the tomb of Süleyman Şah as well.”

Fuat Avni claims Erdoğan and his advisors decided to conduct air strikes against ISIL targets without even informing acting Prime Minister Davutoğlu. According to Fuat Avni, the army is playing into Erdoğan’s plans without being aware.

“For ISIL to strike Turkey, when Yezid [Erdoğan] and his gang are their biggest supporters, is nonsensical. Both Suruç and Kilis were Yezid’s decision, not ISIL’s,” wrote Fuat Avni, who added Erdoğan is trying to provoke ISIL into reacting to the assaults.

The whistleblower refrains from directly using Erdoğan’s name. Instead he uses the reference “Yezid,” the Umayyad Caliph, who according to Islamic historical belief allowed his opponent, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, to die of thirst in the battle of Kerbela. Due to his crime against the family of the Prophet, the name Yezid is commonly reviled in all sects of Islam and used to belittle and vilify the opponent.

Fuat Avni says Erdoğan aims to create an environment of chaos during which MİT agents within ISIL will provoke the group and a conflict will ensue between ISIL militants and Turkish law enforcement personnel.

He also claims Fidan has activated MİT agents within the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK) to start uprisings like those that began in October 2014 in the predominantly Kurdish Southeast.

Violence erupted on Oct. 6 and 7 in Kurdish southeastern regions following reports that ISIL was close to capturing the town of Kobani, which was being defended by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian-based affiliate of the outlawed PKK.

Protesters, who were angry at the government for not intervening to save the town despite a heavy military presence at the border, took to the streets nationwide. More than 40 people died during the protests, mainly in the Southeast, while hundreds of people — including 140 members of the security forces — were injured.

Identity of Turkish ISIL Suruç bomber confirmed: Report

July 22, 2015 By administrator

The identity of the suspected Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomber who hit Turkey’s southeastern town of Suruç has been confirmed by DNA tests, daily Habertürk has reported.

Şeyh Abdurrahman Alagöz, a 20-year-old university student registered in Adıyaman province, has been identified as the suicide bomber who carried out the deadly July 20 attack at a municipal culture center in Şanlıurfa’s Suruç district, which killed at least 32 activists planning to cross the border to help rebuild the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobane.

The investigation to identify the corpse of a female suspect is reportedly still ongoing.

Speaking to Radikal, the young man’s mother Semüre Alagöz said her son had gone “abroad” six months ago and returned only 10 days ago, before she lost contact with him.

“They didn’t tell us where they went or what kind of job they had found. I don’t know whether he joined ISIL.

He was a good boy,” the woman said. She added that Alagöz’s younger brother, Yunus, was also missing.

Speaking on July 21, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu announced that one suspect had been identified in connection with the bomb attack.

Protests rage across Turkey over deadly #Suruç bombing

July 22, 2015 By administrator

AFP Photo

Protests have continued across Turkey after a suicide bombing attack in the southeastern border town of Suruç on July 20 left at least 32 people dead and more than 100 others injured.

Forty-nine protesters were detained in multiple locations in Istanbul on July 21 for staging protests against the deadly Suruç bombing in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa.

Police seized three hand-made cluster bombs, 203 Molotov cocktails, a pump-action rifle, a blank-firing pistol, 125 pieces of ammunition, two firework-launching platforms and 40 boxes of fireworks used in resistance against security forces as part of the operations, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Eleven protesters were detained on July 21 in Kadıköy, a district on the Asian side of Istanbul, after around 500 protesters gathered at 8 p.m. at a central square in Kadıköy waving black flags, placards and photos of the victims of the Suruç bombing, Doğan News Agency reported late July 21.

The police fired tear gas and water cannon at the protesters, who defended themselves with stones and fireworks before many of them fanned out into the side streets of Kadıköy.

Twenty-five others were detained after attempting to march toward the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) bureau in Istanbul’s Şişli district on July 21. Protesters, political parties and left-wing NGOs have long accused the AKP of offering either direct or tacit support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has been blamed for the Suruç attack. At rallies across the country, protesters frequently shouted “Murderous ISIL, collaborator AKP.”

Thirteen protesters were also detained in Suruç protests in the Istanbul districts of Maltepe, Sultangazi and Küçükçekmece the same day.

In a separate protest in the eastern province of Ağrı, four protesters were detained and four police officers were slightly injured in clashes that erupted after a large number of protesters attempted to hold a sit-in following a press briefing on July 21. After declaring the action illegal, police attacked the activists with tear gas and water cannon.

Gendarmerie forces, meanwhile, discovered a bomb of around 120 kilograms on a road close to Sütlüce village in the eastern province of Tunceli, popularly known as Dersim, the Turkish General Staff said in a written statement on July 21.

Tunceli Gendarmerie Forces while on daily patrol, discovered the remote-controlled explosive device early July 21 in two gas cylinders alongside a road in the Mutlu neighborhood of Sütlüce, the statement said.

The Suruç bombing elicited sorrow and rage from several parties and spurred protests across the country, with people taking to streets to protest the deadly attack.

The suicide bomber, who has been tentatively identified as Şeyh Abdurrahman Alagöz, detonated explosives on July 20 at Suruç Municipality’s Amara Cultural Center as members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) prepared to travel to Kobane in Rojava to aid in the town’s reconstruction following its liberation from ISIL forces in January.

July/22/2015

Official: Suruc bomber was Turkish

July 22, 2015 By administrator

By Gul Tuysuz and Jason Hanna CNN

(CNN) —The suicide bomber who killed more than 30 people in the Turkish border town of Suruc is thought to have been a 20-year-old Turkish national, an official in that country told CNN on condition of anonymity Wednesday.

Separately, Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported Wednesday that the suspect’s name was Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz.

Turkish authorities have said they believe the terror group ISIS was involved in the explosion, which killed at least 31 people in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to rock the country in years.

At least 100 others were wounded, provincial Gov. Izzettin Kucuk told Turkish media.

Suruc lies about 6 miles (9.7 kilometers) from the Syrian border opposite Kobani, the Syrian city that was the scene of intense fighting last fall between ISIS and predominantly Kurdish forces, backed by coalition airstrikes.

The suspect was from the southern Turkish town of Adiyaman, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of Suruc, the anonymous Turkish official told CNN.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference Tuesday that “one suspect has been identified” and that all that person’s “links domestically and internationally are being investigated.”

“Right now, links to ISIS and it being a suicide bomber have gained probability,” he said. “We expect the investigation to be completed as soon as possible.”

Davutoglu on Monday described ISIS as “not just a threat to Syria but to Turkey as well.”

President Serzh Sargsyan condemns bomb attack in Suruc, Cumhurbaşkanı Serj Sarkisyan Suruç’taki bombalı saldırıyı kınadıklarını açıkladı

July 20, 2015 By administrator

Hrant Kasparyan / Democrat News – Yerevan

Armenian President

Sanliurfa Suruç held today, and 30 people lost their lives after the bomb attack, condolences and condemning the massacre of Turkey’s neighboring countries began arriving messages.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan issued a written message, condolences to the relatives of those who lost their lives in the Suruc announced that they condemned the attack while the survivors wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.

As regards the attack Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan condolence message transmitting Armenian President Sargsyan said, “We condemn any manifestations of terrorism regret,” he said.

According to a statement from the Presidential Press and Information Office in Armenia, President Sargsyan statement gave the following statements:

“Turkey’s Suruç that occurred on July 20 in the city of Sanliurfa and dozens of people regret that we learned of the explosion that cost him his life.

We condemn all kinds of manifestations of terrorism regret.

Please accept my condolences for the incident today.

Condolences to the relatives of those killed and the courage, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured survivors. ”

In Turkish

Ermenistan’dan Suruç Katliamı’na kınama
Cumhurbaşkanı Serj Sarkisyan Suruç’taki bombalı saldırıyı kınadıklarını açıkladı

Hrant Kasparyan / Demokrat Haber – Erivan

Şanlıurfa’nın Suruç İlçesi’nde bugün gerçekleştirilen ve 30 insanın hayatını kaybettiği bombalı saldırının ardından, Türkiye’nin komşu ülkelerinden taziye ve katliamı kınayan mesajlar gelmeye başladı.

Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanı Serj Sarkisyan bugün yayımladığı yazılı mesajda, Suruç’ta hayatını kaybedenlerin yakınlarına başsağlığı, hayatta kalan yaralılara ise acil şifa dileyerek saldırıyı kınadıklarını açıkladı.

Saldırıya ilişkin olarak Türkiyeli mevkidaşı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’a taziye mesajı ileten Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanı Sarkisyan, “Terörün her türlü dışavurumunu esefle kınıyoruz” dedi.

Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanlığı Basın ve Enformasyon Dairesi’nden yapılan açıklamaya göre, Cumhurbaşkanı Sarkisyan açıklamasında şu ifadelere yer verdi:

“Türkiye’nin Şanlıurfa kentindeki Suruç İlçesi’nde 20 Temmuz’da meydana gelen ve onlarca kişinin hayatına mal olan patlamayı üzülerek öğrendik.

Terörün her türlü dışavurumlarını esefle kınıyoruz.

Bugün meydana gelen olaya ilişkin taziyelerimi kabul edin.

Hayatını kaybedenlerin yakınlarına başsağlığı ve cesaret, hayatta kalan yaralılara ise acil şifa diliyorum.”