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 …
Posted in Activism, BDP, Free speech, Turkey | Comments Off on More Kurdish politicians arrested in TurkeySabiha Gökçen holding a bomb before the bombardment operation over Dersim with her Breguet 19. Fato Dersimi was among those who fled Dersim, which is a predominately Kurdish district in Northern Kurdistan. When Turkish troops were killing Kurdish civilians between …
Posted in BDP, Genocide, Turkey, Violence | Comments Off on Turkish state apology to Kurds, 75 years too late.Turkey’s main Kurdish political party has threatened to withdraw from parliament due to arbitrary arrests of its MP’s in the past months. Pro-Kurdish peace and democracy party (BDP) secured 36 seats in the June 12 parliamentary election. BDP boycotted parliament …
Posted in BDP, Kurdistan, Protests, Turkey | 2 CommentsLast week, shortly after my father-in-law’s arrest, I came home to find the house dark and empty. My wife, Xezal, was supposed to be home—she had texted me just a few hours before to say she was on her way. …
Posted in BDP, Free speech, Petition, Turkey | Comments Off on Low-Level Torture—A Letter From An Istanbul PrisonAs a white American, I have never experienced firsthand how your own government can tear your life and family apart. I understood that blacks and Native Americans and other minorities suffered under a system built for whites, but never intuitively, …
Posted in BDP, Turkey | Comments Off on Detainees Formally Charged In the Case Against the BDPTurkey’s June 12 elections brought a third victory for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), with an unprecedented 50% of the votes. Alongside Erdogan’s victory, however, Turkish Kurdistan is also celebrating the victory of …
Posted in BDP, Leyla Zana, Turkey | Comments Off on Elections in Turkey Raise Hopes for Turkish Kurds