New Home Office/UK Borders Agency Country of Origin Information Report regarding Syria
The Home Office/UK Borders Agency has prepared an updated Country of Origin Information Report regarding Syria, dated 3 September 2010.
The full report can be accessed here: http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/country_reports.html#countries
Damascus: Interior Ministry seeks 287 residents of al-Hasakah province living abroad for ‘crimes against the state’
KURDWATCH, August 16, 2010—As previously reported, at the beginning of May lists with the names of people living abroad were forwarded to the civil register offices in al-Hasakah province with the stipulation that those listed could only be issued identification papers and other documents if they reported to the State Security Service. In the meantime KurdWatch has obtained a copy of the complete list of all those affected from al-Hasakah province—a total of 287 people—as well as a copy of the corresponding letter from the Syrian Interior Minister. Read more
The Right of Nations to Determine Their Own Future and the Kurds
The Kurdish or Kurdistan question is the most important issue that Turkey faces today. What shapes Turkey’s foreign, domestic and economic policies is the Kurdish question. President Abdullah Gul in the summer of 2009 emphasized that the Kurdish question is Turkey’s most pressing question and that before properly focusing on other issues, a solution to the Kurdish question needs to be developed.
It is evident that today the ruling AK Party is looking at the Kurdish question more closely, and more seriously than previous governments. It is attempting to develop a new policy under the rubric of Kurdish opening or democratic opening. The government is making an effort to solve the Kurdish question. Read more
Syria: ‘Your son is not here’: Disappearances from Syria’s Saydnaya Military Prison: Campaign digest
At least 52 prisoners have been reported missing since 5 July 2008, when disturbances in Saydnaya Military Prison led to the deaths of at least 17 prisoners and five military police. The families of the missing men have spent two long years trying to find out what happened to their relatives. Amnesty International has established that 18 of the prisoners are victims of enforced disappearance, as defined by international law, and is stepping up its campaign to uncover the truth about all of Saydnaya’s missing prisoners.
“A father can never forget his son; I live on the hope of seeing him”
The father of a prisoner missing since July 2008
Your son is not here – Amnesty International report July 2010
Decree 49 – ethnic cleansing of Kurds in Syria
Decree 49 came into Syrian Law on 27 October 2008. It is an element of the plan proposed by Mohammed Talib Hilal to ethnically cleanse the land of the Kurdish nation, and almost two years later, the successful intent of this law is evidenced by the ways on which the authorities have created rules to permanently deprive Kurdish farmers of the use of their land. This is forcing people to move away because they cannot sustain themselves any longer.
A law suit meant to silence Kurdish-expert Besikçi
“The Glory of Science in Turkey” is being sent back to prison
The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has labeled the planned law suit against internationally renowned Turkish sociologist and author Ismail Besikçi as a “scandelous attempt to silence a critical voice for the Kurds.” Starting Wednesday, he is expected to go before the 11th criminal division in Istanbul to face a charge of particularly serious crimes. The famous Kurdish-expert has been charged with creating propaganda for the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is banned in Turkey. The District Attorney’s Office is demanding a prison sentence of eight and a half years. “Besikçi is, however, involved with the 15 million Kurds in Turkey on a purely scientific basis. To punish him for his work is completely arbitrary justice,” said Dr. Kamal Sido, consultant for the Middle East at the STP. Besikçi published, within the context of his personal research, an article titled “National Self-determination and the Kurds” in the Turkish magazine, “Our Era.” The magazine editor, Zeycan Balci, is likewise threatened with eight and a half years in prison. Read more
Syria: Al-Asad’s Decade in Power Marked by Repression
Rights Suppressed, Activists Detained, Media Censored, Kurds Sidelined
(New York) – President Bashar al-Asad has not delivered on his promises to increase public freedoms and improve his government’s human rights record during a decade in power, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today on the eve of the anniversary of his accession to power.
Iran/Iraq: Iranian Attacks Should Not Target Iraqi Civilians
Villagers Allege Artillery Shelling, Attacks on Livestock Intended to Clear Border Are
(New York) – Iran needs to take all feasible precautions to spare civilians at risk of serious harm from artillery bombardment and other military operations in an area that includes dozens of Kurdish villages inside northern Iraq, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Iranian attacks, directed against the Iranian Kurdish armed group Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), intensified in late May and have led to the displacement of more than 500 families, wounded an unknown number of villagers, and killed a teenage girl. Iraqi villagers also told Human Rights Watch, which visited the area in late June, that Iranian border guards have targeted their livestock and sometimes fired at the villagers themselves. Read more
Update on Kurdish Azadi Party members detained in Syria
A source close to the family of Kurdish detainee Mustafa Juma confirms that he is still subjected to harassment and they had to wait a long time to before they could see him. When his sons were eventually allowed in, the visit was stopped after three minutes. They had travelled more than 2360Km to see him. Mustaf Juma, born 1949 is a member of the Political Committee, and acting Secretaryb of the Kurdish Azadi Party in Syria. He has been in Adra Prison since 9 January 2009. He was summoned and then arrested by Palestine security branch in Damascus, and was sentenced by Court to three years in prison, and he was stripped of his civil rights. Read more
The Punitive-Justice System that Kurdish Children are Subjected to in the 21st Century Turkey
Full report in pdf here:Punitive Justice system – Kurdish children in Turkey
SUMMARY
In order to understand the case of the children, who have been included in the police records for many years, it is necessary to know, scrutinise and internalise the incidents that have been going on in the land in which they have born and grew up. This can only be achieved by seeking an answer to the question “who are these children” or questioning the deteriorating effects of the dirty war that has been experienced in the region for almost 30 years.
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