Newroz 2012 a Festival of Freedom

The festival of Newroz on 21 March, which the Kurds will soon be celebrating in their millions, is a key date in the Kurdish cultural calendar and, over recent decades, it has taken on extra political significance as a rare occasion when Kurds can freely come together to express their identity as a people and demonstrate their strength of feeling and unity of purpose for the basic demands of peace, freedom and their democratic rights.

This year it has been announced that the main celebrations in North Kurdistan will take place in Diyarbakir on Sunday 18 March. A mass turnout is expected for what will be a major public display of resistance by Kurds against the repressive measures of the Erdogan government. Celebrations marking Newroz are to be held also in 127 different locations this year under the slogan, ‘Enough is enough, either freedom or freedom.’  Read more

UN-Arab League envoy sending team to Syria to continue talks on ending crisis

The Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria, Kofi Annan, today said he will send a team to the country at the weekend to continue discussions on proposals he has presented to the leadership as he tries to find a peaceful solution to the year-long bloody conflict.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

REUTERS: Rami Abdulrahman, a Syrian shop-keeper in a bleak English city, has become for many the face of Syria’s revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. He is a lone warrior.

Thousands of miles away from home, in a small rented house in Coventry, Abdulrahman runs Syria’s most prominent activist group which has become central to the way the uprising is being reported – and understood – in the world.

Amnesty International: New report finds systemic and widespread torture and ill-treatment in detention

People caught up in the massive wave of arrests in the wake of the Syrian uprising have been thrust into a nightmarish world of systemic torture, a new report by Amnesty International says today.

The scale of torture and other ill-treatment in Syria has risen to a level not witnessed for years and is reminiscent of the dark era of the 1970s and 1980s.

Released a day before the one-year anniversary of the start of mass protests in Syria, ‘I wanted to die’: Syria’s torture survivors speak out documents 31 methods of torture or other ill-treatment by security forces, army and pro-government armedshabiha gangs, described by witnesses or victims to Amnesty International researchers in Jordan in February 2012.  Read more

Remembering Qamishli 12 March 2004

Kurds are in the streets in their many many thousands today, with energy for change and remembering the uprising of 12  March 2004 (see picture  - left) Qamishlo: qamislo (1) 12-adare 2012. 

There were earlier verbal reports of trouble caused by shabiha, and now reports are coming in of shootings in Qamishlo today
 youtu.be

 12-3-2012

Two people injured:

  shot and wounded

 Injured young man shot by security

Use of teargas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQwvNt6jj0U&feature=context&context=C457e527VDvjVQa1PpcFMm66U3G9gAM0aXJ9B-uEuOEV605jS_t-0=

Evidence of damage to shops by shabhia: http://youtu.be/PN8OD6cJliQ

In Aleppo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…

Previous report:

http://supportkurds.org/reports/kurds-killed-in-the-street-in-syria-2004-2008-and-2010

Kurdish National Council Syria meets with German Bundestag

Thinking of Kurds in Syria on the anniversary of the uprising and repression of 12 March 2004 - this report answers questions people may have about the Kurdish National Council approach to the current situation. Conciliation, discussion, debate, reassurances … the way forward – together

Meeting between representatives of the Kurdish National Council Syria and representatives of the Foreign Committee of the German Bundestag – Berlin, March 2, 2012
Participants:
KNCS: Dr. Kamiran Abdo, Brusk Najar
CDU: Ruprecht Polenz (Chairman)
SPD: Hans-Ulrich Klose (Deputy Chairman), Günter Gloser
Bündnis ’90 / The Greens: Kerstin Müller
FDP: Dr. Rainer Stinner
STP: Dr. Kamal Sido, Maleen Schlüter
The meeting started off with the question, how near the Kurdish National Council of Syria (KNCS) and the Syrian National Council (SNC) stand together – and whether it is true that the Kurds in Syria have not yet decided whether or not they are against Assad. The latter was denied. According to the KNCS-representatives, the Kurds have been against the regime for a long time. They just chose not to express this by means of armed violence. This could be the reason why they might seem indecisive or are said to be. The answers to the first question, which repeatedly arose during the discussion, clearly showed that the KNCS is skeptical about the SNC. It is not yet clear what the situation for the Kurds will be like after the revolution and whether their rights can be guaranteed. Nevertheless, the two Councils are currently negotiating and are hopeful to find an agreement. During the conversation, the German politicians also stressed the enormous importance of a unified opposition. It also became clear that the KNCS is not willing to fight for a “Syrian Arabic Republic”, in which the non-Kurdish ethnicity is already clearly stated in the name. Read more

Sunday 11 March 2012

Remembering the Kurdish struggle, and in particular the killings, torture and arbitrary arrests of Qamishlo – 2004: Qamishlo today 11 \ 3

 

 

and Kurds in London outside the Syria Embassy

London: Remembering the Kurdish struggle 11 March 2012

Kurds came together today outside the Syria Embassy in London to remember the killings in Qamishlo on 12 March 2012, and their struggle against arbitrary detentions, torture and killings over the years, unified in the call for Bashar al-Assad to go, and for a new future without oppression:

Syria opposition split on Annan call for dialogue

Friday 9 March 2012

Killing of Kurds during the spontaneous Uprising of 2004 – remembered today in Qamishlo. Kurds are now joined by others in protesting against the al-Assad regime’s crimes against humanity: Youtube video - Qamishlo

Amude and more from Kurdish Youth

 

 

 

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