Tag: PKK



…The leaders of the Syrian Kurds must now grapple with the enormous responsibility of making a fateful decision for their people. They can either refrain from throwing obstacles in Damascus’s way, helping to build a new version of the state in which they will have far more rights than they used to have in Syria, or they can choose the opposite path, doing the bidding of what Robert Ford has called the «immoral» foreign politicians and embark on adventures that will end with them losing everything they have gained.

The US Defense Department announced on May 9 that President Donald Trump had authorized arming the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a coalition of rebel fighters led – by the United States in Syria, which includes the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) as its main element. The package is to include small arms, machine guns, construction equipment and armored vehicles among the provisions. The decision was taken to boost the SDF firepower before the offensive to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa – the unofficial capital of the Islamic State (IS) group…

Tens of thousands of people flocked to Station Square in Diyarbakir, Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city, July 31 for the biggest gathering there since a twin bomb attack bloodied a pre-election rally of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) last year. For the first time since the deadly attack, the HDP held a rally at the venue to denounce the July 15 coup attempt, but to also warn Ankara against straying from the path of democracy…

Turkey could make «radical decisions» and suspend all of its agreements with the European Union, warned Yigit Bulut, an advisor on economy to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. «Let them continue to apply double standards, let them continue not keeping promises made to Turkish citizens», he said, «But they should know that Turkey will make very radical decisions very soon as long as they maintain their attitude»…