Turkey

Greater Middle East

PKK resolves to dissolve at 12th Congress

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) held its 12th Congress in the Medya Defense Zones of northern Iraq, where delegates voted to dissolve the group’s organizational structure and end the armed struggle against the Turkish state that it has waged since 1984. The congress was convened in response to the “Call for Peace and a Democratic Society” issued in February by PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who has been imprisoned in Turkey since 1999. The statement called for his followers to lay down arms and pursue a civil struggle for Kurdish rights. However, Turkey continued to carry our air-strikes on the Medya Defense Zones right up to the very eve of the congress, and even in the days after it concluded. Turkey has also continued its campaign of air-strikes on the Rojava region of northern Syria, where PKK-aligned Kurdish forces have established an autonomous zone. (Image of PKK flag: Wikipedia)

Africa

Turkey in oil-for-security deal with Somalia

Turkey has sent 500 troops to the Somali capital Mogadishu, the first phase of a planned 2,500-strong deployment to bolster the government against recent advances by the insurgent group al-Shabaab. Turkey already has 300 soldiers in Mogadishu, primarily to train the elite Gorgor brigade. Meanwhile, Turkey has also struck a controversial oil and gas exploration deal with the government in which it will receive 90% of all future revenues as a cost-recovery mechanism. Somalia will earn just 5% in royalties. (Photo: United Nations via Globely News)

Syria

Israel, Turkey turn Syria into chessboard

The Israeli military carried out air-strikes on several sites in Syria—including Tiyas airbase, also known as T4, and Palmyra airbase, both in Homs province. The interim government in Damascus called the strikes “a blatant violation of international law and Syrian sovereignty.” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz responded in a statement addressed to President Ahmed al-Sharaa: “If you allow forces hostile to Israel to enter Syria and endanger Israeli security interests—you will pay a very heavy price.” This was a barely veiled reference to Turkey. Local media reports indicate that Turkish forces are preparing to deploy to the T4 and Palmyra bases. Ankara reportedly plans to install Hisar-O and Hisar-U air defense systems and potentially the long-range SIPER system at these locations. The deployment of a Russian-made S-400 system is also under consideration, pending Moscow’s approval. (Image: Pixabay)

Greater Middle East

Amnesty International protests Turkish repression wave

Amnesty International called for an end to unlawful violence against protesters and detention of activists and journalists by police in Turkey. The country has seen mass protests in the wake of the arrest of opposition presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu. Authorities have confirmed the arrest of 1,133 protesters, and at least eight journalists, since the start of the protests last week. Upon review of video footage, Amnesty secretary general Agnès Callamard noted police interactions with peaceful demonstrators involving use of batons, pepper spray, tear-gas, water-cannon and plastic bullets, as well as the kicking of people on the ground. Callamard stated that such use of force has resulted in numerous injuries and hospitalizations, and called for a prompt investigation of the violence. (Photo: ToprakM via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Amnesty International condemns arrest of Istanbul mayor

Amnesty International condemned the Turkish government’s detention of over 100 individuals, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, calling it a severe escalation in an ongoing crackdown on the political opposition. Amnesty decried “the weaponization of vague anti-terrorism allegations to detain and prosecute opponents.” The timing of the crackdown is notable, as it comes just before the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is to select its presidential candidate. İmamoğlu was expected to be chosen, but the government actions, including the closure of transportation routes in Istanbul and the cancellation of İmamoğlu’s university degree, have thrown this into doubt—and added fuel to the fire of public dissent. Article 101 of the Turkish constitution mandates that those seeking the presidency must hold higher education qualifications. (Photo: Hunanuk via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Syria: interim government, SDF sign integration pact

Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) chief Mazloum Abdi signed an agreement to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF into Syria’s state institutions. A statement by the Syrian Presidency said a pact was reached to “integrate all civil and military institutions in northeast Syria [Rojava] under the administration of the Syrian state, including border crossings, the [Qamishli] Airport, and oil and gas fields.” The statement emphasized that “the Kurdish community is indigenous to the Syrian state, which ensures this community’s right to citizenship and all of its constitutional rights.” (Image: Rudaw)

Syria

Podcast: Free Syria and the Kurdish question II

In Episode 268 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the continued fighting in Syria since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship in December. The recent outburst of violence in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast made headlines, but this week also saw anti-regime protests by Druze in Syria’s south. And fighting has never stopped between forces aligned with the new transition government and those of the Kurdish autonomous zone in the northeast. The situation is complicated by continuing military adventures on Syrian territory by foreign powers—Israel, Turkey, Russia and the US. Will Syrians be able to overcome these challenges and forge a democratic and multicultural order, in repudiation of sectarianism, ethno-nationalism and Great Power intrigues? (Photo: SOHR)

Syria

External, internal challenges for Syrian Revolution

Apparent Assad loyalists have taken up arms against Syria’s transitional government in the Alawite heartland of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast. Fighting meanwhile continues between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, while Israel grabs a “security zone” in the south and continues intermittent air-strikes. Elsewhere in the south, the Druze of Suweida protest their perceived exclusion from the transition process. All this as Russia opens talks with the new authorities in a bid to keep its military bases in Syrian territory. (Map: PCL)

Greater Middle East

Call for human rights opening after PKK insurgency

Human Rights Watch urged that the call by imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan for an end to the organization’s decades-long insurgency against Turkey must serve as a catalyst to end the systematic misuse of terrorism charges against government critics in the country. Öcalan founded the PKK in 1978, and the party waged an insurgency against Turkey for four decades, with approximately 40,000 killed in the conflict. The PKK has been declared a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU. Öcalan is serving a life sentence on the island of Imrali, where he has been imprisoned since his capture in February 1999 for violating the controversial Article 125 of Turkey’s Penal Code. (Image of PKK flag via Wikipedia)

Syria

US aid freeze escalates Syria crisis

Just weeks after US President Donald Trump’s order to freeze foreign aid, Syrians are already seeing medical clinics providing urgent assistance close, water distributions slow down, and bread distribution in many displacement camps grind to a halt. After nearly 14 years of war, the UN estimates that 16.5 million people across Syria are in need of aid. While the December overthrow of Bashar al-Assad has lifted the siege conditions in the country’s north, the need for relief among those facing severe privation, food insecurity, and mass internal displacement remains unrelenting. (Photo: UNHCR)

Palestine

BP accused of Gaza war crimes complicity

A group of Palestinian-British individuals took initial steps to bring British Petroleum (BP) to court, accusing the company of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The action led by Bimdman’s LLP asserts BP’s complicity through the continuous supply of crude oil to Israel, facilitated by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline, amid ongoing military operations in Gaza since October 2023. The claimants, backed by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), aim to hold BP responsible for their suffering and press for the company’s immediate cessation of activities they say expedite the conflict. (Photo: Fossil Free London via MEMO)

Syria

Podcast: Free Syria and the Kurdish question

Amid jubilation following the overthrow of long-ruling dictator Bashar Assad, the only fightingin Syria is now between Arabs and Kurds—as the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) expels the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the town of Manbij. Ankara’s design is clearly to expunge the Kurdish autonomous zone in the northeast region of Rojava. Yet there are also positive signs of an accommodation between the Rojava Kurds and the new revolutionary administration in Damascus. In Episode 256 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the new political landscape in Syria and tries to identify a way forward—past the threat of ethnic war and toward a multicultural democracy. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Image: Rudaw)