Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council President Murat Karayılan has held a press conference on the withdrawal of Kurdish guerrillas out of Turkish borders. The press conference, which was attended by KCK Executive Council member Zeki Şengali and Kongra-Gel Executive Board member Hacer Zagros as well, was followed by a number of worldwide press members. Karayılan started his statement by expressi ...

ANF interviewed Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Mersin deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü about the ongoing process of talks in search for a democratic and peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. Commenting on the developments that have gained momentum since the call Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan made on Newroz on 21 March, Kürkçü said that he regarded the currently ongoing process as the gradual disclosure of a ge ...

Adolf Hitler is quoted as saying, eight days before invading Poland in 1939, “Who today, after all, speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” He was speaking of being inspired by the 1915 genocide of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as he began his own systematic campaign of destruction. Today, the Armenian genocide remains fresh and relevant in the minds of Armenians around the world. On the ...

Four prisoners were hanged in the prison of Kerman (southeastern Iran) last week. According to the state run Iranian news agency Fars, three of the prisoners were convicted of participation in possession of 121 kilograms of morphine and 440 grams of opium, while the fourth prisoner was convicted of trafficking of 5475 grams of heroin and 6440 grams of opium, said the report. None of the prisoners were ident ...

The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council (PACE) has changed its description of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) as a "terrorist organization" prefering instead the formula "PKK activists" in its latest report published on April 23. The motion Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Mersin deputy Ertuğrul Kürkçü presented to change the terminology for describing the PKK and its members has been adopted b ...

The Association for Solidarity with the Families of Prisoners (TUAD) and the prison committee of the Association of Liberal Lawyers (ÖHD) have released a written statement following the visit their executives paid to the prisoners on hunger strike in Tekirdağ F Type Prison No 2 on Monday. Giving information about the situation of prisoners on strike, TUAD and ÖHD said that the inmates involved in the strike ...

Kurds in Europe have been in a permanent vigil action in front of Council of Europe since 25 June 2012 to ask the European Council, European Parliament, European Union countries and western countries like the USA to "stop their political, military and economic support to Turkey, for the freedom of the Kurdish Leader Mr Abdullah Ocalan and for the recognition of the Kurdish peoples’ status in all parts of Ku ...

Twenty-one inmates in Tekirdağ F Type Prison No 2 have been on indefinite-irreversible hunger strike since 25 March to protest against the impositions of the prison administration. Nineteen of the striking inmates are tried in PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) case and two others in Revolutionary Headquarters Organization case. According to the information provided by the family of a prisoner on strike, Ferdi Ç ...

Reporters Without Borders representatives on Monday attended hearings in two trials in Silivri, 60 km northwest of Istanbul, that have major implications for freedom of information in Turkey. One is the trial of Kurdish journalists who are accused of being members of an alleged “media committee” created by the outlawed Union of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK). The other is a trial of alleged members of the E ...

Kurdish Communities Union (KCK) Executive Council member Duran Kalkan spoke to Vatan journalist Ruşen Çakır about the withdrawal of Kurdish guerrillas beyond the Turkish border. Kalkan said there was no problem on their side about the withdrawal which - he said - required some certain conditions and shouldn't be considered as an easy move to be made in a few hours or days. Kalkan remarked that the KCK execu ...