source: http://www.kurdwatch.org/index?aid=1627
Monday, June 6, 2011
Three Kurdish parties in Qamishli call on supporters to demonstrate
source: http://www.kurdwatch.org/index?aid=1627
Iranian government declares Baha’i university illegal in Iran
ISNA cites the ministry’s announcement that “the online university BIHE has not received any ministry permits for operation, and all its activities are illegal.”
The ministry also maintained that all diplomas and degrees issued by this institution “lack legal validity.”
Iranian security forces had previously shut down science and research facilities at the Baha’i Open University in Tehran and arrested a number of its staff in several cities.
The international Baha’i community reports that at least 30 Baha’is were arrested on May 22 in Tehran, Karaj, Esfahan and Shiraz in.
Iran’s Baha’i community established the Baha’i Open University in 1987 to offer higher education to Baha’is, who face discrimination under the Islamic Republic system.
While Baha’ism was founded in Iran and Baha’is form the largest religious minority there, the government does not recognize it as a legitimate religion. Baha’is are denied access to higher education and discriminated against in all walks of life.
In March, a number of Iranian Baha’is were arrested in Bam, Kerman and Tehran, charged with “promoting their projects under the guise of educational and cultural programs in daycares.”
Seven Baha’i community leaders, who had already been incarcerated for two years, were recently sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of espionage.
Source: http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/100092.html
political prisoner Arjang Davoudi was sentenced to additional 10 years jail time by Iranian Government
He was also told in court that new charges will be brought against him for [crimes he committed] during his years in prison and that he will be transferred to the 1st branch of the Bandar Abbas Revolutionary Court for a trial.
This is while, political prisoner Arjang Davoudi lives in Tehran and was arrested in Tehran and according to the law, has to be tried in Tehran. It is still not clear for his family and lawyer why he is to be tried in Bandar Abbas.
According to reports, on the verge of the appointment of a UN Special Rapporteur for Iran and the Rapporteur’s trip to Iran in the future to investigate the violations of human rights in Iran, Iran officials intend to send resistant political prisoners to distant locations where the Special Rapporteur would not have access to them. (Human Rights and Democracy Activists in Iran – Jun. 5, 2011)
source: http://www.freedomessenger.com/archives/28721
Iran government is forcing Kurdish villagers to take up arms against Kurdish Freedom Fighters
According to our local correspondence, the chief of armed forces of Meriwan city colonel Mehdidost had attended the village of Duplure located at the middle of East and South of Kurdistan.
It is reported that colonel Mehdidost had threatened the locals and told them that if they work on the borders and get killed by their forces, they bodies will not be returned to their families.
He commanded the villagers to leave their current jobs and enlist in Besij and take up arms against the Kurdish resistance movement led by the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK).
These kinds of threatening of the locals have terrified the villagers and the workers who toil on the borders making living for their families.
It should be pointed that tens of Kurdish workers are killed by the Iranian militaries that guard the pseudo-borders of Kurdistan.
Iranian regime has systematically kept the Kurdish population in poverty and never gave a slightest though to create jobs in Kurdistan. By keeping the Kurds in poverty they seek to manage to control the Kurds.
Prevalence of unemployment in Kurdistan has forced many people to work on the border regions smuggling goods into the country.
Many people who sought to make living for their families have been tapped in the ambushes of the Iranian forces and killed by their gunfire.
source: http://www.welat.eu/english/kurdistan/1250-iran-forces-villagers-to-take-up-arms-against-pjak
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Hundred thousand protested to say ‘yes’ to Democratic Self-rule In North Kurdistan
Gathering at Station Square in Diyarbakir for the rally of Labour, Democracy and Freedom Block, over 100 thousand people expressed their reactions to the ruling AKP with banners, slogans and placards. The rally, joined by BDP Co-Chairs Filiz Koçali and Hamit Geylani and Diyarbakir Candidates of the Block, began with one minute’s silence in memory of all those who lost their lives within the struggle for democracy.
DEMOCRATIC SELF-RULE ENTHUSIASM
While Medeni Alpkaya, on behalf of Amed Democratic City Council, read the council’s decision for "the realization of democratic self-rule", the decision was put to vote of people. While 100 thousand people answered “Yes” to the historical decision, the start of a new process was given with a historical development. Enthusiasm grew in the area and flags and posters of Ocalan, KCK and PKK were raised following the approval of the council’s decision.
Among those who participated to the rally were BDP Co-Chairs Filiz Koçali and Hamit Geylani, the Block’s Diyarbakır candidates Leyla Zana, Nursel Aydoğan, Emine Ayna, Altan Tan, Şerafettin Elçi, detained Hatip Dicle’s Assignee BDP Provincial Chair M. Ali Aydın, Metropolitan Mayor Osman Baydemir and low level mayors, Vedat Yıldırım, Murat Çelikkan, Hakan Tahmaz, Osman Kavala, Orhan Dink, Fekenaz Uca, Hüseyin Ayman and HAKPAR (Rights and Freedoms Party) General President Bayram Bozyel (B.O)
The democratic self-rule principle requires that local governments be granted autonomy from the centralized system in its affairs regarding education, security and external relations. Significant pilot implementations have been running for months now, in several areas. In neighbourhoods, villages and hamlets where they live, Kurds have been setting up their own assemblies by getting organized. Through a 50-village commune in Diyarbakir, 21 local councils, four district councils and the city council, social, political, economic and cultural autonomy demands are being actualized.
“Village communes” have been set up in Diyarbakir for the first time. A commune consisting of 50 villages in the Bağlar district in Diyarbakir is being founded while works continue in other villages in other districts. In villages as part of communes, councils consisting of 11 or 13 members, depending on the village population, are being set up. Every village has spokespersons, one of whom is woman. Such a model is identical with the BDP’s co-chairmanship model.
In Diyarbakir, nine councils have been set up in the Bağlar district, five in Kayapınar, and four in Sur in addition to three neighbourhood councils, which are the smallest administrative unit. Neighbourhood councils aim to bring neighbours together, discuss common issues and find solutions, consisting of an average of 20-30 members. Each has two spokespersons, one of whom is woman. Even a disciplinary council exists within a neighbourhood council.
Problems, fights and discussions taking place in a neighbourhood are directly resolved in the “Neighbourhood Justice Commission” rather than official units. For instance, against drugs, prostitution, robbery, or usurps a neighbourhood council directly interferes as a dimension of the democratic autonomy model. If warning is not enough, individuals committing the said crimes are exposed in public and are removed from the region.
The city council is the largest body in the region. This has not been formed yet. The goal is to have 450 members in the prospective council. The executive council convenes weekly while the general council meets monthly. The city council covers all and organizes a convention every other year.
The BDP currently is in control of one greater municipality in Diyarbakir, in addition to seven provincial mayoralties and mayoralties in 51 towns and 40 smaller districts.
http://www.welat.eu/english/taybet/1244-hundred-thousand-yes-to-democratic-self-rule
Kurdish Activist leyla zana : They tried to divide us but they failed
Zana attended public meetings and visited people and listened to their problems and complaints. Making speeches in the villages, Diyarbakir Independent Candidate Leyla Zana said the followings: “The sovereign powers divided the Kurdish territory with Qasr-i Shirin Treaty. The dividers of Kurdish regions would now regret and feel ashamed of what they did if they had the chance to see the Kurdish unity today. Through 'Democratic autonomy', we will reunite all divided Kurdish regions.”
Zana continued by saying that “in the 30-year struggle for freedom, you have raised this fight with your blood and lives. The prices paid for the freedom struggle didn’t go down the drain. The Kurds are all deeply loyal to their case and struggle. The system’s parties have played with the people’s thoughts and opinions. They have always deceived this people. The Kurdish people don’t believe in the dirty politics of system parties any more. Each house here members in prison or at mountains. And you have buried the most honourable children of yours.”
The dividers of Kurdish regions would now today regret and feel ashamed of what they did if they had the chance to see the Kurdish unity today. Through 'Democratic autonomy', we will reunite all divided Kurdish regions. A woman, coming here through her marriage, expressed their demand for Kurds in Syria to live with their own language, culture and identity. They intended to divide the unity of Kurds but all these attempts were avoided by Kurds. Nobody shall any more try to break the unity of this people because they cannot manage that.”
“I hope that the schools you go to will be places where you can have education in your mother tongue. When I look at mothers’ eyes, I see that they and all of you are waiting for the liberty of your children in prisons and the liberty of Dear Abdullah Ocalan. All of you are waiting your children at mountains to come to the region and make politics here. I believe that we are very close to those days.
Source: http://www.welat.eu/english/component/content/article/1246-zana-they-tried-to-divide-us-but-they-failed
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Another Kurdish mass grave was found in Bismil in north Kurdistan
According to witness Hekim Çelik, two HPG members who had lost their life in 1994 had been buried together without religious ceremonies. Çelik also said that the bodies were abused and showed to people to set an example for Kurdish peasants who want to fight for their freedom.
Another mass grave said to contain the remains of eight PKK members, who had lost their life in Amanos Mountains in Hatay in 1998, will not be opened because of a limitation imposed by the law, stated Erzin Public Prosecutor. The place were the mass grave is located is currently being used as a garbage site.
Turkey learned of the presence of mass graves in 1989, when a Kurdish journalist, Gunay Aslan, had revealed their existence. Kasaplar Deresi (Butcher's Creek), an army trash heap in the province of Siirt, was the first mass grave discovered. Nine people were exhumed by the authorities there, and the names of at least 73 others buried in this mass grave came to light. The guerrillas who lost their life in clashes or people abducted by the security forces were thrown there, sometimes from garbage vehicles. More than 100 bodies were recovered from this mass grave over the past 20 years.
As it soon was to be discovered this was not an isolated event. Indeed at least 31 mass graves have been discovered by human rights organizations and inhabitants of the Kurdish region. Two mass graves were discovered in September 2010 in Diyarbakir, capital of the Kurdish region, where clothing and bones of PKK members had been found.
The Human Rights Association (İHD) claims to have been informed of the existence of more than 100 mass graves in Bitlis province alone, an arid populated mainly by Kurds. Testimonies from villagers and PKK members have brought to the discovery of the exact locations of mass graves. Many are located in the cities of Bitlis, Siirt, Hakkari, Sirnak, Diyarbakır, Batman and Bingol. Extrajudicial killings; summary executions; burned bodies, bodies mutilated or crushed by tanks; severed heads; fighters and villagers thrown from helicopters; signs of torture; and evidence of chemical weapons are listed among the crimes committed before the mass burying.
IHD reports that mass graves are located in Newala Qasaba, Eruh town centre, Twan, Şawiran, Çevirimtepe (Girdika), Ergüven (Baluka), Kikan, Yeşilkonak (Kadîya), Kurtalan, Harat, Ekmekçiler (Binêve), Gözpınar, Yelkesen (Basixrê) and Bozatlı (Basnê) village countryside in Siirt, Hizan, Arsan River (Newala Warê Hiro), Kokarsu (Arpêt), Bındaki mountain, the countryside of Tatvan, Çakalsöğüt (Xaştax), between Hora Şêxan and Hora Kurmanca, Cengiz Village, Pıhok, Duav Pasture, Güroymak, Mutki and Dikilitaş zone in Bitlis. There are also 19 graveyards in different locations in Diyarbakır, 9 in Van, 8 in Batman, 6 in Hakkari, 5 in Bingöl, 4 in Şırnak, 4 in Mardin and 1 each in Elazığ, Ağrı, Iğdır and Gaziantep.
According the latest report of the IHD Diyarbakır Branch 469 corpses had been secretly buried in 114 mass graves in Turkey since 1989. Over the past years, authorities have exhumed 171 corpses from 26 mass graves.
source: http://www.welat.eu/english/kurdistan/1243-another-mass-grave-found-in-bismil-in-kurdistan
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