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kurdistan
Turkey's Marginalized 'Deeply Afraid' as Erdoğan Wins Presidential Runoff
"Erdoğan's victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society," warned one Kurdish opposition leader.
May 29, 2023
As supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at home and abroad celebrated his win of Sunday's runoff election, human rights defenders and marginalized people including Kurds and LGBTQ+ activists voiced deep fears about how their lives will be adversely affected during the increasingly authoritarian leader's third term.
Turkey's Supreme Election Council confirmed Erdoğan's victory over Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu on Sunday evening. Erdoğan, the 69-year-old leader of the right-wing Justice and Development Party who has ruled the nation of 85 million people since 2014 and dominated its politics for two decades, won 52.18% of the vote. Kılıçdaroğlu, a 74-year-old social democrat who leads the left-of-center Republican People's Party, received 47.82%.
Erdoğan—who was seen handing out cash to supporters at a polling station in an apparent violation of Turkish election law—mocked his opponent's loss outside the president's home in Istanbul, saying, "Bye, bye, bye, Kemal" as the winner's supporters booed, according to Al Jazeera.
\u201cInstead of congratulating Erdogan, EU leaders should ask about the backsliding democratic and human rights. \n\nTurkey is already 103rd of 167 countries on democracy index, and we know Erdogan wants to take it further down...\u201d— Guy Verhofstadt (@Guy Verhofstadt) 1685354462
"The only winner today is Turkey," Erdoğan declared as he prepared for a third term in which his country faces severe economic woes—inflation has soared and the lira is at a record low against the U.S. dollar—and is struggling to recover from multiple devastating earthquakes earlier this year.
However, in Turkish Kurdistan—whose voters, along with a majority of people in most of Turkey's largest cities favored Kılıçdaroğlu—people expressed fears that the government will intensify a crackdown it has been waging for several years.
Ardelan Mese, a 26-year-old cafe owner in Diyarbakir, the country's largest Kurdish-majority city, called Sunday's election "a matter of life and death now."
"I can't imagine what he will be capable of after declaring victory," Mese said of Erdoğan in an interview with Reuters.
After initially courting the Kurds by expanding their political and cultural rights, Erdoğan returned to the repression that has long characterized Turkey's treatment of a people who make up one-fifth of the nation's population, while intensifying a war against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a far-left separatist group that Turkey, the United States, and other nations consider a terrorist organization.
\u201cKurds fear that an Erdogan victory "could reinforce a crackdown the state has been waging against them for years, alarmed by a surge in nationalist rhetoric ahead of Sunday's vote." https://t.co/aAhHVqjmf4\u201d— Kenneth Roth (@Kenneth Roth) 1685018787
"Erdogan's victory will consolidate one-man rule and pave the way for horrible practices, bringing completely dark days for all parts of society," Tayip Temel, the deputy co-chair of Turkey's second-largest opposition party, the center-left and pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP)—which backed Kılıçdaroğlu—told Reuters.
Human rights defenders—many of whom have chosen or been forced into exile—also sounded the alarm over the prospect of a third Erdoğan term.
"If the opposition wins there will be space, even possibly limited, for discussions for a common future. With Erdoğan, there is no civic or political space for democracy and human rights," Murat Çelikkan, a journalist who founded human rights groups including Amnesty International Turkey, said in an interview with Civil Rights Defenders just before Sunday's runoff.
Çelikkan called Erdoğan a "very authoritarian, religious, pro-expansionist conservative."
"Turkey, according to judicial statistics, has the largest number of terrorists in the world, because the prosecutors and judges have an inclination to use anti-terror laws arbitrarily and lavishly," he continued. "There are tens of thousands of people who are being trialed or convicted by anti-terror laws. Thousands of people insulting the president."
\u201cToday #Turkey is holding a presidential election runoff. But what is at stake?\n\nRead the interview with Murat \u00c7elikkan, human rights defender from Turkey, about possible impact of the election outcome on #HumanRights:\n\nhttps://t.co/7a8HTEELUp\u201d— Civil Rights Defenders (@Civil Rights Defenders) 1685253600
"Nowhere in Turkey you can make a peaceful demonstration and protest," Çelikkan added. "The security forces directly attack and detain you. The minister of interior targets and criminalizes LGBTI+ people on a daily basis."
LGBTQ+ Turks voiced fears for their future following a campaign in which Erdoğan centered homophobia in his appeals to an overwhelmingly Muslim electorate and repeatedly accused Kılıçdaroğlu and other opposition figures of being gay. During his victory speech Sunday evening, Erdoğan again lashed out at the LGBTQ+ community while excoriating Kılıçdaroğlu for his campaign pledge to "respect everyone's beliefs, lifestyles, and identities."
Erdoğan vowed in his speech that gays would not "infiltrate" Turkey and that "we will not let the LGBT forces win." At one point during his address, an Al Jazeera interpreter stopped translating a 45-second portion when the president called members of the opposition gay.
\u201cDuring his victory speech President Erdo\u011fan repeated: \u201cWe will not let the LGBT forces win!\u201d. \n\nHe then emphasised \u201cLGBT cannot infiltrate among us. We will be reborn. The family is sacred for us. The violence against women is forbidden and haram for us, no one can resort to this\u2026\u201d— \u2022 (@\u2022) 1685309623
Ilker Erdoğan, a 20-year-old university student and LGBTQ+ activist, told Agence France-Presse that "I feel deeply afraid."
"Feeling so afraid is affecting my psychology terribly. I couldn't breathe before, and now they will try to strangle my throat," he added. "From the moment I was born, I felt that discrimination, homophobia, and hatred in my bones."
Ameda Murat Karaguzu, a project assistant at an unnamed pro-LGBTQ+ group, told AFP that she has been "subjected to more hate speech and acts of hate than I have experienced in a long time."
Karaguzu blamed Erdoğan's government for the increasing hostility toward LGBTQ+ Turks, adding that bigots are keenly "aware that there will be no consequences for killing or harming us."
Ilker Erdoğan struck a defiant tone, telling AFP that "I am also part of this nation, my identity card says Turkish citizen."
"You cannot erase my existence," he added, "no matter how hard you try."
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US Progressives 'Stand in Solidarity' With Women and Girls Defying Iran's Oppression
"We steadfastly support the Iranian people's demands of 'Women, Life, Freedom,' condemn the decades of oppression at the hands of the Iranian authorities, and call on them to halt their outrageous violence against peaceful protesters."
Oct 19, 2022
Nearly 40 progressive U.S. organizations on Wednesday expressed support for Iranians--especially women and girls--who are defiantly protesting Iran's oppressive theocracy, even at the cost of what rights groups say is hundreds of their lives.
"As U.S. organizations committed to women's rights and justice across the world, we stand in solidarity with the brave people of Iran, overwhelmingly Iranian women and girls, who are demonstrating for their basic rights and strongly condemn the outrageous, widespread, and systematic human rights violations of the Iranian government seeking to silence the Iranian people's demand," the 39 groups, led by the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement.
The signatories continued:
Since the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jhina) Amini at the hands of Iran's so-called morality police, Iranian protesters have bravely demonstrated for an end to the nation's mandatory hijab laws and broader system of repression. Women's rights have been the catalyst of these youth-led protests: giving voice and momentum to deeply held grievances of many Iranians that go to the very core of a system that has failed to serve its people, which is why these protests have cut across Iranian society.
This injustice is compounded by the reaction of the state to protests, which have been met with internet shutdowns and brutal violence from the Iranian security forces, including beatings, mass arrests, and deadly force. More than two hundred have been killed--and that number is likely higher--and thousands have been arrested for voicing their demands and hopes for a brighter future.
"We steadfastly support the Iranian people's demands of 'Women, Life, Freedom,' condemn the decades of oppression at the hands of the Iranian authorities, and call on them to halt their outrageous violence against peaceful protesters, release all prisoners of conscience, and heed the rightful calls of Iranian people for change," the groups' statement affirmed.
Many of the victims of the Iranian crackdown have been members of ethnic minorities, including Baluchis, Kurds, and Azeris.
One Azeri, 16-year-old Asra Panahi, died after security forces stormed Shahed Girls High School in Ardabil on October 13 and brutally attacked students who refused to sing a song praising Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian authorities dispute the cause of Panahi's death, claiming she suffered from a congenital heart condition.
In what many Iranians now call "Bloody Friday," regime forces shot dead at least 66 Baluchi people, including children, and wounded hundreds more during an attack on worshippers after Friday prayers in Zahedan on September 30.
\u201cAsra Panahi, a 16-year-old Iranian student, was reportedly \u201cbeaten to death\u201d by security forces for refusing to sing a pro-government anthem.\n\nThe Iranian government has denied the allegations and a man claiming to be her uncle said she died from a heart condition on state TV.\u201d— Middle East Eye (@Middle East Eye) 1666204200
Some Kurdish-Iranians have fled the country, risking being shot dead by Iranian security forces along one of the world's most militarized borders in a bid to find refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. Those fleeing include women, some of whom have joined Kurdish armed forces.
One 19-year-old Kurdish-Iranian who made the perilous journey to take up arms in defense of her people described her treatment at the hands of Iranian forces in Sanandaj, a Kurdish-majority city that's seen the biggest protests outside the capital Tehran.
"They pulled my hair. They beat me. They dragged me," the woman, whose real name is not given to protect her safety, toldCNN. "At the same time, I could see the same thing happening to many other people, including children."
"I want to fight for the rights of women," she added. "I want to fight for human rights."
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Contrasting US Withdrawal From Afghanistan With Trump's Abrupt Departure From Syria
President Joe Biden has evacuated about 117,000 Afghans; two years ago, Trump left Kurdish allies to face the Turkish invasion.
Aug 29, 2021
Richard N. Ojeda, an Army vet and former West Virginia state representative tweeted out an observation that I would like to reinforce:
\u201cI don\u2019t remember Donald Trump flying one Kurd to safety. He let Turkey slaughter them. They were our allies that served side by side with our troops. Where is the outrage from the Fox Russian Propaganda Machine??? Biden has safely evacuated over 79,000 Afghans. Let\u2019s take score!\u201d— Richard N. Ojeda, II (@Richard N. Ojeda, II) 1629847860
Amid the terminal amnesia of the U.S. media, it is refreshing to see someone remember the circumstances under which Trump pulled out of Syria, as a comparison to Biden's Afghanistan. Let us just review that situation.
The so-called Islamic State group in Iraq, ISI, had developed in reaction against the US occupation of that country. It was part of the al-Qaeda affiliate, "al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia," but began styling itself a "state" because it developed the ambition to be more than a terrorist organization, seeking to take and hold territory under the nose of the Americans in Sunni Arab strongholds that resisted the rule of the Shiite-dominated Baghdad government. ISI didn't have a lot of success in the zeroes of this century.
In 2011, when the Syrian revolution broke out, the government of Baathist strongman Bashar al-Assad decided to repress it with military force. Assad with his sniping and tank barrages maneuvered the youth revolutionaries into picking up a gun to fight back, so that he could brand them violent Sunni fundamentalist terrorists and keep the loyalty of the urban middle classes and the religious minorities.
Amid the fighting, ISI came over from northern Iraq into Syria, attracted by the collapse of the Baath government and army in some parts of the country. It declared itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL (it meant all of geographic Greater Syria, including Lebanon, Jordan and Israel-Palestine) It split in 2013 because ISIL was behaving in an opportunistic way, shooting fellow fundamentalist guerrillas in the back and poaching on their territory. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri kicked them out of al-Qaeda. ISIL predominated in eastern Syria, taking Raqqa province and making Raqqa city its capital. The rest of al-Qaeda,including Jabhat al-Nusra (The Support Front), predominated in northwest Syria where their remnants still are.
The US foolishly thought that ISIL would be a useful lever against Assad, and didn't interfere with it. In 2014 it used its east Syria power base to come across and take 40% of Iraq, launching a phony "caliphate" and declaring war on the West, using social media to encourage attacks on Paris and in the U.S.
The Obama administration finally understood the danger of the organization and mobilized to fight it. Obama did not want to put war-fighting troops on the ground but offered training and logistical and air support. In this model, you need troops on the ground willing to fight. They were easy to find in Iraq, where the Kurds and Shiites were angry about ISIL massacres of their members and both the Iraqi national army (which at first collapsed and had to be rebuilt by the US) and Iraqi Shiite militias allied with Qasem Soleimani's Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps swung into action against ISIL.
In Syria, Obama couldn't initially find anyone to fight ISIL. The Sunni Arab fighters wanted to defeat Assad way more than they wanted to go against what were sometimes battlefield allies. The Saudis and other allies likewise wouldn't take on ISIL. Turkey wanted to fight the Kurds and did not prioritize the struggle against ISIL- in fact it was pouring arms and ammunition into the ranks of the Sunni rebels, some of which probably reached ISIL, and Ankara did not seem to care.
So Obama could ineffectually bomb ISIL in Raqqa until the cows came home to no good effect. You can't defeat a guerrilla movement from the air.
Then Obama and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter bit the bullet and enlisted Syria's Kurds in the struggle against ISIL. ISIL hates Kurds, who tend to reject its brand of brutal fundamentalism, and had massacred them. The Syrian Kurds had their own militia, the People's Protection Units or Yekineyen Parastina Gel (YPG), the paramilitary of the Democratic Union Party.
The DUP and the YPG had once been communists, but after the fall of the Soviet Union they adopted a cooperativist form of socialism thought up by Brooklyn intellectual Murray Bookchin. The YPG still wore a red star on their uniform in memory of their communist past. So they were strange bedfellows for the Neoliberal, capitalist U.S.
The US added some local Arab tribes to the YPG and called it the Syrian Democratic Forces, but it was basically the YPG.
With US air support and 2,000 embedded US special operations personnel, the Syrian Kurds defeated ISIL, taking Raqqa by mid-October of 2017.
Turkey was furious about the US alliance with the Syrian Kurds, viewing them as terrorists and as a branch of the violent Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla movement against which Turkey's military fought a dirty war from in the 1970s.
The US does not view the YPG as at all like the PKK, making a distinction between the Syrian Kurdish Bookchinists and the Turkey-based PKK.
Turkey was fearful that the Syrian Kurds would use their US alliance to arm themselves even better and to consolidate a Kurdish mini-state across northern Syria right on the Turkish border, from which they could spread socialism and Kurdish separatism. (There isn't, however, good evidence of Syrian Kurdish terrorism against Turkey).
In fall of 2019 Donald Trump spoke to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and agreed to withdraw US troops from Syria and to allow Turkey to invade the Kurdish regions of northern Syria.
Why Trump did this is still not known, though he once admitted that his Istanbul hotel gave the Turkish government leverage over him.
Trump abruptly pulled out the 2,000 US troops, sending most of them to Iraq but keeping a couple hundred in southeast Syria "for the oil."
And he stood by as the Turkish military invaded the Kurdish regions of northern Syria, displacing thousands of Kurds. These people who lost their homes were the very ones who had supplied the young men to fight alongside the US and defeat ISIL.
ISIL prisoners being guarded by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US troops sometimes were able to stage escapes in the chaos. There was a danger of ISIL reasserting itself.
Trump evacuated no Kurdish allies at all, as Mr. Ojeda pointed out. He left them to face the Turkish invasion, or the Syrian Arab Army of Assad, or the continued small ISIL terrorist cells. All this was after they had been the only allies on the ground the US could find to polish off ISIL.
Trump had not warned his allies or even Secretary of Defense James Mattis what he was planning to do, and Mattis resigned over it.
In contrast, Biden had announced a year before when he was campaigning for president that he would get out of Afghanistan, and the peace treaty Trump concluded with the Taliban and Trump's reduction of US forces to only 2500 in any case left Biden no choice but to get out. Unlike Trump, Biden arranged for the evacuation of 117,000 Afghan allies of the US.
Both withdrawals were chaotic and posed security challenges. But to see pro-Trump Republican politicians grandstanding and calling for Biden's resignation or even impeachment is a bit rich. None of them wants to remember what their guy did to the Syrian Kurds or the condition in which he left eastern Syria and its ISIL cells.
This was only 2 years ago. It isn't ancient history. What's with the amnesia?
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