MEZOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN DAILY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE
Mezopotamian Development Society (Registered) GERMANY
THE MOST REQUESTED DAILY & ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE ON KURDISTAN FOR THE HIGHLY INVOLVED PEOPLE – email : mesop@online.de – Watch our website : www.mesop.de
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MESOP TODAYS RELEVANT TWEETS & SHORT CUTS
MESOP : READ HENRY BARKEY !
Reposting @hbarkey‘s FP piece again today just cause its nice to read something so sensible for a change: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/02/04/erdogans-foreign-policy-is-in-ruins/ …
MESOP RIP – GEORGE GALLOWAY PASSED AWAY : The human incarnation of A murderous European left (THE SPECTATOR)
“He has supported Baathist regimes it is fair to describe as fascist: Saddam Hussein’s Sunni Arab dictatorship in Iraq after it had gassed the Kurdish ethnic minority, and Bashar al-Assad‘s Shia Arab dictatorship as his terror provoked revolution. – This is the leader of the British anti-war movement, is it? A man whose commitment to pacifism in no way inhibits him from endorsing the practitioners of genocide? This is the tribune British Muslims elected first in the East End of London and then in Bradford, is it? A man who has supported regimes that have murdered more Muslims than NATO and Israel have ever managed? This is the inspiration left-wing journalists lauded as the model for all their comrades to follow, is it? A man who must treat accusations of rape apology and Jew baiting as a habitual part of his political life. “ www.mesop.de
MESOP : NO LOSS AT ALL ! GEORGE GALLOWAY DIED – Farewell, George Galloway
Nick Cohen – The Spectator – 29 March 2016 (…) This is the leader of the British anti-war movement, is it? A man whose commitment to pacifism in no way inhibits him from endorsing the practitioners of genocide? This is the tribune British Muslims elected first in the East End of London and then in Bradford, is it? A man who has supported regimes that have murdered more Muslims than NATO and Israel have ever managed? This is the inspiration left-wing journalists lauded as the model for all their comrades to follow, is it? A man who must treat accusations of rape apology and Jew baiting as a habitual part of his political life. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72596
MESOP SPECIAL : The Burqa Challenge to Europe by Paul Cliteur & Machteld Zee –
Middle East Quarterly – Spring 2016
In the summer of 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) upheld previously passed French legislation, popularly known as the “burqa ban.”[1] In doing so, it accepted the argument that the public wearing of this Islamically-connected full-body and face veiling violated a core value of French society, the principle of “living together” (le vivre ensemble). A review of how the court arrived at this conclusion, and what other arguments against the burqa it chose to ignore, may offer clues as to what forebodes for European Union societies and their relations with burgeoning Muslim populations. – To Cover or Not to Cover?
The ECHR’s decision originated in an application against the French Republic lodged with the court under Article 34 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on April 11, 2011.[2] Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72588
NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY)
MESOP COMMENTARY – Tel Aviv Notes: Turkey: Between the Hammer & the Anvil /TAK in Refugee Camps
MDC Junior Researcher Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak explains the roots of the security crisis facing Turkey in the aftermath of recent suicide attacks in Ankara and Istanbul. – Author: Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak -Takism’s İstiklal Avenue/Source: YeniSafak.com
The roots of Turkey’s ongoing security crisis date back to domestic political developments during the early summer of 2015. The decision of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) to officially run as a party list in the June 2015 elections, instead of fielding its candidates as independents as it had in the past, put an end to the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) thirteen-year one party government, when the HDP list garnered enough votes to pass the 10 percent threshold to enter parliament. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72573
MESOP SPECIAL : Pro-AKP Media Figures Continue to Target Academics for Peace / THE PKK AND THE LIBERTY OF SPEECH
27 Mar 2016 – GIT – Transnational Work Group on Academic Liberty and Freedom of Research in Turkey
On 22 March 2016, Yıldıray Oğur, a pro-government media figure, wrote a column targeting the Academics for Peace, Bosphorus/Boğaziçi University, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), and Jadaliyya, among others. — The piece problematically conflates terrorism with Academics for Peace, and blatantly implicates that signatory academics manipulate facts. Unfortunately, the author appears to obscure the fact that after the Suruç bombing on 20 July 2015, the ruling party AKP, together with Turkish nationalist party MHP, blocked a parliamentary investigation on the ISIS-led suicide bombing in Suruç. Read all : http://www.mesop.de/?p=72575
MESOP : THE AKP – THE PKK & LIBERTY OF SPEECH & EXPRESSION
Simons[1] Living in Bosphorus – Yıldıray Ogur – By 22 March 2016
There was a fire set in the Kartal Aydos Forests on 25 August 2015. Tuzla Infantry School was also located there. It was difficult to extinguish the fire. The police started to inquire about the possibility that the fires were acts of sabotage when a new forest fire was set on 10 September 2015, after 15 days of the first fire on the same military location. After some time a group of PKK members who set this fire organized attacks to general stores and to the offices of Justice and Development Party.On the basis of the information acquired from these PKK members a ‘carrier,’ who carry the PKK’s reports from İstanbul and other regions to Diyarbakır was spotted.
The carrier was monitored and on 7 October 2015 was taken under custody when he was just getting on a flight to Diyarbakır at İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport.
The person who was taken under custody was H.D., who was a senior in Bosphorus University—a University, where students are admitted by the higher ranks that they reach in the central examination for university educations. Read more http://www.mesop.de/?p=72579
MESOP : MERKEL’S PARTNER ERDOGAN EXPROPRIATES CHRISTIAN CHURCHES
Churches of Diyarbakir also expropriated / By Uygar Gültekin
03.28.2016 – Surp Giragos Church, the largest Armenian church in Middle East, is among the places in Sur province of Diyarbakir that are expropriated by the decision of the cabinet. With the same decision, Assyrian, Chaldean and Protestant churches are also expropriated. While clashes and curfews continue in Diyarbakir, the cabinet took an urgent expropriation decision. Surp Giragos Church, the largest Armenian church in Middle East, is among the places in Sur province of Diyarbakir that are expropriated by the decision of the cabinet. Left to its own fate for years, the church was finally restored and opened to worship in 2011. With the same decision, Assyrian, Chaldean and Protestant churches are also expropriated. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72586
MESOP : The EU’s Blank Check for Turkish Authoritarianism
17 March 2016 / Middle East Institute – Turkey first applied for associate membership in the European Economic Community in 1959, and Europe has ever since had the upper hand in relations with Ankara. But the EU’s relationship with Turkey has been turned upside down by the Syrian refugee crisis, and the alarm it has caused in European countries. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72600
MESOP : ERDOGAN COUNTS CIVILIANS – More Than 5,000 Kurdish Militants Killed Since July: Erdogan
By Seyhmus Cakan – 2016-03-28 17:35 GMT – DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) — Turkish security forces have killed more than 5,000 militants belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since its ceasefire with the Turkish state collapsed last July, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Read all : http://www.mesop.de/?p=72598
Ex-UN Asst. Sec-Gen: Turkey’s military slaughter of Kurds is a return to autocracy
17 March 2016 / Sott & RT
The growing international outcry is sending Ankara a clear message to “reconsider” its military quest against the Kurds. It is causing immense civilian suffering and undermines regional security, former UN Assistant Secretary-General Hans Christof von Sponeck told RT.
http://www.sott.net/article/314717-Ex-UN-Asst-Sec-Gen-Turkeys-military-slaug <http://www.sott.net/article/314717-Ex-UN-Asst-Sec-Gen-Turkeys-military-slaug>
MESOP FOCUS : Why Turkey’s high unemployment rate may mean more terror attacks / TAK & Company
AL MONITOR 29 March 2016 – ANKARA, Turkey — The rising wave of terrorism in Turkey’s big cities has sparked debates on the various aspects of the attacks, committed on what appears to be on a rotating basis by the Islamic State (IS) and the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a radical offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The discussion has focused on the reasons that made Turkey a playing field for terrorists and the security and intelligence failures behind the attacks. Another crucial topic, however, is the recruitment methods of terrorist groups and how young people are cajoled into becoming suicide bombers. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72610
WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA)
MESOP BACKGROUNDER : The Russians Are Leaving Syria. Why the Surprise?
ByCol. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman – Col. (res.) Dr. Eran Lerman is a senior research associate at the BESA Center, and former deputy for foreign policy and international affairs at the National Security Council.
March 23, 2016 – BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 334, March 23, 2016
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The partial departure of Russian forces from Syria reflects Vladimir Putin’s achievement of several well-defined goals, including the stabilization of Bashar al-Assad and the bolstering of Russia’s global diplomatic position. The resultant balance of power in Syria gives Israel time and space with which to bolster its defenses.
Why are Russian military forces leaving Syria? And what does the withdrawal tell us about why they came? Read all : http://www.mesop.de/?p=72581
MESOP Syria Feature: Russia Boasts — We Used Intervention to Test and Sell Weapons
28 March 2016 – eaworldview – Scott Lucas – Countering analyses of the economic costs of its military intervention in Syria, Russia has boasted that the operations have enabled it to test and sell arms. Putin’s State outlet RT writes in an extended advertisement:The $500 million Russia spent on the military operation in Syria may soon pay off for the Kremlin, reports business daily Kommersant, as Moscow expects $6-7 billion worth of new arms contracts.
According to the newspaper’s source, close to military exports and technical cooperation, potential customers are looking to buy the weapons proved in action. These are armaments in the inventory of Russian military or already bought by another country. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72584
MESOP TODAYS FOCAL POINT : A Russian Withdrawal from Syria, or Merely a Change in the Form of Involvement?
INSS Insight No. 810, March 29, 2016 – Zvi Magen , Vera Michlin-Shapir , Shlomo Brom Zvi MagenVera Michlin-ShapirShlomo Brom
On March 14, 2016, Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of the majority of Russian military units from Syria, after, he claimed, the Russian force had achieved the goals set for it when it entered Syria five and a half months earlier. Yet whatever the reasons for Russia’s surprising move, it is apparent that Russia has announced a limitation on its participation in the fighting in Syria, not the conclusion of its military involvement. For its part, Israel has thus far refrained from choosing a side and intervening directly in the Syrian crisis. Russia, which identifies Israel as a significant regional actor, prefers to see it adhere to its neutral policy regarding the conflict in Syria. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72604
MESOP Syria Daily: CIA & Russia Discuss Assad’s Departure – JOHN BRENNAN
March 29 – by Scott Lucas – The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, went to Moscow in early March to discuss the departure of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad from power, according to Russia’s State news agency.
RIA said Brennan and Russian officials also discussed the observance of the February 27 cessation of hostilities in Syria: – The CIA offered a rare confirmation, telling Reuters that Brennan visited Moscow in early March and that Syrian issues were on the agenda.Brennan’s objective was “to emphasize with Russian officials the importance of Russia and the Assad regime following through on their agreements to implement the cessation of hostilities in Syria,” the CIA said in an e-mailed statement. www.mesop.de
MESOP BACKGROUNDER : Telephone conversation with President of Syria Bashar Assad
On Russia’s initiative, Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of Syria Bashar Assad.
March 27, 2016 18:40 – MESOP – The President congratulated Mr Assad on the successful completion of major operations to liberate the city of Palmyra. The operations were conducted by the Syrian Armed Forces with support from Russia’s Aerospace Forces. Russia’s Defence Ministry has been instructed to provide maximum assistance to Syria in clearing mines from the liberated areas, given their world cultural heritage significance. Mr Putin told Mr Assad about his telephone conversation with UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and said he hopes that international experts will be able to start preservation and restoration work in Palmyra immediately after the mine-clearing operations are completed. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72608
MESOP – THE REAL PALMYRA STORY / THE PUTIN/ASSAD PR-COUP & THE REAL DESTRUCTION
Syrian Experts Shocked By Damage Inside Palmyra’s Museum
By Albert Aji – AP – 2016-03-28 17:40 GMT – A photo released on Sunday March 27, 2016, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows destroyed statues at the damaged Palmyra Museum, in Palmyra city, central Syria. The amount of destruction found inside the archaeological area in the historic Syrian town of Palmyra was similar to what experts have expected but the shock came Monday, March 28, 2016 from inside the local museum where the extremists have caused wide damage demolishing invaluable statues that were torn to pieces. ( SANA via AP) Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72594
SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
MESOP “MUSINGS ON IRAQ” : The Unknown Story Of US Outreach To Iraq’s Shiite Militias, Interview With Richard Welch
28 Mar 2016 – By Joel Wing – During the Surge it was well known that one of the winning strategies employed by the United States was to reach out to different insurgent groups and try to get them to turn on the Islamic State. That eventually led to the Sahwa. What is far less known was that the Americans also had a series of talks with Shiite armed groups as well that were opposed to the occupation. The Force Strategic Engagement Cell (FSEC) did much of this work. Richard Welch is a retired U.S. Army Colonel who was the chief of staff of the FSEC. This is an interview with Welch to discuss the little known attempts by the Americans to reconcile with the Shiite militias. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=72602
THE GERMAN KURDISH CHAPTER
MESOP : IL GHETTO KEHRT ZURÜCK !
Erstes Getto in Venedig: Insel der Ausgrenzung / FOTOSTRECKE (DER SPIEGEL)
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/italien-500-jahre-ghetto-in-venedig-fotostrecke-135865.html
MESOP NEWS : Verfolgte Kurden, Christen, Bahai im Iran – Österreich’s Fischer rollt roten Teppich für Rohani aus …
APA OTS (Pressemitteilung) – WIEN – Amnesty International berichtet von der weitverbreiteten Diskriminierung von Bahai, Aserbaidschanern, Belutschen, Kurden, Turkmenen, Sunniten, … ts.at/presseaussendung/OTS_20160329_OTS0040/verfolgte-kurden-christen-bahai-im-iran-fischer-rollt-roten-teppich-fuer-rohani-aus-rouhaninotwelcome
MESOP : PKK CHEF RIZA ALTUN KÜNDIGT „GROSSEN KRIEG“ AN – ERKLÄRT DIE ERDOGAN AKP ZU „FASCHISTEN“ – WILL ABER MIT DIESEN VERHANDELN / KONFUSION
PKK kündigt „großen Krieg“ an – in Contra-Spezial, Naher Osten 29. März 2016 – Von Marco Maier
Riza Altun, Kommandant der PKK, kündigte “neue Taktiken und Strategien” im Kampf gegen die türkische Armee an. Der Konflikt würde in einem “großen Krieg” enden, wenn Erdogan und die AKP den bisherigen Kurs fortführen. Man würde aber auch ein föderales, demokratisches System akzeptieren und dafür auf ein freies Kurdistan verzichten. Volltext http://www.mesop.de/?p=72590