TODAY’S MESOP SHORT CUTS (Click headlines for full text)

Kurds gather for PKK activists’ funerals in Diyabakir – BBC – The bodies of the three female activists of the separatist PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) were flown to Diyarbakir late on Wednesday night. PKK founding member Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were found shot execution-style at a Kurdish centre in Paris last Thursday….

What Next for PUK, Iraqi Kurdistan? – Al Monitor – As soon as Hiro Ibrahim, the wife of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, returned to the city of Sulaymaniyah last week, leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by president of the Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani, began holding frequent meetings with her. The official objective of these visits was to discuss the Kurdish-Iraqi situation…

Mayor’s Sons Split by Turkey-PKK War as Funerals Test Peace Plan – Bloomberg- Abdullah Demirbas told his two sons that Turkey’s Kurds should claim their rights through politics, not war. One agreed, and is preparing to start compulsory service in Turkey’s army. The other didn’t, and fled to the mountains to join militants fighting against it.…

Al-Assad in his last six months, US estimates  – Hurriyet Daily News – Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will not last in power for more than six months at most, senior U.S. figures predicted during a recent meeting with Turkey’s senior diplomat in Washington, Turkish officials have said….