Celebrations did not last long on election night in Diyarbakır, the biggest city in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast, when it became clear the pro-Kurdish opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) had passed the 10-percent vote threshold to take up seats in parliament. It also became apparent that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been re-elected and that […]
It’s a hot day in Diyarbakır. I am heading into the city by the Urfa road. Every two meters, there are Turkish flags hung next to Erdoğan posters, even though the Bağlar District Elections Board ordered the flags taken down on 10 June. Diyarbakır is usually quiet, and in the city, there is no election […]
Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK) announced last week that in some Kurdish cities ballot boxes for the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections would be relocated, a move that will favour President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling party and undermine the vote for the pro-Kurdish opposition. For Erdoğan it is imperative to win the polls, as […]
While scrolling through social media a few days ago, I almost missed news about a family I know. Their daughter Hacer Aslan was burnt alive while sheltering in a basement during the military operations in the southeastern mainly Kurdish city of Cizre in January 2016. Her mother is still looking for Hacer’s body and believes […]
On Saturday, Turkish politician and activist Tuna Bekleviç ended his 1000-kilometer Brotherhood March from Turkey’s capital Ankara to Kurdish-majority province of Diyarbakir in Turkey’s southeast. Bekleviç set out on the Brotherhood March on April 16, marking the one-year anniversary since the constitutional referendum vote that resulted in enhanced presidential powers. In order to cement these […]
“I don’t have a problem with Kurdish people; I have a problem with the PKK.” As Kurds, we hear this sentence all the time. The form of the sentence changes depending on the flavour of the day. After the Turkish offensive in Afrin, the sentence turned into: Kurd: 3,000 people were killed in Afrin. Turk: […]