It must have been the early 1990s, on the eve of the Festival of the Sacrifice. On my way home, the entrance to our neighbourhood was covered in blood, so I walked grumbling that, yet again, they had slaughtered the sacrificial animals a day early in the middle of the street. I skipped over puddles […]
Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala was taken into custody by police on Oct. 18, 2017. This date marks two years, without freedom, behind bars. ____________________________________________________________ It must have been 17 or 18 years ago when I attended that civil-society conference in Beyoğlu, central Istanbul. As I headed home after the meeting, I asked Osman Kavala where […]
Years after more than a dozen Turkish soldiers were taken captive by Kurdish militant groups, the soldiers have still not come home and there has been near-total silence about the case from the government and media. The summer of 2015 saw peace talks between the Turkish government and Kurdish nationalist leaders break down, triggering a […]
On September 11, 2016, Turkish authorities replaced more than two dozen elected Kurdish mayors with appointed administrators across southeast Turkey. Enormous Turkish flags were hung from the side of municipal buildings, which quickly became encircled by police and special operations teams. Perhaps authorities believed they would cover up their unlawfulness with the flag, and solve the […]
Five years ago today, the hundreds of thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar, northern Iraq, woke to a day of horror. The Islamic State (ISIS) captured the town, forcing more than 300,000 Yazidis to flee their homes, killing thousands and forcing many more of their women and children into slavery. Much of the savagery suffered by […]
A few days ago, four-year-old Nupelda and 10-year-old Ayaz Güloğlu stepped on land mines while they were out grazing cattle outside the city of Dersim in southeastern Turkey. Every month, a few children are wounded or killed by mines and armaments left over from the three-decade conflict between security forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party […]