...In August 2016, a Turkish court in Istanbul ordered Ozgur Gundem, one of Turkey’s most prominent pro-Kurdish newspapers, to close its operations for “continuously conducting propaganda” for the P.K.K. The newspaper’s staff, as well as academics and intellectuals who volunteered to write for the newspaper, was arrested and charged with “creating propaganda for a terrorist organization.” Those arrested included Dr. Kuni’s colleague and president of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Sebnem Korur Fincanci, who could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted....
Arresting Kurds is not going to solve Turkey's problems, it only leads to regions such as the Russian Caucasus Mountains where hatred is bred by extremists and opens avenues for Daesh.
17 August 2017
A court in Turkey (click here) has ordered the interim closure of a newspaper for allegedly having links with Kurdish fighters waging a war against the state and spreading "terrorist propaganda" on behalf of them.
The judgment on Tuesday by the Istanbul court accused the Ozgur Gundem paper of "continuously conducting propaganda for Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)" and "acting as if it is a publication of the armed terror organisation".
The PKK, designated a "terrorist" group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
At least seven people, including three civilians, were killed on Monday in an attack on a police station blamed on PKK in the southeast of the country, which has seen some of the most intense fighting in decades after a ceasefire between the Turkish state and the PKK collapsed in July 2015....
This is only the beginning for Turkey. Russia's influence will have Turkey culling the Kurdish culture and then the Kurds themselves within it's borders. Putin's directive is simplistic and has high number of causalities. "We are Russians, don't cross the border. You are Turkish and we won't cross your border."
The world is not black and white, it is many shades of ethnicity. It is time The West learn diversity exists and the enemies of the past are now fighting the same war including Kurds and Shi'ite Muslims.
Daesh takes no prisoners, UNLESS, there is American US$ attached to their release as a hostage. Daesh already practices the culling of ethnic difference, Russia needs to stop being stupid! It's IDEOLOGY will destroy it.
The Syrian Shi'ite will stop supporting Assad if they seem him for what he is and are reassured their survival without him.
Welcoming Iran's Shia is the best idea The West has had for nearly a century of Middle East policy.
NATO may find the USA is more their enemy, ie: Iraq invasion, than the enemies the USA currently calls a threat.
There is opportunity to end decades of idiotic policy and find the peace within alliance against the charasmatic threat of Daesh. The best example of that is Saudi Arabia's current compassionate relationship with Yemen, while Houthi rebels continue to call them an enemy. The Houthi rebels cannot extend it's power beyond what it already has simply because their capacity is absent of that goal. It is time the Houthis realize their future lies in a power sharing government in Yemen and not more killing. An ambition to war will allow those that would see the Houthi ethnicty eliminated from Earth migrate into their ranks.
