Medya News Audio Articles

Burhan Sönmez: ‘the Kurdish language is my home’

As Turkey once again imprisons an elected Kurdish mayor and puts a government trustee in their place, there have been strong and persistent protests. The CHP has also condemned the government’s actions, but the international response has been shockingly weak, and there are fears that this is just the beginning of another purge. 

Another week brings another round of bellicose statements from the Turkish government. And in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the KDP is preparing to help Turkey continue their de facto occupation in the north. The KDP-dominated Kurdistan Regional Government has long since come to the end of its term and is now without official recognition, but the KDP has manoeuvred to get the elections delayed a f...

As American universities are taken over by riot police, this week’s review looks at questions about the nature of power and liberal democracy; and at how some issues create world-defining moments while others fail to get picked up by international radar. It looks at the silence over Turkey’s ongoing and relentless attacks on the Kurds; and it looks at the importance of Abdullah Öcalan’s critique o...

Turkey is preparing to invade northern Iraq and northern Syria, and the “international community” remains silent. This week’s review focuses on Turkish plans for Iraq, where the Development Road Project may be used as an excuse to destroy autonomous administration in Makhmour and Şengal; on fears of Turkish invasion and ISIS revival in North and East Syria; and on the growing criminalisation of Ku...

Fréderike Geerdink notes how recent protests in Turkey are influencing government actions, notably the reinstatement of Abdullah Zeydan as Van's mayor. However, scepticism arises over Turkey's claimed suspension of trade with Israel amid allegations of ongoing ties, highlighting transparency concerns and political manoeuvring. These events underscore broader issues of accountability and manipulati...

Acclaimed journalist Fréderike Geerdink warns that the oppressive shroud cast over Kurdish politics in Turkey continues to suffocate democracy and minority representation despite shards of light breaking through in the southeast during the country's recent local elections. Discussing her experience of the liberated atmosphere in Kurdish-run municipalities in comparison to constrints under AKP rule...

In her weekly news review, Sarah Glynn takes a  dive into Turkey’s local elections, which took place last Sunday, exposing the undemocratic practices which took place as well as highlighting the hard-won victories of Pro-Kurdish Dem Party.

Since the 1940s, the KDP, led by the Barzani family, has prioritised its interests, leveraging power and wealth. Geerdink argues that the KDP's election withdrawal is intricately linked to these broader regional dynamics, indicating a continued alliance with Turkey against the PKK, and by extension, an alignment with Turkey's political and economic interests.

Turkey has announced that they will launch a new offensive against the Kurds in Iraq and that they still plan to take control of a 30-40 km corridor in Syria, but the world says nothing. Meanwhile, Turkish ministers have been trying to get wider support for these attacks. They have persuaded Iraq to define the PKK as a “banned organisation”, and they have got the United States to ignore reality an...

A press conference in Cologne on 1 March marked the launch of the second phase of the “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, A Political Solution to the Kurdish Question” campaign, expanding the movement’s scope and extending the call for international solidarity. German politician Jörg Detjen attended the conference, and spoke there, highlighting the urgent need to release Öcalan.

Fréderike Geerdink confronts the weaponization of rape accusations in conflict zones, particularly spotlighting a recent UN report implicating Hamas in alleged sexual violence during the 7 October attack in Israel. Geerdink scrutinises the broader context, drawing parallels between Israel's tactics and those employed by Turkey in Kurdistan, emphasising the need to dismantle patriarchal systems to...

A new Kurdish music video in the tradition of national mythmaking provides both a Kurdish myth and a universal story of the fight against patriarchy. In contrast to its optimism, this news review examines the failure of the CPT to visit Öcalan; Turkish attacks on North and East Syria and the situation in areas under Turkish occupation, including the lack of international response; continued ISIS a...

In her latest piece, journalist Fréderike Geerdink delves into the alarming human rights abuses documented in a new report by Human Rights Watch, shedding light on the Turkish army and its proxies' actions in occupied territories of Syria. Geerdink scrutinises the international response, particularly from the EU and US, highlighting accusations of complicity and indifference towards the plight of...

"The PKK poses no threat to the USA or the European Union. Nor does it threaten Turkey's territorial integrity. There is no longer any reason why the PKK should not finally be removed from the US terror list and the EU terror list, opening the door to the revival of an urgently needed peace process in Turkey and ultimately in the entire Middle East. The destabilising effect of this conflict would...

As we pass the 25th anniversary of Öcalan’s incarceration, this week’s review looks back on the events that led up to his abduction in an international plot, and at the reaction of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. It then returns to the present to discuss campaigns for Öcalan’s freedom, interference in Turkish electoral politics, Turkey’s latest environmental disaster, and events in other parts of Ku...

Sarah Glynn returns to the earthquakes that devastated Turkey last year, focusing on how only a fraction of the promised new homes have been built, and planning is guided solely by profit. Read her latest weekly news review:

"Running with Başak Demirtaş would have made AKP's Murat Kurum’s victory too easy. By running with another candidate, both AKP and CHP will have to make an effort to please Kurds to vote for them. Thanks to Demirtaş, who showed the establishment that Kurds are ultra eager to vote for ‘one of their own’."

"Hajir Faramarzi, Mohsen Mazloum, Vafa Azarbar and Pejman Fatehi didn’t die, they never will: they will be remembered and live on. The regime will die. The regime is weak, surviving just because of their brutality, but without a spine and without any popular support: they couldn’t be weaker."

Celebrated journalist and Kurdistan expert Fréderike Geerdink addresses the deep and open wounds left after entire neighbourhoods of Kurdish cities were razed by the Turkish Armed Forces in 2015 and 2016.

"What needs to be done, is to stop the occupation, both of Palestine and of Kurdistan. Land can be shared with humanity and equality. It can. And it must be. Because the alternative is permanent annexation and the oblivion of Palestinians and Kurds. We can never allow that to be the end of the occupation."

This week, Israel has been on trial at the International Court of Justice, and the International Court has been on trial before the world. The case is of universal importance, including for the Kurds, who are threatened with being trapped in the centre of an expanding Middle East war, and who are suffering their own persecution at the hands of Turkey. Meanwhile, in contrast to the debates about ge...

Turkey's attacks in North and East Syria impact not only the present but also play into the hands of active ISIS cells. Sarah Glynn discusses the dangerous repercussions.

This week saw the first provincial elections in Iraq in ten years. The ethno-sectarian nature of Iraqi politics seems to be taken for granted, but how did it get this way and what are the implications? What is the background and significance of the Kurdish vote in Kirkuk, and how did the Yazidis vote in Nineveh? This review also looks at recent diplomatic meetings between Iraq and Turkey, and betw...