Syria (Tasnim) – Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the US moved armored vehicles to the region and Turkey’s leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there. The relocation…
Turkey (EAN) – Before he immersed himself in politics, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was a moderately talented footballer. It is not surprising, then, that when he reflected on mid-April’s constitutional referendum in Turkey, a vote that narrowly approved the creation…
Turkey (GV) – “This country is split down the middle like a watermelon,” political commentator Hasan Celik kept repeating again and again in a live broadcast on Kanal D* as the results of the country’s controversial April 16 constitutional referendum trickled in. Initially they…
Germany (Sputnik) – Around 30,000 Kurds and Kurdish supporters took to the streets of the German city of Frankfurt on Saturday to protest against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the approaching referendum that would vastly expand his powers. The demonstrators,…
Turkey (Tasnim) – A pro-Kurdish lawmaker has been temporarily suspended from the Turkish parliament for saying the word “genocide” during heated discussions on changes to the constitution. Member of parliament for the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Garo Paylan said four communities…
Turkey (Tasnim) – Turkish lawmakers on Thursday approved three more articles in a hugely controversial bill bolstering the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as lawmakers brawled and threw objects in a session of high tension. Lawmakers have since the start…
Turkey plans a referendum by next May on constitutional changes that would expand the powers of the president and will then hold presidential and parliamentary polls together in 2019, a deputy prime minister said on Friday.
Nurettin Canikli told A Haber TV in an interview that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would submit its proposal on the constitutional changes to parliament on Friday and that the nationalist MHP opposition would support the bill.
“The referendum looks like it could be held around March or April, but it could also be pushed to May,” he said, ruling out any early election before 2019, Reuters reported.
Kurds find themselves in the eye of a fast paced and changing storm in the Middle East. We travel to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party mountain stronghold in northern Iraq to get a first-hand take on a critical moment for the whole region. Karlos Zurutuza interviews Riza Altun, Kurdistan Communities Union executive member and co-founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast is witnessing, what is possibly, an unprecedented peak of violence. Fierce clashes between Turkish security forces and urban militants have levelled districts to the ground. The ongoing post-coup crackdown in Turkey targets Kurdish political representatives as new fronts also open for Kurds across the Middle East. ‘It’s a turning point for our people,’ says Riza Altun from the headquarters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Qandil mountain range.