Irony banned as 'insult':
"BirGün daily author Seray Şahiner
has been sentenced to a punitive fine in amount of 800 euro
for calling Bilal Erdoğan, son of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 'genius'"
When in February of this year the message arrived, journalist
Seray Şahiner
had been sentenced in Turkey to a punitive fine of 800 € (!) for having
named Erdoğan's son Bilal Erdoğan ironically a "genius", it still might
have sounded like an absurd story.
But she wasn't the only one who was subjected to a '
libel suit' and punished with a fine – and even then journalists were also
arrested in Turkey, especially those who reported about the brutal war of the Turkish army against the Kurds in the
southeast of the country (see thereto:
#TurkeysWarOnKurds). Among them particularly young
journalists of independent news agencies like
DIHA or
JINHA Women's News
(photos further down). While the world still was
laughing about Erdoğan, subsequently everything went blow on blow. Just some further stages of the total
crackdown of free speech and press freedom in Turkey during the course of one single year:
Zaman
... in March 2016, the newspaper Zaman
was evicted and placed under forced administration by the government.
Since then, it is produced by a 'desk' true to the principles of the
ruling AKP party...
Eviction of the paper Zaman in Istanbul with tear gas and water cannons.
By then, the paper (affiliated with the 'Gülen movement') surprisingly had been often actually worth reading.
(Comment by me; Photo via tagesschau 5 Mar 2016)
Already on the next day, the paper was past all recognition and mutated into an irrelevant homage-to-Erdoğan paper. Scary.
Left: 1st Zaman issue under state control
@MarkABentley commented:
"It's like the Walking Dead -
Zaman gets butchered, wakes up as a zombie with half a brain"
(via @MarkABentley 6 March 2016)
Right: the German satire magazine extra3 summarizes the new 'content'...
Chief editor and publisher is Erdogan, the layout is by "the nephew of Erdogan", printed in "Erdogan's printery"... Even the weather is 'pro-Erdogan' ("High 'Erdogan' brings happiness and lots of sunshine to Europe") and I'll give you more than 15 guesses for the solutions of the 'crossword puzzle'... (^.^)
(via @extra3 5 March 2016)
Özgür Gündem
... in August 2016,
1992 founded Kurdish-Turkish daily newspaper
Özgür Gündem ("Free Agenda") was closed in Istanbul under the charge of 'PKK propaganda'... and soon after banned.
"Journalists of #ÖzgürGündem hold daily newsroom meeting in front of their closed newspaper office
#Turkey #press"
(Cahida Dêrsim @cdersim3 19 Aug 2016)
A last group photo in front of the closed editorial office...
(Photos via Cahida Dêrsim @cdersim3 19 Aug 2016)
Özgür
Gündem on Twitter
TV & Radio
... at the end of September, more than 20 TV & radio stations were shut down...
"In the last 48 hours #Turkey has closed at least 20 TV and radio stations.
Thank you #Europe and western countries for backing #Erdogan!"
(Cahida Dêrsim @cdersim3 30 Sept 2016)
From the shutdown of the Kurdish children's channel (!)
ZAROK TV (in the graphic above the colorful logo at lower left) I have shortly reported already
the last time, here pictures from the last hours of
İMC TV, one of the rare
inclusive channels
towards ethnic, religious & sexual minorities... Also here
nothing but utter consternation, tears and defiant courage...
 |
Photo by Ozan Kose/AFP,
via @TurkeyUntold 4 Oct 2016 |
 |
| İMC TV logo & station, via @mutludc 1 Oct 2016 |
"Urgent Call from Turkey’s IMC TV
which Faces Closure by Turkish Govt
@pressfreedom @RSF_inter"
(text pix via @mutludc 1 Oct 2016)
Photos by Ozan Kose / AFP
"Rare
inclusive TV channel towards ethnic, religious & sexual minorities,
@imc_televizyonu raided by police during live broadcast & shut
down."
(via @TurkeyUntold 4 Oct 2016)
İMC TV Resmi Twitter Sayfası
Cumhuriyet
As everybody knows, the terror of censorship in Turkey does not even spare long-standing and also globally known media like the daily newspaper
"
Cumhuriyet", founded in the year 1924 (!).
"Cumhuriyet CEO arrested - Turkish Minute buff.ly/2esyawD"
(@TurkishMinuteTM 13 Nov 2016)
Free Media in Jail
On 1st of October, journalist Mutlu Civiroglu tweeted:
"As of October 1 at least 92 journos r in jail,
at least 2500 journos lost their jobs &
660 press cards cancelled in Turkey @JournosInTurkey"
... in the meantime, we are roughly here...
"Freeing the journalists is freeing the realities. There are 171 journalists currently in jail,
just waiting to be trialled. No indictment yet"
(via @BarbarossaKaya 19 Nov 2016)
This actually does not only mean that there is
no press freedom in Turkey itself anymore, but also, that there is
no more 'free information' from Turkey for the rest of the world.
At least not via the 'usual' media channels (I didn't translate some
special comments on German state media, though I know, that the
situation with mainstream media is not better in other countries).
But still, at least we
outside of Turkey live in a – even though rarely joyful – '
information paradise' and
as long as in Turkey there are still media like cell phone cameras, internet (∅) or
telephone, travelling and visits, even a Mister Erdoğan will not be able to prevent that the ugly reality of his rule gets to
the rest of the world, too – and in the best case from there also back into Turkey again! Anyway, here and there, we less suffer a lack of
information, but much more a lack of
actions...
So here finally the promised
link list, which is thought not only as
proposal /
impulse, but also as
thank-you
to (not only the selected) actors, initiatives, independent news agencies, journalists, correspondents, commentators and
activists. Without them, also the Turkey coverage
in this blog would be impossible. Of course, it is neither 'neutral / nonpartisan' nor have –
for
a variety of reasons that I don't wish to explain here – 'all' known
relevant sources found entrance into this array (far from it!). Anyway,
the mere number of Twitter accounts tweeting about and from 'Turkey' and
trying to break through the suppression of free reporting is almost
beyond measure – and that's a good thing! Due to the situation of
endangerment, with the exception of a few individuals who are in the
public eye already anyway, I have largely forgone to include
individual
informants, especially those with possible family ties in and / or
whereabouts in Turkey... (if you'd like to be added, you are welcome by
sending me a PM
on my Twitter!). Further, I have
completely omitted the often overlapping topic of Rojava / Syria. Thereto, maybe there will be an extra list in 2017.
In an almost
situationist sense I hope, the selection is useful for those who its intended for, and utterly impractical and useless for those it is
not intended for. 😜👻👭
"Erdogan tunes down dissenting voice, covers the last chance of access to truth
on social (media) by banning VPN services"
(@BarbarossaKaya 6 Nov 2016)
∅
Photo: Erdoğan likes to block the access to social media and even cuts off 'the internet' from time to time.
If he doesn't aim to turn Turkey to a second 'North-Korea', I have doubts though if a modern economy (keyword: economic crisis!) can be run that way for a longer time – and all of these measures can be circumvented with tricks, too.
Links
Selection
The following list is definitely centered more to Twitter accounts (all public) than to, e.g., Facebook. It's no accident that the 'magic word' is called #TwitterKurds!
Also, in parts it's strongly focused on Germany. Maybe people in other
parts of the world may add pages, initiatives or contacts in their home
countries – since I know that many wonderful things are happening around
the globe. :-)
Pink colored are my special recommendations for interested persons who want (or need) to confine themselves to a few sources & accounts (four selected journalists are additionally highlighted by me and introduced in photo boxes),
though such preferences of course always depend on place, time, special
interests & language skills. For 'orientation' the current
number of followers [in
box brackets], even though this number bears not any relation to
relevance or quality of the Twitter page... Further – not only for
social media grouches – also some selected web pages / online magazines, of which I have honored a few especially recommendable with a 'gold star' ★. As I said, the selection neither claims completeness nor impartiality, quite the opposite. Not everybody is 'allowed' to be pink and gold stars need to be 'earned' here, too. (^.^)
Actually, I don't 'like'
all mentioned accounts (and do not take
any responsibility
for the content!) – and some websites could be updated urgently...
Maybe some accounts should join forces or at least collaborate more
closely? Just an idea. Generally, I think the
diversity /
multiplicity is good, not bad.
Incidentally, I do follow some accounts for pure reasons of
solidarity even though I don't understand the content (as in Turkish or Kurdish), this goes
especially
for the arrested and/or people / groups / initiatives affected by
repression – until they are released (see also the box below with the
accounts of the jailed
HDP politicians).
While we begin the search for uncensored informations,
we shut down Erdoğan's media and propaganda apparatus!
The chart needs to be updated, it's now even many more... :-(
via #TwitterKurds
I.
Turkey
I. 1.
Criminalized Parties
Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan (PKK)
“We are accessible to everybody who wants to understand us.”
Cemil Bayik, co-leader of the PKK, in an
interview
with Dutch journalist Fréderike Geerdink (see box below)
It
might 'chasten' all those who (like Turkey's dictator Erdoğan) think
that free communication and information can be censored that 'even' the
PKK (founded in
1978 and – as we have seen – not only
target of but also
excuse for extreme repression not only in Turkey but also in other countries like Germany, the EU or the USA) is '
online'. ;-) There's even "Gerîla TV" and you can send an email to 'the
PKK', too... (^.^).
PKK Online
www.pkkonline.net
Kurdî * Türkçe * English * Arabic * Farsi * Sorani
Very confusing in structure and a bit 'chaotic' (*lol*), but contains a lot of stuff.
HPG (
Hêzên Parastina Gel // People's Defence Forces)
www.hezenparastin.com (since 2003)
Kurdî * Türkçe * Arabic * Deutsch * English
YJA STAR (Yekîneyên Jinên Azad ên Star // Free Women's Units)
www.yja-star.com/ku/
Kurdî & Arabic + photos.
Şehiden Me (Remembrance page for martyrs)
„Şehiden Me Rûmeta Me Ne“
www.hpg-sehit.com (since 2003)
Kurdî
Gerîla TV / Gerilla TV
www.gerillatv.net (since 2012)
Kurdî
"Only
once the woman becomes free can the society be free. Where can the
woman go if she runs away? Where can the Kurds go if they run away? To
Europe? This means giving in to slavery, this is bowing your head. The
state is a man too. The mindset of the state is a man’s mindset. You can
build a new state, but that will be a male state too and it will not
save the people from atrocities. The only thing to do is to break your
dependency on the man, your dependency on the state.
This is why we define ourselves as a women’s organisation, this is why we say ‘Jin, Jiyan, Azadi’, Woman, Life, Freedom."
PKK co-leader Cemil Bayik
in an interview with Fréderike Geerdink (see box below),
answering her question if "the Kurdish movement isn't behaving like a woman in an abusive
relationship by insisting on their goal to democratize the country and
live in peace with the Turks?".
"Isn’t it about time to break the abuse, give up
the impossible dream of living together in peace and
demand an independent
Kurdistan?" she asked.)
"KURDISH YOUTH IN LONDON do banner drop on Westminster Bridge, next to UK Houses of Parliament! #Freedom4Ocalan"
(via @Hevallo 10 Aug 2016)
Related
Further,
there is a lot of initiatives for the freedom of PKK co-founder
Abdullah Ocalan
(since 1999 in Turkish solitary refinement), on Twitter
e.g.:
Freedom for Öcalan (Worldwide)
"International Initiative »Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan - Peace in Kurdistan«, founded in 1999. Running the
#FreeOcalan and the
#ArtForOcalan campaign"
http://freeocalan.org
...but since all of these pages appear a bit 'old-fashioned' to me, for PKK 2016 I recommend:
Fréderike Geerdink
 |
| Fréderike Geerdink |
"Journalist based in Kurdistan, currently investigating the PKK from the
inside. Expelled from Turkey, having no regrets. Will be back where she
left her heart."
About her new project "The PKK from the Inside":
‘What are we supposed to do? Surrender? Never.’
by Fréderike Geerdink, Qandil mountains, Kurdistan 03 Oct. 2016
|
ESP
Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi (ESP)
The small party
ESP (
Socialist Party of the Oppressed)
has been cofounded in
2010 by the current co-chair of the HDP,
Figen Yüksekdağ,
and has been active already in the protests around
Gezi park in
Istanbul 2013. Since then, members of the party are arrested in Turkey.
The youth wing of the party, known as the
Socialist Youth Associations Federation (
SGDF),
was the main target of the islamist 2015 Suruç bombing that left 32 of
their activists dead. They wanted to bring children's toys to the
adjacent, mainly Kurdish region Rojava (Northern Syria). The Turkish
state
knew about the islamist terror cell.
ESP (Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi (Türkçe) // Partiya
Sosyalîst a Bindestan, PSB (Kurdî) // Sozialistische Partei der Unterdrückten // Socialist Party of the Oppressed)
"Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi Resmi Twitter Hesabıdır" - Türkiye
www.esp.org.tr
DBP
Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi (DBP)
Most
of the mayors (mostly elected with an overwhelming majority) of the
mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey arrested this year are from the
regional party DBP, which emerged in 2014 from the BDP (Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi, Kurdî: Partiya Aştî û Demokrasiyê, Peace and Democracy Party) founded in 2008. Until the middle of November already 34 mayors of the DBP were removed,
the affected municipalities are now under forced administration by not
elected members of the ministry of the interior in Ankara!
DBP (Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi (Türkçe) // Partiya Herêman a Demokratîk (Kurdî) //
Demokratische Regionenpartei // Democratic Regions Party)
"Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi Genel Merkezi Kurumsal Hesabı" - Diyarbakır (Amed)
DBP Gençlik (DBP Youth)
Sebahat Tuncel (Co-chair of the DBP - in jail!)
"Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi (DBP) Eş Genel Başkanı" - Diyarbakır, Türkiye
[all DBP accounts mainly in Turkish * Türkçe]
HDP
Like every party, also the HDP (founded in 2012) has a lot of accounts,
in various languages, different topics, sub-organisations, regional
associations and of course many of the MPs and party members themselves.
I guess these are the most important for my readers:
HDP Halkların Demokratik Partisi (Türkçe * Main account, in Turkish)
HDP Foreign Affairs
HDP
Commission of Foreign Affairs (Ankara, Türkiye)
www.hdpberlin.de
As the
accounts of the arrested seem to be largely inactive now, I highly recommend to follow the party accounts above to stay informed! It's sad to see that
millions of followers of, e.g., the co-chairs of the party
do not receive any updates of the HDP anymore, even though they had / have much more followers than the party accounts... For example, before the arrests, the jailed co-chairs of the party
Selahattin Demirtaş (@hdpdemirtas
http://twitter.com/hdpdemirtas) had 1,6 millions (!) and
Figen Yüksekdağ (@FigenYuksekdag
http://twitter.com/FigenYuksekdag)
469 thousand of followers (!) alone.
Those who want to follow the arrested MP's for solidarity of course still can do that (only the pink colored accounts have tweeted something since the arrests).
Sorted by the prisons:
Edirne F
Tipi
Selahattin Demirtaş (Co-chair of the HDP)
@hdpdemirtas http://twitter.com/hdpdemirtas (1,6 Mill.)
Abdullah Zeydan ("Hakkâri Milletvekili", HDP)
@AbdullahZeydan http://twitter.com/AbdullahZeydan [17,2 Tsd.]
Silivri 9
Nolu
Arrested HDP MP Leyla Birlik with Syrian refugee kids (Twitter Profile)
Leyla Birlik ("Şırnak Milletvekili" * MP for Şırnak)
Nursel Aydoğan ("HDP Diyarbakır Milletvekili Resmi Hesabı #MutlakaKazanacağız")
Selma Irmak ("HDP Hakkari Milletvekili")
Sebahat
Tuncel (see chapter DBP)
Nihat Akdoğan ("HDP 25. ve 26 .DÖNEM HAKKARİ MILLETVEKİLİ /HDP PARTİ MECLİS
ÜYESİ") @nihatakdagon http://twitter.com/nihatakdagon [10,6 Tsd.]
Kandıra F1
Gülser Yıldırım ("HDP Mardin Milletvekili Kurumsal Twitter Hesabı")
@yildirimgulser http://twitter.com/yildirimgulser [47,7 Tsd.]
Figen Yüksekdağ (Co-chair of the HDP)
@FigenYuksekdag http://twitter.com/FigenYuksekdag (469 Tsd.)
Ferhat Encü ("Roboskî... Katır sırtında taşınan ölüleri Unutursam Kalbim
Kurusun...
26. Dönem Şırnak HDP Milletvekili Ferhat Encu'nun resmi Twitter
hesabıdır") Roboski
@FerhatEncu http://twitter.com/FerhatEncu [116 Tsd.]
Gültan
Kışanak (Co-Mayor Amed / Diyarbakir)
(not active on Twitter (anymore) (?), short biography on Wikipedia)
Ayla Akat
Ata (not active on Twitter (anymore) (?))
Kandıra F2
Fırat Anlı ("Diyarbekir Büyükşehir Belediyesi Eşbaşkanı. Hevşaredaré
Bajaré Mezin ya Amedé. Co-Mayor Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakir") Co-Mayor Amed/Diyarbakir
İdris Baluken holding a speech when he was still in freedom...
Tweet text: "BREAKING- Deputy chair of #HDP group Idris Baluken arrested!"
(@TurkeyUntold 4 Nov 2016)
|
HDP Solidarity pages
HDP International @hdpint
http://twitter.com/hdpint [3.624]
Support account, tweets in Turkish, English and Swedish.
HDP is not alone @HDP_isnot_alone
http://twitter.com/HDP_isnot_alone [131]
Persian
/ زبان فارسی
I. 2.
Criminalized Human Rights Organizations
TİHV Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi // HRFT Human Rights Foundation of Turkey
http://tihv.org.tr/ (Türkçe)
Even Human Rights Organizations and doctors are criminalized in Turkey...
"Doctor who
treated Kurdish 'militants' during Cizre offensive jailed
while
doctors treating ISIS are free." (@janetcalif 7 Nov 2016)
Lately, for example TİHV-HRFT representative of #Cizre, Serdar Küni, was arrested:
I. 3.
Donations
Heyva Sor a Kurd (Kurdish
Red Crescent)
is the best org to donate as, from what I hear, they always help and they help everybody.
http://heyvasor.com/en/derbare-hey
II.
Europe
Civil society Kurdish organizations
KCDK-E
Kongreya Cîvakên Demokratîk a Kurdîstanîyên Ewrupa
Avrupa
Kürt Demokratik Toplum Kongresi
Demokratischer Gesellschaftskongress
der Kurd*innen in Europa
European Kurdish Democratic Societies
Congress
Brussels, Belgium
@KCDKE
http://twitter.com/KCDKE [3.809]
"Der KCDK-E
ist ein Zusammenschluss von 26 Dachorganisationen und insgesamt 403
Institutionen und somit der größte Dachverband der in der Diaspora
lebenden Kurdinnen und Kurden. Der KCDK-E hat sich einerseits zum
Ziel gesetzt, die Kultur und Identität der kurdischen Bevölkerung zu
schützen. Andererseits ist es das Ziel der Organisation, die
Verständigung zwischen der kurdischen Gesellschaft im Exil zu anderen
gesellschaftlichen und migrantischen Gruppen zu stärken. Der KCDK-E
setzt sich ein für die Lösung der gesellschaftlichen Fragen in Europa,
für die Toleranz und einen nachhaltigen Frieden. Hierfür arbeitet er mit
anderen gesellschaftlichen Organisationen, politischen Parteien,
Initiativen, Plattformen und Einzelpersonen zusammen. Grundlage dieser
Zusammenarbeit und des Dialogs sind die gemeinsamen globalen
demokratischen Werte."
Also interesting (transnational):
KNK Kongra Kurdistan (Kongra Neteweyi ya Kurdistan) (founded in 1985)
Kurdistan Nationalkongress // Kurdistan National Congress (KNK)
III.
Germany
III. 1.
Kurdish Societies & Associations
The
HDP isn't the only and anything but the oldest
Kurdish-democratic-feminist assembly at all. For example, I'm always happy about the steady gratifying & encouraging activity of the following associations,
groups and organizations:
Civaka Azad - Kurdisches Zentrum für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit e. V. (Berlin)
@civaka_azad
http://twitter.com/civaka_azad [1.212]
★ http://civaka-azad.org
In my eyes, the
best web page about the topic in German language / from Germany!
Kurdisches Frauenbüro für Frieden CENÎ e.V. (Kurdish Women's Office for Peace, CENÎ)
Founded in 1999 by
Kurdish and Turkish women living in Europe with the goal to strengthen the international solidarity of women for peace processes in Turkey and Kurdistan, in the Middle East and globally.
www.ceni-kurdistan.com
NAV-DEM e.V. (Navenda Civaka Demokratîk ya Kurdên li Almanyayê //
Demokratisches Gesellschaftszentrum der KurdInnen in Deutschland //
Democratic Society Center of Kurds in Germany)
Umbrella organization founded in 2014, successor of the
Föderation der Kurdischen Vereine in Deutschland (YEK-KOM; Federation of Kurdish Societies in Germany) founded in 1994 (?).
@NAV_DEM
http://twitter.com/NAV_DEM [1.526]
http://navdem.com (>
Deutsch >
Türkçe >
Kurdî)
NAV-DEM is the German branch of the
KCDK-E, see above.
YXK (Yekîtiya Xwendekarên Kurdistan // Verband der Studierenden
aus Kurdistan e.V. // Association of Students from Kurdistan (founded 1991)
@YXKonline
http://twitter.com/YXKonline [5.293]
www.yxkonline.com
http://newroz.blogsport.eu (?)
JXK (Jinên Xwendekar ên Kurdistan - Studierende Frauen aus Kurdistan *
Studying Women from Kurdistan)
#XwebunXweParastin - #SelbstSeinSelbstVerteidigen
(
Be Yourself-Defend Yourself, can also be read as:
Defend being yourself by yourself)
@JXK_Online
http://twitter.com/JXK_Online [244]
III. 2.
Alevist & Yazidi Associations
Just two examples:
BDAJ-NRW (Bund der Alevitischen Jugendlichen in NRW) Dortmund
Umbrella organization of the Alevist children and youth in North Rhine-Westphalia (NW or NRW).
@BDAJ_NRW
http://twitter.com/BDAJ_NRW [1.908]
✳ = Many topics, not only Kurdistan.
✳ Interventionistische Linke (IL) (means: Interventionist Left)
✳ Interventionistische Linke Berlin (ILB)
IL Berlin
@IL_Berlin http://twitter.com/IL_Berlin [7.203]
'Portal' also to numerous other Berlin Solidarity-, antifascist- & antiracist-groups etc.
ISKU Informationsstelle Kurdistan e.V. (Spaldingstr. 130-136, 20097
Hamburg)
Kurdistan Report (bimonthly, very first edition in 1982!)
"For a free Kurdistan in a democratic Middle East"
All editions since 2005 also as PDF file, epub & mobi version (!) online:
Kurdistan-Solidaritätskomitee Berlin
✳
Lower Class Magazine
✳ STYLE! IT! TAKES! Blog Berlin
"Fashion * Beauty * Arts * Music * Dance * Érotique * Urban Adventures * Revolution"
TATORT Kurdistan
Mail: tatort_kurdistan[at]aktivix.org (pgp public key)
http://de-de.facebook.com/tatort.kurdistan/
Blog:
http://tatortkurdistan.blogsport.de
TATORT Kurdistan Hamburg
Mail: tatortkurdistanhh[at]googlemail.com (pgp public key)
TATORT Kurdistan
Café mit Vokü, (fast) jeden 2. Mittwoch im Monat, 18–21 Uhr
Centro Sociale, Sternstr.2, U3-Feldstraße, Hamburg
Sounds nice. Would be great if there would be a Kurdistan Café with food also in Berlin and otherwhere!
III. 4.
Politicians
"Glad to meet @hdpdemirtas representing TK dem pluralism:
Kurdish democratic expression must be defended not targeted"
(Martin Schulz as @EP_President on 15th of June 2016)
He was on very good terms with the co-chair of the HDP, Selahattin Demirtaş (left) and praised him again and again: President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz
(right).
Now, one of them is in prison and the other one soon won't be EU-President anymore and the question arises, if all of the warm words and
handshakes have any meaning anymore...
Cem Özdemir (MdB, Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen) (MP & Chairman of the Green Party)
"MdB, Bundesvorsitzender, Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen"
"Member of the German Bundestag, Foreign Affairs Committee, Spokesperson on International Relations – Bochum-Berlin"
@SevimDagdelen
http://twitter.com/SevimDagdelen [15,5 Tsd.]
www.sevimdagdelen.de
also author of: „
Der Fall Erdogan. Wie uns Merkel an einen Autokraten verkauft“
('The case Erdogan. How Merkel sells us to an autocrat') (Westend Verlag)
(didn't read it, I guess it's not bad, but stupid title!)
Ulla Jelpke (MdB, Die Linke)
"innenpolitische Sprecherin der @linksfraktion im Deutschen Bundestag."
@UllaJelpke
http://twitter.com/UllaJelpke [2.019]
http://ulla-jelpke.de
Cem Özdemir was one of the MPs who pushed the
resolution about the Armenian genocide
and he's regarded as sharp critic of the AKP (it remains to be seen how he will act in the field when he might be part of the government after 2017). The party
Die Linke (The Left) had started important motions and inquiries in the Bundestag (German parliament), for example the
motion to lift the ban of the PKK (which sadly failed due to the refusal by the ruling parties
CDU/CSU and SPD, but also parts of the Green Party) or
information requests about Turkey as "action platform for jihadists" (part of the answer by German intelligence BND).
Regarding
Martin Schulz, see above.
III. 5.
Turkey correspondents from German newspapers
As already mentioned, I consider the Turkey coverage especially in many German media
as disastrous (about the topic of coverage in general see also the following box).
Among the newspaper
journalists & Turkey correspondents from Germany who attracted positive attention are e.g.:
Deniz Yücel
"journalist | istanbul/berlin | @welt"
Frank Nordhausen
"Journalist, Author, Foreign Correspondent in Istanbul:
Berliner Zeitung/
Frankfurter Rundschau. Istanbul"
@NordhausenFrank
http://twitter.com/NordhausenFrank [7.287]
http://gruss-vom-bosporus.berliner-zeitung.de
A word about
'Experts'
Journalists
&
Activists
Generally, one should be careful with mushroomed self-proclaimed 'Turkey experts' who have their 'insights' just from other sources, too, but don't name these
– often less because of being concerned about an endangerment of
eventual informants in Turkey as simply for reasons of a highly
questionable boast...
In other ways as well: even if journalists state "Istanbul" (anyhow often not necessarily the hot spot of events!) as their location, it doesn't say anything about how close they are 'to the events' in reality respectively if they
(or their sources) are currently staying in Turkey – and if yes,
beyond of the 'safe' correspondents' milieus – at all. Often, these kind of people are 'here today, gone tomorrow' and last but not least they are dependent from
their employers (agencies, media, universities etc.), too, while real
eyewitnesses are doing better to pass their material to trustworthy
agencies or journalists – even if this material rarely is published in the 'mainstream media'...
On the other side, regarding some of the vast number of 'solidarity accounts' in social media, I sometimes have another problem one usually doesn't have in established media that much. In a nutshell: there are a lot of idiots out there... some are homophobic, many more are islamophobic or even racist... and far too many seem to be less reporting about and/or fighting against war than to be fascinated and attracted by it, by military, weapons "and so on and so on" (Slavoj Žižek). It doesn't surprise me at all, that these mostly are not the Kurdish people, but – to top it all often also abundantly arrogant
– Western 'couch potatoes' not (directly) affected by all that at all.
For these, I recommend to make brisk use of the 'unfollow' &
'block' button...
Beside directly following original sources (e.g. by 'protagonists' like parties, associations, activists etc. as exemplarily mentioned here) and some special news agencies (see VI.), in the last two and a half years I have made the best experiences with a few crystallized accounts of free journalists and activists: these indeed aren't 'impartial', too, but – in view of the situation – to me, to be nonpartisan is no virtue, too.
|
IV.
United Kingdom
Info, Discussion & Solidarity
Such
a beautiful banner... for an urgent and sad cause...
The campaign "Stop
War On Kurds" and "Kurdish Question" are highly active in UK and
organize large rallys. :-)
"Kurds have suffered enough! Edi bese lo! @UKAmbRichard"
(via Kurdish Question @Hevallo 28 July 2016)
KurdishQuestion (UK)
Background / web magazine:
KurdishQuestion.com
"Comment, Analysis & Context from those involved, both observing & shaping events."
Kurdish Question @KurdishQuestion
http://twitter.com/KurdishQuestion [12,2 Tsd.]
&
Memed Aksoy (KurdishQuestion.com) @memedaksoy
http://twitter.com/memedaksoy [2.095]
Blogs: http://memedaksoy.wordpress.com & apogeeculture.blogspot.com
Daily news / campaigns:
"Pro Kurdish Rights Campaigner. (Hevallo@gmail.com)"
www.KurdishQuestion.com &
www.stopwaronkurds.org
Especially recommended
for people in UK who want to get active,
but also generally.
V.
USA
Digital Newspaper
Al-Monitor (“The Pulse of the Middle East”) #TURKEY
PULSE Washington, DC
@AlMonitor
http://twitter.com/AlMonitor [88.708]
★ www.al-monitor.com
Regarding Turkey (Al-Monitor section
#Turkey Pulse), surely
one of the best web-only newspapers
with very readable, usually well written, profound articles (reporting
and analysis) on all aspects of the topic. For Al-Monitor (and other
media), a lot of great, often Turkey-based (or linked) journalists work,
like, to highlight just one of them:
Amberin Zaman
Istanbul, Washington, DC
 |
| Amberin Zaman |
Amberin Zaman is a journalist who has covered
#Turkey, the #Kurds and #Armenia for The Washington Post,
The Daily
Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and the Voice of America. She served as
The Economist's Turkey correspondent between 1999 and 2016. She was a
columnist for the liberal daily Taraf and the mainstream daily Haberturk
before switching to the independent Turkish online news portal Diken (@DikenComTr) in
2015. She is currently a public policy scholar at The Woodrow Wilson
Center (@TheWilsonCenter) in Washington, DC, where she is focusing on Kurdish issues.
Many articles on Al-Monitor @AlMonitor.
Also recommended by the Turkish President:
“Shameless militant disguised
under the name of a journalist.”
~ Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan about Amberin Zaman after she appeared in a TV show ~
|
Analysis & News
Mutlu Civiroglu
Washington, Diyarbakir, Kobani
 |
| Mutlu Civiroglu |
"Journalist | Syria & Kurdish Affairs Analyst | Closely
Monitoring #YPG | #SDF | #ISIS | #Afrin | #Kobane | #HDP| Also Focusing on
#Yazidi #Turkey #KRG"
Tweets in English & Türkçe
http://civiroglu.net/ (English, Kurdî & Türkçe)
"I
write articles and analysis in three languages: English, Kurdish and
Turkish. In the articles, I analyze Kurdish issue and the US policies
towards the Middle East.
My publications appear in various newspapers
and websites including Radikal, Rudaw, VOA ( Voice of America www.voanews.com), Ilke Haber, Evrensel & some others."
* Even though his focus currently is more on Rojava /
Syria, a solid reliable account
(I follow since 2014) with a good selection of links to new articles in
the world media. Conducts & gives interesting interviews and gives
lectures.
|
VI.
News Agencies
ANF (Ajansa Nûçeyan a Firatê) (Firat News Agency) Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ANHA (وكالة أنباء Ajansa Nûçeyan a Hawar ANHA هاوار)
Tweets in
العربية (Arabic), Türkçe, Kurdî, English...
ARA News [ARA (in Kurdish:
Ajansa
Rojnamevaniya
Azad) stands for ‘Independent Press Agency’]
"Reporting on local developments across Rojava, Kurdistan Region, Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
The
agency was launched amid the ongoing dramatic developments in Syria and
the Kurdish region, with a belief that the cosmopolitan audience
deserves to get an in-depth knowledge on the local developments in the
region."
Kurdish news agency recently closed in Turkey.
Dicle Haber Ajansı'nın (DİHA) kurumsal hesabıdır.
Left photo: ".@diclenewsagency journalist Nedim Oruç arrested on charge of aiding 'terrorist organization' #Journalismisnotacrime" (via @dilkocer 6 Jan 2016)
Right photo: "While covering news in the besieged city of #Cizre .@diclenewsagency journalist Bêrîtan Irlan has been detained" (via @avjin737 - 12 Feb 2016)
JINHA Women's News Amed (Diyarbakir), Turkey
"JINHA
News Agency provides daily news by and about women from Kurdistan,
Turkey & around the world with all-women news teams in Turkey,
Rojava & Iraqi Kurdistan.
" @JinhaWomensNews
http://twitter.com/JinhaWomensNews [4.064]
Great Webpage in English, Türkçe & Kurdî:
★ www.jinha.com.tr/en/ =
★ http://jinhaber.link
JINHA DAYANIŞMA (Türkçe) Ve yazıyoruz... 'Erkekler ne der,
ne hüküm verir' demeden yazıyoruz...
JIN HABER @jinhaber
http://twitter.com/jinhaber [80,1 Tsd.]
(Türkçe & Kurdî * Turkish & Kurdish)
 |
Arrested JINHA reporters
Beritan Canözer (left) &
Filiz Zeyrek (right)
|
Left photo: "JINHA reporter #BeritanCanözer arrested 120 days ago for being “excited” while covering a demo. Her trial is today" (via @mutludc 29 Mar 2016)
Right photo: "Reporter of the @JinhaWomensNews #FilizZeyrek has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for attending a rally (DIHA) #TwitterKurds #Turkey" (via @cdersim3 - 4 Oct 2016)
VII.
Twitter Turkey News Pages
 |
| Journos In Turkey (Profile Pic) |
JournosInTurkey
"English tweets by @Ben_Gazeteciyim, a group of journalists from Turkey for solidarity"
@JournosInTurkey
http://twitter.com/JournosInTurkey [2.321]
We've got to make ourselves useful now!
All this indeed is quite a lot. If it appears a bit 'slaying' (too much) for you: it represents only an eensy-weensy extract from the nearly endless possibilities of information and communication and for reasons already mentioned not even a tiny
selection of important accounts in Turkish or Kurdish language
has been incorporated here... (I assume, next Erdoğan bans German- and English-classes at Turkish schools and universities,
then good night, Turkish economy... ^.^). [Incidentally, if somebody wants to and is
able to translate a little summary of my articles into Turkish
or Kurdish, I really would like to publish this here. Further, all solidary activists may 'shamelessly' make use of my text blocks, too. I don't take over any responsibility though. ;-)]
Beside the already mentioned directly
affected, the global associations and
countless local solidarity initiatives only noted in the margin, the despite all threats
independent news agencies, wonderfully undaunted
journalists like Fréderike Geerdink and all the others, I finally would like to especially honor and recommend one journalist for her work who I think merits a multiple of followers. Because if I needed to confine myself to one single account about the topic, it would be the following:
Cahida Dêrsim
Düsseldorf, Germany
 |
| Cahida Dêrsim |
@cahida261 http://twitter.com/cahida261 [16,8 Tsd.]
en.hawarnews.com
(ANHA, see chapter VI. News Agencies)
Definitely
my 'favourite account' (if this word makes any sense in the light of the topics) regarding the developments in Turkey (and
in Rojava / Syria!). Comprehensive, fast & newsworthy, usually names her sources and
is very reliable. Further, I like her comparatively cautious way of dealing with sensitive photo material.
Angry indeed, but always serious.
Free of racism, islamophobia & homophobia.
Simply great!
|
... and this is about now!
But as already mentioned, it's not
solely about informations, especially if these reach only 'insiders',
media representatives and activists. All of us probably got to turn media work as
enlightenment of
a general public
as wide as possible more than ever into a 'weapon'
in the
struggle for democracy and human rights – and for this, presumably
neither blogs nor other
social media are the right place. Some in my eyes important
spheres to force the AKP dictatorship perspectivally to its knees I have addressed already in
part 2
of this article (there are surely many more!).
For this, critical journalists and initiatives in Germany should scrutinize maybe not only the Turkey of the AKP, but also increasingly the countless
involvements of the German (European) economy, banks, tourism business and arms industry
much more and drag them to light... they have plenty of unknown 'skeletons in their closets' for sure – and
in the light of the deadly busyness of German metalworking industry and arms factories
it is to be feared that this isn't the case only metaphorically at all (by the way, where are unions and
non right-wing parts of the 'peace movement' (possibly still loitering somewhere) when one needs them?).
I can achieve nothing of this, this have to do others.
As a highly appreciated colleague always says:
"I'm just a little princess."
Rhythmic synchronized swimming in the cold ice
A final word in the light of the ongoing
witch hunt against critical journalists:
The ones for whom this list is
not
made for, know about all the named sources (and many many more) already for sure. They may choke (or drown) in their 'mountains of data' or boredly fall asleep otherwise. Those for
whom it is made can and should make something out of it. Be it regarding an improvement and professionalization of networking, of the press and public relations work, an upgrade and better circulation of web pages and accounts or simply as encouraging & empowering signal to stand their ground and keep their chin up.
You are not alone, but part of a global, almost endless network!
As (not only) the left-wing Hamburg soccer club 1. FC St. Pauli always sings:
You never walk alone!
You should listen to that even if it comes from a
(hopefully extraordinarily sweet)
femme-lesbian
fan of ice dancing, rhythmic gymnastics and synchronised swimming
(who never ever will be seen in a soccer stadium)!
(^.^)
Because:
(via @mutludc 1 Oct 2016)
For the moment, this was my last contribution about this topic here.
I wish all of us further on
Godspeed!
Abolishment of death penalty worldwide!
Freedom for all democratic prisoners in NATO* & EU!
Down with the AKP fascism in Turkey!
For a colorful Turkey in which many worlds are included!
Down with the racism in Europe!
Visa exemption for everyone!
Refugees Welcome!
Long live the free Rojava!
Love - Freedom - Life!
♥
xxx
Magenta
* Just in case you forgot: Turkey is a NATO country, too!
Rheinmetall Group
"1655 Mehrere Tausend Menschen- Antikapitalistische Demo @'Organize!
