by DGR News Service | Dec 5, 2022 | ACTION, Culture of Resistance
Editor’s note: The Rojava conflict, also known as the Rojava Revolution, is a political upheaval and military conflict taking place in northern Syria and Iraq known among Kurds as Western Kurdistan or Rojava.
In this social revolution a prominent role is played by women both on the battlefield and within the newly formed political system, as well as the implementation of democratic confederalism, a form of libertarian socialism that emphasizes decentralization, gender equality and the need for local governance through direct democracy.
As an eco-feminist organization, DGR agrees with Women Defend Rojava that all women should aspire to the principles of self-defense. That this consciousness must be established in society as a culture of resistance. The power of the State will always attack those who resist and rise up against patriarchal violence and fight for a free life. As part of the women’s revolution, the Rojava takes an important role in building alternatives to the current patriarchal-capitalist world system and defending them.
“A society can not be free with out women’s liberation” (Abdullah Öcalan)
This is an open letter from Women Defend Rojava and other signatories requesting an investigation into Turkey’s alleged use of chemical weapons in Kurdish people based in Syria and Iraq.
Open letter from Women Defend Rojava
On the occasion of November 30, the Day of Remembrance of all Victims of Chemical Warfare, we write with deep concern about disturbing allegations of the use of prohibited weapons by the Turkish military in its ongoing military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Moreover, we are writing at a time in which the Turkish state is once again targeting civilians inside Syria and mobilizing for another possible ground invasion.
On October 18, local media released video footage showing the impacts of alleged chemical weapons exposure on two PKK guerrillas. Both were among 17 of the group’s fighters who lost their lives as a result of alleged chemical attacks in recent months.
The footage followed a report published by the NGO International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) last month that examined other allegations of Turkish chemical weapons use and called for an international investigation based on its findings.
In 2021, human rights monitors and local media reported at least once instance of civilian harm potentially caused by alleged Turkish chemical weapons use. The authors of the IPPNW report attempted to meet with the impacted civilians, but were blocked from doing so by the Kurdistan Regional Government.
We understand that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) can only investigate allegations of chemical weapons use when a request is made by a state party.
However, it is our view that these existing mechanisms do not reflect the realities of warfare today. Peoples without states and non-state political and military actors are deeply involved in modern conflicts. So are autocratic regimes that stifle the voices of those who wish to hold their governments to account for their behavior in war.
Both of these conditions are relevant here. The Kurdish people do not have a government that can speak up for them. They live under repressive regimes with powerful allies in the West—Turkey, for example, is supported by its NATO allies despite consistent evidence of serious human rights abuses.
This means that, while Kurds are disproportionately more likely to be subjected to war crimes and violations of international law as a result of their status as an oppressed minority, they are also disproportionately less likely to have access to justice mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable.
In order to be effective, human rights law and the laws of war must be implemented as universally as possible, free from political considerations. There should be as many avenues as possible for credible allegations of human rights violations and violations of the laws of war to be investigated by impartial international bodies—particularly serious violations like the use of prohibited weapons.
Furthermore, these investigations should not simply be aimed at the historical record. They should build towards justice and accountability for all who violate international law, as well as durable political solutions to ongoing conflicts.
To that end, we the undersigned make the following recommendations:
To the OPCW:
- Amend investigation procedures to allow greater access to justice and accountability for alleged chemical weapons use.
- Investigate allegations that Turkey may have used chemical weapons in Iraqi Kurdistan.
To the government of Turkey:
- End all cross-border military activity in Iraq and Syria immediately.
- Cooperate fully with local and international investigations of alleged chemical weapons use and other alleged war crimes and human rights abuses and hold perpetrators accountable if violations are found.
- Return to peace negotiations with the PKK to resolve the Kurdish issue by political means.
To the Kurdistan Regional Government:
- Allow international investigators full access to impacted regions and communities to determine if Turkey has used chemical weapons in its military operations.
To concerned governments:
- Request an investigation of alleged Turkish chemical weapons use via existing OPCW mechanism.
- End arms sales and security assistance to Turkey.
- Pressure Turkey to end cross-border military operations in Iraq and Syria.
- Support and assist in return to peace negotiations between Turkey and the PKK to resolve the Kurdish issue by political means.
To international civil society:
- Support the demands listed here by signing this letter and engaging with relevant governments and international institutions.
November 30, 2022
Signatories:
- Souad Abdelrahman, Head of Palestine Women’s Association – Palestine
- Dr Goran Abdullah – Scotland
- Ismet Agirman, Kurdish activist – UK
- Prof Dr Tayseer A. Alousi, Secretary General of the Arab Assembly for Supporting Kurdish Issue and President Sumerian Observatory for Human Rights – Netherlands
- Dr Maha Al-Sakban, Centre for Women’s Human Rights board member – Iraq
- Mick Antoniw MS, Senedd Constituency Member, Welsh Labour Group, Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – Wales
- Chiara Aquino, PhD Candidate, University of Edinburgh – Scotland
- Benedetta Argentieri, Journalist and filmmaker – Italy
- Rezgar Bahary, Journalist – UK
- Naamat Bedrdine, Politician and writer – Lebanon
- Walden Bello, International Adjunct Professor of Sociology, SUNY Binghamton, and recipient ot the Right Livelihood Award (aka Alternative Nobel Prize) in 2003 – USA
- Janet Biehl, Independent scholar, author, artist – USA
- Jonathan Bloch, Writer – UK
- Baroness Christine Blower, House of Lords – UK
- Debbie Bookchin, Journalist and author – USA
- Prof Bill Bowring, School of Law, Birkbeck College, University of London – UK
- Jane Byrne, Teacher – UK
- Robert Caldwell, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies, University at Buffalo – USA
- Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) – UK
- CND (Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament) – UK
- Margaret Cerullo, Hampshire College – USA
- Maggie Cook, UNISON NEC member – UK
- Mary Davis FRSA, Visiting Professor of Labour History at Royal Holloway University of London – UK
- Defend Kurdistan Initiative – UK
- Mary Dibis, Mousawat for Women – Lebanon
- Penelope Dimond, Writer and actor – UK
- Gorka Elejabarrieta Diaz, Basque Senator, Director EH Bildu International Relations Department – Basque Country
- Federal Executive Committee of Women’s Union Courage – Germany
- Silvia Federici, Author and Professor Emerita of Social Science, Hofstra University – USA
- Andrew Feinstein , Executive Director, Shadow World Investigations – UK
- Dr Phil Frampton, Author – UK
- Freedom Socialist Party – Australian Section
- Freedom Socialist Party – USA Section
- Andreas Gavrielidis, Greek-Kurdish Solidarity
- Lindsey German, Convenor Stop the War Coalition – UK
- Selay Ghaffar, Exiled women’s rights activist from Afghanistan
- Prof Barry Gills, Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science – UK
- Dr Sarah Glynn, Writer – France
- Mustafa Gorer, Kurdish activist – UK
- Kirmanj Gundi, KHRO (Kurdistan Human Rights Observer) – UK
- Prof Michael Gunter, General Secretary of EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) – USA
- Rahila Gupta, Chair of Southall Black Sisters – UK
- Kazhal Hamarashid, Board member of the Toronto Kurdish Community Centre – Canada
- Niaz Hamdi, KHRO (Kurdistan Human Rights Observer) – UK
- John Hendy QC, Barrister – UK
- Nick Hildyard, Policy analyst – UK
- Ava Homa, Writer, journalist and activist – Canada/USA
- Srecko Horvat, Co-founder of DiEM25 & Progressive International
- Dr Stephen Hunt, PiK Ecology Network – UK
- John Hunt, Journalist – UK
- Alia Hussein, Women’s Affairs Committee of the General Federation of Iraqi Trade Unions – Iraq
- Lord Hylton, House of Lords – UK
- Serif Isildag, Journalist – UK
- Ruken Isik, Adjunct Lecturer at American University – USA
- Dafydd Iwan, Former President Plaid Crymru – Wales
- Jin Women’s Association – Lebanon
- Ramsey Kanaan, Publisher, PM Press – UK
- James Kelman, Author – Scotland
- Gulay Kilicaslan, Department of Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University – Kanada
- Nida Kirmani, Women Democratic Front, Haqooq-e-Khalq Party – Pakistan
- Nimat Koko Hamad, Associate researcher and gender specialist – Sudan
- Kongra Star Women’s Movement – Rojava & Syria
- Claudia Korol, Founder of Popular Education Collective Pañuelos en Rebeldía, Feministas de Abya Yala – Argentina
- Balazs Kovacs, Consultant – UK
- Kurdish Women’s Relations Office (REPAK) – Kurdistan Region of Iraq
- Şeyda Kurt, Journalist and Writer – Germany
- Coni Ledesma, International Women’s Alliance (IWA) Europe – Netherlands
- Dr Anjila Al-Maamari, Center for Strategic Studies to Support Women and Children – Yemen
- Aonghas MacNeacail, Scottish Gaelic poet – Scotland
- Fazela Mahomed, Kurdish Human Rights Action Group – South Africa
- Saleh Mamon, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC) – UK
- Dr Carol Mann, Director of Women in War – France
- Mike Mansfield QC, Barrister – UK
- Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Lecturer of Political Sociology, Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge – UK
- Zahraa Mohamad, Journalist – Lebanon
- Francie Molloy, MP for Mid Ulster – Ireland
- David Morgan, Journalist – UK
- Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, Green Party Member of the House of Lords – UK
- Maryam Namazie, Human rights activist, commentator, and broadcaster – UK
- Dr Marie Nassif-Debs, President of Association Equality-Wardah Boutros – Lebanon
- Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions – UK
- Margaret Owen, O.B.E., President Widows for Peace through Democracy – UK
- Prof Felix Padel, Research associate at Center for World Environmental History, University of Sussex – UK
- Sarah Parker, Anti-Capitalist Resistance – UK
- Patriotic Democratic Socialist Party (PPDS) – Tunisia
- Peace in Kurdistan Campaign – UK
- Maxine Peake, Actress – UK
- Rosalind Petchesky, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Political Science, Hunter College & the Graduate Center, City University of New York – USA
- Dr Thomas Phillips, lecturer in law at Liverpool John Moore University – UK
- Eleonora Gea Piccardi, University of Coimbra, PhD candidate – Italy
- Ulisse Pizzi, Geologist, UK engineering consultancy – UK
- Dr Anni Pues, International human rights lawyer – UK
- Radical Women – USA
- Radical Women – Australia
- Bill Ramsay, Ex-President Educational Institute of Scotland and Convenor of Scottish National Party – Scotland
- Ismat Raza Shahjahan, President of Women Democratic Front – Pakistan
- Trevor Rayne, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! – UK
- Gawriyah Riyah Cude, Women’s Trade Union Forum – Iraq
- Dimitri Roussopoulos, Writer, editor, publisher, political activist – Canada
- Nighat Said Khan, Women Democratic Front, Women Action Forum WAF – Pakistan
- Dr Michael Schiffmann, Linguist, English Department of the University of Heidelberg, Translator – Germany
- Paul Scholey, Morrish Solicitors – UK
- Bert Schouwenburg, International Trade Union Advisor – UK
- Chris Scurfield, Political activist – UK
- Stephen Smellie, Deputy Convenor UNISON Scotland and NEC member – Scotland
- Geoff Shears, Vice-Chair of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies(CLASS) – UK
- Tony Shephard, Musician and graphic designer – UK
- Tony Simpson, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation – UK
- Radha D’Souza, Professor of law at the University of Westminster – UK
- Oskar Spong, Operator – UK
- Chris Stephens MP, Glasgow South West – Scotland
- Steve Sweeney, International Editor, Morning Star – UK
- Tooba Syed, Women Democratic Front – Pakistan
- Greta Sykes, Writer and artist – UK
- Tim Symonds, Novelist – UK
- Joly Talukder, General Secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Centre – Bangladesh
- Latifa Taamalah Women’s Committee – Tunisia
- Shavanah Taj, General Secretary Wales TUC – Wales
- Lisa-Marie Taylor, CEO of FiLiA – UK
- Saadia Toor, Women Democratic Front – Pakistan
- Tom Unterrainer, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation – UK
- Prof Abbas Vali, Professor of Modern Social and Political Theory – UK
- Dr Federico Venturini, University of Udine – Italy
- Andy Walsh, Chair, Greater Manchester Law Centre – UK
- Julie Ward, Former MEP – UK
- Arthur West, Secretary, Kilmarnock and Loudon Trades Union Council – Scotland
- Prof Kariane Westrheim, Chair of EU Turkey Civic Commission (EUTCC) – Norway
- Alex Wilson, PhD student at York University in Toronto, Ontario – Canada
- Dr Fiona Woods, Lecturer, Technological University Shannon – Ireland
- Paula Yacoubian, Member of Parliament – Lebanon
- Rosy Zúñiga, Latin America and Caribbean Popular Education Council CEAAL – Mexico
by DGR News Service | Dec 14, 2021 | Indirect Action, Lobbying, Male Supremacy, Male Violence, Protests & Symbolic Acts, Women & Radical Feminism
This story first appeared in Global Voices.
Protestors highlighted the increasing femicide and violence rates in Turkey
By Arzu Geybullayeva
Hundreds of women took the streets in Istanbul to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25. However, protestors were met with police violence, including tear gas and rubber bullets, as they tried to break through barricades to march on a busy pedestrian street. Similar protests took place across other cities, including the capital Ankara.
Women continue to be the hope, with their hopes, excitement, determination and enthusiasm. They have turned night into day on Istiklal Avenue.
We are not staying silent, we are not afraid, we are not obeying.
The women groups were also joined by the LGBTQ+ activists.
The main demand on the streets was for Turkey to rejoin the Istanbul Convention — a legally-binding human rights treaty created by the Council of Europe pledging to prevent, prosecute, and eliminate domestic violence and promote gender equality. Turkey announced its decision to withdraw from the international treaty in March of this year. In July, women across the country protested the official withdrawal.
Away from the busy street of Istiklal, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was also marking the day, promising to someday eliminate violence against women. “I hope we eliminate violence against women by strengthening our human and moral values. We are determined.”
But women’s rights groups say words aren’t enough, as Turkey continues to see increasing femicide rates. According to We Will Stop Femicide, a local platform documenting violence against women, a total of 225 women were killed between January and October 2021. A separate tracker documenting the names of women killed as a result of violence puts the number of victims at 353 in total for 2021. One of the most recent victims was 28-year-old Basak Cengiz, who was stabbed by a man who later confessed he did it out of boredom. The killer was charged with aggravated murder.
Cengiz’s murder renewed the calls for Turkey to rejoin the international convention; however, authorities — including Erdoğan — continue to insist the domestic legislation is enough. “To us, women are the holiest creature. We will never allow their holiness to be tainted,” the president said reportedly last week, adding, “Thus, there’s no need for the Istanbul Convention.”
The government’s “Action Plan for Combating Violence against Women” was announced in July 2021 and includes goals such as reviewing judicial processes, improving protection services, and gathering data on violence. So far, it has proven futile. “The current laws are not adequate. We hear about women being killed every day, because the existing structure, both legally and implementation wise, is not adequate,” Ayşe Faride Acar, a Turkish academic overseeing the implementation of the Istanbul Convention between 2015 – 2019 told AlJazeera in an interview.
And the numbers speak for themselves. Berrin Sonmez of the Women’s Platform for Equality recently told AFP that ever since the country withdrew from the convention in March, the sense of impunity has only risen. She said, “180 women were murdered between March and July 2021, and besides that, there have been 171 suspicious deaths. This is not a justifiable number.”
Erdoğan first expressed interest in leaving the convention in 2020. The final decision came after the president unveiled a human rights plan he says would “improve rights and freedoms in Turkey and help the country meet EU standards.”
The atmosphere on the streets on November 25 painted a different picture. “We are in the streets to call for the right of women to defend themselves, to call for justice for women who were killed, for their right to work, for the rights of lesbian women,” told one protest participant, a member of Women’s Defense Network, an organization connecting women activists across the country, in an interview with AlJazeera. Another protest participant said, “Every day in our homes, in the streets, in our workplaces, we are subjected to violence,” adding, “We’ve had enough.”
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | May 28, 2013 | Obstruction & Occupation
By Amazon Watch
Today [May 21, 2013] representatives of dam-affected communities and organizations from South America, the Middle East, Europe, the US and Africa, including Brazilian indigenous leaders accompanied by Amazon Watch, blocked the entrance to the construction site of the Ilisu dam in southeast Turkey demanding an end to controversial development that would sink an ancient city dating back to the Bronze Age.
Some 20 people including Kayapó Chief Megaron Txucarramae, one of Brazil’s most noted indigenous leaders in the struggle against the Belo Monte dam in the Amazon, held up banners in English and Turkish reading ‘Rivers Unite, Dams Divide: Stop Ilisu and Belo Monte dams.’ Delegates from the International Rivers Conference held in Istanbul last Saturday joined local protestors to show solidarity with their struggle to stop the Ilisu dam on the Tigris River, Turkey’s last free-flowing river.
“The peace process cannot be completed without the cancellation of the controversial Ilisu dam project and the protection of Hasankeyf. At the same time, damming the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and stopping their flow reaching Syria and Iraq is a contradiction to Turkey’s ‘zero problems’ policy with its neighbors because the increasing water crisis in the Mesopotamian basin may lead to increased conflict,” said Dicle Tuba Kilic, Rivers Program Coordinator for Doga (BirdLife Turkey).
The Belo Monte dam in Brazil and the Ilisu dam in Turkey are two of the most controversial mega-dam projects in the world today. Both dams are located in cultural and natural hotspots, inflicting devastating consequences and displacing over 75,000 people in Amazonia and Mesopotamia. In addition, the Ilisu dam, located a few kilometers from the Iraqi border, will affect the livelihood of Marsh Arabs living in the newly restored Basra Marshes. Turkey controls the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters, which dictates how much water flows downstream into Syria and Iraq.
“Our struggle to preserve the Xingu River from the Belo Monte dam is no different from the fight to protect the Tigris River from the Ilisu dam. We are unified in our positions to say ‘no’ to our governments. You cannot kill a river that sustains its people and culture,” said Kayapó Chief Megaron Txucarramae.
Legal and political controversies have surrounded the push to build the Belo Monte and Ilisu dams. No adequate Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out for either dam, and both governments have failed to implement prior consultations and mitigation plans to protect the environment and rights of affected communities. Both dams proceed despite court rulings halting their construction and widespread national and international opposition to their development.
Faced by governments steamrolling human rights and environmental protections, dam-affected communities are uniting their struggle under the DAMOCRACY banner. DAMOCRACY includes 15 national and international organizations from all corners of the globe. Among them are Doga Dernegi, Amazon Watch, International Rivers, and RiverWatch.
Damocracy is produced by Doga Dernegi (BirdLife Turkey), in collaboration with other founding members of the Damocracy movement: Amazon Watch, International Rivers, RiverWatch, Gota D’água (Drop of Water) Movement, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre (MXVPS).
To watch the documentary, visit: http;//www.youtube.com/DamocracyTV
From Amazon Watch: http://amazonwatch.org/news/2013/0521-international-activists-block-ilisu-dam-construction-site-in-turkey
by Deep Green Resistance News Service | Mar 28, 2012 | Biodiversity & Habitat Destruction
By Jeremy Hance / Mongabay
Turkey: the splendor of the Hagia Sophia, the ruins of Ephesus, and the bizarre caves of the Cappadocia. For foreign travelers, Turkey is a nation of cultural, religious, and historic wonders: a place where cultures have met, clashed, and co-created. However, Turkey has another wealth that is far less known: biodiversity. Of the globe’s 34 biodiversity hotspots, Turkey is almost entirely covered by three: the Caucasus, the Irano-Anatolian, and the Mediterranean. Despite its wild wealth, conservation is not a priority in Turkey and recent papers in Science and Biological Conservation warn that the current development plans in the country, which rarely take the environment into account, are imperiling its species and ecosystems.
“The current ‘developmentalist obsession,’ particularly regarding water use, threatens to eliminate much of what remains, while forcing large-scale migration from rural areas to the cities. According to current plans, Turkey’s rivers and streams will be dammed with almost 4,000 dams, diversions, and hydroelectric power plants for power, irrigation, and drinking water by 2023,” the authors write, adding that other threats include urbanization, wetland-draining, and poaching.
Turkey is particularly rich in plants: with over 9,000 recorded to date, a third of them are found only in Turkey. Amphibians and reptiles are also highly diverse with 150 species to date. And Turkey, even now, still retains some startling big mammals including the striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena), brown bear (Ursus arctos), gray wolf (Canis lupus), caracal (Caracal caracal), and Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx). But it has also lost nearly as many as it has retained, including cheetahs, lions, tigers, and aurochs.Turkey is also a hugely important bird country with over 500 species identified so far.”Turkey lies at the intersection of globally important bird migration flyways. It has the highest number of breeding bird species in the Europe, but also the highest number of threatened bird species in Europe,” co-author Cagan Sekercioglu, a Turkish ornithologist and ecologist, with Stanford, told mongabay.com. “Few people realize that the famous Rift Valley bird migration over Israel and into Africa, and the Rift Valley itself, begin in Turkey. Bird species of traditional farms are declining fastest in Europe but can still be found in large numbers in the bioculturally diverse rural communities of Turkey, particularly in the east. Among others, Turkey hosts globally important breeding populations of threatened white-headed ducks, Egyptian vultures, sakers, great bustards, and imperial eagles, and is a key stopover site for declining migratory bird species like sociable plovers.”But all of Turkey’s remaining species are facing threats. In 2012 the Yale Environmental Performance Index ranked Turkey in the bottom 8 percent for its biodiversity and habitat conservation efforts, putting Turkey in the same category as some of the world’s most troubled and impoverished countries, such as Haiti, Libya, Eritrea, and Iraq. But scientists warn that recent policy efforts could push Turkey, which is working to become an economic powerhouse, even lower.
“Turkey’s environmental laws and conservation efforts are eroding, not improving. This has precipitated a conservation crisis that has accelerated over the past decade. This crisis has been exacerbated by legislative developments that may leave Turkey with a nature conservation legal framework that is weakened and severely out of line with globally accepted principles,” scientists wrote recently in separate letter in Science.Loose laws, poor enforcement, and little public oversight has created a situation whereby the Turkish government is capable of steamrolling any environmental concerns.”The government, practically unopposed, easily modifies existing laws and passes new ones to remove any environmental obstacles to the construction of dams, mines, factories, roads, bridges, housing projects, and tourism developments. Such construction increasingly occurs in ‘protected’ areas, often at the expense of local people,” the authors write.
