Iraq condemns Turkish incursion in north against PKK fighters

Ankara launched a new air and ground offensive against the Kurdish rebels

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar 'all planned targets' had been 

achieved in the offensive. AP

Mina Aldroubi

Apr 19, 2022

Iraq has condemned Turkey’s latest military offensive on its northern territories against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Ankara said early on Monday that it had launched an air and ground offensive against Kurdish fighters in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

At least 19 suspected Kurdish rebels were killed, while four Turkish soldiers were wounded, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said.

“Iraq categorically rejects, and strongly condemns, the military operations carried out by the Turkish forces by bombing Iraqi lands through helicopters and drones,” Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al Sahaf said.

“Ankara’s actions violate the principle of good neighbourliness and Iraq will not be headquarters for harming any of its neighbouring countries.

“We refuse that Iraq becomes an area for conflict and for other countries to settle scores,” he said.

Populist Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr warned Ankara about its operations in the country

Mr Al Sadr said Iraq “will not be silent” if it continues to violate its sovereignty by bombing areas in northern Duhok province, part of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

“Neighbouring Turkey has targeted Iraq land unjustly and without pretext, and if [Turkey] has suspected any danger from Iraqi territory then it must coordinate with the Iraqi government to end its concerns as Iraqi security forces are capable of defending it,” Mr Al Sadr said.

“If this is repeated, then we will not remain silent, for Iraq is a fully sovereign country,” he said.

Turkish jets and artillery struck suspected PKK targets, while Turkish commandos — supported by helicopters and drones — crossed into the region by land or were airlifted by helicopters, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.

“Our heroic commandos and maroon berets — supported by attack helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, armed unmanned aerial vehicles — arrived on the scene by land and by air and captured the determined targets,” Mr Akar said. “Many terrorists were neutralised.”

“At this point we have reached, all planned targets have been captured,” he said.

Baghdad has repeatedly said that the presence of Turkish troops in the country was a “blatant breach of the UN charter” and was not authorised by the government.

Turkey has been fighting against the PKK for decades along its borders with Syria and Iraq.

The PKK has long used the rugged terrain of northern Iraq as a rear base to stage attacks in Turkey, which in turn set up military positions inside Iraqi territory.

Turkey and the PKK — considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU — have been fighting since 1984.

Updated: April 19, 2022,

KNK: War against the Kurds will not prevent Erdogan’s downfall

KNK calls on all governments and international organisations to take urgent action against Turkey’s violation of international law, to unambiguously condemn this crime of aggression, and to demand that Turkey withdraws its troops from South Kurdistan.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Monday, 18 Apr 2022, 14:41

The Executive Council of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) released a statement calling for action against Turkish aggression and occupation in the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).

The statement released on Monday includes the following:

“While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to play the role of mediator in the Ukraine war and portray himself as a peacemaker, he has now launched a renewed, large-scale military offensive against South Kurdistan (northern Iraq), another unprovoked campaign by the Turkish Armed Forces to invade, depopulate, and occupy more of the area. Once again, the true face of Erdogan, that of an aggressor and occupier, can be seen in Kurdistan. A policy of denial and war against the Kurdish people is a central principle of the Turkish state and Erdogan’s leadership, and Erdogan’s transparent efforts to act as a mediator on the internal stage serve only to distract from the destructive role that Erdogan continues to play in Turkey, Kurdistan, and throughout the wider region.

On 17 April, the Turkish state launched a new military campaign aimed at occupying the areas of Şikefta Birîndara, Kurêjaro (Kurazhar) and Çiyayê Reş in the Zap region of South Kurdistan. In this illegal, cross-border campaign, the Turkish Armed Forces have been using heavy artillery, warplanes, drones and helicopters, and airlifting ground forces by helicopter into the region as part of a parallel ground offensive. From the region of Zap, the Turkish forces aim to extend their occupation further into the regions of Metîna and Avaşîn-Basyan.

The use of heavy weaponry and ground forces presents a grave threat to the entire region, and unity among Kurds in all parts of Kurdistan and the diaspora is the only answer to this aggression. The recent Newroz celebrations on 21 March featured a proclamation of a Kurdish national unity stance, and over 10 million Kurds in North Kurdistan and Turkey delivered a clear message to Erdogan that they will not bow to his brutality or policy of annihilation. Millions of Kurds have provided Turkey with a path to peace, and expressed to the peoples of Turkey and the world that the freedom of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan will pave the way for peace in Turkey and beyond.

Appearances with certain Kurdish politicians from South Kurdistan will not help Erdogan hide his hostility towards the Kurdish people, as his track record of aggression against the Kurds in various parts of Kurdistan is well established. The recent Newroz celebrations showed the reality of Kurdish national consciousness and aspirations for freedom. Since Newroz, the torture and murder of Kurdish political prisoners has increased, as have attacks on offices of the progressive Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and arrests of those who participated in Newroz celebrations. Meanwhile, in Rojava and North and East Syria, Turkish airstrikes against the Kurds have intensified.

Erdogan is now facing many domestic crises, including a dire economic situation, and is desperately trying to prevent his downfall by escalating the Turkish state’s war against the Kurds to rally nationalist support at home, while working to reinforce Turkey’s position in the international diplomatic arena by attempting to play the role of mediator in the Ukraine crisis and claim a unique geostrategic position between NATO and Russia. If the world continues to turn a blind eye to Erdogan’s aggression, we will see increased bloodshed, displacement, and instability throughout Kurdistan and the Middle East.

We must break the silence on Turkey’s invasion of South Kurdistan and take action!

We call on all governments and international organisations, including the UN, NATO, the EU, the Council of Europe and the Arab League, to take urgent action against this violation of international law, to unambiguously condemn this crime of aggression, and to demand that Turkey withdraws its troops from South Kurdistan.

We call on political parties, human rights organisations, organisations for peace, trade unionists and activists to oppose this Turkish aggression and occupation.”

KON-MED announces demonstrations throughout Germany to protest Turkey's new invasion attacks

After several days of air and ground attacks, the Turkish army has launched a new invasion of South Kurdistan. The umbrella organization KON-MED announces demonstrations throughout Germany.

The Turkish army has started a new invasion of South Kurdistan (Kurdistan region of Iraq) after several days of air and ground attacks. The occupation attacks, which began on the night between Sunday and Monday, interest the Medya Defense Areas controlled by the guerrilla forces. So far, the region Zap has been affected. KON-MED, the Germany-based umbrella organization of Kurdish associations, said that there will be demonstrations throughout Germany today.

"The Turkish government is trying to drive out the Kurdish population with its war and is striving for a permanent occupation and annexation of the region," explains Zübeyde Zümrüt, co-chair of KON-MED, adding that “Turkey's attacks violate international law and violate Iraq's sovereignty. The scientific service of the Bundestag already determined this during the attacks by Turkey on northern and eastern Syria in 2019.”

During the invasion carried out since April last year in the regions of Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna and during the attack on Gare, the Turkish army also used poison gas in South Kurdistan.

At least 367 such attacks against the Kurdish freedom movement and the population were registered in 2021, in addition to almost daily bombardments. Forty guerrillas lost their lives. Civilians were also affected by the use of banned chemical weapons.

With the recent invasion, the Turkish aggression against South Kurdistan has reached a new level. Other parts of civil infrastructure and the habitat of both people and animals have already been destroyed, and the new attacks are likely to trigger further exodus.

"As the umbrella organization of the Kurds living here in Germany, we strongly condemn these attacks by Turkey and call for an immediate end," explains Engin Sever, also co-chair of KON-MED, adding: "We call on the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to as Turkey's most important partner to end the war."

Activists in Europe protest Turkish invasion attacks

The invasion attacks by the Turkish state on Medya Defense Areas were protested in many cities of Europe. Thousands of people took to the streets underlining that they would never accept the betrayal of the KDP.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Tuesday, 19 Apr 2022, 07:49

The invasion attacks launched by the Turkish state in cooperation with the KDP in Avaşîn, Metîna and Zap regions were protested by Kurds and their friends in many European countries, especially in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and Greece.

VIENNA


The attacks on Medya Defense Zones were protested in Vienna. Reacting to the attacks by the Turkish state and the KDP, the people of Kurdistan and their friends gathered in front of the Karlsplatz Opera and held a march and rally organized by the Vienna Democratic Society Center.

COPENHAGEN


The occupation attacks were protested in Copenhagen with a march. Speakers said that the betrayal of the KDP offered Kurdistan's gains to the Turkish state, and could never be accepted.

MONTPELLIER


In Montpellier, the Turkish state's invasion attacks and the cooperation of the KDP were protested at Comedie Square. Cevat Güneş said that the Turkish state and the KDP will never achieve their goal with these attacks.

LAVRIO

Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger (TCŞ) and the Kurdistan Cultural Association protested the invading Turkish army's attacks against Zap, Avaşin and Metina in cooperation with the KDP with a march in Lavrio camp in Greece. Hundreds of people joined the march.

FRANKFURT


Kurds participated in the peace action held in Frankfurt for Easter, and protested the attacks carried out by the Turkish state. Kurds and leftist organizations and unions also participated to the protest and demanded Germany's arms trade to end.

DORTMUND

In the city of Dortmund, people reacting to the invasion attacks by Turkey came together in front of the central station. A call was made to support the guerrillas' resistance.

DARMSTADT


Kurds living in Darmstadt and their friends protested the attacks launched by the invading Turkish state with the support of the collaborative KDP against guerrilla areas.

KASSEL


In the city of Kassel, the DKTM organised a demonstration at Königsplatz square to protest the attacks on Zap, Metîna and Avaşîn regions.

DÜSSELDORF

YJK-E and FED-MED Düsseldorf organized an action to protest the invasion attacks launched by Turkey with the support of the KDP.

The protest, attended by hundreds of people, was in front of the Hauptbahnhof.

France’s Le Pen brings Israeli-Palestinian conflict into presidential campaign

Head of French far-right National Rally party and presidential candidate Marine Le Pen explains how she sees future relations between her country and the Middle East, should she be elected.

This combination of file pictures created on April 12, 2022, shows the leader of French far-right party Rassemblement National and candidate for the French presidential elections Marine Le Pen, on Dec. 2, 2021, and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Oct. 10, 2019. -

 JULIEN DE ROSA, CHARLES PLATIAU/POOL/AFP via Getty Image

Rina Bassist
April 19, 2022

PARIS — Throughout her years in politics, foreign relations have not been the strong suit of French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who face a run off with incumber President Emmanuel Macron on April 24.

Addressing the press on April 14 to expose her foreign relations guidelines, the head of the far-right National Rally party dedicated more than 20 minutes of the one-hour-long session to explaining how she sees future relations between France and the Middle East.

Le Pen faces an uphill battle when it comes to defining her foreign policy outlook. French President Emmanuel Macron has been active in foreign policy during his nearly five years as president. In particular he has carved out his own roles within NATO and the European Union, and taken a special interest in Lebanon and the Middle East more broadly. Macron was the first Western head of state to visit Beirut following the devastating port explosion in August of 2020 and is deeply engaged in the reconstruction efforts. He has also worked with Saudi Arabia last year on a joint initiative to end the diplomatic row between Beirut and several Gulf states.

France is also a member of the P5+1 countries in negotiations with Iran on resuming the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Here’s what LePen had to say on various Middle East topics:

Lebanon:
"Speaking about privileged relations, there is first of all Lebanon, which is dear to my heart. It will constitute one of my priorities," said Le Pen. Still, she emphasized that "our desire to help stabilize Lebanon does not reduce in any way our commitment to friendly ties with Israel. On the contrary. We will support rapprochement between the two states." Le Pen noted that the problem of Iran instrumentalizing Hezbollah could only be resolved in talks with Israel, Iran, Russia, the United States, Saudi Arabia and the Vatican.

The two-state solution:
"I will remain loyal to the official policy of our Foreign Ministry, namely for France to continue being engaged in favor of the two-state solution. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be resolved only through the creation of a Palestinian state independent, viable and democratic, living in peace and security alongside Israel," said Le Pen. In a prior interview with the Israeli press, Le Pen had noted that she believes only direct dialogue between the sides could bring about peace.

Jerusalem:
In the framework of the two-state solution, Jerusalem should be the capital of both states, said Le Pen. "Until this is resolved internationally, France will recognize no sovereignty over Jerusalem," she added.

The current wave of terror facing Israelis:
“I am very sensitive to any manifestation of terror, and I quickly expressed my solidarity with the Israeli people, victims of a wave of terror attacks,” noted Le Pen.

Hijab-Wearing Women to File Complaint over Beating by French Police


TEHRAN (FNA)- Two Muslim women wearing headscarves, or the hijab, who were beaten by French police last Thursday on the Clichy Bridge will file a complaint against the officers, their lawyer announced on Twitter.

Nabil Boudi said his clients, who were subjected to police violence, still cannot get over the shock of the incident, but they are determined to see that justice is served, Anadolu news agency reported.

The complaint will be filed directly to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) for willful violence by public officers.

Video footage of the attack showed the police had beaten two women wearing headscarves for minutes in the middle of the road, punched one of them, and tried to throw the other one to the ground.

In other video footage taken by a woman passing by, the police continued to attack the women despite warnings from people at the scene, claiming they had the authority to beat them.

After the video footage went viral, many users on social media commented that the French police were Islamophobic.

The Paris Police Department in a statement claimed that the two women prevented a police car from stopping a suspicious vehicle by crossing the road.

Based on witnesses' reports, it was stated that contrary to the French police's statement that the police had beaten the two young women, who were exercising their right of passage, for Islamophobic reasons and that the statement was "made up" to protect the polic

Hundreds of thousands flee Russia and Putin’s ‘two wars’

At least 200,000 Russians have abandoned their homes and jobs for fear of being persecuted as ‘scum and national traitors’.

Akyn Opera, a documentary performance Nana Grinstein, based 

on the ordeal of Central Asian labour migrants in Moscow, on the 

stage of Teatr.doc, one of Russia's most persecuted theaters 

[Photo courtesy Nana Grinstein]

By Mansur Mirovalev
Published On 18 Apr 2022

Vinnytsia, Ukraine – Nana Grinstein fled Russia because the Kremlin’s new laws punishing criticism of its so-called “special operation in Ukraine” may land her in jail.

Grinstein, a playwright, her husband Viktor, a video editor, and their 14-year-old daughter, Tonya, left behind the hysteria in Russia caused by the war in Ukraine, and the persecution of anyone who dares to say that President Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” is, in fact, a war.

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“The world that we’ve been building for years, that seemed unshakable, important and relevant, crumbled before my very eyes like it was made of cardboard,” Grinstein told Al Jazeera from a rented apartment in the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Arriving in Armenia in early March, the family found that tens of thousands of other Russians had made the journey before them, and they have witnessed the arrival of many more since.



Grinstein and her family fled Russia fearing the very real possibility of persecution for being, to use Putin’s own words, “scum” and “national traitors” – slurs that have spurred a witch-hunt reminiscent of the Stalin-era purges.

The Grinsteins are now among at least 200,000 Russians who have abandoned their homes and jobs because they are disgusted by the Kremlin’s attack on Ukraine and the largely enthusiastic response to the war by their compatriots.

“They want nothing to do with Putin’s sham-Imperial project and don’t want to be associated with his war crimes,” columnist Leonid Bershidsky wrote in mid-March.

“Others [leave] because they cannot imagine living under the Soviet-style autarky to which Western sanctions have doomed Russia,” he wrote.
Post-invasion flight

The post-invasion flight from Russia is the latest but hardly the final chapter of the exodus of millions who cannot stand to live under Putin’s rule.


From 2000, when Putin was first elected president, to 2020, four to five million Russians have emigrated, according to research published by the Takie Dela magazine in October.

The figures were based on surveys, official national data from dozens of countries – from Kazakhstan to Canada – as well as Russian statistics on the number of people who had cancelled their residence registration.

In the early 2000s, Russians migrated mostly to Europe and North America, but after 2014 more moved to former Soviet republics, the magazine reported.

The new tide of Russian migrants is huge – and rising.

At least 200,000 people left Russia in the first 10 days of the war in Ukraine, according to calculations by Konstantin Sonin, a Russian-born economist at the University of Chicago.

“The tragic exodus not seen for a century,” Sonin wrote in a tweet, where he compared the ongoing flight with the “White Emigration” that followed the 1917 Bolshevik revolution when some five million people fled the former Russian empire – ending up in Germany, France, the United States, Argentina and China.

Among the emigres were novelist Vladimir Nabokov, composer Igor Stravinsky and Ukrainian-born helicopter designer Igor Sikorsky.

Nowadays, emigration is faster and far easier, especially for digital nomads who can live almost anywhere as long as there is access to broadband internet and online banking.

A survey of more than 2,000 emigrants conducted in mid-March by OK Russians, a nascent nonprofit that helps emigres, found that about a third of those who left were IT experts, managers of all sorts constituted another third, and the remainder were office workers and creative freelancers – designers, bloggers, journalists.

The survey concluded that at least 300,000 Russians had left the country by March 16, mostly to Georgia, Turkey and Armenia.

Others have left for more exotic destinations.

‘Two wars’

When the war started, Leonid Shmelkov was on vacation in Sri Lanka.

The 39-year-old animator, whose “My Own Personal Moose” cartoon won a special prize at Germany’s 2014 Berlin International Film Festival, decided to stay in Sri Lanka – and urged a dozen friends to join him.

Shmelkov and his friends work on long-distance projects despite imperfect web access and power supply in Sri Lanka. They have learned how to get by living on an island where web access and the power supply are far from perfect.

Sri Lanka’s tourism-dependent economy nosedived because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and authorities have allowed thousands of Russian tourists to extend their stay because they are welcome of the business, Shmelkov said.

Reflecting on the conflict, Shmelkov feels that Moscow is not just at war with Kyiv.

Propaganda exaggerating the role Soviet forces played in the victory over Nazi Germany led to a “cult of war” that acted as a precursor to the current war hysteria in Russia, he explained.

“We’ve had some sort of a cult of war, a very wrong cult of war, not in the sense of ‘let’s do everything so that it doesn’t happen again’,” Shmelkov told Al Jazeera.

“The Russian government is waging two wars – one against Ukraine and the other one against normal people in Russia.”
‘Not Orwell, this is King’

Two-thirds of Russians feel “pride, inspiration or joy” about the war in Ukraine, according to a March 4 survey by the Levada Center, Russia’s last independent pollster. Only 18 percent felt “anger, shame or depression” at the war.

A resident of Moscow, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, compared the current environment in Russia as being more like a plot in a Stephen King horror novel than to the anti-Utopia of George Orwell’s “1984”.

“I am surrounded by zombies. No one forces them, they support the war voluntarily and with joy. This is not Orwell, this is King,” she said.

Propaganda-filled television shows are broadcast “almost around the clock”, and their influence on the hearts and minds is as devastating as “nuclear weapons”, she added.

“It’s killing everyone and everything, turning black into white and vice versa. Year after year, drop after drop, fake after fake.”

Thousands of war critics have been jailed, harassed, their homes raided, subjected to smear campaigns, and physically attacked by unidentified thugs, human rights groups say.

This new witch-hunt surpasses any previous quashing of dissent under Putin, who said in mid-March that “scum” and “national traitors” should be “purged”.

“For two decades, the argument has been that oppression and human rights violations are a necessary evil to ensure economic growth and stability, [but] in the end, Putin’s regime has neither,” said Ivar Dale, a senior policy adviser with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a rights monitor.

“The increasing brutality in Russian society has forced the country’s brightest to leave in search for a better future for their families,” he told Al Jazeera.
War hysteria

Newly resident in Yerevan, Grinstein’s professional and personal history is a reflection of the evolution of oppression in Russia.

The 51-year-old Muscovite penned scripts for award-winning movies and television shows, but it was her lesser-known writings that drew the ire of Russian authorities. Since 2011, she has been writing for Teatr.doc, Russia’s most political, persecuted, and outspoken theatre.

Grinstein based her plays on interviews and documents that described the lives of LGBTQ Russians, Muslim labour migrants, and the Soviet army’s atrocities.

For years, the Teatr.doc troupe faced threats, arrests and interrogations, but their shoestring-budget performances won accolades and awards.

When the war in Ukraine began in February, Grinstein tried to rally filmmakers she knew in opposition to the conflict. Her appeals were in vain, because too many of their film projects depended on government funding.

Grinstein’s own family history epitomises the new divisions in Russian society – and the not-so-distant Soviet past.

Her husband, Viktor, barely talks to his pro-Putin parents who live in the separatist-controlled southeastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

Her daughter, Tonya, saw how the Kremlin’s war propaganda affected her peers, who mostly cheered the invasion.

“She was scared more than we were,” Grinstein told Al Jazeera.

For Grinstein, their recent arrival in Armenia echoes another war that uprooted her family a generation ago.

She was born in 1971 in Baku, the capital of then-Soviet Azerbaijan, into an Armenian-Jewish family where she remembers wearing a classy dress to her high school graduation in 1988 – and walking home past soldiers in armoured vehicles.

The troops were deployed by Moscow during the Azeri-Armenian tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh that would spark a war four years later.

Anti-Armenian pogroms in Azerbaijan soon forced the Grinsteins to leave for Armenia, from where she later moved to Moscow to study in a prestigious film school.

She realises now that despite her anti-war stance, her family will still be blamed for allowing Russia’s war against Ukraine to happen.

“My forefathers were persecuted for being Jewish, then – for being Armenian, and we will be persecuted for being Russian,” she said.

What soothes her is working on plans to move to Germany, “the immense hospitality” of Armenians – and the view in Yerevan she has of Armenia’s most sacred mountain.

“I see Mount Ararat from my window, and that’s inspiring,” she said.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Almost one in 10 parents ‘very likely to use UK food bank in next three months’


Survey finds third have skipped meal to keep up with other costs and 20% unable at least once to afford cooking with oven

Deliveroo is to enter a partnership with the Trussell Trust to support food banks.

 Photograph: Deliveroo/PA


Tom Ambrose
Mon 18 Apr 2022

Nearly one in 10 parents are “very likely” to use a food bank to feed their children over the next three months, a survey has found.

It means that as many as 1.3 million parents are expecting to have to visit a food bank as families struggle to cope with rising costs of living, with 88% of those surveyed admitting their monthly food bill has increased in the past three months alone.

The Trussell Trust research, carried out with the food delivery company Deliveroo, also found that a third of parents skipped at least one meal to keep up with other costs, while 20% said they had been unable to cook hot food at least once in the past three months because of the cost of using an oven.

Of those who said their household bills had gone up, 58% said they had cut back on heating as a result.

Emma Revie, the chief executive of food bank charity, said: “Everyone should be able to afford their own food, but as families face the biggest income squeeze in a generation, people are telling us they’re having to make impossible decisions between heating and eating and being forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves.”

She said the charity was about to enter a partnership with Deliveroo to provide up to 2 million meals and support for people facing hunger across the country.

“Our new partnership with Deliveroo will help us support food banks to provide emergency food and in-food-bank support to thousands of people in immediate crisis while we work towards our long-term vision of a future where nobody needs to turn to charity to get by,” she said.

Will Shu, Deliveroo’s chief executive, said: “I am pleased we are partnering with the Trussell Trust to support local food banks across the country. We’re committed to using our platform to play a positive role in the communities in which we operate.

“Together with our consumers, our amazing restaurant and grocery partners and our network of riders, we want to play our part in helping to tackle food insecurity in the UK.”

The archbishop of Canterbury spoke in his Easter Sunday sermon at Canterbury Cathedral of his concern for families struggling with rising energy and food prices.

“Families across the country are waking up to cold homes and empty stomachs as we face the greatest cost-of-living crisis we have known in our lifetimes. And because of this they wake up with fear,” he said.

Leading analysts warned last week that energy bills would stay well above £2,000 for two more years.

Cornwall Insights, which approximately predicted the recent 54% rise in the cap on average energy bills to £1,971, said that prolonged high prices would threaten the chancellor’s loan scheme to help households cope with the soaring cost of gas.

Attitudes of the South Sudanese diaspora towards COVID-19 vaccination in Canada

Malith Kur
April 18th, 2022

Structural racism and socio-economic exclusion have been shown to impact people’s decision-making about COVID-19 vaccines. For South Sudanese diaspora communities in Canada, experiences of exclusion interacted with pandemic restrictions to influence attitudes towards vaccine uptake. New research shows that while online misinformation did influence engagement with vaccines among South Sudanese Canadians, more important were perceptions of being recognised in state policy decisions.

A government-sponsored resettlement programme in the mid-1990s attracted many Sudanese to Canada, often arriving as refugees from East and North Africa during the Sudanese civil war. Others who settled in Canada fled South Sudan later. Despite living in the country for many years, the identities and opportunities of South Sudanese in Canada are still being navigated and made.

Our research project “Ethnographies of (Dis) Engagement” seeks to understand orientations towards COVID-19 vaccinations among groups across the G7 described as vaccine “hesitant”. Incorporated into policies as a minority group, South Sudanese Canadians have been assumed to resist vaccination. But while policy approaches generally attribute reluctance or refusal to get vaccinated to information failures, or to inappropriate health messaging, this project has uncovered that structural racism and socio-economic exclusion plays an equal role in people’s decision-making about getting vaccinated. Exploring orientations towards COVID-19 vaccinations among South Sudanese diaspora communities living in Canada, our research shows how structural exclusion, heightened during the pandemic, interfaces with the relevance of vaccine misinformation.

Featuring the voices of South Sudanese Canadians, our work shows that the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated restrictions, had connected with processes of the diaspora’s community-building in a number of ways.

South Sudanese in Canada during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought fundamental changes to diaspora communities throughout 2020-22. Many South Sudanese in Canada earn low incomes and rely on government social transfers. Like other minority groups, many South Sudanese Canadian families live in social housing complexes, which are usually congested and poverty-stricken areas in populous cities. Many South Sudanese Canadians also work in types of employment that were considered mandatory throughout the pandemic. Our interlocutors were frontline workers, including taxi drivers and nursing home employees, or worked in factories. Groups were rendered particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus. Accordingly, over the last two years, many South Sudanese Canadians have suffered illness and experienced loss related to COVID-19.

Awareness about these deaths travelled fast among South Sudanese, who are linked physically and virtually to other members of the diaspora. These shared experienced have created anxiety and shared grief among all South Sudanese Canadians, sentiments compounded by restrictions on funerary rights. Social restrictions were felt particularly acutely by people who remain socially reliant and connected to other South Sudanese people through friendship, care, worship, diaspora associations and communal celebrations. Denial of togetherness in a context of loss, due to lockdowns and physical distancing restrictions, led many to invoke aspects of a shared South Sudanese identity associated with war-time survival. Memories of the war became particularly prominent during group mourning of death within diaspora communities.

Similarly, these notions have been evoked to explain changing state policies to access vaccines. Our interlocutors explained that having to take the vaccination has become a traumatic experience, which reminded them of year of war when, too, there was no freedom for individual choices.

COVID-19 vaccinations amongst South Sudanese Canadians

Against this backdrop, many South Sudanese Canadians, especially frontline workers, reluctantly welcomed news of vaccine rollouts and have remained cautious of vaccines. To date, over 83.38% of Canadians have been vaccinated. Many of our interlocutors had been vaccinated but did not accept vaccines voluntarily. Rather, government mandates and the required proof of vaccination in workplaces had compelled many to get the shots. People interviewed in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island received full doses of the available vaccines but remain deeply concerned about long-term side effects on their health.

Many South Sudanese Canadians expressed nominal support for the Canadian government and the welfare it provided. Additionally, people expressed trust in doctors and health services in Canada. Yet, when it came to COVID-19 policies, including vaccination, many explained that the Canadian and provincial governments did not share the priorities of diaspora communities. Indeed, pre-vaccination measures fostered distrust in the government’s policies and priorities which impacted later reactions to vaccines. While many minority groups have representation in Canada, this was not the case for South Sudanese people. Without political channels to voice experiences of the pandemic, many articulated feelings of disempowerment, since the government had not reached out to leaders, churches and diaspora associations representing communal perspectives.

Diasporic connections

With movement restricted, online connectivity has become increasingly important. Many South Sudanese Canadians remain part of epistemic communities in South Sudan and share knowledge and ideas, including health information, through social media. Some of our interlocutors indicated that they received calls from relatives and friends in South Sudan, advising them to reject the vaccines. Social media has made it easy for people to share information instantly about the COVID-19 vaccine in different parts of the world and across global South Sudanese communities. This has had a particular impact among diaspora communities, who have long relied on trusting relationships maintained at a distance.

Many South Sudanese are members of WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages that link them to discussions in South Sudan on a daily basis. For example, in January 2022, when there was a violent incident in Jonglei State (South Sudan), South Sudanese in London (Canada) were receiving live-updates and analysis via friends on WhatsApp about the situation. These WhatsApp groups have also hosted debates about COVID-19 and vaccinations. Participating in these groups reinforces people’s social and epistemic connections to South Sudan and promotes a strong influence in these Canadian communities. While disempowering vaccines campaigns, which did not reflect South Sudanese interests, many have turned to these fora for guidance in uncertain times.

Social realities of misinformation

Our research has shown that misinformation does influence people’s engagement with vaccines. Yet, approaches to online health discussions are deeply shaped by experiences of the pandemic and perceptions among South Sudanese Canadians that they have not been recognised in national or federal policy decisions. In response to this disempowerment, online fora were often used as a place to discuss opinions with friends, relatives or distant South Sudanese contexts, who take note of their decision-making. By contrast to the distance of state policymaking, online deliberations seem more proximate, with participants demonstrating empathy and listening to one another.

Acknowledgements: Research was funded through the British Academy Covid-19 Recovery: G7 Fund (COVG7210058). Research was based at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics.

About the author

Malith Kur is a peace activist and community organiser. Kur served as the pastor of the South Sudanese community in and around London, Ontario (2001-15) before joining McGill University in 2016 to pursue a Ph.D. on the role of religions—especially Christianity and African Indigenous Religions—in peacebuilding. His current doctoral research focuses on the situation in South Sudan, with a particular focus on peacebuilding, reconciliation, restorative justice and social reconstruction of South Sudanese society.

Albania experienced steepest population decline in two decades in 2021

By bne IntelliNews April 18, 2022

Albania experienced its steepest population decline in two decades in 2021, when the population fell by 1.3% during the year.

Data from statistics office Instat showed the population stood at 2,793,592 on January 1, 2022, down by 1.3% compared to January 1, 2021.

The natural increase (births minus deaths) turned negative for the first time, standing at -3,296, Instat said.

Albania continued to see mass emigration, with 42,048 people leaving the country during the year against just 9,195 immigrants. That left Albania with net migration of -32,853, compared with -16,684 in 2020, when mobility was impeded by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The median age of the population rose slightly from 37.6 on January 1, 2021 to 38.2 on January 1, 2022.

During the same period, the youth dependency ratio (the number of persons under working age, 0-14, compared to the number of people of working age, 15-64) decreased from 24.2% to 24.0%. The old age dependency ratio (the number of persons above the working age, 65+, compared to those of working age) increased from 22.3% to 23.1%.

The sex ratio of the population stood at 98.6 males to 100 females, compared with 99.3 males to females at the start of 2021.

However, there were 107.5 boys born for every 100 girls, up from 106.6 boys for every 100 girls in 2020. “Gender-biased sex-selective abortions continue to take place in Albania. Preference for male heirs, rapidly declining fertility rates and sex-selective abortions have skewed the birth sex ratio,” said a 2021 OECD report.

Turkey moving to jail researchers who publish unapproved economic data 

Polls have consistently shown Turkish consumers do not believe

the inflation readings put out by the official statistics body

By bne IntelIiNews April 14, 2022

Turkey looks set to bring in prison sentences of up to three years for economic researchers who publish unofficial data on inflation and other indicators without first obtaining the approval of the country’s statistics agency. Bloomberg reported on April 14 that it had seen a draft law to that effect.

A particular thorn in the side of the Erdogan administration is the Istanbul-based Inflation Research Group (ENAG), led by academics. Its work suggests that the official picture of inflation presented by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK or TurkStat) does not correspond to reality. The latest TUIK inflation data, covering March, shows official annual inflation at 61%. ENAG’s calculations show 143%.

Opinion polling has consistently shown that few Turks believe the official inflation data. For many months now, bne IntelliNews has presented the ENAG inflation figure alongside the official figure.

The draft bill also foresees broadcast bans for websites that publish unapproved statistics. ENAG publishes its data on its website as well as on its Twitter account.

In May last year, TUIK filed a criminal complaint against ENAG, which it alleged was “purposefully defaming” the national statistical institution and “misguiding public opinion”.

The inflation narrative has become particularly sensitive in Turkey this year as the country has gone into election mode. Presidential and parliamentary polls, which will be held in tandem, must by law take place by June 2023 at the latest. A big issue for voters will be whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is guilty of economic mismanagement. Erdogan often argues external factors are responsible for Turkey’s difficulties, but the country has essentially been mired in an economic crisis for several years.

Bloomberg said Erdogan’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) had planned to submit the proposed legislation on the dissemination of unofficial statistics to parliament this week, but was holding off while officials do further work on it. It cited two unnamed AKP officials as relaying the situation.

The draft law seen by the news agency would bar researchers from publishing any data on any platform without seeking approval from TUIK. The state organ would be provided with two months to assess the methodology behind the data. Those found guilty of violating the law may face between one and three years in prison.

“Some of the manipulative statistics presented to the public under the name of scientific study without a clear methodology target both the Turkish Statistical Institute and the confidence in economic indicators,” the draft was reported as stating.

After he was served with court papers in January, ENAG’s director, economist Veysel Ulusoy, told Al-Monitor: “The public was so interested in having this kind of [inflation[ data rather than Turkstat’s false signals.”

He added: “We knew that something was wrong and the inflation basket was misleading the public. Public support was the main thing that took ENAG to the next stage.”

Bulgaria’s parliament closes specialised court, prosecution amid fierce opposition

By Denitsa Koseva in Sofia April 17, 2022


Bulgaria’s parliament approved in its final reading the closure of the specialised court and prosecution on April 14 in a move seen as a step towards restoration of the rule of law in the EU’s most corrupt country. The vote went ahead despite fierce objections from chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev.

The specialised prosecution and court were created ten years ago by then government of former ruling party Gerb and were seen as a tool to put pressure on those opposing Gerb and the ethnic-Turk Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS).

“Thank you for the support, thank you also for the debate. This is a bill that is being discussed very turbulently and very thoroughly and we have shown that we can hear, asses critics and – where an improvement of the bill is being pursued – to accept them. I want to clearly state – speculations, wrong interpretation and delusion are [the claims that] our efforts for judicial reform stop here and that we do not know what we are doing,” Justice Minister Nadezhda Jordanova said to lawmakers following the vote.

Gerb and the DPS voted against the decision following the hours-long heated debate. They claim the amendments aim to serve criminals and would harm the rule of law.

Jordanova added that the government will also work on a mechanism for effective investigation and accountability of the chief prosecutor. Bulgaria has been urged for years to adopt such a mechanism but previous Gerb-led governments failed to do that.

The magistrates working for the specialised court and prosecution will be re-assigned to the regular institutions.

Geshev commented on the parliament’s decision, which was one of the top priorities of the four-party ruling coalition, saying it will refer it to the constitutional court.

The legislation changes also put an end to special bonuses for top-magistrates, which was also objected to by the opposition.

Meanwhile, the government has drafted legislation changes that would allow the European prosecution to have independent structure in the country, as well as an its own building and administration. The European prosecutors will be allowed to require the use of special intelligence tools and to use the gathered information in trials within the competence of the European prosecution.

New clashes over anti-immigration rally in Sweden

STOCKHOLM

Swedish police said officers wounded three people Sunday in the eastern city of Norrkoping as demonstrators protested plans by a far-right group to burn copies of the Quran.

"Police fired several warning shots. Three people appear to have been hit by ricochets and are currently being treated in hospital", police said in a statement.

The three who were injured were under arrest, police said, adding that their condition was not known.

Sunday’s clashes in Norrkoping were the second there in four days.

On the first occasion, the demonstrators had protested against a rally by anti-immigration and anti-Islam group Hard Line, led by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan, 40.

On Sunday, they rallied again in protest another gathering, which in the end Paludan abandoned.

Four people were arrested among the approximately 150 participants, as protester threw stones at officers and cars were set on fire, police said.

According to health services quoted by local news agency TT, 10 people were hospitalised with minor injuries following the clashes and similar unrest in the neighbouring town of Linkpping, where far-right Hard Line also abandoned a demonstration.

Paludan, who intends to stand in Swedish legislative elections in September but does not yet have the necessary number of signatures to secure his candidature, is currently on a "tour" of Sweden.

He is visiting neighbourhoods with large Muslim populations where he wants to burn copies of the Quran.

A lawyer and YouTuber, he has previously been convicted of racist insults.

In 2019, he burned a Quran wrapped in bacon and was blocked for a month by Facebook after a post conflating immigration and crime.

On Saturday, one of his rallies was moved from a district of Landskrona to an isolated car park in southern Malmo, the large neighbouring city, but a car tried to force the protective barriers.

The driver was arrested and Paludan then burned a Quran.

Hard Line’s tour has sparked several clashes between the police and counter-protesters across the Scandinavian country in recent days. On Thursday and Friday, around 12 police officers were injured in the clashes.

In the wake of the string of incidents, Iraq’s foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish charge d’affaires in Baghdad Sunday.

It warned that the affair could have "serious repercussions" on "relations between Sweden and Muslims in general, both Muslim and Arab countries and Muslim communities in Europe".

In November 2020, Paludan was arrested in France and deported.

Five other activists were arrested in Belgium shortly after, accused of wanting to "spread hatred" by burning a Quran in Brussels.