Picky protection rules hamper Swiss mushrooming craze

Les Mosses (Switzerland) (AFP) – After suffocating Covid-19 restrictions, many embraced the call of the wild and the joys of foraging, but tightening Swiss biodiversity protection measures are infuriating growing hordes of mushroom-picking enthusiasts.

Restrictions on mushroom foraging have infuriated many enthusiasts 

© Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

The pandemic times "made people return to the forest", said Jean-Michel Froidevaux, chairman of the Swiss Association of Official Mushroom Control Bodies, which regularly organises training sessions for mushroom hunters and checks whether their foraged mushrooms are safe to eat.

"When you walk in the forest, there's not much to do apart from look around -- and then when you look down, you spot mushrooms."

During training courses and picked mushroom checking sessions, "we saw loads of people who knew nothing about them", he told AFP, during a five-day workshop in Leysin, high up in the Alps.

Faced with surging interest, the association has opened additional courses.

Many mushroom hunters undergo training sessions to help spot which fungi are safe to eat © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

"Since 2020, it has exploded. We hardly have enough trainers," said mushroom inspector Frederique Clerc, as she accompanied a dozen rain-soaked mushroom-lovers, or mycophiles, near Les Mosses, a village high in the mountain pastures near Montreux.

Jean-Paul Landraud, a retired pharmacist attending training courses with his wife, said interest in mushroom foraging was booming.

"I came before Covid and there were a few dozen of us. Now there are 120," he said.

"It has become popular: everyone goes mushroom picking."
Trampling on the soil

That enthusiasm has sparked fears though that all the foraging could have adverse impacts on biodiversity.

There is a burgeoning awareness of the importance of fungi, which, with their ability to decompose dead organic matter and to supply water and nutrients to trees, are considered guarantors of the forest ecosystem.

The vital role of fungis is due to be discussed during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference taking place in Colombia until November 1.

In Switzerland, several cantons had some restrictions pre-dating Covid on the number of days a year people could go picking and how much they could forage -- and now the rules are getting tighter.

The western Vaud canton, encompassing Les Mosses and nearby Leysin, introduced new measures in July aimed at giving nature a break.

Mushroom picking has boomed in Switzerland in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

People can now forage no more than two kilogrammes of mushrooms per day, with picking prohibited in the first seven days of each month, and otherwise only allowed between 7:00 am and 8:00 pm.

Vaud's measures have triggered indignation on social networks, and some politicians have demanded they be withdrawn.

"Everyone finds it ridiculous... we are very frustrated," said Florence Wyss, a retiree who started taking mushroom-picking courses after undercooked foraged mushrooms landed her in hospital.

The Vaud biodiversity authorities insist that the measures are not about "stigmatising" mycophiles.

For mushroom expert Clerc, the restrictions are a step in the right direction to promote respect for nature.

But Froidevaux said the seven-day ban was "difficult to understand".

There are concerns about the impact of mushroom picking on biodiversity © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

He noted that a 30-year study by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research showed that picking did not affect the amount or diversity of fungi.

The 2006 study did however show that trampling the ground had negative short-term effects, and suggested limiting the picking period.

Pro Natura, Switzerland's oldest nature preservation organisation, also warned the influx of people into the countryside "can have consequences for ecosystems", such as trampled vegetation, disturbed wildlife or overexploited resources like mushrooms.

But "we are more concerned about sports activities, when they require the creation of new infrastructure, such as specific tracks for mountain biking", the group's spokesman Nicolas Wuthrich told AFP.
Forest ecosystem

Mushrooms are not the only wild plants whetting appetites.

There are a growing number of courses on foraging wild edible plants -- a trend inspired by a number of top international chefs, including Denmark's Rene Redzepi and France's Marc Veyrat.

The Swiss branch of the Euro-Toques association, which represents European chefs and producers committed to quality local produce, organises plant seminars for its members.

Its president Thierry Brehonnet, head chef at restaurant Le 1209 in the small ski resort of Blonay, has even made wild herbs his speciality, going out to collect them in the gap between lunch and dinner sittings.

Foraged mushrooms have found their way into the kitchens of top chefs © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

"It's a philosophy," he told AFP, holding a sprig of sweet woodruff in his hand.

"After Covid, we realised that we had to use products growing close to home. We're returning to this side of nature, which we have to relearn how to master."

Brehonnet dismissed concerns that this trend would harm biodiversity, insisting there is far less public interest in foraging wild plants than mushrooms.

"We are not going to pick excessively," he said. "These plants will be preserved for a few more years."

© 2024 AFP

Puccini exhibit charts making of a modern music star

HIS OPERA'S WERE POP MUSIC FOR THE MASSES

Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Italy's Giacomo Puccini, famed for operas such as "Madame Butterfly", was panned by contemporary critics but harnessed then-novel technology such as records and cinema to become a global star, according to an exhibition that opened on Thursday.

A portrait of Giacomo Puccini at the Museo Teatrale alla Scala in Milan © GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

A century after the death of Puccini (1858-1924), who also composed "La Boheme", "Tosca" and "Turandot", the exhibition at Milan's legendary La Scala opera house seeks to uncover the secret of his international success.

"Almost all the premiers of Puccini's operas were flops, disasters," and panned by critics, noted the outgoing director of La Scala, Dominique Meyer.

But despite this, "he very quickly became a superstar, because the public took over, and he became one of the most important composers in the history of opera", Meyer told AFP.

Where once opera was confined to grand theatres, the invention and spread of the gramophone brought the music into people's homes, noted curator Gabriele Dotto.


At the beginning of the 20th century there was a "commercial explosion", with a quadrupling in record sales, he said during a press preview.

Puccini and his publisher Ricordi took advantage of the changes to build a brand around the composer using modern marketing campaigns, including posters.

"In this exhibition, we discover aspects of Puccini's personality that we didn't know, such as his interest in marketing," Meyer said.
'Unfathomable complexity'

On show are many original documents from the Ricordi archive, owned by German media giant Bertelsmann.

They include drafts for the final duet of "Turandot", which Puccini left unfinished, notes of "unfathomable complexity" and "apparent chaos", Dotto said.

There is also a striking blue velvet tunic with a gold-embroidered train worn by Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson for "Turandot" during La Scala's 1958-59 season.

Elsewhere, black and white photos trace Puccini's trips to Buenos Aires and New York, where he promoted his operas.

And the exhibit includes excerpts of silent films which used Puccini's music, notably "Madame Butterfly" from 1915.

"Puccini - Opera Meets New Media", which had its debut in Berlin earlier this year, runs in Milan until January 12.

© 2024 AFP

  

The Tyger

By William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat.

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp.

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears:

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Copyright Credit: Blake, William. "The Tyger." ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Songs of Experience. ​​​​​​​Facsimile reproduction of the 1794 illuminated manuscript, published by The William Blake Trust and the Tate Gallery, 2009, in ​​​​​​​William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books.

  

SPACE/COSMOS

India approves $119m fund for space startups

Reuters Published October 24, 2024 

This handout screen grab taken and received from the live feed of Indian Space Research Organisation website on September 2, 2023, shows the Aditya-L1 spacecraft take off from Sriharikota, on a voyage to the centre of the Sun. — AFP

The Indian government on Thursday approved a 10 billion Indian rupee ($119 million) fund for its burgeoning space sector, with 40 startups expected to benefit as the country strives to win a significant share of the commercial space market by 2033.

With funding ranging from 100-600m Indian rupees depending on how mature each startup is, the fund will help generate employment, boost space technology development, fortify supply chains and support research and development, the Indian government said in a statement.

“Capital infusion [will] create a multiplier effect by attracting additional funding for later-stage developments,” it added.

The fund, first proposed in July, will be managed by the country’s space regulator, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.

India is among the top five space-faring nations in the world but only holds about a two per cent market share of the commercial space market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been pushing to change that, opening up the industry to foreign investment and targeting a five-fold increase in market share to $44bn by 2033.

The country currently has nearly 250 space startups, many of which are in the business of providing cost-effective services and hardware to sectors such as communications, agriculture and commodities, where high-quality data is a precious resource.

Others are building the country’s first private rockets.

Private equity investment in the industry has risen to $126m in 2023, a 7pc increase from the $118m raised in 2022 and an increase of 235pc from the $37.6m raised in 2021, according to Tracxn data.

What drove Hamas on Oct 7 and what drives them still?

A look into the group's origins and history may explain the violent nature of the ongoing conflict.

Mikail Ahmed Shaikh 

Published October 24, 2024

DAWN

The attacks of October 7, 2023, saw over 1,000 people killed in Israel, while over 250 were taken hostage by Hamas. Israel was caught off guard, as was the rest of the world. Nobody saw it coming, nor did anyone see the Israeli military’s retaliatory scorched-earth campaign in the Gaza Strip

\
It’s been over a year since that day, during which time Gaza has borne witness to one of the bloodiest conflicts in the region in decades.

Over 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, with Israel no closer to rescuing the hostages, although the Israeli military assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in July and his successor Yahya Sinwar in October, who was the alleged mastermind of the October 7 attacks.

Meanwhile, South Africa has filed a “genocide” case against Israel with the International Court of Justice, while the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.

A Palestinian boy sits as people search the rubble of the Harb family home destroyed in overnight Israeli strikes in the Al Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on June 18, 2024. — AFP/File

Attempts at truce talks and mediation have thus far failed and with an extensive bombing spree in Lebanon having followed — which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — there is a very real fear of the conflict expanding into a regional conflagration.

So, it warrants asking why Hamas attacked Israelis in the first place. An attack that led to one of the most violent asymmetric conflicts of the 21st century.

According to a 2023 analysis by Joe Macaron for Qatari state-run broadcaster Al Jazeera, Hamas’ attack was triggered following “growing demands for a response” to far-right Israeli policy in the occupied West Bank, especially surrounding illegal settlements.

“The rising tensions in the West Bank caused by these policies necessitated the shift of Israeli forces away from the south and into the north to guard the settlements,” Macaron writes. “This gave Hamas both a justification and an opportunity to attack.”

Moreover, Macaron argues that the normalisation of Arab-Israeli relations was an additional motive for the attack since the process “further diminished the significance of the Palestinian issue for Arab leaders who became less keen on pressuring Israel on this matter”.

A view of a junction shows the aftermath of a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in the Sderot area, southern Israel on October 7, 2023. — Reuters

On the other hand, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organisation, argues, “One of Hamas’s goals was simply to kill Israelis,” citing a report by The Washington Post which reported that attackers had written instructions to do so.

The CSIS piece also suggests that Hamas was driven by revenge for past Israeli violence and the illegal occupation of the West Bank.

Alternatively, a senior Hamas official told Al Jazeera in October 2023 that the group took hostages and expressed hope that the kidnappings would ensure the release of “all” Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We managed to kill and capture many Israeli soldiers,” said Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri. “Our detainees in [Israeli] prisons, their freedom is looming large. What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become.”

But the answer to why the attack was launched on Israel perhaps lies in the group’s past, in how Tel Aviv or the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood influenced the genesis of the group to control the Palestinian sphere of influence before it eventually became powerful enough to outgrow its creators.

October 7

Fighters from the Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israeli towns on Oct 7, 2023, killing and capturing scores of civilians and soldiers in a surprise assault.

The worst attack on Israel for decades unleashed a conflict that both sides vowed to escalate. According to the Rand Corporation, a US-based think tank, at least 1,200 Israelis were killed on October 7, with 250 others taken hostage and moved to the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, in retaliatory airstrikes that began the same day, Palestinian health officials reported that more than 230 people were killed and 1,600 were wounded in the Gaza Strip. That number has since ballooned to 42,847 fatalities as of October 24, 2024.

Tel Aviv was enraged as Israelis had been taken hostage, and the country’s self-proclaimed sovereignty was once again challenged. Israeli commanders and intelligence chiefs have since resigned over their failure to prevent the attack.

A man runs on a road as fire burns after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, Israel October 7, 2023. — Reuters/Dawn

However, it must be noted that in the immediate aftermath, much of what was reported on October 7 had been exaggerated. For example, reports of mass rapes carried out by Hamas remain unsubstantiated or have been proven outright false.

Moreover, the most remote criticism of Israel’s conduct will have one branded as a Hamas sympathiser or, worse, antisemitic.

In his 2024 paper ‘Orientalism and the Discourse on Israel/Palestine’, Marcel Wegner argues that Israel portrays October 7 “as another chapter of endless Jewish suffering” and in doing so, is blurring the line between religion and state policy.

“If one argues this to be the case, it leaves no space for nuance in the discourse,” Wegner writes, adding that Israel’s narrative “creates a hegemonic discourse that is incontestable”.

What is Hamas?

A cursory glance at the group will lead you to believe that it is another in a long line of keffiyeh-wearing Palestinian freedom fighters, challenging the colonial oppressor. However, looking at the group’s origins shows that they were created to serve a different political interest.

The group was founded by Palestinian cleric Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987 during the First Intifada (Arabic for uprising), according to Hamas themselves, to fight the Israeli forces that occupied Gaza at the time.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent nonprofit organisation, states, “Hamas is a militant movement that has controlled the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades.”

Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Ismail Haniyeh in a file photo from 2003. — Reuters/File

Politically, Hamas’ main rival is the Fatah party, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Since 2007, Hamas has been the de facto governing party in the Gaza Strip after they won the 2006 Legislative Elections. According to Al Jazeera, Fatah refused to recognise the vote and Hamas took over the enclave following a brief conflict.

To this day, reconciliations remain unfinalised, though both parties have come together as a result of the Israeli military offensive. It is noteworthy that Fatah has formally renounced the use of violence, unlike its rival.

Iran entered the picture after its Islamic Revolution in 1979 and according to the United States Institute for Peace (Usip) — a think tank founded by the US Congress — “Hamas and Iran both wanted to see Israel replaced by the Islamic state of Palestine.”

Despite hailing from different sects, both actors had shared interests, with Ayatollah Khomeini pledging $30 million annually to the group in financial support, Usip states. Israel and its allies allege Iranian backing for Hamas continues to this day.

Palestinian school girls returning home from classes pass a line of Arab men being frisked by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip in this photo from 1986. — Reuters/File

According to a 2012 paper by Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at Paris’ prestigious Sciences Po University, there are two “interpretations” of the origins of Hamas.

In the first, Hamas was created in December 1987, but its roots as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza date as far back as 1946.

Filiu argues that the second interpretation “basically depicts Hamas as a ‘golem,’ a creature in Jewish folklore fashioned from mud and made animate who ultimately escapes his master” — effectively saying that they are a creation of Israel.

Even the group’s name is rooted in both Hebrew and Arabic — in Arabic, it means “zeal” and is an acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement, while in Hebrew, it translates to “violence”.

The offshoot

Yassin, who was killed in 2004 by an Israeli strike while leaving a mosque, had studied in Egypt and accepted the teachings of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s oldest and largest Islamic organisation, according to the BBC.

The Council on Foreign Relations states that Yassin established Hamas “as the Brotherhood’s political arm in Gaza” in 1987, adding that its “purpose was to engage in violence against Israelis as a means of restoring Palestinian backing for the Brotherhood.”

The group set out its principles in a charter in 1988, calling for the destruction of Israel. However in recent years, to moderate its image, it set out a new charter, which focused more on establishing a Palestinian state, though it does not recognise Israel.

“Palestine is a land that was seized by a racist, anti-human and colonial Zionist project that was founded on a false promise (the Balfour Declaration), on recognition of a usurping entity and on imposing a fait accompli by force,” Hamas’ 2017 ‘Document of General Principles and Policies’ reads.

Palestinian Hamas fighters take part in an anti-Israel military parade in Gaza City August 26, 2015. — Reuters/File

Looking at its “official” history, Hamas’ origins seem to reflect its contemporaries — a resistance organisation rising against an oppressive actor.

Its initial charter suggests that the group is much more reliant on violence compared to its contemporaries like Fatah.

Israeli officials insist that the group’s violent nature has influenced their response and hesitance (or outright refusal) to negotiate a peace deal. From the Israeli perspective, Hamas poses an existential threat to its security, especially given that it is receiving training, funding and other forms of aid from its arch-nemesis Iran.

Speaking on ‘The Ezra Klein Show’ on September 20, New Yorker editor David Remnick, said a great deal can be learned about Hamas by looking at their leader, Yahya Sinwar, who has since been killed in an Israeli military operation in Gaza.

A Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, Remnick has performed “deep, long-form reporting from Israel for decades”, host Klein said on the episode, adding that Remnick has profiled high-profile figures including Yasser Arafat, Israeli PM Netanyahu and Sinwar himself.

Remnick described Sinwar as “the most powerful person in Gaza and a decider for Hamas”, adding that he went underground after October 7 2023.

“When he was a student at university … he attached himself to Sheikh Yassin,” Remnick said. “Sinwar found himself appointed … one of the leaders of the Majd” — Hamas’ morality police. … He was jailed in the 80s and remained in Israeli jails for a couple of decades.“

During his incarceration, Sinwar wrote a novel titled ‘The Thorn and the Carnation’. “If you want to know anything about Yahya Sinwar, it is very much worth reading,” Remnick said, saying that the book shows “the roots of his politics and fury”.

“There are long passages about Sinwar and his schoolmates being taken … to visit Israel … including a visit to Jerusalem,” Remnick said. “He asks at one point, rhetorically … who will be our great Saladin?”

In the book, Sinwar was referring to who would lead the Palestinian struggle, Remnick says, suggesting, “Clearly at some level, as I’m reading it, he’s positioning himself as that great leader.”

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar looks on as Hamas supporters take part in an anti-Israel rally over tension in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, in this file photo from October 2022. — Reuters

“Sinwar isn’t a figure of extraordinary mystery,” Remnick said. “He grew more aware during his time in prison that hostage-taking was effective,” which explains Hamas’ taking captives on October 7, 2023.

Remnick then talks about the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. “Israeli society was obsessed with this case,” Remnick said, adding that he was “released for a thousand Palestinian prisoners. One of whom was Yahya Sinwar.”

Remnick’s observation suggests that Sinwar had an impact on Hamas’ modus operandi, especially considering that over 200 Israelis were taken captive during the attack.
The ‘Golem’

While Hamas was formed as an extension of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is evidence that it received substantial enough backing from Israel that it can be considered a “creation” of theirs — Filiu’s “Golem”.

Over time, Israeli officials have admitted the country’s role in propping up Hamas as a counterweight to Fatah and how that plan backfired, leading Hamas to resort to violence.

“Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation,” says retired Israeli official Avner Cohen in a 2009 interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), terming Hamas an “enormous, stupid mistake”.

Cohen says that Israel “encouraged” Hamas as a counterweight to other nationalist factions, such as the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and its dominant faction, Fatah.


Former Israeli Religious Affairs Official Avner Cohen in a photo from 2017. — Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey



The WSJ piece adds that Israel “often stood aside” when Hamas and their secular left-wing Palestinian rival Fatah battled, sometimes violently, for influence in both Gaza and the West Bank.

While some Israeli officials have viewed this as a catalyst for Hamas’ rise to power, others have attributed it to the alleged backing of Iran and other actors opposed to Israel.

“Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and the provision of advanced weapons,” said then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert in 2009, according to WSJ.

The WSJ further adds that around Yassin’s arrest in 1984, Cohen sent a report to senior Israeli military and civilian officials in Gaza. He warned that Israel’s policy towards Hamas would allow them to develop into a dangerous force.

“I believe that by continuing to turn away our eyes, our lenient approach to Mujama (Hamas) will in the future harm us. I, therefore, suggest focusing our efforts on finding ways to break up this monster before this reality jumps in our face,” Cohen wrote.

A piece by Mehdi Hasan and Dina Sayedalahmed for The Intercept also cites Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev, who served as Gaza’s military governor in the early 1980s. Segev told a reporter for The New York Times, “The Israeli government gave me a budget… and the military government gives to the mosques.” Like Cohen, Segev stated that the aim was to prop Hamas as a counterweight to Fatah.

In a 2018 video for The Intercept, Hasan acknowledges Hamas’ creation as an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood but states that Egypt had repressed the group in Gaza before 1967. After 1967’s Six-Day War, Israel invaded and occupied the Gaza Strip and, according to Hasan, “they didn’t just turn a blind eye to the Islamists, they encouraged them.”






Hasan adds that Hamas has killed more Israeli civilians than any other group and that their leaders are “viciously anti-Israeli and even anti-semitic in their rhetoric”. He says that “the die was cast for blowback”.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said something similar in January 2024. “Yes, Hamas was financed by the government of Israel in an attempt to weaken the Palestinian Authority led by Fatah,” he said in a speech at the University of Valladolid in Spain, Reuters reported. However, he did not elaborate any further.

There is evidence that Israel has been sending funds to Hamas as late as 2018. In December 2023, Dawn published a report stating that Israel appro­ved the transfer of more than $1 billion from Qatar to Gaza, even though there were intelligence warnings that the group was planning large-scale attacks on Israel.

It is now clear that around the 1970s and 1980s, Hamas was patronised by Israel to divide and rule the occupied Palestinian territories and control the Palestinian sphere of influence.

Furthermore, The Times of Israel reported in 2023 that an Israeli ministry drafted a proposal to transfer Gaza’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, “drawing condemnation from Palestinians and worsening tensions with Cairo”.

Despite being a “concept paper”, putting it in the context of rhetoric from far-right Israeli government figures shows that vacating the Gaza Strip is one of Tel Aviv’s goals.

Israel’s more extreme elements, like National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have displayed their contempt and prejudice against Palestinians on record numerous times. In July for example, Ben-Gvir said Palestinian prisoners “should be shot in the head instead of giving them more food”.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently called thwarting the creation of a Palestinian state “his life’s mission”. Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely said on the UK’s Channel 4 that she has “no empathy” for Palestinians in Gaza.

A combination photo showing Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely. — Dawn/Reuters

The Intercept states: “To be clear: First, the Israelis helped build up a militant strain of Palestinian political Islam, in the form of Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood precursors; then, the Israelis switched tack and tried to bomb, besiege, and blockade it out of existence.”

Hamas reflects the fate of many other proxy groups — a state wanted an actor under its control to maintain its sphere of influence or to fight a hostile actor and disrupt theirs.

As with Afghanistan, this plan backfired and Frankenstein’s monster is trying to kill its creator. Thus, one can deduce that Israel’s impetus for prolonging the ongoing conflict is not just to eliminate a threat to its security, but also to rectify a grave error.
One year on

The nature of the October 7 attacks, and the subsequent fighting thereafter, fall in line with Hamas’ behaviour as an organisation. They are the most powerful Palestinian faction out of their contemporaries and have made the most of their regional alliances with Iran and other armed groups to further their goals.

Looking at their origins, it is clear that Israel’s patronage of Hamas contributed to the group’s actions since 1987, as well as why the present conflict is unparalleled in its violence. Their activity was enabled by Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, empowering them as a policy option against the more popular, secular Fatah.

A boy looks on at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people at Al-Aqsa hospital, where Palestinian Shaban al-Dalou was burnt to death, in Deir Al-Balah on October 15. — Reuters

However, this plan backfired, thanks to a lack of forward-thinking, the group’s innate antisemitism having been born during the first Intifada and the presence of a convenient proxy for Israel’s enemies.

Given the unprecedented nature of this conflict, Hamas may grow even more entrenched in its ideology and possibly return to the initial charter from the 1980s, which in turn would invite an even harsher response from Israel — a vicious cycle that will result in more innocents on both sides getting caught in the crossfire.
Mission accomplished?

Having observed the events of the past year, it can be argued that the aftermath of October 7 is something Hamas neither foresaw nor wanted. Their leadership is dead, the Gaza Strip is in ruins and over 42,000 people have been killed — more if one counts the bodies buried under rubble, or not in one piece. They knew Israel would react — it is doubtful they expected a retaliation to this extent.

The impact of the conflict — the spread of disease, famine and a lack of medical facilities — could act against the group, turning what’s left of their support base in Gaza against them.

On the other hand, if they aimed to destabilise or divide Israel, then they have arguably achieved that goal. Israeli politics are deeply divided, with opposition leaders incessantly calling for Netanyahu’s resignation. Israelis are out on the streets protesting the offensive, demanding the return of the hostages and an immediate ceasefire. A ceasefire, it seems, Netanyahu is unwilling to enact, lest he lose his seat at the head of government.

‘Grip on power’

Netanyahu was embroiled in a corruption scandal before the events of October 7. He was accused of receiving luxury goods and disrupting “investigative and judicial proceedings” and was formally indicted in 2019, according to The New York Times. The trial began in 2020.

According to The Times of Israel, Netanyahu’s corruption trial has been delayed until 2025, having been suspended in October 2023 after the attacks. “The prime minister faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in Case 1000 and Case 2000, and charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust in Case 4000,” The Times of Israel adds.

The Israeli Army’s former head of operations, Major General Israel Ziv said that the offensive has become a source of “political stability” for the Israeli PM. For Netanyahu and his government“.

A refusal to cease hostilities amid immense pressure both at home and from abroad, even from some of its staunch allies, is causing Tel Aviv to become a political pressure cooker. Something that works to Hamas’ benefit.

Which party won how many seats in South Kurdistan? ( NORTHERN IRAQ)

According to the results from 99 percent of the opened ballot boxes in the parliamentary elections held in the Kurdistan Region on 20 October, the number of seats of the KDP decreased, while the number of seats of the PUK and New Generation increased.


ANF
HEWLÊR
Monday, 21 October 2024, 

Voters in the Federal Kurdistan Region went to the polls on Sunday to elect 100 members of parliament. According to the Iraqi Independent High Election Commission, the turnout in the elections was 72 percent.

In the elections held in Hewlêr (Erbil), Sulaymaniyah, Duhok and Halabja, no party was able to reach the number to form a government on its own.

According to the results, KDP became the first party, followed by the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) and New Generation. The rise of New Generation is considered as a surprise.

According to the results from 99 percent of the opened ballot boxes, KDP won 40 seats, PUK 23 seats and New Generation 16 seats. In addition, Yekgirtû won 7 seats, Kurdistan Justice Community won 3 seats, Helwest won 3 seats, Popular Front won 2 seats and Gorran movement won one seat.

The number of seats in the Kurdish parliament, which previously consisted of 111 deputies, was recently reduced to 100 by a Baghdad court ruling. 5 seats are reserved for minorities. In the last elections in 2018, the KDP won 45 seats and the PUK 21 seats. In the same elections, Gorran won 12 seats, New Generation 8, Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal) 7 and the others 7 seats.

In the elections held on 20 October, the KDP traditionally came first in Hewlêr, while the PUK maintained its first place in Sulaymaniyah. KDP won the majority of votes in Duhok and PUK won the majority of votes in Halabja.

In total, the KDP reportedly received more than 802 thousand votes and the PUK received more than 348 thousand votes. More than 270 thousand people voted for the New Generation. The Islamic party Yekgirtû is in fourth place with more than 110 thousand votes.

These results do not include the results of the special voting held on Friday 18 October with the participation of security forces. The Electoral Commission has not yet announced the final results.

Iraqi Supreme Election Commission announces results of parliamentary elections in South Kurdistan

The Iraqi Supreme Election Commission announced the results of the parliamentary elections held in South Kurdistan on 20 October.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Monday, 21 October 2024,

The Iraqi Independent Supreme Election Commission announced the results of the South Kurdistan parliamentary elections following the special vote held on 18 October and the general vote held on 20 October.

According to the information provided by the commission, the vote distribution in 4 provinces is as follows:

Erbil (Hewlêr):

– KDP: 345,822 votes

– PUK: 110,353 votes

– New Generation Movement (Newey Nû): 103,684 votes

– Yekgirtu İslami (Islamic Union): 24,065 votes

– Komele Dadgeri: 20,191 votes

– Helewst Movement: 16,736 votes

– Berey Gel (People's Front): 9,735 votes

Sulaymaniyah (Silêmanî):

– PUK: 256,813 votes

– New Generation Movement (Newey Nû): 136,131 votes

– KDP: 57,832 votes

– Yekgirtu Îslamî (Islamic Union): 42,622 votes

– Komele Dadgerî: 36,627 votes

– Helwest Movement: 29,346 votes

– Berey Gel (Popular Front): 20,300 votes

Halabja:

– PUK: 12.530 oy

– Yekgirtu Îslamî (İslami Birlik): 7.847 oy

– KDP: 4.940 oy

– Yeni Nesil Hareketi (Newey Nû): 4.732 oy

– Komele Dadgerî: 4.215 oy

– Bizutnewey Îslamî: 1.596 oy

– Helwest Hareketi: 1.283 votes

– Berey Gel (Popular Front): 725 votes

– Kurdistan Regional Alliance: 518 votes

Duhok:

– KDP: 400,603 votes

– New Generation Movement (Newey Nû): 46,444 votes

– Yekgirtu İslmi (Islamic Union): 42,447 votes

– PUK: 28,445 vote

– Helwest Movement: 8,410 votes

– Komele Dadgeri: 3,677 votes

– Berey Gel (People's Front): 2,605 votes

According to the election results, the KDP won in Hewlêr and Duhok, while the PUK won in Sulaymaniyah and Halabja. The New Generation Movement won four emerged as the third party in the region.

The total votes received by the parties in the four electoral districts are as follows:

KDP: 809,197 votes

PUK: 408,141 votes

New Generation Movement (Newey Nû): 290,991 votes

Yekgirtu Îslamî (Islamic Union): 116,981 votes

Komele Dadgerî: 64,710 votes

Berey Gel (Popular Front): 33,365 votes

Helwest Movement: 55,775 votes."

DBP Co-Chair: Isolation must be lifted, Kurdish question must be solved democratically

Referring to the latest discussions on possible negotiations with the Kurds, DBP Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır said that the state is looking for a new way for itself and the struggle must be increased even more.


ANF
AMED
Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 

Democratic Regions Party (DBP) Co-Chair Keskin Bayındır visited Peace Mothers' Assembly members in Bağlar district of Amed.

DBP Women's Assembly Spokesperson Berivan Bahçeci, DBP provincial co-chairs and Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) Van MP Gülderen Varlı accompanied Bayındır during the visit.

Welcomed by the Peace Mothers at the door, the delegation expressed their disapproval of the attacks the mothers were subjected to during their attempts to set up a tent in Silopi district of Şırnak last week to express their demand for peace against war.

Keskin Bayındır made a short speech during the visit and congratulated the resistance of the mothers in Silopi. He said, “We congratulate you on your upright stance for 3 days. On the one hand, we were hurt by the attacks directed against you, but on the other hand, your resistance honoured us. We know that mothers are resisting not only in Silopi but in many places. Mothers have been pioneering this struggle to bring down this order for years. Mothers' resistance continues from the parliament to prisons. When mothers pioneer a path, they do not stop until they get results.”

Bayındır emphasised that the struggle of the Kurdish people was won at great cost and said, “We have put up great resistance at great cost. This success, this great resistance, has paved the way for us. Our goal is to carry this struggle forward by further increasing our unity, resistance and organisation.”

‘The Kurdish people can only win through resistance and struggle,’ Bayındır said, referring to the “Freedom” rally held in Amed on 13 October, adding that the message of the Kurdish people for the lifting of the isolation and the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan was clear. He emphasised that the Kurdish question must be solved through democratic means and that this solution must be supported by steps such as constitutional amendments.

Bayındır said, “We gave two messages: the lifting of isolation, the freedom of Abdullah Öcalan and a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. This solution can be achieved through constitutional amendments, it can be through parliament, but our message was clear at the rally. We know that something has changed within the state. We must increase our struggle against this. The state is looking for a new way for itself.”

Bayındır added, “There is a great opportunity for freedom if Kurds increase their struggle against attempts to extinguish their struggle. No matter what they say, this struggle will continue in line with rights and the law.”

Peace Mothers call for an end to war

“If you want to negotiate and set up a table for a solution, first end your war,” said the Peace Mothers, who appealed to the government to take steps for an honorable peace.


ANF
AMED
Tuesday, 22 October 2024

Members of the Peace Mothers' Assembly who wanted to set up a “Peace Tent” with the slogan “No war, peace now” in Tilqebîn (Başverimli) town in Silopi district of Şırnak were attacked by Turkish soldiers and police officers on 15-18 October. The beaten mothers applied to the Human Rights Association (IHD) Amed (Diyarbakır) Branch and requested legal assistance. After submitting their application, the mothers made a statement to the press.

IHD Branch President Ercan Yılmaz stated that the Peace Mothers' Assembly has been struggling for many years for a solution to the Kurdish question and said: “Each mother has experienced the most severe pain during this process. Still, they have serious insistence on a solution to the Kurdish question. The government is insensitive to the demands of many segments of society. With the opening of the parliament, the government and its partners have developed some discourses on the solution of the Kurdish question. It is valuable that this issue is discussed in the parliament, but when approaching the issue, an honourable and just peace must be achieved, independent of the daily conjuncture. There are steps that need to be taken for this. MHP Leader Bahçeli talked about ‘isolation’. He accepted it. The Peace Mothers who raised the issue of isolation were repeatedly subjected to investigations and harsh interventions by the police. Today, the government partner mentioned the lifting of isolation, expressing who the interlocutor is and what the main solution is. We think that the issue that has been voiced for years should be recalled again; the isolation of Abdullah Öcalan must be lifted.”

Meryeme Tura, a member of the Peace Mothers’ Assembly, said, “We wanted to open a peace tent in Silopi on 15-18 October to stop the bloodshed, to end the dirty war, to end the isolation. Soldiers blocked our way and asked why we had gathered. We told them that we were there for peace and brotherhood. They talked about the bans. Then they attacked us. We were detained for a night. During the detention we said that we came for peace, for an end to these atrocities, for an end to deaths. We came with our white headscarves for an honourable peace. We extend our hand everywhere for peace. We wanted the mothers of soldiers and police officers to join us. We want this dirty war to end.”

Peace Mother Havva Kıran stated: “They took away our banner because it contained the word ‘isolation’. Today Bahçeli made a statement and said ‘Let Öcalan come here and we will find a solution’. The solution was on that banner and you took it away from the mothers. You attacked the mothers for that very word. While you are so intolerant of that word, your statement today is contradictory. Be clear.”

Noting that mothers aged 70-80 were attacked one by one with tear gas in Silopi, Kıran said, “Some mothers were hospitalised and some were detained. If you cannot tolerate mothers, you cannot tolerate anything. As Peace Mothers, we appeal to everyone. If you want Mr Öcalan to come to parliament, but you cannot tolerate the mothers saying, ‘Let the isolation be lifted’, this is a contradiction. If you want to negotiate and set up a table for a solution, first end your war.”

Havva Kıran called on the public and said that peace has no meaning ‘if it has no foundation’ and added: "If you do not give way to mothers, it is not peace."

Message from Abdullah Öcalan

Kurdish People's Leader Öcalan said: "Isolation continues. If conditions are right, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from the ground of conflict and violence to the legal and political ground."

ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 09:15

Urfa (Riha) MP Ömer Öcalan shared the message Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan asked him to convey to the public.

Ömer Öcalan wrote: "This visit was held as part of a family meeting. Mr. Öcalan commented on general political developments during the meeting and asked for the following message to be conveyed to the public: 'Isolation continues. If conditions are right, I have the theoretical and practical power to move this process from a ground of conflict and violence to a legal and political ground.' He was in good health and sent greetings to everyone."

Abdullah Öcalan met with DEM MP and nephew Ömer Öcalan in Imralı - FLASH

Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan met with his nephew, DEM Party Urfa MP Ömer Öcalan, after 43 months of total isolation.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 07:50

Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan met with his nephew, Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) Urfa (Riha) MP Ömer Öcalan, after 43 months of total isolation.

Ömer Öcalan said on his Twitter account: "The last face-to-face meeting with Mr. Abdullah Öcalan was on 3 March 2020. As a family, we finally met with Mr. Öcalan years later, on 23 October 2024. We want routine family visits, which are a legal right, to continue regardless of the circumstances."

Öcalan's lawyers: Stop systematic rights violations in Imrali

In a statement about the meeting with Abdullah Öcalan on 23 October, Asrın Law Office requested that systematic rights violations be stopped and that a lawyer's visit be granted.


ANF
ISTANBUL
Thursday, 24 October 2024, 14:34

After 43 months of absolute lack of communication, Asrın Law Office made a statement following the visit of Ömer Öcalan, Urfa (Riha) MP of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), to Imralı on 23 October.

The statement said: "Our client, Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, and his nephew, Mr. Ömer Öcalan, had a meeting on Wednesday as part of a family visit. This visit, which took place 4 and a half years after the last family visit (3 March 2020), should not be single and limited like the previous ones, and its continuity should be ensured. Ensuring that Mr. Abdullah Öcalan, Mr. Hamili Yıldırım, Mr. Ömer Hayri Konar and Mr. Veysi Aktaş receive visits from lawyers and families regularly as it is a requirement of the constitution, domestic law as well as international agreements. Again, holding regular meetings with Mr. Öcalan, who has the theoretical and practical power to move the process from the ground of conflict and violence to the legal and political ground, will pave the way for the solution of political and social problems in Turkey and the region on the basis of dialogue, peace and democratic consensus. In this context, it is necessary to put an end to the systematic violations of rights in Imralı, to ensure that the right to visits with families as well as lawyers (no lawyer visits have been allowed since 7 August 2019) is implemented in accordance with the law. We reiterate the necessity of ensuring this."

‘Leader Öcalan’s freedom and Shengal's autonomy are not far away’

Shengal Autonomous Administration and TAJÊ stated that 2025 will be the year of Leader Öcalan’s freedom and vowed to enhance their struggle to achieve this goal.


ANF
SHENGAL
Tuesday, 22 October 2024, 14:39

The ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign, which was launched by friends of the Kurdish people on 10 October 2023, has reached millions of people all over the world.

The Yazidi community also joined the campaign on 21 October 2023 with the slogan ‘Freedom for Leader Öcalan, Autonomy for Shengal’.

The Yazidi and Arab community living in Shengal organised many actions and events across Iraq and Shengal under the leadership of the Shengal Autonomous Administration and the Yazidi Free Women's Movement (TAJÊ).

Shengal Autonomous Administration and TAJÊ made a joint statement at Martyr Dilgeş and Martyr Berxwedan Cemetery on the occasion of the second anniversary of their campaign. The statement was read by Suham Şengali, member of TAJÊ Foreign Relations Committee, and Xwedêda Elyas, Co-Chair of the Autonomous Administration of Shengal.

“Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) has been leading the peoples' resistance in Imrali Prison for 25 years. During this period of time, countless events and actions have been organised for his freedom. However, the ‘Freedom for Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign launched last year is quite different from other campaigns. This campaign will continue in line with its aim until the physical freedom of Leader Apo is achieved. All actions and activities for the freedom of the peoples and democracy are also linked to this campaign. In other words, the freedom of Leader Öcalan and the struggle for autonomy and freedom are not independent of each other,” said the statement.

Remarking that the campaign received support from all over the world, the statement continued: “With this campaign, the ideas and philosophy of Leader Abdullah Öcalan have spread more than ever in the world. With the recognition of Leader Öcalan's ideas, the hope and faith of humanity has once again flourished. Enthusiasm, morale and hope increased wherever the campaign reached. Artists, intellectuals, politicians, philosophers, writers and academics all over the world were revitalised by Öcalan's ideas. The whole world rallied around this campaign. The world could not unite in the Ukraine-Russia war or the Hamas-Israel war, but the whole world became one voice for the freedom of Leader Abullah Öcalan. This reveals that the world, divided by wars, conflicts, religious and sectarian wars that started due to the policies pursued by the governments, has found unity in the idea of the freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan.”

The statement pointed out that the wars in the Middle East in the last year have once again proved Leader Apo's assessments right and added: “Leader Abdullah Öcalan has been stating for decades that the problems in the Middle East cannot be resolved by war. The events of last year also confirm this. That is why the peoples of the Middle East are turning to the ideas of Leader Öcalan more than ever. Everyone says that the isolation of Öcalan deepens the war in the Middle East and that his freedom will pave the way for the solution of the problems in the region. This was one of the important results of the campaign.”

The campaign has also exposed the true face of the state and the ruling system, said the statement and continued: “It has been revealed that the European states, which present themselves as the representatives of freedom and democracy, have nothing to do with freedom and democracy. The move has revealed that the Imrali system is an international system, that those who cause the isolation to continue and deprive Leader Abdullah Öcalan of his physical freedom are the same ones who swear every day in the name of freedom and democracy. This move again showed that these states are against the freedom of peoples and democracy.”

Emphasising that hope and the claim of freedom are stronger than ever with the campaign, the statement continued: “The main goal is to ensure the physical freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan and to recognise the autonomy of Shengal. Although steps have been taken towards these goals, we have not yet fully achieved them. This is also a matter of self-criticism for us. For this reason, we must correct our deficiencies, strengthen our actions and accelerate our work in order to achieve victory in the second year of the campaign. We must reach out to everyone in every house in Shengal and introduce the ideas of Leader Öcalan.

In the second year of the campaign, we will bring the ideas of Leader Abdullah Öcalan to the agenda more in the Nineveh Plain and at the Iraqi level. We will try to turn the campaign into a step towards freedom and democracy, especially in Iraq. Iraq cannot get rid of the war and crisis it is in. For this reason, we say that the ideas of Leader Abdullah Öcalan are the solution for the Iraqi people and the Iraqi state as well.”

Stating that the campaign is also a response to the war policy in the region, the statement said: “We firmly believe that 2025 will be the year of freedom of Leader Abdullah Öcalan. If we raise our hope, belief and struggle, the freedom of Leader Öcalan and the autonomy of Shengal are not far away. As the Shengal Autonomous Administration, we will strengthen our work in the second year of the campaign. We call on the people of Shengal, all the peoples of the Nineveh Plain and the democratic forces of Iraq to embrace the campaign more than ever.”

How can Turkey be saved?

If Leader Apo is wanted to play a role, conditions for this must be created immediately. The opportunity for Leader Apo to meet with everyone, including the PKK leadership, must be created, and Turkey's democratic change must be initiated on this basis.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Wednesday, 23 October 2024, 13:13

The Israeli attacks, which have been intensifying for about a month, have undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to Lebanese Hezbollah. To be honest, many people did not expect such a war, they did not think that Israel would deal such a heavy blow to Hezbollah in such a short time. Because Hezbollah also had power, making military preparation and deployment. There were also some states that it relied on, such as Iran. But the results were a bit surprising for almost everyone. It even shook and shocked many of them. Why?

There are, of course, many answers to this question. For example, if Israel had attacked from the ground and not from the air, it would not have achieved such rapid and effective results. One of the reasons for the current military result is that Israel had prepared for and relied on an air attack. Again, Israel followed a clever tactic by first detonating the devices and then cutting off contact. This is also an important reason for the current result. Moreover, the indecisive war policy pursued by Hezbollah and Iran, on which it relies, has also been a factor in this outcome. Hezbollah and Iran, while appearing to support Hamas, have also pursued an attitude of political reconciliation. It is even rumoured that Israel and Hezbollah came to the point of signing a ceasefire through the mediation of France and similar powers. It was at this point that Israel carried out the big attack and hit Hassan Nasrallah. In other words, Hezbollah and Iran have been brought into a kind of political game. It is said that the reaction of the French Administration to Israel stems from this.

So, what will happen now? Obviously, the US-Israeli bloc will try to reshape Lebanon. It will want to create a Lebanon in which Hezbollah and Iranian influence are weakened and which does not pose a threat to Israel. Not satisfied with this, it will try to neutralise Iran's power outside its borders. In other words, it will target Iran's power spread throughout the region. It had already started this process four years ago by shooting Qassem Soleimani. Now, based on the military superiority it has achieved, it will try to reach a conclusion.

In the face of this state of affairs, the current Iranian leadership is always talking about peace, trying to limit the war as much as possible and to continue the search for reconciliation. However, it is difficult to realise this unilaterally. Even though the Iranian administration approaches this way, a kind of Israeli-Iranian war has already emerged. In other words, the circles that rely on and want such a war have actually found what they were looking for. Let's see who will gain and who will lose from this war.

Undoubtedly, the AKP-MHP administration was one of the forces that most wanted and provoked a war between Israel and Hezbollah, and therefore Iran. The spokespersons and lackeys of this administration were resorting to all kinds of lies and tricks to provoke such a war a month ago. However, when the war started and the harsh Israeli attacks came to light, they became tongue-tied and started to say ‘We are against war’ with a sharp ‘U’ turn. The bombs that exploded in Beirut shook the foundations of the Palace in Beştepe. It seems that those who thought everything was as easy as slaughtering Kurds and women began to realise the seriousness of the matter with the Lebanon war. So, despite their warmongering, they thought that such a war would not happen. But when they saw the reality and realised that their turn was coming, they started to show childish behaviour.

First, the fascist chief Tayyip Erdoğan said ‘Israel will attack us too’ from the rostrum of the parliament. Having received or given the message, the fascist chief Devlet Bahçeli kissed the hands of DEM Party members in the parliament for no reason. Discussions on a ‘resolution process’ were raised again. KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) Executive Council Co-Chair Besê Hozat, referring to Devlet Bahçeli, said, ‘İmralı is there, take Erdoğan and Özel with you, go and solve the problems with Leader Apo’. In response to this, Devlet Bahçeli addressed Leader Apo (Abdullah Öcalan) and called on him to ‘surrender and liquidate the organisation’. In other words, he once again repeated what he had been taught by heart since his youth.

A debate on these issues has been raging in the visual and print media, with the government and the opposition, the right and the left. For more than two weeks, everyone has been arguing day and night. People have been shouting at each other for hours. Countless fictions are made every day; some almost go to the point of saying that the PKK has liquidated itself, some utter threats from a high level, some call the prosecutors to duty and threaten to ‘shut down’ the DEM Party. As the saying goes, if you tell a lie forty times, the first person to tell it believes it to be true! This is how they are trying to make themselves believe their own lies. What is being done in the name of so-called debate is like whistling while passing through a cemetery.

In fact, they are trying to overcome their fear by talking and shouting so much. A great fear has fallen into them. Their anti-Kurdish, fascist-genocidal mentality and politics have completely collapsed. They are trying to deceive society and overcome their fear by deepening the special war in this way. When the effect of the bombs exploding in Lebanon is added on top of the defeat they have suffered in Kurdistan, they are beginning to see what will happen to them, albeit hardly. Why?

Because once they were defeated against the Kurdish freedom struggle, their fascist, colonialist and genocidal faces came out in the open and were thoroughly exposed. The Global Freedom Campaign [Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question], which aims for the physical freedom of Leader Apo, has spread this reality to the whole world. In the face of Kurdishness gaining freedom, it has become impossible to maintain the fascist mentality and politics in Turkey that is hostile to Kurds, women and the people. There is only one way out for Turkey, and that is democratisation based on Kurdish freedom.

Secondly, there is no longer any room for the existing Turkey within the system of capitalist modernity, of which it has been a part for a century. There was no existing Turkey in the global structuring of the capitalist modernity system. This Turkey, which has been alive for a hundred years, has existed on the basis of two things: The October Revolution in Russia and Kurdish support! Without these, there would not have been such a Turkey after the First World War. On the basis of these two forces, the Kemalist movement developed and gained strength, and on the basis of the two tasks assigned to it, it was recognised by Britain and France and became a state. One was to encircle the Soviet Union from the south, and the other was to serve as a model for the nation-state organisation in the Middle East and the birth of Israel by agreeing to the division of the Arabs!

In the last century, the Turkish Republic fulfilled both of these tasks. It stood against the Soviet Union and served the formation of the real Israel as a proto-Israel. The Soviet Union no longer exists, the present Russia is not the Soviet Union of the past, so this task of Turkey is over. After the Second World War, the real Israel was established and now, in the Third World War, the system of capitalist modernity wants to reshape the Middle East region on the basis of Israel-Arab reconciliation. It is trying to change the Middle East system, which was shaped under the leadership of Turkey and Iran after the First World War. Iran's extraterritorial forces are targets on this basis, but apart from these, Iran within its own borders exists within the global organisation of capitalist modernity. Turkey, on the other hand, which is not part of this organisation and has existed for centuries on the basis of additional tasks, is now the main power that needs to be changed. In other words, it is in contradiction with the system in which it exists. Whether it leans on NATO or begs Russia-China, it is not possible to change this fact. Turkey will change according to this system; Turkey will change according to the Kurds, women and working peoples. If it changes according to the latter, the current unity of Turkey can keep itself alive as an alternative democratic system. This is Turkey's only chance.

There is neither the Soviet Union nor Kurdish support to keep Turkey alive for the last century. Within the current system, it can only survive by serving Israel, as a servant-slave; it has no other chance. In this situation, the only real chance is to regain Kurdish support. The way to do this is democratisation on the basis of Kurdish freedom. The real situation is so serious and concrete. Therefore, there is no time to be spent on discussions based on speculation. Problems cannot be solved just by going to Imrali. Since it is desired that Leader Apo plays a role, then the conditions for this must be created immediately. The opportunity for Leader Apo to meet with everyone, including the PKK leadership, must be created, and, on this basis, Turkey's democratic change must be initiated. Those who really love Turkey must hurry. Because there may be no time left for change.

Source: Yeni Özgür Politika

Zilar Stêrk: A basis for dialogue should be established with Leader Öcalan

Zilar Stêrk, member of the General Presidential Council of the KCK, spoke about the current discussions surrounding the physical freedom of the Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and the related Kurdish question.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Friday, 25 October 2024, 07:50

Zilar Stêrk, member of the General Presidential Council of the KCK, about the current discussions surrounding the physical freedom of the Kurdish people's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, and the related Kurdish question. Stêrk discussed the struggle for this as well as the games that some actors are playing in an attempt to renew the international conspiracy.

There are currently many discussions about the Kurdish question, the role of Kurdish people’s leader Abdullah Ocalan and his total isolation, which has now lasted for 26 years. What can you tell us about the overall situation? How should the current conflicts be understood?

Firstly, I once again condemn and curse the international conspiracy with all my hatred and anger as it enters its 27th year. Also, I commemorate all martyrs of the revolution by commemorating the martyrs that gave their lives in the "You cannot darken our sun!" struggle, who stood in front of Rêber Apo to protect him with their bodies.

We slowly leave the month October behind us, which is a month in which many women of our women’s movement fell martyrs. I once again commemorate all of our martyrs of the month of October with respect and gratitude, by commemorating comrade Beritan (Gulnaz Karatash), the pioneer and leading cadre of our women’s army.

Today, a great and glorious historical resistance is going on in the mountains of Kurdistan. I respectfully commemorate all the comrades who martyred, especially in the areas of Zap, Metina, and Avashin. Comrade Asmin Seyit, whose martyrdom was announced recently, again comrade Agir, comrade Besta, and comrade Cemal. I bow with respect in front of their memory. I also commemorate with respect and gratitude Ape Nemir, who fought and struggled shoulder to shoulder with the revolutionaries against the gangs and mercenaries of ISIS in the Battle of Kobane and was wounded several times. I express my condolences to his family and the entire Kurdish people.

It has been 26 years since the launch of the international conspiracy, and throughout these 26 years, Rêber Apo, who was held hostage in solitary confinement in the Imrali torture center, has been in a very historic resistance. I take this opportunity to salute Rêber Apo and his resistance, his glorious resistance, and send my greetings and love.

The main purpose of this conspiracy was the physical destruction of Rêber Apo. In fact, the aim of the physical annihilation of Rêber Apo did not only start with the conspiracy of October 9. Already on May 6, 1996, a great conspiracy was staged in Damascus, again aiming at the physical destruction of Rêber Apo. Thanks to the measures taken by Rêber Apo and his foresight, that conspiracy did not come to fruition.

In the face of the international conspiracy of October 9, Rêber Apo left the Middle East and thereby prevented physical annihilation. Rêber Apo is aware of the cruciality of his existence and how it is connected to the fate of the Kurdish people. He knows that his physical destruction would pave the way for the genocide of the Kurdish people. Based on this, thinking with a very strategic mind, he left the Middle East and thus frustrated the conspiracy’s aim of physical annihilation. At that time, when Rêber Apo went to Europe, during the period he spent in Rome, our people flocked to Rome in droves. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people, met and united around Rêber Apo. People set themselves on fire out in protest. They carried out big sacrificial actions. They sent the conspiratorial forces a very clear message: “Rêber Apo is us.” The existence of Rêber Apo means Kurdish existence. The main guarantee of Kurdish existence is the existence and freedom of Rêber Apo. The conspiratorial forces could not carry out physical annihilation through this, so they planned the international conspiracy of February 15. Rêber Apo was abducted and handed over to the genocidal colonialist Turkish state.

For 26 years, Rêber Apo has been resisting under conditions of absolute isolation and isolation in the Imrali torture center in order to prevent this conspiracy from achieving its goals and objectives and to defeat it. He is putting up a historical and glorious resistance. And this resistance is not only physical resistance. Rêber Apo has realized a great mental revolution. Of course, he did not start this while being in Imrali. Already before, Rêber Apo was constantly concentrating on every ideological, paradigmatic, and organizational dimension of this. But the conditions of war outside, again, the problems and agendas that had to be dealt with for the organization, posed difficulties in front of the mental revolution Rêber Apo wanted to realize. As Rêber Apo put it, the situation on Imrali changed circumstances.

Rêber Apo has a great style of struggle. It is in fact a legendary struggle. This needs to be grasped very well. As I pointed out, this is not only physical resistance. This is an intellectual, spiritual, ideological, paradigmatic resistance. One can say that Rêber Apo has created a form of resistance that complements other forms of resistance and therefore is in fact far superior to them. With the tremendous mental revolution, the paradigmatic change and transformation that he realized in his own person, he frustrated all the calculations of the conspiracy. What did Rêber Apo do? One by one, Rêber Apo analyzed both the mentality and the calculations of the five thousand-year-old statist civilization, a statist, power-oriented, male-dominated civilization system. One by one, he unmasked them in front of all of us. He created an enormous paradigm with the prison writings he presented to the courts. The prison writings enlightened us all. They revealed perspectives and system analyses that enlighten the whole of humanity about the reality of the five thousand years of male-dominated capitalist civilization. And we all benefit from this today. In other words, civilization called its gods to account. Rêber Apo judged them, called them to account, and put forward an alternative to this system.

There are other thinkers who have tried to solve the crisis of civilization. But Rêber Apo’s way of analyzing civilization is not an approach that is limited to theoretical analysis. He looked at the issue from a more revolutionary point of view, as a revolutionary leader. Before Imrali, there was already an enormous Kurdish freedom movement that he had created and developed. There was organized public opinion. With the new paradigmatic change, this multiplied itself even more and brought about much greater developments. For example, the Rojava revolution developed. The Rojava revolution developed and took shape on the basis of Rêber Apo’s tremendous paradigm based on the pillars of democracy, ecology, and women’s freedom. What are the revolutionaries of Rojava saying today? They say that they have taken Rêber Apo’s idea and his paradigm as their guide and that they are trying to implement it as a new system of democratic and free life. We all see this in a more concrete form day by day. Therefore, it also attracts the world’s attention.

What has developed during the past twenty-six years that Rêber Apo is held captive in Imrali? The inhuman ISIS gangs were created in order to cause a great war of peoples in the Middle East. They attacked Kurds in Kobane, and before that, they attacked our Yazidi (Êzidî) people. They attacked the Yazidi people in Shengal (Sinjar). Today, our Yazidi people in Shengal are also in great resistance and are broadly organized with the aim of establishing a new system and a new life model based on Rêber Apo’s democratic, ecological, egalitarian, libertarian, and for the freedom of women’s standing ideas. For this reason, the genocidal, colonialist, and sovereign powers, particularly the Turkish state, are constantly carrying out extermination attacks and operations against our Yazidi people.

One can say that in this twenty-six-year period, the international conspiracy has actually been frustrated to some extent. But one cannot claim that complete results have been achieved or that the conspiracy was defeated. Because all the struggle we have waged over the past twenty-six years has been aimed at developing a democratic solution to the Kurdish question. It is directed towards ensuring the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. Because the solution to the Kurdish question means the physical freedom of Rêber Apo. And the freedom of Rêber Apo means the solution to the Kurdish question. Both are two fundamental aspects that are as close to each other as possible.

Our people are aware of the nature of the problem. They are aware that the Kurdish question cannot be solved without the liberation of Rêber Apo. As long as Rêber Apo is imprisoned, the conspiracy, the international conspiracy, cannot be defeated completely. That is why every anniversary of the conspiracy, our people, together with their international friends, protest; they condemn the conspiracy and put up a great resistance against it. This resistance continues on every anniversary; it continues to rise on the anniversary. All the struggle we have waged together with our people during these twenty-six years is for the defeat of the international conspiracy, which started on October 9 and completed its first stage on February 15, with the captivity of Rêber Apo. But the conspiracy itself continues.

Of course, during all this time, the conspiratorial forces have not been idle. They tried to renew the conspiracy again and again. Both Rêber Apo, the Kurds, and we, as the Kurdish freedom movement, have tried to wage a great resistance and struggle against this conspiracy. The new concepts they tried to develop were always tried to be frustrated. Today, the conspiracy continues in certain dimensions. On which pillars does it weave itself? The genocidal, colonialist, genocidal policy of the Turkish state on the Kurds is being carried out most concretely on Rêber Apo in the Imrali torture center. They do not allow a single word of Rêber Apo to come out, so that the movement and the people do not get inspired by Rêber Apo. They are trying to ensure that nothing comes out of there. They prevent even the most human rights and legal rights of Rêber Apo. It is commonly known that Rêber Apo’s freedom is now legally due. They are trying to prevent this.

For example, they are not implementing the retrial decision taken by international European courts. They are afraid of this. They do not allow the voice of Rêber Apo to be heard. They are really afraid that Rêber Apo will gradually become physically free. As the struggle of the people, the movement, the society and the international friends of the Kurdish people grows, they see and fear that as the resistance and a certain level of resistance and willpower emerges, the physical freedom of the Rêber Apo is becoming increasingly possible. For this reason, they are not allowing Rêber Apo to implement the retrial decision, and they are not allowing Rêber Apo to exercise his legal rights, even the legal rights of a normal prisoner. This is a pillar of the conspiracy.

In addition to this, there are great extermination operations on the Kurdish freedom movement, again on the Kurdish freedom guerrillas. There are great liquidation and annihilation operations and attacks. The genocide and extermination attacks carried out today in the Kurdish mountains in Zap, Metina, and Avashin are one of the most fundamental pillars of the international conspiracy. Without the freedom guerrillas without the resistance of the guerrillas in Kurdistan, can the Kurds sustain themselves? Can the Kurdish freedom struggle survive? What guarantees the existence of Kurds today is, of course, the existence of the Kurdish freedom struggle in the mountains of Kurdistan. It is the existence of freedom guerrillas. We can say that the existence of the Kurdish guerrillas, its will, and its resistance are the basic guarantee of Kurdish existence. That is why they want to destroy it. Therefore, the genocidal attacks and extermination attacks on the guerrillas continue uninterruptedly both in northern Kurdistan and in southern Kurdistan. It continues in the most inhuman way, through chemical attacks and with the use of tactical nuclear weapons. The Kurdish guerrillas continue to put up a glorious resistance under genocide and extermination attacks.

In addition to this, also in other fields, the international conspiracy’s effort to sustain itself, to make it permanent, is going on as well. The genocidal attacks developed by the enemy are not only carried out against the guerrillas in the Medya Defense Areas or in the provinces of northern Kurdistan. The genocidal and extermination attacks are being carried out both on the leading cadres of our movement and on the people who work together with our movement around the struggle for freedom, who participate in the struggle, who support it, who are in solidarity.

Every day, the cities, villages, streets, and neighborhoods in Rojava are being bombarded under the pretext of attacking PKK cadres. It is our patriotic people that are attacked. This is also what they are doing with the continued genocidal attacks on Shengal. And at the same time, the genocidal attacks on the Makhmur refugee camp continue. These genocidal attacks take place everywhere in southern Kurdistan as well.

This needs to be seen as the continuation of the international conspiracy. The conspiracy has developed with significant protests on the occasion of the new anniversary. The time has come to not only frustrate the conspiracy but to defeat it once and for all. Twenty-six years have passed. And in these twenty-six years, it was shown that neither the Kurdish will be broken, nor the Kurdish existence could be wiped out, nor the Kurdish guerrillas could be destroyed, nor Rêber Apo could be compromised, nor the Kurdish people could be annihilated, nor the Kurdish freedom movement could be forced to kneel.

The struggle that has been waged in Kurdistan during these twenty-six years is a struggle that centers on the freedom of Rêber Apo. It needs to be understood this way. All the actions and activities that have taken place explicitly for Rêber Apo’s freedom anyway, but also all the other efforts of the Kurdish freedom struggle of the last 26 years, served the same goal: the freedom of Rêber Apo. The solution of the Kurdish question, the realization of the Kurdish freedom revolution, and the freedom of Rêber Apo are totally intertwined. They cannot be separated from each other. On various occasions, Rêber Apo saluted the actions carried out under the name of his freedom and pointed out that his freedom depends on the solution of the Kurdish question and the realization of the freedom revolution in Kurdistan.

There is a tremendous resistance that the Kurdish people have developed from the first day of the international conspiracy. At a magnificent level, people take on their responsibility towards Rêber Apo.

When the first process of the conspiracy developed, there was a tremendous struggle, there was a tremendous cohesion, a tremendous level of sacrifice emerged. And this continues today. The Kurdish people have never distanced from Rêber Apo. There was never the slightest weakening in their bond with him. We saw this most recently at the rally in Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) on October 13th. That unbreakable bond between the Kurdish people and Rêber Apo, which has existed since day one, is growing exponentially day by day. It is both widening and deepening.

During the past twenty-six years, many campaigns have been carried out. There was, for example, the “Enough is Enough!” (Edi Bese) campaign, or also the “Abdullah Ocalan is my political will” campaign. In that campaign, signatures were collected from both Kurds and their international friends, who claimed Rêber Apo as representative of their political will. Ten million signatures were collected. The international ruling powers were confronted with this.

The genocidal colonialist Turkish state was confronted with this. These campaigns, in some way, continue today. Again in 2019, there was the big hunger strike led by the hunger strikes in prisons, first and foremost by dear Leyla Guven. At that time, there was a tremendous campaign being carried out. Through that resistance, for example, a breach was opened in the absolute isolation and genocide regime in Imrali. And through that breach, talks with Rêber Apo started. There were a few meetings, but no results were obtained. It was interrupted again. It was sabotaged again. And it was the fascist AKP-MHP government, which still rules the genocidal colonialist Turkish Republic with its insincere approach, that sabotaged it. Still, to a high extent, both the Kurdish people and their international friends take on their responsibility towards Rêber Apo. If the conspiracy has not achieved its goals and objectives in these twenty-six years, this is primarily due to the spirit of resistance put forward by our patriotic people.

One pillar is the spirit of resistance shown by our people. It is the magnificent extent to which they take responsibility towards Rêber Apo. Another pillar is the resistance and struggle of the Kurdistan freedom guerrilla in the mountains of Kurdistan. And there is the, and I would say it is the most fundamental pillar, the tremendous resistance of Rêber Apo, who is in a position of absolute isolation and hostage in Imrali.