On Wednesday 30 October I was the main guest at IepenUP Live, a regional TV program in the province of Fryslân in the north of the Netherlands. The good thing was, I was not the only guest but joined stage with Sherin Seyda and with film maker Beri Shalmashi. Check this link to watch and […]
Since Turkey’s attack on and invasion of northeast Syria started, I have given several interviews on Dutch and international radio. I list them here with links so you can listen! Tuesday 8 October: Spraakmakers op 1, Journalist Fréderike Geerdink over de situatie in Noord-Syrië. Thursday 10 October, BBC World Service, Turkey has stepped up its […]
Beste mensen, het verhaal dat ik eergisteren op mijn site zette bevatte een link naar Vrij Nederland maar het stond achter een betaalmuur. Ik heb nu de link aangepast en het artikel is nu zonder betaalmuur te lezen! Klik hier naar de pagina met de nu aangepaste link!
The governor of Sirnak has declared nine regions in the province a ‘security area’. This is an extension of previously established security areas, as I saw when I was visiting Roboski during Eid: the smuggling routes had been closed and the pastures where people used to graze their cattle had been made inaccessible. These no-go […]
Mind my words: soon ‘analysts’ will start writing that Selahattin Demirtas has chosen the violent approach to the Kurdish issue instead of following the ones who want peace. After all, he called for the people to make sure to protect themselves on the street, as the Suruç massacre has shown the citizens’ safety can not […]
It’s around 1.30 in the morning, just after I lay down on my balcony bed, when the Ramadan drummer passes down my street. I don’t fast since I am not religious, but I don’t mind the noise, not even when it wakes me up. On the contrary, I would almost say it’s kind of soothing, […]
It’s a challenge for the HDP, I heard people say, that they attracted so many new voters. How to keep them on board in the longer run? Will they vote for the HDP again when there are new elections, be it in the short term or in 2019, when the next elections are scheduled to […]
Diyarbakir – Zeker tienduizend mensen staan op een enorm veld aan de rand van de stad bij een immens podium. Iedereen steekt een V-teken in de lucht, soms met twee handen. Met een strijdlied worden de martelaren herdacht. (10 June 2015) Lees verder bij de Groene Amsterdammer.
So, basically, the life of HDP co-leader Selehattin Demirtas was directly threatened. The bombs going off simultaneously in front of the HDP offices in Adana and Mersin not too long before Demirtas was to arrive in Mersin, where the HDP held an election rally that day, could have killed him. Meanwhile it is the governing […]
‘We cannot do anything to stop them coming back’, Fayza Abdi, co-president of the Legislative Council of Kobani, tells me. We talk at a conference on the rebuilding of Kobani, after in January the YPG, YPJ, the peshmerga and US bombs kicked ISIS’ butt and chased them out of the canton. ‘We tell Kobani citizens […]