Obviously very sensitive times these are, these days.
Take Care!
LoVe,
Lyn
Take Care!
LoVe,
Lyn
Kurdistan the only place in the middle east that allows you to practice your religion freeely regardless of what it is. No wonder no Muslim country wants it to gain Independence!!Comment on liveleak on pics of American YPG fighter Jordan Matson praying in church in Syria.
Why do the babies starve
When there's enough food to feed the world
Why when there're so many of us
Are there people still alone
Why are the missiles called peace keepers
When they're aimed to kill
Why is a woman still not safe
When she's in her home
Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
And we're all free
But somebody's gonna have to answer
The time is coming soon
Admidst all these questions and contradictions
There're some who seek the truth
But somebody's gonna have to answer
The time is coming soon
When the blind remove their blinders
And the speechless speak the truth
"Denial is the eighth stage that always follows a genocide.
It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal massacres.
The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses.
They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims."
"Dear Prime Minister, [...]
We see three particularly harmful elements in the principles articulated on March 7:
1) fast-track mass returns to Turkey,
2) the proposal to resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey for each irregularly arriving Syrian who is returned to Turkey; and
3) cooperation with Turkey on what appears to be the establishment of a “safe area” in Syria that would be used as a pretext to contain the flow of asylum seekers leaving that war-torn country.
We urge you to reject all three of these proposed elements.
They are legally, morally, and politically wrong, and if implemented would signal a stark repudiation of international law and the very values on which the European Union was founded. [...]
Meanwhile, all refugees in Turkey are struggling to find work, educate their children, and build dignified lives — essential elements of a “safe” refuge.
Human Rights Watch is also deeply concerned that in the interests of securing the Joint Action Plan to stem the flow of refugees and migrants, the EU is willing to turn a blind-eye as Turkey’s president cracks down on human rights and dismantles Turkey’s democratic framework.
This has been all too evident in the muted EU response to the near elimination of critical media as the Action Plan was being negotiated. The escalating conflict in the Southeast over the past few months suggests growing instability in Turkey and should be of grave concern.
For the EU at such a moment to diminish its support for a rights-respecting Turkey dramatically transforms the terms of the EU-Turkey relationship and may even contribute to Turkey’s authoritarian slide.
A very different approach is needed. [...]
Local from Nisêbîn: We are witnessing the worst explosions of our lives right now. Turkey declared mil.curfew today.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Russia on Sunday accused Turkey of sending its military across the Syrian border to prevent Kurdish groups there from consolidating their positions, while Turkish authorities imposed curfews on two mainly Kurdish towns where Turkey's security forces are set to launch large-scale operations against Kurdish militants.
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.
Khalil Gibran, from 'The Prophet'
"Heavy clashes are going on, and the area where we are is being bombed intensely by mortar and tank strikes. They (state forces) are making announcements, saying "We will conduct airstrikes and kill you all"."
(Source: kurdishquestion.com - others might come later, as so often)
A letter from the basement of death in Cizre
"The letter comes just as reports are shared that the Turkish armed forces have bombed and burned 60 civilians to death in two separate basements in Cizre.
[...] The street that used to be the scene of happy people dancing and singing is now the center of a pain that will never ease, never go away. 28 people are crying when a voice coming from the phone screams: “They have come.” Shouting, more screaming, women’s voices can be heard through the phone. One woman’s voice can be heard above the others. “Dishonorables!” she exclaims and the screams suddenly come to a halt. Now, everyone who heard those voices through the phone, have fixed their attention upon Bostanci Road number 23.
The road is like a dark well … Time has stopped. The singers in the street have gone silent. Bostanci Road is black. No cry is heard, no scream. No voice of a woman shouting “dishonorable.” What did she see that made her say that? What were those sounds, sounds like those coming from weapons. Bostanci Road is dark now. Dark like a black well where the screams and cries of the oppressed cannot be heard.
Instead of the sun rising, smoke is rising from a fire so intense that humanity cannot breathe. We cannot breathe, they cannot breathe. Bostanci Road cannot breathe. Unknown men in bulletproof vests and helmets and with guns in their hands are invading Bostanci Road. They do not belong in this street and they have never met the children of Bostanci Road. They have never seem them play, never witnessed their happiness. [...]
Kevin Carter comes to my mind, the South African photographer who took a picture of a little black girl who was dying from hunger and a vulture sitting nearby. The vulture eventually flew away after the picture was taken and Kevin Carter also left without helping the little girl. Although the photograph triggered humanitarian organizations to collect donations, Kevin Carter suffered a severe depression over the fact that he left the girl. He committed suicide. Either we become Kevin Carter or …
Right now I am fighting my guilty conscience while I am in a daze, shifting between my journalistic work and my nightmare. The basement is invaded by vultures and there are 28 people who are thirsty. Not even in my dreams can I give them water. I commit suicide every single day in those 55 days that I have lived on Bostanci Road number 23 in Cudi neighbourhood in Cizre. I put all my identities behind me except the one of me as a human being.
To give a glass of water to someone in need is harder than dying again and again. So many times I die in my nightmares. Either we end up like Kevin Carter or we do everything in our power to give a glass of water.[...]
“We have lost all our comrades and heroes. How are we supposed to live,” he said, breaking down, sobbing. Do not say men do not cry because in Cizre, they cry.
I guess one day the vultures will fly away from Bostanci Road number 23 and the sun will rise where there is now a thick, black smoke.
We journalists will not commit suicide due to a guilty conscience like Kevin Carter did. We will light up this basement and tell the truth.
We send our greetings to our colleagues who have come here from Istanbul to support journalists who are putting their lives at risk to report on the realities in North Kurdistan [Southeastern Turkey].
Let us protect the lives in the basement against the vultures!
Journalist Asya Tekin
February 8, 2016
Cizre"
#warcrimeinabasement.
"[...] 2015 and 4 January 2016, requests for the indication of interim measures in connection with the curfew measures imposed since August 2015 by local governors in certain towns and villages of south-eastern Turkey. The alleged aim of the measures is to enable the security forces to maintain law and order in those places and to protect civilians from violence.
On 31 December 2015 the Court decided to ask the Turkish Government to provide it, by 8 January 2016, with certain factual information about the curfew situation and its consequences for the people concerned. The Government replied to the Court on 8 January 2016. On 12 January 2016, having examined the applicants’ requests and the information provided by the Government, the Court decided not to apply Rule 39 (Interim measures) of its Rules of Court because the elements at its disposal were insufficient.
It decided to apply Rule 40 (Urgent notification of an application) and also to deal with the applications as a priority under Rule 41 (Order of dealing with cases).
It has asked the applicants to keep it informed of any subsequent developments.
The matter has been referred to a Chamber of the Court.
Lastly, given the gravity of the situation, the Court relies on the Government to take any necessary steps to ensure that physically vulnerable individuals can have access to treatment if they so request.
The Court also observes that it remains open to the applicants to make a fresh request for interim measures should new evidence or circumstances arise. [...]"Source: ECRH press release as of January, 13, 2016 doc ECHR 016 (2016) 13.01.2016
"For Kuwait's disaffected youth — bedoun and full citizens alike — groups like al Qaeda and IS have increasing appeal, al-Fadhli said, and Al Taimam is being targeted by recruiters for jihadist groups abroad that promise riches, glory, and a place to belong. In September, a Kuwaiti court sentenced seven men to death for their part in the bombing of a Shia mosque in Kuwait City by the local wing of IS. Among their number was Abdulrahman Sabah Saud, a Kuwaiti bedoun who had confessed to driving the bomber to the mosque. Several Kuwaiti bedoun interviewed for this story told VICE News that recruiters for both al Qaeda and IS have come to view Al Taimam as a rich recruiting ground."
"Turkey: EU risks complicity in violations as refugees and asylum-seekers locked up and deported"