Will Turkey's Syria policy take the form Erdoğan wants by the time of the elections? What position will be taken when Iran comes into play, and what does this situation mean for the Kurds? Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) MP Hişyar Özsoy, co-spokesperson of the party’s Foreign Relations Commission, addressed these questions.
Iran
Parties from across the Asia-Pacific have issued the following joint statement in response to the attacks by Turkey and Iran on Kurdish communities.
In view of the Turkish wave of attacks on Rojava and the Medya Defence Zones, the Kurdistan Women's Freedom Party (PAJK) said: "No power will achieve its goal by shedding Kurdish blood. The Kurdish people will not give up their struggle at any price."
Kamran Nayeri - The slogan “Women, Life, Liberty” offers the political maturity of the current movement compared to the 1979 revolution. Not only it places the oppression of women in Iran front and center, but it also provides a framework to think about the kind of society we need to build after overcoming the current regime.
Aidin Torkameh - A collective front of a movement of a conscious people seeking self-determination, and recovering Iranian socialisms of the past and making new ones today, is urgently required.
A collection of statements by left parties in Asia in solidarity with mass protests in Iran
Soheil Asefi - Zhina’s death has sparked hundreds of protests across the country while “Zhen, Zhian, Azadi,” the Kurdish slogan that means “Woman, Life, Freedom,” has spreads beyond Iranian borders.
By Chris Slee
A Road Unforeseen: Women Fight the Islamic State
By Meredith Tax
Bellevue Literary Press
New York 2016 April 3, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — When Meredith Tax saw pictures of gun-toting Kurdish women defending the northern Syrian town of Kobane against Daesh (so-called "Islamic State") in 2014, she was inspired to find out more. This book is the eventual outcome of her research. The female fighters of the YPJ (Women's Protection Units) are part of a movement aimed at radical change in Syria and the broader Middle East. Tax explores the history of this movement in the context of the history of the Kurdish people.
By Meredith Tax
Bellevue Literary Press
New York 2016 April 3, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — When Meredith Tax saw pictures of gun-toting Kurdish women defending the northern Syrian town of Kobane against Daesh (so-called "Islamic State") in 2014, she was inspired to find out more. This book is the eventual outcome of her research. The female fighters of the YPJ (Women's Protection Units) are part of a movement aimed at radical change in Syria and the broader Middle East. Tax explores the history of this movement in the context of the history of the Kurdish people.
During the 2016 US election campaign Donald Trump promised an end to pointless foreign wars and attacked “useless” and massively expensive new military equipment, like the $1.5 trillion Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter. But the Trump presidency has ushered in a new era of militarism, as the United States prepares for high tech, massively violent wars against Russia and China, argues Phil Hearse.
By Cihad Hammy
February 2, 2018 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from The Region — In an article
I wrote a day before the Turkish state's invasion of Afrin, I intended
to scrutinize the underlying ideological structures of the Turkish
ruling party (AKP) and the driving force behind the invasion of Afrin.
This article will focus more on the role of major powers, mainly US and
Russia, in the recent invasion of Afrin and the stances held by the
Assad regime and Iran.
By Frieda Afary
June 24, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Alliance of Middle East Socialists — On June fifth, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt suddenly cut off diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar and closed
their borders to it. The reason stated for this decision was Qatar’s
support for the Muslim Brotherhood movement as well as Qatar’s friendly
relations with the Iranian government. Donald Trump subsequently sent
out a tweet in which he took credit for this move: “So good to see the
Saudi Arabia visit with the king and 50 countries already paying off.”
Turkey immediately announced its support for Qatar and accelerated
legislation to send more troops to its military base in that
country. It also called on Saudi Arabia to end this crisis. The
Iranian government announced that its air space and land borders were
open to Qatar in order to prevent a blockade against it.
Subsequently, on June 11, the Iranian navy sent two battleships to
the coast of Oman.