NEWS

The ceremony that was planned to be conducted on September 6 in The Church of the Holy Cross on Akhtamar Island is cancelled due to security concerns. Many people from Armenia and Armenian Diaspora was expected to attend the ceremony that has been conducted since 2011.

After the MA program in Syriac Language and Literature that Mardin Artuklu University has been offering for six years now, preparations for launching an undergraduate program in Syriac Language and Literature within the Faculty of Arts were started. The next step is to launch departments of Armenian Language and Literature and Hebrew Language and Literature.

Malkara Mayor Ulaş Yurdakul said that the old headstones belong to the graves that vanished years ago and these headstones were put into use as manhole covers in some places of the district in the past years.

It was declared that the wanted prosecutors Zekeriya Öz and Celal Kara went to Germany, but their Armenia adventure is still considered as a given fact. Alin Ozinian traces the “fleeing to Armenia” perception in Turkish official authorities and media.

21 years old law student Claudia Brounsouzian first went to Mersin with her mother. Then, she went to Cyprus and tried to go to Europe from there. However, she couldn’t have managed to go to Southern Cyprus and because of that, she returned to Turkey; but this time, she went to İzmir. We talked to Brounsouzian about her story of migration from Aleppo to Turkey.

In a recent article, Robert Fisk, the senior Middle East correspondent of the Independent compared Turkey to Pakistan in the 1980s and said that the recent air bombardment was no surprise given that all powers in the region have betrayed the Kurds. We spoke to Fisk both about the details of the matters he touches on in his article, and whether power balances have changed in the Middle East. Fisk comments that Turkey has become a market place and when seen from this perspective there are more important issues at stake besides whether or not Turkey will enter the war in Syria: “I believe that Syria has started penetrating Turkey. Suruç is an example of this. From this view, the Syrian War but not the Syrians have occupied Turkey. It is not the reverse.”

Following the Suruç Massacre, and the murder of two police officers in Ceylanpınar, military operations and clashes have resumed. A wave of police operations across Turkey continues. İHD (Human Rights Association) has announced that 41 people lost their lives in the week from 21 to 28 July, and that 1038 people have been detained. Reports of deaths continue to come in every day. President Erdoğan’s demand that the HDP MPs’ parliamentary immunity be lifted has caused further alarm. Human rights organizations and civil society organizations have expressed deep concern regarding recent developments.

HDP Co-Chairperson Selahattin Demirtaş has responded to journalists’ questions regarding operations targeting the PKK and ISIS.

Rally planned for Sunday in Istanbul by Barış Bloku, the Peace Block, has been banned by the Istanbul Governorate.

Turkish Armed Forces fighter jets departing from the Diyarbakır 8th Main Jet Base have targeted PKK camps located within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq.