Rojava/ Kurdish Regions Newswire

[The Feral Underclass]

International Brigades now reporting that the Turkish air force has started bombing PKK positions. I wonder if this was the price the US paid for use of Incirlik airbase...?

[Sentinel]

I just saw that too. The airstrikes have targeted PKK bases in northern Iraq, same forces who for example broke the siege of the Sinjar mountain and are still very much combating Daesh in the region.

And this is of course where the focus will entirely be in this Turkish 'war on on ISIL' .

[Sentinel]

International Brigades of Rojava (fb): "KCK and DBP tells the Kurds to Revolt in Kurdistan!"

DBP being a Kurdish party in Turkey, Kurdistan in this context means Bakur, ie Northern Kurdistan.

[Sentinel]

Also breaking news from the brigades: Also Rojava has been attacked, and now the fucking Iranian airforce is bombing PKK too, in Qandil.

[khad]

Seems to be jumping the gun. Sources reporting this as bullshit, as the Iranian air force has not been officially activated for the Iraqi front. I assume this might be because the Iranian air forces have quite a bit of common inventory, leading to misidentification.

Many sources (including Turkish and KRG ones) are reporting the air raids in Qandil as Turkish.

Fer Gunay ‏@FGunay1 14m14 minutes ago Allright here we go again: News of Iranian jets bombing Kurdish positions in Qandil are complete rubbish. Not true, BS, etc

BOTAN ‏@KurdeBotan 26m26 minutes ago BOTAN retweeted Ajansa Kurdî
Enze village in #Qandil was bombed by Turkish air forces. #TurkeyAttackKurdsNotISIS

Adam The Syrian ‏@adamactivist647 38m38 minutes ago 5 PKK militant camps Avasin, Metina, Basyan, Qandil and Amediye which are located in N. Iraq hit by Turkish F-16s.


jiyan öztürk ‏@jiyanozturk 42m42 minutes ago Iraq
Turkish air forces started to shell pkk guerilla bases of zap, metina, haftanin, avashin, qandil and gare at 22.55. Heavy shelling continues

Slemani Times ‏@SlemaniTimes 1h1 hour ago #KDP Parastin Intelligence Agency continues to monitor the success of Turkish air strikes on #PKK positions in Qandil. #TwitterKurds

[khad]

Elijah J. Magnier ‏@EjmAlrai "To #ISIS from Lone wolf in Constantinopolis. We r waiting (2 strike) for an order from Baghdadi" v @TDecker75

[khad]

Also, it's important to note that the PUK, the PKK's primary political allies in KRG-land is on friendly terms with Iran. This could potentially unleash a proxy civil war in Kurdish lands much like what we saw in the 90s when Barzani basically begged Saddam to kill PUK Kurds for him.

A lot of scores waiting to be settled if this escalates.

PUK Peshmerga with General Solemani:

[Sasha]

"The Turkish military have carried out mass air bombings on PKK controlled areas inside Iraq in recent hours. Reports say that the Turkish government has censored over forty Kurdish and alternative news channels and websites in Turkey as it carries out attacks. There have also been reports of several hundred arrests inside Turkey of Kurdish and Left activists.
The media wing of the Kurdish Workers Party, the PKK has announced that this attack marks the end of the 2013 ceasefire between the Turkish government and the PKK."

[Sentinel]

According to sources on Twitter YPG/J forces stormed the town of Sarrin in southern Kobane canton yesterday, securing most streets while the battle is still ongoing. It had been under siege for a longer period, with Daesh reinforcements occasionally breaking or being smuggled in.

[Sasha]

At least 2 Turkish soldiers killed in a PKK ambush near the main Turkish-Kurdish city.

[Sasha]

Thread title expanded to include also events in the other Kurdish regions in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq.

[Sentinel]

HPG/PKK also downed a Turkish army helicopter in Qandil yesterday, International Brigades posted pictures of the hit and the wreck.

[Sasha]

HPG/PKK also downed a Turkish army helicopter in Qandil yesterday, International Brigades posted pictures of the hit and the wreck.

As far as I could gather this where actually pics of an incident 4 years ago...

[Sentinel]

As far as I could gather this where actually pics of an incident 4 years ago...

Right, I had not followed the discussion after that post. Shame. Perhaps this Brigades fb page has to be taken with a grain of salt, seeing they posted that info about Iranian Air force earlier as well.. Hmm.

Not that they'd be dishonest but they perhaps aren't checking their sources properly.

[khad]

Dominoes falling. The "mentality" he's hinting at is probably the question of Kurdish autonomy in Northern Syria.

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha #YPG Saleh Muslim: We are willing to join #SAA as long as they change their mentality, #KRG supports us against #IS https://rojavanews.com/arabic/index.php/ku/item/6229-rojavanews …

[khad]

German Journalist Inga Rogg now reporting a statement from YPG saying that Turkey has directly attacked them.


Inga Rogg ‏@ingarogg 1h1 hour ago
Inga Rogg retweeted Amed Dicle
"#YPG Kobane command: At 11 pm in Tell Findir, W of Tell Abyad, Turkish soldiers shot at one of our cars." #Turkey

Inga Rogg ‏@ingarogg 1h1 hour ago
Inga Rogg retweeted Amed Dicle
"#YPG Kobane command: At 10 pm #Turkey's army attacked our positions in Zor Mixar village with seven tank shells."

Inga Rogg ‏@ingarogg 49m49 minutes ago
Inga Rogg retweeted Amed Dicle
"#YPG Kobane cmd: TR army has twice bombed our positions in Zor Mixar/Jarabulus, 2 injured. We're warning #Turkey."

Cahit Storm ‏@cahitstorm Ypg commandment statement after turkish agression in Kobane canton: next time u hit us, we will retaliate.

[Sentinel]

YPG confirms that Turkish troops have been firing at them from across the border:

Gen. Comm: Statement Regarding Attacks by Turkish Army Against YPG and FSA Positions Near Kobani

Created on Monday, 27 July 2015 05:48 | | | Hits: 151


For the Media and Public Opinion
KOBANI, Rojava (July 26, 2015) - At 4:30 July 24 in western Kobani, the Turkish Army shelled the People’s Defense Units and the Free Syria Army’s positions in the village of Zormikhar in front of the terrorist-occupied town Jarabulus – using heavy tank fire. In this attack four fighters of the FSA and several local villagers were injured.
Today at 22:00, the Turkish army again shelled the same village with 7 tank rounds.
At 23:00, one of our vehicles came under heavy fire from the Turkish military east of Kobani (west of Tel Abyad) in the village of Til Findire.
Instead of targeting IS terrorists’ occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders positions. This is not the right attitude. We urge Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines. We are telling the Turkish Army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.

General Command People’s Defense Units (YPG)

Kobani Command - July 26, 2015

The first shot back will no doubt be used by Erdogan as an excuse for an invasion of Rojava, not that it probably won't happen soon anyway. However, officially PM Davutoglu claims Turkey has the best intentions (as quoted in Reuters):

It has no plans to send ground troops into Syria and the air strikes there are meant to give support to moderate Syrian rebels fighting Islamic State, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper.

He said the Syrian Kurdish PYD, which has links to the PKK, could "have a place in the new Syria" if it did not disturb Turkey, cut all relations with President Bashar al-Assad's administration and cooperated with opposition forces.

But the relapse into serious conflict between Turkey and the PKK has raised doubts about the future of NATO member Turkey's peace efforts with its own Kurdish foes that started in 2012, after 28 years of bloodshed, but have recently stalled.

[Sentinel]

The Save Kobane fb page announced 20 minutes ago:

BREAKING: SARRIN/ZÊRÎN has been fully liberated by YPG/YPJ and Burkan al Firat forces! YPG commander Polat Can: Sarrin is back in the arms of Kurdistan.

[hexaune]

Looks like the Americans have given Turkey the green light for their ''safe zone'' in northern Syria:

Turkey and the US have agreed on the outlines of a plan to drive Islamic State out of a strip of land along the Turkey-Syria border, according to reports, in a landmark deal that will draw Turkey further into Syria’s civil war and looks likely to increase the intensity of the US air war against Isis.
The agreement to create an “Islamic State-free zone”, as officials are calling it, comes days after a wave of violence linked to the Syrian war prompted Turkey, a Nato member, to launch air strikes for the first time against Isis and to allow a coalition led by the US to use its air bases to bomb militant targets in Syria.

It is a diplomatic victory for Turkey, which has long demanded the creation of a safe haven in northern Syria, across the 500-mile (800km) border that links the two countries, as a precondition for joining the battle against Islamic State.

More info in the link including some pictures of the proposed zone:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...rian-border-us

[Sasha]

From our comrades with the Workers Solidarity Movement in Ireland: The Turkish state, under a care take prime minister since the June 7 elections did not give the AKP a majority, unleashed significant repression against the Kurdish movement and the radical left over the weekend. Anarchists from several cities had gathered in the university town of Eskişehir in the northwest to commemorate the four anarchists among the 32 people murdered by ISIS at Suruc last week. As the report below details the police attacked the demonstration, attesting 17 people and also it appears attacking the lawyers who then tried to represent them.
There have been hundreds of arrests in Turkey over the weekend with most of those arrested coming from the left and Kurdish movements.
----
Eskişehir: Anarchists arrested in commemoration action for their comrades who were killed in Suruç last week
Today, about 70 anarchists from İstanbul, Ankara, Yalova and other cities (Eskişehir Anarşi İnisiyatifi, Ankara Anarşi İnisiyatifi, İstanbul Anarşi İnisiyatifi ve Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet), gathered in Eskişehir in a commemoration action for their comrades (Alper Sapan, Evrim Deniz Erol, Medali Barutçu, Serhat Devrim) who were killed by suicide bomb in Suruç (Pirsus) last week. When anarchist gathered and started to march, police suddenly attack and arrested 17 anarchists.
It was the action of Anarchy Initiative which made an international call for solidarity action against Turkish fascist government. Also other groups, autonoms and individuals joined the action in Eskişehir.
Anarchists who gathered in front of Migros (Adalar) and started to march were attacked by police. And 17 anarchist arrested. Other activists dispersed to the streets and cafes. Then, fascgist groups appeared in the streets to annoy the protestors. Some fascists applauded police who were arresting some anarchists.
Meanwhile, police tried to criminalize the protestors and anarchists by a bomb warning in the city center. Already they blokaded roads, they increased the security in the center. Then they exploded the package with fuze on the street.
For now we don’t have more details about arrestees. 17 anarchist arrested and police doesn’t allow the arrestees to talk with their lawyers. Some police hit some lawyers of arrestees. We’ll give more updates soon.