Group items tagged

After the retrieval of the historical tomb, Turkish forces raised the Turkish flag in the village the tomb was transferred to. Syrian forces felt this as a bit of a threat and so relations between the two governments remain tense. 

This article is a news report in Rudaw, an online Kurdish news network. On November 14, 10 members of the German Parliament unfurled the PKK's flag. This move was in support of both the PKK and Nicole Gohlk, a fellow MP who lost her parliamentary immunity last month after waving the PKK's flag at a pro-Kurd rally in Munich. According to the ten MPs, Germany should no longer classify the PKK as a terrorist organization, particularly in light of its contributions in the coalition against the Islamic State.

Belgian police have been moving rapidly in the past couple of days as they have been searching for any information regarding what happened during the bombings. They have found a bomb making factory that housed chemicals, nails and bolts.

The Turkish government recently went into an extremist-controlled territory in order to evacuate a tomb of a major historical figure, and the soldiers who guarded it. The safe passage of this mission has shown that the relations between Turkey and Syria have gotten a bit better. 

This is an article off of hacktivist group Anonymous' website. The footage is of an ex marine that claims to expose the US true agenda in Syria. He speaks of a "greater Israel project" and accuses the US of wanting to destabilize the Middle East.

This article is partly a news report and partly a discussion of gender equality in the PKK. On October 27, rumors began to spread on social media that a Kurdish female fighter known by the pseudonym Rehana may have been beheaded by Islamic State militants in Kobani. Rehana became the face of the PKK's female fighters after a picture of her making the victory sign was retweeted hundreds of times on Twitter. An image of a beheaded woman whom IS fighters claim to be Rehana was posted on pro-IS social media sites on the 27th, but it is impossible to verify whether the photo is genuine. The author goes on to discuss the complicated history of gender equality in the PKK. Currently, the group has the largest female militia in the world, and has a history of feminism rooted in it's founder Abdullah Ocalan's ideology. However, the author cites claims made by Berfu Kiziltan about how while the PKK has historically recruited women as well as men, in its early days, recruitment was sometimes by force. The author also mentions the PKK's history of female suicide bombers, as well as a recent suicide bombing in Kobani carried out by a female PKK soldier.

An Islamic State group flag flies near the front line of fighting between Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Islamist militants in Rashad, Iraq. By: Ali Mamouri, Columnist for Al-MonitorAl-Monitor NAJAF, Iraq - The Islamic State (IS) differs from its predecessors and similar groups by running a powerful intelligence apparatus that is strong and has plenty of security experience acquired by intelligence officers from the previous regime.

CAIRO, Egypt - New images released online Wednesday show large numbers of ISIS militants patrolling streets in the Libyan city of Sirte. Kalashnikov-wielding fighters in beige fatigues, their faces covered in black balaclavas, ride in a convoy of pick-ups trucks waving the group's black flags.

Nearly 1,000 rebel groups exist in Syria as of 2013, none of which have the exact same motives and desires. Jabhat al-Nusra has become very effective but their ties to al-Qaeda make members and citizens weary. Is there a way to rationalize how this civil war may end?

The number 562 is relatively meaningless to most people. But not to those who marked the 562nd anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul by the Ottoman Turks last May. Hundreds of thousands reportedly gathered in a field outside the city where a parade of jets painted the sky with red and white smoke-the colors of the Turkish flag.