Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party teases ‘historic’ news from PKK leader

Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party teases ‘historic’ news from PKK leader
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The pro-Kurdish DEM party will send a delegation Thursday to meet Ocalan at his prison on an island off Istanbul. (FILE/AFP)
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Updated 27 February 2025
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Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party teases ‘historic’ news from PKK leader

Turkiye’s pro-Kurd party teases ‘historic’ news from PKK leader
  • Ocalan, 75, has been serving life without parole on Imrali prison island since his 1999 arrest in Kenya

Istanbul: Turkiye’s leading pro-Kurd party said it was expecting a “historic declaration” Thursday from the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, amid efforts to end a decades-long conflict with Ankara.

The pro-Kurdish DEM party will send a delegation Thursday to meet Ocalan at his prison on an island off Istanbul, it said in a statement.

The visit, the third in the past few months, comes as Ankara seeks to reset ties with the PKK, which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

“If everything goes smoothly, tomorrow, we expect Ocalan to make a historic declaration,” said DEM, whose visit to the jailed PKK leader was approved by the justice ministry on Wednesday.

It said there would be a statement to the press following the visit, at about 5:00 p.m. (1400 GMT).

The seven-person delegation, which includes Ocalan’s lawyer, Faik Ozgur Erol, would like the PKK leader to make his expected peace appeal in a video message instead of by writing, but the justice ministry has not yet agreed, Turkish media reported.

Ocalan, 75, has been serving life without parole on Imrali prison island since his 1999 arrest in Kenya.

But starting in late December, he has been twice visited by two DEM lawmakers who then briefed the parliamentary parties on the content of their talks.

The dialogue with Ocalan is an initiative of ultra-nationalist political leader Devlet Bahceli, a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and has led to growing anticipation that Ocalan will soon issue a public call to his fighters to lay down their arms, in exchange for concessions for the country’s Kurdish minority.

PKK leaders, who are mostly based in the mountains of northern Iraq, could then relay Ocalan’s message, Turkish media said.

But the extent of Ocalan’s appeal is uncertain.

Thursday’s delegation includes DEM co-chairs Tulay Hatimogullari and Tuncer Bakirhan, and veteran Kurdish politician Ahmet Turk, 82, who has a long history of involvement in efforts to resolve the Kurdish issue.

Deputy speaker Sirri Sureyya Onder and lawmaker Pervin Buldan, who were both part of the earlier delegations, will also go, as will another DEM lawmaker.

The conflict between PKK rebels and the Turkish state, which erupted in 1984, has claimed more than 40,000 lives.

A previous round of peace talks collapsed in a storm of violence in 2015, after which the Turkish government cut off all contact.


UK, French and German leaders press Israel over Gaza aid after Macron backs a Palestinian state

Updated 9 sec ago
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UK, French and German leaders press Israel over Gaza aid after Macron backs a Palestinian state

UK, French and German leaders press Israel over Gaza aid after Macron backs a Palestinian state
The joint statement called for an immediate ceasefire and said that “withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable“
Macron’s surprise announcement exposed differences among the European allies

LONDON: The leaders of Britain, France and Germany demanded Israel allow unrestricted aid into Gaza to end a “humanitarian catastrophe,” after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country will become the first major Western power to recognize a Palestinian state.

The joint statement, issued after a call between Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, called for an immediate ceasefire and said that “withholding essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable,” though it broke no new diplomatic ground.

The leaders said they “stand ready to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that leads to lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,” but did not say what that action might be.

France’s move exposes European divisions

Macron’s surprise announcement exposed differences among the European allies, known as the E3, over how to ease the worsening humanitarian crisis and end the Israel-Hamas war.

All three support a Palestinian state in principle, but Germany said it has no immediate plans to follow France’s step, which Macron plans to formalize at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Britain has not followed suit either, but Starmer is under mounting pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, both from opposition lawmakers and from members of his own Labour Party government. Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Tuesday called for an announcement “while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognize.”

On Friday, 221 of the 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons signed a letter urging Starmer to recognize a Palestinian state.

“Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance,” said the letter, signed by legislators from several government and opposition parties.

After the E3 call on Friday, Starmer condemned “the continued captivity of hostages, the starvation and denial of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, the increasing violence from extremist settler groups, and Israel’s disproportionate military escalation in Gaza.”

He said that “recognition of a Palestinian state” must be one of the steps on a pathway to peace.

“I am unequivocal about that. But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis,” he said.

More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including a dozen in Europe. But France is the first Group of Seven country and the largest European nation to take that step.

Israel and the United States both denounced France’s decision.

Britain has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has said recognition should come as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.

Any such solution appears far off. There had been no substantive Israel-Palestinian negotiations for years even before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and sparked the current war.

Humanitarian crisis alarms Israel’s allies

The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where hunger is spreading and children have starved to death, has caused alarm even among Israel’s closest allies.

Germany has traditionally been a particularly staunch ally of Israel in Europe, with relations rooted in the history of the Holocaust. It says recognizing a Palestinian state should be “one of the concluding steps” in negotiating a two-state solution and it “does not plan to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term.”

But Berlin, too, has sharpened its tone recently, describing the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza as unacceptable and pushing for greater humanitarian aid, but still appears to favor trying to influence Israeli officials by direct contact.

The German government said in a statement on Friday that it is in a “constant exchange” with the Israeli government and other partners on issues that include a ceasefire in Gaza and the need to drastically improve humanitarian aid. It said it is “prepared to increase the pressure” if there is no progress, but didn’t elaborate on how.

Britain has halted some arms sales to Israel, suspended free trade talks and sanctioned far-right government ministers and extremist settlers, but Starmer is under intense pressure to do more.

Also weighing on Starmer is his desire to maintain good relations with the US administration, which has strongly criticized France’s decision. The British leader is due to meet President Donald Trump in the next few days while the president is in Scotland visiting two golf courses he owns there.

Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East expert at the international affairs think-tank Chatham House, said Macron’s decision to defer finalizing recognition until September “creates some space” for other countries to get on board.

“We know that the UK is close, but not there,” he said. “This might encourage Starmer, who we know is not one to rush such a decision. … This might create some momentum, some dynamic, for the UK”

British surgeon alleges ‘target practice’ shootings of Gazans by Israeli forces

British surgeon alleges ‘target practice’ shootings of Gazans by Israeli forces
Updated 7 min 21 sec ago
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British surgeon alleges ‘target practice’ shootings of Gazans by Israeli forces

British surgeon alleges ‘target practice’ shootings of Gazans by Israeli forces
  • Dr. Nick Maynard, a veteran of humanitarian missions in Gaza over the past 15 years, spent four weeks working at Nasser Hospital

LONDON: A British surgeon who recently returned from Gaza has claimed Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid distribution points “almost like a game of target practice,” allegations the Israeli military have strongly denied.

Dr. Nick Maynard, a veteran of humanitarian missions in Gaza over the past 15 years, spent four weeks working at Nasser Hospital in the south of the Strip.

He told Sky News that the population is suffering from “profound malnutrition” and described the medical crisis facing patients and healthcare workers.

Speaking to The World with Yalda Hakim on Sky News, Maynard said: “I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage — and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed.

“There were four premature babies who died during the first two weeks when I was in Nasser Hospital — and there will be many, many more deaths unless the Israelis allow proper food to get in there.”

Maynard, who has now visited Gaza three times since the war began, said the paediatric unit is relying on sugar water to feed children due to a lack of baby formula.

“They’ve got a small amount of formula feed for very small babies, but not enough,” he said.

The effects of the crisis have also been severe on his colleagues.

“I saw people I’d known for years and I didn’t recognise some of them,” he said.

“Two colleagues had lost 20kg and 30kg respectively. They were shells, they’re all hungry.

“They’re going to work every day, then going home to their tents where they have no food.”

In the most serious allegation, Maynard claimed civilians were being shot by Israeli forces while they were collecting food at aid points.

“Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points almost like a game of target practice,” he said.

Israel’s military “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians, particularly in the manner described. For the sake of clarity, the army’s binding orders prohibit forces operating in the area from intentionally firing at civilians,” it said.

“We are aware of reports of casualties among those who arrived at the aid distribution sites. These incidents are under examination by the relevant (military) authorities. Any allegation of a violation of the law or regulations will be thoroughly investigated, including taking appropriate action if necessary.”

The military said it was “working to facilitate and ease the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation at the designated distribution centres, as well as through other international actors. These efforts are being conducted under difficult and complex operational conditions.”

Maynard claimed to have operated on boys as young as 11 who had been shot while collecting food at distribution sites run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

“They had gone to get food for their starving families and they were shot,” he said. “I operated on one 12-year-old boy who died on the operating table because his injuries were so severe.”

He also alleged a disturbing pattern in the injuries observed during his time at the hospital.

“What was even more distressing was the pattern of injuries that we saw, the clustering of injuries to particular body parts on certain days,” he said.

“One day they’d be coming in predominately with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, another day to the chest, another day to the abdomen.

“Twelve days ago, four young teenage boys came in, all of whom had been shot in the testicles and deliberately so. This is not coincidental.

“The clustering was far too obvious to be coincidental, and it seemed to us like this was almost like a game of target practice. I would never have believed this possible unless I'd witnessed this with my own eyes.”


Fires engulf Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast as government declares 2 disaster zones

Fires engulf Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast as government declares 2 disaster zones
Updated 31 min 47 sec ago
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Fires engulf Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast as government declares 2 disaster zones

Fires engulf Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast as government declares 2 disaster zones
  • Images showed flames and smoke billowing into the sky close to high-rise apartment buildings in Antalya
  • Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Friday that Izmir and Bilecik provinces had been declared “disaster areas affecting public life“

ISTANBUL: New wildfires broke out on Turkiye’s Mediterranean coast Friday, as the government declared two western provinces in the country to be disaster zones.

Images showed flames and smoke billowing into the sky close to high-rise apartment buildings in Antalya, where local and foreign visitors flock during the summer months.

Homes were evacuated in the city center and the outlying district of Aksu as the fire advanced, privately owned news agency DHA reported. Firefighters struggled to extinguish the blazes before strong winds could spread the fire, which closed a major coastal road.

Further along the coast, homes in the city of Manavgat were also threatened.

Local residents with hoses and buckets rushed to assist firefighters as water-dropping helicopters and planes also battled the flames. Police water cannons and municipal water trucks were also enlisted in the firefighting efforts.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said Friday that Izmir and Bilecik provinces had been declared “disaster areas affecting public life,” one step below the most serious level of emergency.

Between June 27 and Thursday, residents from 120 neighborhoods nationwide were evacuated, Yerlikaya added, and more than 12,000 workers under the ministry’s authority, such as police and rescue staff, had fought the fires.

In a social media post, the minister said 311 homes had been destroyed or seriously damaged during the monthlong blazes and 85 temporary housing units were set up across three western provinces for those made homeless.

Turkiye has faced widespread outbreaks of forest fires since late June. Thirteen people have died, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir, western Turkiye. The funerals for the 10 were on Thursday.

Temperatures above seasonal norms have been exacerbated by strong winds and dry conditions, resulting in dozens of wildfires.

East of Antalya, fires broke out in Adana and Mersin on Friday. Elsewhere in the country, firefighters continued battling blazes in Eskisehir and nearby Karabuk that have been raging for several days.

The heat wave in the eastern Mediterranean region saw 1,000 firefighters and soldiers battle flames in Albania as temperatures reached 42 C (107 F).

In the Albanian city of Elbasan, firefighters have been combating a weeklong blaze in the country’s central mountain forests. Fires have also broke out near the southern border with Greece.


Lebanese militant released after 40 years in French jail

Lebanese militant released after 40 years in French jail
Updated 49 min 57 sec ago
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Lebanese militant released after 40 years in French jail

Lebanese militant released after 40 years in French jail
  • Dozens of supporters, some waving Palestinian or Lebanese Communist Party flags gathered near the arrivals hall to give him a hero’s reception
  • Abdallah’s family had said previously they would take him to their hometown of Kobayat

LANNEMEZAN, France: One of France’s longest-held inmates, the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, 74, was released from prison and deported on Friday, after more than 40 years behind bars for the killings of two diplomats.

At around 3:40 am (01:40 GMT), a convoy of six vehicles left the Lannemezan penitentiary with lights flashing, AFP journalists saw.

Hours later, he was placed on a plane bound for Lebanon.

As he disembarked in Beirut, he was welcomed by family members at the airport’s VIP lounge.

Dozens of supporters, some waving Palestinian or Lebanese Communist Party flags gathered near the arrivals hall to give him a hero’s reception, an AFP correspondent said.

Abdallah’s family had said previously they would take him to their hometown of Kobayat, in northern Lebanon, where a reception is planned.

Abdallah was detained in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov in Paris.

The Paris Court of Appeal had ordered his release “effective July 25” on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.

While he had been eligible for release since 1999, his previous requests were denied with the United States — a civil party to the case — consistently opposing him leaving prison.

Inmates serving life sentences in France are typically freed after fewer than 30 years.

Abdallah’s lawyer, Jean-Louis Chalanset, visited for a final time on Thursday.

“He seemed very happy about his upcoming release, even though he knows he is returning to the Middle East in an extremely tough context for Lebanese and Palestinian populations,” Chalanset told AFP.

AFP visited Abdallah last week after the court’s release decision, accompanying a lawmaker to the detention center.

The founder of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions (FARL) — a long-disbanded Marxist anti-Israel group — said for more than four decades he had continued to be a “militant with a struggle.”

After his arrest in 1984, French police discovered submachine guns and transceiver stations in one of his Paris apartments.

The appeals court in February noted that the FARL “had not committed a violent action since 1984” and that Abdallah “today represented a past symbol of the Palestinian struggle.”

The appeals judges also found the length of his detention “disproportionate” to the crimes and given his age.


Fleeing Sudan war, at any cost

Fleeing Sudan war, at any cost
Updated 25 July 2025
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Fleeing Sudan war, at any cost

Fleeing Sudan war, at any cost
  • Over 10 million have been displaced inside the country, according to UN figures
  • The Mixed Migration Center, a research and policy organization, reported a 20 percent increase in the number of Sudanese trying to reach Europe via Libya this year

KHARTOUM: Stalked by war and hunger for two years, more and more Sudanese civilians are desperately seeking safety in Europe, braving perilous crossings of the Libyan desert and the Mediterranean Sea.

More than four million Sudanese have fled abroad since the war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in 2023. Over 10 million more have been displaced inside the country, according to UN figures.

The Mixed Migration Center, a research and policy organization, reported a 20 percent increase in the number of Sudanese trying to reach Europe via Libya this year.

AFP has gathered firsthand accounts from those scattered along the route — some still waiting for a way out, others stuck in Libya and a few who have reached the relative safety of Europe but remain haunted by what they left behind.

Ibrahim Yassin, 20, left eastern Sudan in December 2023, “hoping to reach Libya, and then Europe.”

“The journey across the desert was hellish... extreme thirst and entire days without food.”

In Libya, smugglers demanded $3,000 to continue his journey. Unable to pay, he fled to Tripoli, “hoping to find another opportunity.”

In Tripoli, a second group offered a sea crossing for $3,500, which his relatives sent after selling the family home in Sudan.

“We sailed for eight hours, before the Libyan coast guard caught us and put us in jail.”

Another $1,000 secured his release. His second attempt ended the same way.

Now, he is stranded in Tripoli — broke, undocumented and out of options.

“Now I’m lost,” he said. “No papers, no way back to Sudan and no way to reach Europe.”

Naima Azhari, 35, was living with her husband and daughter in Soba, south of Khartoum, when the war erupted.

“I thought it would last a week or two. But when the RSF took control of Khartoum, we realized there was no hope.”

In August 2023, they set out for Libya. The 10-day journey was fraught with danger.

“At every checkpoint, you pay a bribe or they threaten you. We went from one militia zone to another.”

But Tripoli offered no relief. “No stability. No jobs. Libya was even harder than the war itself.”

Naima considered returning to Sudan, but there was no safe route.

In October 2024, the family moved again — this time to Egypt, where they finally found “a better life.”

Until June 2023, Hassan, a 40-year-old civil servant, lived quietly with his wife and three children in the Darfur city of Geneina.

But then the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began targeting the Masalit ethnic minority to which he belongs.

“They assassinated governor Khamis Abakar, who I was close to,” Hasan recalled, asking that his real name be withheld for safety reasons.

He said he and others were detained when they spoke out.

“We were beaten and tortured. They said: ‘Slaves, we have to get rid of you’.”

In January, the United States determined that the RSF had “committed genocide” in Darfur with their “systematic” targeting of ethnic minorities including the Masalit.

Hassan escaped across the desert into Libya, where he was held for two months in “an overcrowded place where migrants are exploited, insulted and beaten.”

He eventually boarded a boat and spent two days at sea before landing in Italy.

From there, he made his way to France, where he sought political asylum. Now employed in a factory, he is trying to locate his children.

“Someone on Facebook told me they were in a refugee camp in Chad. I started the process of bringing them here, but unfortunately they have no documents.

“I can’t return to Sudan, I have to bring them here. That’s my only goal now.”

Abdelaziz Bashir, 42, once lived a modest but stable life in the city of Omdurman, just across the Nile from Khartoum.

“Everything changed in an instant,” forcing him to flee to the eastern city of Gedaref with his family.

Though now technically safe, “I’m just sitting around, there’s no work, and the economic situation gets worse every day.”

Unable to provide for his family, he has set his sights on reaching Europe.

“I know the road is dangerous, that I could die in the desert or at sea, but I have no other choice.

“It’s my only hope. If I succeed, I can change my family’s life. If I fail, at least I will have tried.”