ISIS

Istanbul Police Headquarters: ISIS was going to attack Trans Pride

Source: “Emniyet Müdürlüğü: IŞİD, Trans Onur Yürüyüşü’ne saldıracaktı”, T24, 21 June 2016, http://m.t24.com.tr/haber/emniyet-mudurlugu-isid-trans-onur-yuruyusune-saldiracakti,346433

Turkish Police detained three people after receiving information of a possible attack and the court they were sent to ordered their arrest.

Istanbul Anti-terror Branch (TEM) conducted an operation and detained three men in two districts after receiving information that ISIS was planning an attack on the 7th Trans Pride March on Sunday, which the police intervened in. Suspects had suicide bomb vests, military camouflage gear, military-grade knives, and laser meters. The suspects were arrested by the courts they were sent to after police completed their processing.

Haberturk reporter Nihat Uludağ reported the arrest of the three suspects in operations conducted in Pendik and Başakşehir a few hours before.

(more…)

A young gay Syrian’s story – from Syria to Turkey

This is the story of Maher, who had to escape and migrate from Syria to Lebanon, then to Sudan, and finally to Turkey. A life wrapped in the war in Syria and dual discrimination both as a Syrian and as a gay man in Turkey. 

Source: Yıldız Tar, “Suriye’den İstanbul’a eşcinsel bir gencin hikayesi” (“A young gay’s story from Syria to Turkey”). Kaos GL, 24 October 2014, http://kaosgl.org/sayfa.php?id=17785

Millions of Syrians were forced out of their homeland as a result of the war in Syria and ISIS assaults. Some headed over to Europe; many lost their relatives during as their travels was well as the war.

Maher  Daoud, who we interviewed in a coffee shop in Kurtuluş, Istanbul, was  among the millions who had to leave their homeland. He had to leave Latakia in the 23rd year of his life which began in the city. Maher tells  the story of migration from Latakia [al-Lādhiqīyah]  to Lebanon, then to Sudan, and finally to Istanbul. He speaks fast, telling his story at once, as if someone were following us.

“Art is like breathing”

Maher,  who is now 24, is a young gay artist. He studied architecture in Syria.  However, he was forced to leave before being able to graduate. He also draws aquarelle and acrylic illustrations. Maher says that, in each of  his drawings, a gay story is hidden. To Maher, to make art is to breathe.  Because Syria does not have a “gay life,” art is the only space within which he can breathe.

I ask about the situation in Latakia. Maher says that life in Latakia is horrible:

“Latakia is Bashar al-Assad’s city. As such, the pressure was always intensive.  To speak, to do something was almost impossible. It was so in art too. I  had to put a lot of effort to be able to open my second art exhibit.  You have to get signatures from a lot of places. I had to deal with  almost every police officer in the police station. They examine each and every painting, find some to be “appropriate” and some “inappropriate.”  They kept asking why I was making such paintings. They were trying to judge whether I was against Bashar al-Assad.”

maherdaoud

Maher dislikes talking about politics. This also has to do with the notion that “it is a sin to speak politics in Syria.” He thinks that politics changes nothing. He desires more art.[1]

Things became even tougher with war. He says that the war between Bashar al-Assad, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)  made things much more difficult in Syria. To Maher, the rebellion for “freedom” was initially beautiful. However, everything changed when Assad began the massacres and when those opposing Assad began using the same methods [sic].

(more…)

Call for Solidarity with the People of Kobane!

Source:“Kobane Halkı’yla Dayanışma Çağrısı!” (“Call for Solidarity with the People of Kobane!”), Lambdaistanbul, 3 October 2013, http://www.lambdaistanbul.org/s/etkinlik/kobane-halkiyla-dayanisma-cagrisi/

A civil war erupted in Syria in March 2011; with the attack of ISIS, one of the most brutal organizations to develop in recent history, on the city of Kobane, this civil war has arrived within a few meters of our doorstep. We could say that this period is the cruelest of this civil war. As happens in all wars, the primary targets in Syria are women and children.

At least 70,000 women and children were forced to exile to the district of Suruç in the city of Urfa, following the ISIS attacks on the city of Kobane in Rojava, Kurdistan. In part because Turkey neighbors Kobane, the Turkish public witnessed, via the local and international media, the support that was being provided [by the current Turkish government] to the brutal ISIS gangs. As such, we too, at Lambdaistanbul LGBTI Organization, are witnessing the threat to life in Kobane and to security in the Middle East because of warmongering gangs that are directly or indirectly supported by the Republic of Turkey.

(more…)

Call to Reject the Motion on Military Action in Syria and Iraq goes to Woman MPs from 38 Women’s Organizations

Contents of this post:
(1) “Call to Reject the Motion on Military Action in Syria and Iraq goes to Woman MPs from 38 Women’s Organizations” (Bianet)
(2) "Presentation on Women's Realities in War" (Women for Peace)

Source: “38 Kadın Örgütünden Kadın Vekillere ‘Tezkereye Hayır’ Çağrısı” (“Call to Reject the Motion on Military Action in Syria and Iraq goes to Woman MPs from 38 Women’s Organizations”), Bianet, 1 October 2014, http://bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/158878-38-kadin-orgutunden-kadin-vekillere-tezkereye-hayir-cagrisi

38 women’s organizations have called upon women MPs to reject the motion on military action in Iraq-Syria and to oppose the proposal to establish either a buffer zone or a security zone in the region.

38 women’s organizations have released a statement addressed at women MPs in Turkey regarding the Iraq-Syria motion:

“We know and have studied on the field, what women experience during war times. As such, we are aware that women should not give way to policies that will fuel wars. Do not accept the motion, oppose the buffer or security zone.”

We Insist On Peace

Source: Bianet

The statement drew attention to the problems that are likely to be encountered during cross-border military interventions. Women’s organizations emphasized that buffer or security zones are only ever initiated in uninhabited geographical locations, and yet, the proposed buffer zone includes Rojava. [Translators’ note: The population of Rojava is variously estimated as being between 2 and 3 million.]

(more…)