A Kurdish source in Diyarbakir told AsiaNews that this is “the end of an era and the beginning of a new phase". The Kurdish leader yesterday met with a delegation in prison, giving them a message in which he calls on the party to lay down its arms and dissolve itself. However, the picture is still one of great uncertainty, with "two different groups”, one wants an “end to the clashes”, while the other believes that the Kurdish question “will continue to be a big problem in Turkey.”
The report by Open Doors ranks the country among the top 50 in the world with the most cases of abuse, violence, targeted attacks and murders. The minority is the “most persecuted” and in the last year the phenomenon has increased. Protestant communities and historical groups such as Chaldeans, Armenians and Assyrians are in the crosshairs. The “Grey Wolves” in schools to convey clearly neo-Ottoman programmes.
The apostolic administrator notes that red tape and the lack of legal recognition of the Church are major problems. A torchlight rally was held at 4 am in Antakya to mark the moment when the main quake struck. The main opposition party slams the government, claiming that only 30 per cent of the promised reconstruction has been completed.
A post-earthquake reconstruction project threatens to cause a radical demographic change. The area is located in Hatay province and is the only one left following the forced displacement of residents from the Musa Dagh region in 1915. New housing and shopping centres are planned. New government clampdown on opponents and critics, İmamoğlu also in the crosshairs.
The mountain of Noah's Ark, a biblical symbol of ancient Armenia, remains an unresolved issue in the ongoing attempts to revive relations between Ankara and Yerevan. Turkey claims that Kurdish armies are organised on its slopes and does not want to grant any rights to others. And Pašinyan would like to remove the Armenian flags so as not to pursue ‘dreams of the past’.
From Istanbul, the director of the Dominican Study Institute spoke to AsiaNews with a mixture of "exaltation" and "surprise” at the fall of the Assad regime. Turkey has denied rumours that it was directly involved in the regime’s overthrow, highlighting the "need for a transition". For Iran’s Khamenei, the fall is part of a "plan" by the US and Israel (and Turkey, without naming it).
