Medya News Sarah Glynn Podcast

As we wait for news on the dissolution of the PKK, this week’s article begins with the politics surrounding the expected announcement. It goes on to examine Wednesday’s meeting between France’s President Macron and Syria’s Interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa. It looks at debates over that meeting, and at the relative weakness and short-term pragmatism of al-Sharaa, as exemplified by some worrying recent appointments.

Quiet diplomacy has brought Syria some provisional agreements that demonstrate the possibility of retaining regional autonomy, despite Turkey’s looming presence. Meanwhile in Turkey, hopes for peace are currently focussed on an Istanbul hospital where one of the main negotiators was rushed for major heart surgery.

In Turkey, hopes for peace talks have been revived by the DEM Party’s visit to Erdoğan, the first such visit in thirteen years, but democracy continues to be under assault. In Syria, negotiations have yielded some positive results for North and East Syria, but Trump’s admiration for Erdoğan introduces new dangers

This week brought news of an interim agreement that could prove a positive step towards greater security for Syria’s Kurds and their neighbours. The agreement is between the Civil Council of the Kurdish majority neighbourhoods of Aleppo and the caretaker government in Damascus, and it has come at a time when Syria has become a battleground for competition between Turkey and Israel.

Turkey has opened up a path to peace, but chosen to follow a very different route. The government is refusing to make the changes needed for the PKK to enact Öcalan’s call to dissolve. This destructive intransigence is being compounded by continued military violence in Syria, and now by an existential assault on the remnants of Turkish Democracy through the detention of Erdoğan’s main political rival. Peace and Democracy are intertwined, and both are being asphyxiated.

A historic week for Syria began with the horrors of the mass killings of Alawites, and ended with fears of a new Islamist dictatorship. In between, hopes were raised by an initial agreement between the Interim Government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, which has the potential to allow the emergence of a peaceful state for all Syrians, if only it is given a chance.

As Kurds mark the 26th anniversary of Öcalan’s abduction and imprisonment, anticipation competes with foreboding. Will Turkey allow the recent meetings with Öcalan to develop into a peace process, or will they shut the door again and simply continue their unremitting attacks on Kurds and Kurdish freedoms? Meanwhile, the mayor of Van has been sentenced to prison, Turkish pressure is sabotaging hopes of an agreement between the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and the new interim government in Damascus, and international bodies are again failing to rise to the occasion.

This week’s review looks at the emergence of what is effectively a new dictatorship in Syria, and at new roles for Turkey’s Syrian National Army and the Autonomous Administration’s Syrian Democratic forces. It also examines interventions by Turkey, and the week’s developments in Turkey itself.

As Turkey stands at a crossroads between peace and war, this week’s World Economic Forum has demonstrated the still hegemonic power of Western capital and its rulebook. HTS is accepted because they play the capitalists’ game. The Kurdish Freedom Movement may eventually manage to negotiate cultural tolerance, but changes in social structure and philosophy require an even bigger struggle.

Today’s review looks at the prospects for war and peace in a time of genocide. It begins by looking at the impacts of Israel’s genocide on the wider practice of international politics.  It looks at Turkey’s continued war on North and East Syria and their attacks on the Tishreen Dam and on the civilians protesting to protect it. It discusses the meeting between the SDF's Mazloum Abdi, and Masoud Barzani, head of the KDP, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. And it examines the possible peace process in Turkey.

Today’s review looks at the situation in Syria through the lens of American Imperialism, focussing especially on how this has empowered Islamist groups, and on the roles of Turkey and Israel.

As Kurds and their friends go onto the streets in defence of Rojava – or, more properly, of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria – this week’s review looks at the latest developments in Turkey’s attempt to use brute force and brutal mercenaries to crush the Kurds, and to extinguish the beacon of hope they have created. The survival of the one part of Syria that prioritises women’s rights and the peaceful co-existence of different ethnicities and religions – the part that can provide an example for a new inclusive society - hangs in the balance.

As Syria’s map takes on new colours, this review looks at an extraordinary week of events and at the aims of the different actors, especially focussing on the evolution and nature of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham, whose forces have charged through the hollowed-out shell of Assad’s regime.

In three days, the political landscape of Syria has changed. Turkish backed Islamists have taken advantage of the power vacuums created by Israel’s wars and have taken control of Aleppo. Syrian Government forces have melted away in their path, and Russia has proved too busy with Ukraine to stop the advance. As the SDF prepares to defend Kurdish areas against expected attacks, this week’s review explores the background to what is happening and the different players involved, as well as the story so far.

In an with Sarah Glynn, Leendert Verbeek shares critical observations from the Council of Europe's election mission in Turkey, highlighting concerns over press freedom, biased media and undemocratic electoral processes.

Sarah Glynn talks to one of two Scottish women who came to observe the elections at the invitiation of the DEM Party. Hazel describes the militarisation of the region and the psychological pressure on voters. She witnessed the mass voting by soldiers brought in from outside the region, and saw the anger and worry in Şirnak (Şirnex) after their election was stolen by imported votes. And she emphasises the power of Kurdish resistance.

As we approach the anniversary of Jina Amini’s death at the hands of Iran’s “Morality Police”, Sarah Glynn talked politics with Gordyaen Jermayi, a human rights activist originally from Rojhelat or East Kurdistan - the part that's in Iran. Below are some highlights – lightly edited for clarity. You can listen to the interview at the link above.

With tightening immigration rules leading to ever more catastrophes, political rhetoric hardening, and more and more of the world being made uninhabitable, Sarah Glynn talks politics with two researchers who've written critically about migration control, Manja Petrovska and Nidžara Ahmetašević. Manja is a researcher at the University of Amsterdam, and Eur Asian Border Lab, where she focuses on how the European Union has outsourced its border controls. Nidžara is a journalist from Sarajevo, who writes about human rights, migration, war crimes and the role of the media.

Sarah Glynn talks politics with Rojîn Mûkrîyan, who chaired the first session of the conference on Iran that was held at the European Parliament in Brussels last week.

Sarah Glynn sat down to talk with Catalan MP Laura Castel about their call for the Council of Europe to help facilitate a new peace process that would have to involve Abdullah Öcalan.

Delal Aydin talks to Sarah Glynn on Newroz in Kurdish culture and politics in this latest podcast interview. She describes how Newroz has evolved into a symbol for Kurdish resistance.

The morning after Sunday’s bomb attack in Istanbul, which killed 6 and injured 81 more, the Turkish government had already arrested the ‘culprit’ and put the blame on the PKK and the YPG. Sarah Glynn asked Brussels-based lawyer, Selma Benkhilifa, to apply her analytical skills to these claims and to the Turkish government’s whole official scenario.

-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons refuses to investigate Turkey’s alleged chemical weapon use, despite being presented with a report yesterday in the Hague, and despite 'samples of earth, hair and clothing' from affected areas readily available for testing.

Why Sinn Féin’s win matters - Senator Paul Gavan answers our questions about the Northern Ireland Assembly election.

Sarah Glynn speaks to Dr. Federico Venturini, of the University of Udine in Italy about the war crimes that Turkey is committing and how these have been ignored by international politics.

Sarah Glynn talks to Matt Broomfield one of the co founders of the Rojava Information Centre about his work in Rojava and experiences since leaving North and East Syria.

-For her first “Talking Politics”, Sarah Glynn explores some fundamental issues with the political theorist, Dr Steve De Wijze; and what could be more fundamental than resistance to oppression – and, as a last resort, violent resistance to oppression? When, and how, that last resort can be justified is a subject that has been debated over the centuries. In this interview, Dr De Wijze discusses how those pursuing resistance and revolution need to observe moral constraints to minimise harm and to prevent reproducing tyranny.