The past few days have come alive with news that the Trump administration has had enough of Israel’s intransigence, and is veering toward a ‘hardball’ Plan B in its goal to stabilize the Middle East.
First came reports that Trump is allegedly readying to recognize Palestine as a state, then take over Gaza with a temporary ‘American administration’ in imitation of the British Mandate of the early 20th century.
A Gulf diplomatic source, who declined to be named or disclose his position, told The Media Line, “President Donald Trump will issue a declaration regarding the State of Palestine and American recognition of it, and that there will be the establishment of a Palestinian state without the presence of Hamas.”
Many are rightfully skeptical, as there have been several other ‘big claims’ of this sort that amounted to nothing. However, it was Trump himself who boasted of something ‘unprecedented’ being in the works for the region, though usually his hyperbolic toots have amounted to big letdowns.
In a move that has led to a mass public reaction in Turkey, the country is debating one question: “What is normal?” This came about in response to members of a men’s football team from Sivasunfurling a banner at the start of a game that read, “Doğal Olan Normal Doğum” (What is natural is normal birth), implying that giving birth through ceasarian sections are not “normal” or somehow lesser than vaginal births.
Since then, scores of women on social media, as well as opposition politicians, journalists, and women’s rights activists, have fired back. The discussions come as the country grapples with ongoing protests that started on March 19, after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
The banner
The widely criticized banner for the Ministry of Health’s campaign to promote vaginal birth appeared on April 13, before the game between Sivasspor and Fenerbahçe.
According to the reporting by BBC Turkish, it is a long-standing tradition for Turkish football teams to take to the field with banners that serve as public service announcements. Whether submitted to the teams for evaluation by government institutions or non-profit organisations, the final decision rests with the Turkish Football Federation.
Comment
“The reason why Turkey is among countries with highest numbers in c-sections is entirely due to the inadequacy of free natural birth conditions, the displacement of midwives from the [medical] system and the fact private hospitals generate higher income during caesarean birth,” wrote writer Zeynep Altıok in an opinion piece for Turkish paper BirGün.
Turkish women protested strongly against the male fooballers’ banner. However they were not against midwife attended or home births but fed up with misogynist and paternal attitudes and the far right Islamic regime .
For example: At least 29 women were killed by men in Turkey in April 2025. Many of women’s basic rights have been cancelled along with the International treaty for women’s protection. Women workers day on March 8th is routinely attacked by riot police..etc.
Several of the women’s rights activists demanded the right to choose epidural pain control and C-sections when they need them, and not to be lectured by ignorant male footballers
C-Section Risks & Complications – WebMD Oct 9, 2024 … “Once you’ve had a C-section, you’re more likely to experience complications with future pregnancies…. If you have a vaginal delivery after a C-section, there’s a chance your uterus could tear … As with any major surgery, there are several risks associated with a cesarean delivery. These include blood clots, hemorrhaging, reactions to the anesthesia”…. etc.. https://www.webmd.com/baby/risks-of-a-c-section
The banner did not go unnoticed by women’s rights groups, journalists, or politicians, and led to strong reactions all around:
— Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu (yeni) (@kcdplatformu) April 13, 2025
Ok gentlemen, then you have a ‘normal’ birth then.
We Will Stop Femicides Platform’s representative Esin İzel Uysal told BirGün newspaper, “This situation reveals the policies of the government. The health of the mother and the baby is of primary importance here. No one has the right to say how a birth should be.”
An illustration that circulated on social media called on football players to mind their own business, and featured a drawing of a banner that instead focused on students being held behind bars, referring to the fierce repression of protest against the jailing of the progressive mayor of Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
There is no such thing as normal birth. There is vaginal or caesarean birth. And that is none of your business. 83 students are still behind bars.
The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Özgür Özel said at his party’s parliamentary group meeting on 15 April:
“It is up to a woman to decide how many children she will have, how she will bear them, how she will raise them, how she will dress, what she will eat, what she will drink, how much she will laugh.
It is not for any of us to say anything about this. Stop talking and making decisions for women. These things make people ashamed to be men.”
Deputy Chairman of DEM Party Group Gulistan Kılıç Koçyiğit called the use of the banner “body politics” as it was akin to “saying that normal birth is normal or right, and that caesarean birth is wrong, and by doing so putting women under pressure.”
On April 14, Minister of Health Kemal Memişoğlu defended the banner. “Friends, it is not just men who attend football games,” he said, while answering a question about the banner. The minister also shared a video promoting “normal births” in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health stated in a press release that it “does not direct or impose a specific birth method for women; it conducts studies aimed at creating social awareness about the benefits of normal birth, based on scientific data.” According to the data shared by the Ministry, 61 percent of births in Turkey are performed by cesarean section.
Journalist Ece Uner, a host of news show on Halk TV aired the clip during the news hour, saying, “The Minister (of health) should be more concerned about what happens to a baby after its born, rather than how a woman gives birth after the country has been rocked by the newborn scandal: Dozens of medics tried in Turkey over baby deaths. All births are normal. What is abnormal is men interfering in this.”
Actress Özge Özpirinçci also responded to the banner, posting the following text on her Instagram stories: “What should be normal is for your baby not to fall into the hands of the newborn gang. What should be normal is for your grown child not to be arrested while practising their constitutional right. What should be normal is for your child not to find themselves in the schoolyard protesting the layoff of their teachers. What should be normal is not changing the current status quo.”
The actress alluded to the ongoing protests in high schools against layoffs and reassignments of their teachers at “project schools” as well as the “newborn scandal,” which rocked the country to the core in October 2024. The scandal revolved around a group of medical staff who profited from newborns’ care, subjecting them to intentional medical malpractice.
So far, only one member of the football team, Albanian player Rei Manaj, has issued an apology. Manaj wrote on his Instagram profile, “On my behalf, I apologize to all women; your body and your decision.” The football player also wrote that he was aware then of what the banner said in Turkish as he held it on the football field.
A graphic designer Mahir Akkoyun known as Mahirgra on social media platforms summed up the controversy in an Instagram post with the heading: “What is not normal” referring to the current political, social and economic environment, listing many of the country’s recent and past problems, including femicides, the cost of living crisis, arrest of politicians, academics, and students, police violence and brutality, lack of accountability among top government officials after every single disaster or tragedy, and much more.
A declining birth rate
The ruling government’s obsession with births is not new in Turkey. The incumbent president has long encouraged families to have at least three children. 2025 was declared a year of family, and as part of the existing mantra of three children, the ruling government sought to introduce financial incentives to encourage families, which would apply to births starting from January 2025.
These incentives will be available until the child turns five, and there have been no mentions of any incentives to support families at a later stage.
The country’s declining birth rate was first registered and announced in 2023 indicating a record-low of 1.51 births (compared with 2.38 in 2001). This is a significantly lower rate than 2.1, which is considered a threshold at which a population maintains equilibrium without shrinking, as per the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) data.
In May 2024, the Family and Social Services Ministry launched research in cities with the lowest birth rates and highest divorce ratios. In October 2024, the authorities launched the campaign, “What is natural is normal birth,” to address the country’s declining birth rate. Speaking at the launch of the campaign the Minister of Health Memişoğlu spoke of the spike in c-sections and decline in natural births. In December 2024, as per President’s order, the High Council on Population Policies was set up.
However, rather than setting up new institutions or creating new campaigns, activists say that the existing gaps and shortfalls in the country’s medical services must be addressed.
According to Turkish Medical Association Women’s Medicine and Women’s Health Branch Executive Member Dr. Derya Bulgur, the country’s current medical system fails to meet all the necessary requirements for a mother to have a healthy, vaginal birth.
In an interview with Evrensel, a Turkish media outlet, Bulgur highlighted the existing gaps, including insufficient medical and health services, a lack of HPV vaccinations, and few policies that prioritize women’s health.
The discussions around the banner and what 11 male athletes have to do with a decision that concerns only two people — the mother and her doctor — continue turning a personal and medical decision into a country-wide debate.
The self-immolation occurred Sunday on the same day that the woman was allegedly to be taken to the brother of local Taliban commander in Ghor, sources said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources said the commander Haji Mohammad Rahmani planned to take a young woman named Abida from Taywara’s village of Darzab Nili to his brother, Mohammad Azim.
The commander arrived in the village on Sunday and, with his forces, allegedly detained Abida’s father and brother, taking them from the home to the local mosque. Abida’s father rejected Haji Rahmani’s claim that Abida was promised to his brother when she was two years old, saying he made no such promise and that his daughter was not willing to marry Mohamad Azim.
A young woman has died after setting herself on fire in Taywara district of Ghor province in an alleged attempt to escape a forced marriage, local sources told Rukhshana Media.
Abida allegedly set herself on fire inside the house while some of the commander’s forces were outside the house, sources said.
In a video obtained by Rukhshana Media, a completely-burned body can be seen, but is unrecognizable.
According to the sources, local Taliban courts in Ghor and Kandahar had previously ruled that the commander’s claim to Abida was baseless, but Haji Rahmani continued to threaten Abida’s father, saying he would take her to his brother by force if consent was not granted.
No official investigation has been launched, according to sources, with Taliban authorities in Ghor not discussing the incident nor holding the commander and his brother for questioning.
Rukhshana Media has made repeated efforts to contact the young woman’s family but had not received a response at the time of publication.
RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, was established in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1977 as an independent political/social organization of Afghan women fighting for human rights and for social justice in Afghanistan. The founders were a number of Afghan woman intellectuals under the sagacious leadership of Meena who in 1987 was assassinated in Quetta, Pakistan, by Afghan agents….فارسی | Japanese | French | Español | Italiano | Deutsch | Greek | Português
“Italy: Absolution of the anarchists accused in the trial for the publication of ‘Bezmotivny’ magazine. An 8 month sentence for offense to the honour or prestige of the president of the republic”
Two year persecution to stop us reading resistance news / SOLIDARITY WITH GAIA, GINO, LUIGI, PAOLO AND ALL THE COMRADES INVESTIGATED
On April 8th, 2025, the sentence was finally pronounced in the trial in Massa against four anarchist comrades indicted for the publication of the internationalist anarchist fortnightly ‘Bezmotivny’ (repressive operation on August 8th, 2023).
The defendants – who were involved in the operation together with six other comrades for whom the proceedings remained at the investigation stage – were charged with incitement to commit crimes and apologia of crimes and offences of terrorism for the publication of the about sixty issues of ‘Bezmotivny’, and of offence to the honour or prestige of the president of the republic (art. 278, penal code), concerning a specific article (‘Soffiare sul fuoco’, published in ‘Bezmotivny’, year I, issue 17, October 25th, 2021).
All the defendants were acquitted of the charge of multiple aggravated incitement to commit crimes ‘because the fact does not exist’, whereas Luigi was sentenced to eight months, without the application of recidivism, for offending the honour or prestige of the president of the republic (the other three defendants were acquitted of this charge ‘for not having committed the fact’).
The request for compensation by the State attorney’s office was also denied.
At the end of the indictment held at the previous hearing on April 1st, public prosecutor Manotti of the DDAA (‘Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism District Directorate’) of Genoa had requested 7 years’ imprisonment for Gino, 6 years for Luigi (with the revocation of the suspended sentence for a previous conviction imposed on him by the court of Ravenna) and 5 years and 6 months each for Gaia and Paolo, while the State attorney for the presidency of the council of ministers had requested compensation of half a million euro.
Operation ”Scripta Scelera” against the fortnightly “Bezmotivny”: first initiatives in solidarity, a brief update, some observations… * from initial report in August 2023
In the early morning of Tuesday, August 8th 2023, a repressive operation – ridiculously named Scripta Scelera (these fine people always come up with some “ambitious” or suggestive name for their operations) [Latin: “written crimes”] – was unleashed by the State’s repressive apparatus in various Italian cities.
It was aimed at shutting down the anarchist internationalist fortnightly magazine “Bezmotivny”, thereby striking the action of publication of analysis and reflection as well as, and in particular, texts claiming actions, sabotage and initiatives of attack undertaken by anarchists and revolutionaries throughout the world against the State and capital.
Let’s take a brief look at the facts.
Mainly involving anarchist comrades in Carrara and the “Gogliardo Fiaschi” Anarchist Cultural Circle, the operation consisted of notification of an investigation against 10 comrades, all of whom were subjected to house searches (as well as that against the above-mentioned anarchist circle), and significant seizures of newspapers and various publications.
Concerning the 10 under (for whom Genovese public prosecutor Manotti twice requested their arrest in prison), the judge for the preliminary investigations ordered house arrest with all restrictions (including electronic ankle bracelets, which were not applied due to lack of the necessary equipment) for four of the comrades, a night curfew from 19.00 to 7am for another five, while one comrade had no restrictions (at the police station they notified him of a two years’ compulsory expulsion order from the province of La Spezia).
One of the comrades under house arrest was initially taken to prison on order of the same prosecutor, due to the fact that he did not have a certificate of residence.
In the context of the operation, a printing press in Avenza, where the paper had recently been printed, was also shut down (and later re-opened)….. * from initial report in August 2023
Related Posts
Italy: Operation ”Scripta Scelera” against the fortnightly “Bezmotivny”: first initiatives in solidarity, a brief update, some observations Act for freedom now!pdf italian :
In a single day, the Israeli bombing of Gaza has killed 92, including 60 in Gaza City alone.
The death toll from the massacre carried out by the Israeli occupation in its bombing of the vicinity of a Thai Restaurant on al-Wehda Street and surrounding area in the al-Rimal neighborhood, west of Gaza City, has risen to 33 martyrs, with more than 86 others injured so far, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported.
Earlier, the Gaza Ministry of Health confirmed that in 24 hours, hospitals in Gaza received 38 martyrs, including four of whom were retrieved from under the rubble, in addition to 145 injuries.
8 May 2025 By Al Mayadeen English
#بالفيديو | مجزرة مروعة ارتكبها الاحتلال في استهداف مباشر لمفترق “بالميرا” وخيمة في مطعم التايلندي في مدينة #غزة.#الميادين 5
Our correspondent added that a total of 92 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Wednesday, including 60 in Gaza City alone.
بائع القهوة الصغير لم ترحمه صواريخ الحرب انسكب دمه وقهوته وزبائنه من المارة ضمن مجزرة قرب مطعم التايلندي بغزة . لا رحمة ولا إنسانية pic.twitter.com/reG8ZItUBO — غــادةٌ🌻🇵🇸 (@gh_shihada) May 7, 2025
In its latest report, the ministry announced that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza has reached 52,653 martyrs, while the number of wounded has reached 118,897 since October 7, 2023.
Since March 18, the casualty toll has reached 2,545 martyrs and 6,856 wounded, according to the ministry’s report. Related News Israeli military avoids calling up unwilling reservists: Haaretz Al-Qassam ambushes 2 IOF units in Gaza, inflict heavy casualties
Read more: UN rights chief warns of escalation in Gaza, urges immediate ceasefire ‘Israel’ deliberately targeting civilian gatherings
Hamas, in a statement, affirmed that the Israeli occupation is deliberately targeting civilian gatherings, including shelters, displacement centers, and food distribution points, as part of a systematic genocide aimed at causing the highest possible number of civilian casualties and breaking the will of the Palestinian people through killing, starvation, and siege.
The group called for “urgent and serious international action to halt this criminal campaign and to deter the terrorist occupation government, which continues to commit war crimes and ethnic cleansing amid a troubling international silence.
Hamas also urged the masses across the Arab and Islamic worlds, as well as all free people globally, to “intensify popular mobilization by all possible means” in support of the Palestinian people’s resilience, in rejection of genocide and starvation, and in demand for holding Israeli leaders accountable as war criminals before international courts. International silence emboldens ‘Israel’
On its part, the Palestinian al-Mujahideen Movement stated that the latest massacre committed by the Israeli occupation reflects “a blatant disregard for the world, international organizations, and international resolutions, particularly the decision of the International Criminal Court.”
The movement condemned the international silence, complicity, and Arab abandonment in the face of Israeli crimes, stressing that this has “emboldened the occupation to continue its campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and to tighten the brutal blockade on the Gaza Strip.”
It also held the US administration fully responsible for all Israeli crimes, calling on Palestinian Resistance fighters to escalate their top-tier and painful strikes against the occupation and its settlers.
The extreme right racist Israeli regime is deliberately starving over 2,000,000 Gaza civilians, half of them children, to an agonising death.
The neo-Nazi rulers have not allowed any goods to enter Gaza now for more than 60 days, while daily bombing homes schools, camps and hospitals in the open air prison…..
… by Dave DeCamp, Antiwar. com, May 7, 2025
The World Central Kitchen (WCK), a US-based charity, said on Wednesday that it was forced to shut down aid operations in Gaza due to the total Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Dear Readers: Tomorrow is Victory Day in Russia. It’s an annual holiday, of course, with a big parade.
But this year is special.
As the war continues, Zelensky has more or less threatened the participants with some kind of terror attack, probably involving drones bombing Red Square.
The Free 