Trump to control Syria by Sanctions waivers and could protect Syrian Kurds against Turkish/ Damascus/ISIS/ SNA / Irani and Israeli enemies

In a surprise move Trump declared an “end” to the Sanctions throttling Syria, thus taking power of ‘instant reinstatement’ over ‘interim’ ruling ex Al Qaeda terrorists. Reversing the pullout of US bases he also quietly ordered air and logistic support to the Kurdish led SDF battling Turkish led and ISIS attacks

on May 14, 2025 By Khalaf Ma’o at North Press Agency and thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GWi Telegram t.me/thefreeonline/3139

SDF confirms ongoing ‘Coalition partnership’ in Northeast Syria

Trucks of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS loaded with logistics in the city of Hasakah in NE Syria on May 8, 2025 – North Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – https://npasyria.com/en/125557/– The commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed on Thursday that cooperation between the SDF and the U.S.-led Global Coalition remains active and effective.

Mahmoud Habib, spokesman for the North Democratic Brigade operating under the SDF umbrella, highlighted joint operations carried out against ISIS sleeper cells over the past two days.

In a statement posted on his official Facebook account, Habib noted that both parties have conducted day and night training exercises aimed at enhancing operational and field capabilities.

He also reported the establishment of new positions, including in the town of Sirrin, with further deployment planned soon in the Tishrin Dam housing area in southern Kobani.

Habib emphasized that additional military and logistical reinforcements have been sent to support Coalition bases in northern Syria, rejecting reports of an imminent U.S. withdrawal as “baseless illusions.”

On May 3, a source from the Global Coalition told North Press that the U.S.-led forces are conducting their largest military exercises in Syria to date, starting from their bases in the country’s east.

According to the source, the drills are being carried out from the al-Omar oil field base and its surrounding areas in the east of Deir ez-Zor, extending to the Iraqi border.

The source described the upcoming maneuvers as the most extensive since Coalition forces first entered Syria, signaling the start of a new phase of operations against what he termed “malicious organizations.”

By Khalaf Ma’o https://npasyria.com/en/125557/

US sanctions/Tariffs Hegemony wins partial control of HTS led regime in Syria

thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GWi

This will likely be the final end of the Syrian “revolution” with the devastated country parceled out to neoliberal profiteers funded by oil dictators and western corporations.

However it does open the option of the coercive ‘Trump Deal’ ordering an end to the regime permitting mass sectarian massacres, especially of Kurdish, Druze and Alawite minorities.

US coercive control of the economy via sanctions ‘instant renewal’ could in principle curb the ‘bad for business’ persecution of Kurds, Christians, Azeris, Syriacs, ex Assad era workers, LGBTQs… as well as the moves to return women, over half the population, to Al Qaeda/ISIS style servitude.

Sanctions lifting could also be good news for the embattled AANES/SDF area of NE Syria. It seems the US has reversed its policy of partial withdrawal from its bases there which, though only a few thousand troops, maintain Air and Logistical protection against the social revolution’s many sworn enemies.

Latest reports suggest the US has also modified its ‘look the other way’ policy and is now actively resisting Turkey’s genocidal invasions and terrorist attacks, despite it being a NATO partner.

Such reports point to a US deal to enforce a ceasefire in Manbij to curb the killings and looting by Turkish backed SNA mercenaries, as well as the quiet installation of a US post in Kobani to thwart the Turkish backed offensive to destroy the iconic Kurdish city as well as the deal to stop the Turkish sponsored bombing and killing of civilian protestors at the Tishrin Dam.

North Press also reported that the SDF spokesperson Mahmoud Habib has confirmed the establishment of new US positions, including in the town of Sirrin’s Turkish backed massacre, with further deployment planned soon in the Tishrin Dam housing area in southern Kobani.

As the Turkish state continues its genocidal campaign against North-East Syria, which has escalated since the fall of the Assad regime, targeted attacks against civilians have left dozens of people dead or wounded in recent weeks. On January 28, a Turkish UCAV (unmanned combat aerial vehicle) bombed the public market in Sirrin, leaving 12 civilians dead and 13 others wounded. 

The Rojava (AANES/SDF) revolutionary example of multi-ethnic local administration and defense, for gender equality, environmental sustainability, and economic governance including communes is an obvious though much hated template for pacifying the current chaotic mess under the new Syrian rulers .

The SDF 80,000+ decentralised coalition of dozens of Kurdish led local, minority, women’s and anti -jihadi, militias are paid by the Autonomous Administration (NOT by the US).

Moves to disband the SDF by integration into the new Damascus state army have been accepted in principle, but the appointment by Jolani of a US condemned HTS war criminal as ‘commander’ to take control of Rojava has raised outraged resistance. The plan to disband may be delayed and reformed indefinitely. ( read 7 May, 2025  ..Outrage as Hevrin Khalaf’s killer made Army Leader to destroy Rojava -‘securing the provinces of Hasakah, Raqqa, and Deir Ezzor’-. – The Free )

(read..Beyond the Nation-State.. Anticolonial Resistance and the Paradigm of the PKK.. )Rojava Information Center @RojavaIC US-sanctioned Hatem Abu Shaqra, leader of Ahrar al-Sharqiya (Hevrin Khalef’s killers) spoke at the “Victory Conference,” announcing Ahmed al-Sharaa as “transitional phase” Syrian president. Today, women in Qamishlo marched to condemn Abu Shaqra’s presence in the new government. 2.197 Visualizaciones

Similarily the Trump Sanction Deal and reported reversal of withdrawal from bases raises questions on other concessions by AANES/SDF to the HTS-led ‘interim’ government in Damascus. For example the agreement to withdraw the SDF from the key Tishrin dam defense as SNA Turkish mercenaries in theory come under HTS control.

Any extension of US protection could also delay forced SDF agreements to grant the central government control of the Iraqi border, isolating them completely, as well as transferring control of the limited oil well production, etcetera.

The final surrender of the PKK resistance, while a likely disaster for Kurdish rights in Turkey and abroad, does at least invalidate the Turkish regime’s excuse that it was a banned terrorist organisation, which it always uses to jail tens of thousands for its suspected support and to justify its own terrorist bombings and invasions of suspected PKK supporters in Syria and Iraq.

(read..Turkish Repression of Kurds continues amid Depraved Bombing /Shelling of civilians in Rojava –)

related

octubre 7, 2019 Trump betrays Rojava: allows Erdogan to Bomb, Invade and Genocide anti ISIS defenders

Why the US and France are trying to murder African Revolutionary Leader, Ibrahim Traoré

Traoré’s anti-imperialist and Pan-African stance resonates with global Africans. AFRICOM’s attacks on Traoré backfire as Africans rally in his support

By Alan Macleod at MintPress News on 12th May 2025 via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GRE Telegram t.me/thefreeonline/3108

Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré is remaking his nation, and in the process, making enemies in the West.

Since taking power in 2022, the young military leader has expelled French troops, ejected Western corporations, and aligned his country with Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.

Promoting pan-African unity and national self-reliance while surviving coup attempts, Traoré is positioning himself as a radical anti-imperialist and has drawn fire from Washington and Paris. MintPress News explores the project underway in Ouagadougou and the global forces trying to stop it

TRAORÉ IN THE CROSSHAIRS

According to government statements, Traoré narrowly survived a foreign-orchestrated coup attempt last month. Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said that the military junta foiled a “major plot” to storm the presidential palace on April 16.

The plotters, he said, were based in Ivory Coast, a Washington-backed neighbor where American military presence has recently expanded, the Pentagon identified Côte d’Ivoire as a potential site for new Navy bases following the closure of bases in Niger.

Ever since he took power in a military coup in September 2022, Traoré has been drawing criticism from Western governments, not least the United States.

On April 3, General Michael Langley, commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), spoke before the Senate, accusing the Burkinabe leader of corruption and helping Russia and China establish an imperial foothold in Africa.

Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and U.S. Marine Corps General, implicated in Ivory Coast sourced coup attempt on Traoré on April 3rd 2025..

AFRICOM, the Pentagon’s regional command for Africa, coordinates U.S. military operations, intelligence gathering, and security partnerships across the continent, often framed as counterterrorism operations.

On the day of the coup, the U.S. Embassy changed its travel guidelines for Burkina Faso to “do not travel.” Langley reportedly met with Ivorian Defense Minister Téné Birahima Ouattara numerous times this year, both before and after the coup.

Since coming to power, Traoré has been systematically limiting the influence of Western powers in his country, calling it a matter of national sovereignty. In January 2023, he expelled the French ambassador, calling the country an “imperialist state.”

Burkina Faso & Mali Vow to Defend Niger’s New Leadership

One month later, he ordered French troops to leave Burkina Faso. This helped spark a wave of other West African nations formerly part of the French empire to do the same.

Continue reading “Why the US and France are trying to murder African Revolutionary Leader, Ibrahim Traoré”

Inside the Indigenous ‘land back’ movement in Colombia

In 2021 tens of thousands of indigenous marched on Bogota supporting the 2 month General Strike which brought down the racist colonialist regime. Yet the elite fought back, blocking land, health and social reform and on 1st May 2025 a new indigenous ‘Minga’ arrived to support a people’s Referendum

By Lital Khaikin at Waging Nonviolence on 12th May 2025 via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GRD Telegramt.me/thefreeonline/3098

The 2021 Indigenous ‘Minga’ approaching Bogota

Despite facing existential threats, unarmed Indigenous guards are at the forefront of the struggle to reclaim their ancestral lands and end oil drilling in the Amazon.

Siona leader Mario Erazo Yaiguaje and Amazon Frontlines lawyer Lina Maria Espinosa during a community assembly. (Amazon Frontlines)

Sharing a border with Ecuador and Peru, the southern Colombian department of Putumayo takes its name from the Quechua term for “gushing river.” For some, its landscapes are a sacred doorway to the Amazon rainforest, a world unfathomably greater than the human.

For others, however, this land looks more like oilfields and military bases, optimized waterflood assets and strategic trafficking corridors. This difference in worldview is at the heart of peacebuilding in Putumayo and the Indigenous struggle to reclaim ancestral territories across the Amazon basin.

Click to access PDF-BAJA-INFORME-PUTUMAYO-16-09-2024-1.pdf

Indigenous ‘land back’ movement in Colombia

Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, promised to usher in peace and restore lands to the people most affected by conflict, including Indigenous communities repeatedly displaced across their homelands.

But in Putumayo, dispersed conflict continues and Indigenous communities have been scattered across 86 reservations as their land claims remain in limbo. Financed by coca farms, the rival Comandos de la Frontera, or Border Commandos, and the Carolina Ramirez Front compete over land and drug trafficking corridors.

In the south, where remote villages straddle the border across the Putumayo River, armed groups hold nearly absolute control.

“We want the restitution of these territories from the hands of third parties, like those of the state, campesinos and armed groups,” said Fredy Javier Piaguay Ortiz, Siona (Zio Baín) leader for the Piñuña Blanco Reservation on the Ecuadorian border.

“There is a constant presence of armed groups,” he said, describing an atmosphere of heightened vigilance in these areas. “One has to be very strategic in order to endure these conditions in our territories. … There are no measures that completely guarantee freedom of movement.”

Land rights and special protections for Indigenous communities are entrenched in Colombia’s post-conflict transitional justice measures like the Truth Commission, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, and the Victims and Land Restitution Law.

The Siona draw a map of their ancestral territory to support their land title claim with the Colombian Government. (Nicolas Kingman/Amazon Frontlines)

Putumayo has the most applications for land titles, or rights to land ownership, in Colombia. Ancestral territories make up a quarter of all applications in Putumayo to legally recognize the collective ownership and conservation of land that has been under Indigenous stewardship for generations.

Over nearly a decade, there has been little progress. The Observatory of the Territorial Rights of Indigenous Peoples reports that some requests have been idle for over 30 years.

Titles alone aren’t enough to measure the efficacy of land restitution, as plots may change hands informally and still end up under the control of armed groups, explained Lina Maria Espinosa, a Colombian attorney working with Amazon Frontlines. But they do give important legal protection.

“It is how Indigenous peoples construct their identity, and a place upon which Indigenous people depend for their collective existence, and to express themselves and their identity,” Espinosa said.

The competition is fierce and much of the land ends up in private ownership. In one of Colombia’s coca-growing hotspots, formalized land titles — that make ownership of previously informally held titles official — can also help access loans and coca crop substitution programs.

Campesinxs, or small-scale farmers, have received over half of the authorized land titles from the 7.4 million acre goal set out by the peace agreement. However, vast swathes of land have gone to cattle ranchers who have in turn driven rapid deforestation in Amazonian regions.

Indigenous land restitution does not mean displacing farming communities. It means co-existence. But in the process, both are up against a common obstruction. Oil companies have not been deterred by continued armed conflict waged largely against civilians.

Financing Colombia’s war economy at the height of the civil war, the extractive sector has laid claim to hundreds of thousands of acres in the Amazon basin and continues to drive divisions.

Hearts and minds

Mario Erazo Yaiguaje is the former governor of the Siona Buenavista Reservation and is working to advance land restitution at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, or IACHR. He is also a member of his community’s Indigenous guard.

There are 12 recognized Indigenous groups encompassing around 51,700 people across Putumayo, including the larger groups of Awá, Camëntsä, Inga, Kichwa and Siona. Among these communities, there are an estimated 350 Indigenous guards, each unique in their customs and centering mandates on protecting their communities, cultures and the lands under their stewardship.

Siona leader Mario Erazo Yaiguaje. (WNV/Daris Payaguaje Tangoy) Tercer encuentro del proceso de intercambio de saberes para la defensa territorial en Puerto Silencio, Colombia.

Traditionally unarmed, they legitimize Indigenous authority on their own territories, Yaiguaje explained. All generations and genders participate. Elders pass on ancestral knowledge, language and a sense of social responsibility to youth for their future roles as community leaders amid the industrialization of the Amazon and the pressures of individualistic and consumerist lifestyles.

“We are armed with spirituality, valor and courage,” Yaiguaje said. “We demonstrate respect to our community and our territory.” 

Collective responsibilities vary. Territorial patrols take charge of mapping and monitoring environmental data, identifying medicinal plants and tracking animal welfare. Across different reservations, Indigenous guards may coordinate emergency response from pandemic logistics, to mutual aid after floods or landslides.

They are a mediator and buffer for conflict. Members of the guard may accompany community leaders and land defenders in public events or on errands to provide a sense of security amid the persistent threats to their lives.

According to internal norms, they may act as an alternative to colonial carceral systems like police or private security to enact justice and reintegrate offenders, including former combatants from Indigenous communities.

Land is more meaningful than just a quantity of acres, Yaiguaje explained, and the Indigenous guard cultivates a spiritual sense of control over homelands that are fragmented across reservations.

This sense of wellbeing is critical not only to sustaining the Siona’s cultural and spiritual integrity, but for maintaining morale in a fight against seemingly insurmountable opponents.

“Much of Putumayo has already been licensed for exploration or exploitation,” María del Rosario Arango Zambrano, Colombian human rights lawyer working with the Forest Peoples Programme explained. Companies that have entrenched in the Amazon basin have included Colombia’s Ecopetrol, China’s Emerald Energy, Amerisur and its Chilean successor GeoPark, and Canada’s Gran Tierra.

The fossil fuel economy is in a tenuous place as Colombia is intent on transitioning toward renewable energy. In 2023, Colombian President Gustavo Petro banned new oil and gas exploration in the country.

Later that year, Colombia endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Colombia has also pushed forward on enforcing a domestic fracking ban despite longstanding opposition from the oil lobby.

After appeals by the Siona reservations of Buenavista and Piñuna Blanco, the Colombian Supreme Court ordered an injunction on the exploration and exploitation of natural resources protecting 140,000 acres of ancestral Siona lands in 2018.

But the urgency of the peace agreement’s immediate aftermath faded. Impeded by Petro’s decrees, oil pioneers scouting Colombia’s northern regions shifted back to Putumayo. “All the interest turned toward Putumayo because they already have licenses there,” Rosario explained.

Some older oil concessions that overlap with Indigenous territories have been dormant or have just started to be developed.Sitting on one of Putumayo’s highest-producing oil fields, GeoPark’s sprawling Platanillo concession is currently in development despite the lack of Siona consent and Colombia’s commitment to protect ancestral Indigenous territories from exploration and exploitation.

Espinosa, who also provides human rights and technical training to the Siona communities of Buenavista and Wisuya, explained that oil companies and armed groups have exploited the state abandonment of these far-flung regions, ingratiatingthemselves into communities.

They do this without regard for continued conflict in Putumayo that is pushing people off their lands, or locking them into forced confinement.

“People know that the only way to maintain their territory is to quietly comply with the extortion of armed groups,” she said. “All those who benefit from the conflict enable the existence of conflict.”

There are repeated reports of oil companies co-opting local authorities like community council leaders to give the appearance of community consent. “Anyone who speaks out against their presence receives death threats or are attacked.

Continue reading “Inside the Indigenous ‘land back’ movement in Colombia”

Trump Regime’s new plan to seize Gaza as a Palestinian State & ditch Netanyahu as US support for Genocide threatens its world hegemony

original title: The Establishment Slowly Wearies of Netanyahu and Israel.

by Simplicius on May 11, 2025 164 more comments… via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GTk shared with thanks! Telegram t.me/thefreeonline/3088

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.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-853387

Jerusalem Post quotes an anonymous source:

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.

Continue reading “Trump Regime’s new plan to seize Gaza as a Palestinian State & ditch Netanyahu as US support for Genocide threatens its world hegemony”

What’s a ‘normal’ birth?- Over half in Turkey are by C- Section ..

The question came in response to a men’s football team’s banner that read, ‘What is natural is normal birth’

by Arzu Geybullayeva + *comments /illustrations at Global Voices Read in Español, বাংলা on 18 April 2025 via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GPZ Telegram t.me/thefreeonline/3076

NATURAL AND MEDICALISED BIRTH VIA FEMINIST LENS … – ResearchGate … “Overmedicalization of childbirth is in steady increase, and it became a public health problem across the some countries by the late 20th century”… etc…

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/c-section-rates-by-country

Image by Arzu Geybullayeva, created via Canva Pro

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 Sivas unfurling 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

On the other hand

Effectiveness of midwifery-led care on pregnancy outcomes in low- and middle-income countries:/… “Women receiving midwifery-led care had a significantly lower rate of postpartum haemorrhage and a reduced rate of birth asphyxia. The meta-analysis further showed a significantly reduced risk of emergency Caesarean section , increased odds of vaginal birth”…etc… https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10214693 /

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:

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.

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Written byArzu Geybullayeva at https://globalvoices.org/2025/04/18/what-is-normal-a-trending-question-in-turkey/

  • More comments and illustrations added

Abida Burns Herself to Death to Escape Forced Marriage by Taliban commander

The victim, identified as Abida, ended her life on Sunday in Taywara district. Local sources said she used petrol and wood to burn herself.

Rukhshana, May 10, 2025 by Rawa News via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GSj

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, Young Woman Burns Herself to Death to Escape Forced Marriage to Taliban

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.

Originally published on April 30, 2025

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Operation Scripta Scelera – absolution of most of the anarchists accused in the Massa Trial

“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”

anarchistnews.org From Dark Nights May 9th, 2025 via thefreeonline at https://wp.me/pIJl9-GPG

Fa flop il processo alla rivista con scritti di Cospito: tutti assolti

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

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