A Kurdish journalist charged with being a member of a proscribed terrorist group 鈥 the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party 鈥 was granted bail in the NSW Supreme Court on October 14. He was released on strict conditions, including a surety of $1.5 million.
Sydney-based Renas Lelikan was charged after he returned to Australia聽in聽July from northern Iraq, where the PKK is fighting Islamic State (IS).
On October 6 NSW Supreme Court Judge Natalie Adams reserved her decision on Kurdish journalist Renas Lelikan鈥檚 bail appeal until 14 October. Lelikan, who is charged with membership of the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK), has been remanded in custody since July 20.
Originally held in Sydney鈥檚 Silverwater Prison, he was transferred to isolation in the Goulburn 鈥淪upermax鈥 jail following death threats against him by ISIS sympathisers.
A video showing Turkish soldiers and state-sponsored Kurdish village guards torturing and abusing Saime Av艧in (Ava艧in Gabar), a female Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) guerrilla fighter, has surfaced on social media, said on September 20.
A large minority in Turkey, at about 20% of the population, the Kurdish people have long faced systemic discrimination by the Turkish state. This has included massacres and violent repression of their culture, with even the Kurdish language banned until recently.
Such oppression led to the Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) launching an armed struggle for national liberation in 1984. In recent years, the PKK 鈥 whose leader Abdullah 脰calan remains in solitary confinement in a Turkish jail 鈥 has declared its commitment to a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Hunger strikers begin their fast for 脰calan in Diyarbak谋r on September 5.
A hunger strike was launched in Turkey鈥檚 Kurdish capital Diyarbak谋r on September 5 by politicians and activists demanding a meeting with jailed Kurdistan Workers鈥 Party (PKK) leader Abdullah 脰calan.
Left-wing opposition Peoples Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirta艧 and HDP Ankara MP and Imral谋 Delegation Spokesperson S谋rr谋 S眉reyya 脰nder have both been indicted and threatened with five years imprisonment after the removal of their parliamentary immunity.
Brusk Aeiveri. Sydney Central Local Court, July 29. Photo: Peter Boyle.
Since late 2005 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has been included on Australia's list of terrorist organisations. It is illegal for Australian citizens to belong to the PKK, actively support it, raise funds for it or otherwise engage with it. Just this month Australian-Kurdish journalist Renas Lelikan was charged in Sydney with being a member of the PKK.
Sydney Central Local Court, July 28. Photo: Peter Boyle.
Fascist mobs, with support from the police, attacked neighbourhoods populated by Kurds, the Alevi religious minority, other minorities and leftists. Istanbul, July 16. Photo: Sendika10.org.
Faced with an attempt to overthrow his government, President Recep Tayyip Erdo臒an described the coup as 鈥渁 gift from God鈥 鈥 and wasted no time in exploiting it to further entrench his authoritarian regime.