Month: June 2023

Turkey’s jailed Kurdish leader quits active politics after Erdogan’s victory

Selahattin Demirtas’ announcement comes amid heated public debate over whether Kemal Kilicdaroglu would resign after he was defeated by President Erdogan in Sunday’s runoff.

The ongoing public debate in Turkey over whether the country’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu would resign the Republican People’s Party leadership after his presidential election loss took a surprising twist on Wednesday with the announcement of a departure from another opposition figure.

Turkey’s beleaguered Kurds weigh new strategies after Erdogan’s win

The key question following the vote is whether the alliance between the HDP and the main opposition Republican People’s Party and its Table of Six partners can endure.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s electoral victory is roiling the country’s Kurdish movement, with its most popular leader declaring from jail that he is withdrawing from active politics. The announcement Wednesday by Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), presages debate on a future course to be charted ahead of critical local elections that are to be held in March 2024. Kurdish voters are poised to play a key role as they did in 2019 when they helped the opposition wrest key cities, notably Ankara and Istanbul, from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Sudan Conflict Straining Fragility of Its Neighbors

The conflict between Sudan’s rival military factions is triggering massive population displacements that are stressing the region’s already fragile coping systems.

Highlights

The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commanded by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headed by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has thrown into turmoil a region that was already straining under record levels of humanitarian stresses. Even prior to the outbreak of conflict in Sudan, there were more than 13 million people in Sudan and its 7 neighbors who were refugees or internally displaced (IDP). More than 40 million people in these countries were facing acute food insecurity. Resources to assist these populations will now be even further stretched.

Sudan in Crisis

Amid protracted conflict in Sudan, the United States should work to lower the temperature amongst external actors, and support Sudanese citizens, who remain steadfast in their aspirations for a civilian-led government.