US press silent. European, too?
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| Wed, 03-17-2004 - 12:50pm |
IRAN
IRAN ERUPTS?
Secondhand, from an Iranian:
I am listening to KRSI (Radio Sedaye Iran) right now. There are many Iranians calling (from Tehran, and Gorgan, etc.).
All reports indicate that almost every neighborhood in Tehran is on fire. People are throwing home-made bombs, Molotov cocktails, etc. into the homes of mullahs, and burning pictures of Khamenei in complete defiance of his recent edict to mourn during the month of Muharram.
Background: Khamenei delivered a declaration (not really a fatwa, although some say it was) to Iranians to honor the month of Muharram, which started about two weeks ago, and to mourn and not have any parties of merriment. Well, the problem is that the Iranian New Year (Nowrouz), March 20th (totally non-religious and cultural event -- although Zoroastrian in origin) falls in the middle of this, and Iranians were enraged about this edict.
Tomorrow is the last Wednesday of the Iranian calendar year (called Chahar Shanbeh soori), and traditionally Iranians burn small bonfires and jump over them and celebrate the ending of the old year and welcome the new.
As a measure of defiance of Khamenei's Islamic Rule, and in celebration of ancient (non-Islamic) Persian customs, Iranians have taken to the streets in complete defiance of Khamenei's edict, saying that they will 'burn the mullahs out of their homes'. They are celebrating Chahar Shanbeh Soori. There are huge bonfires, bomb-throwing, merriment and the welcoming of the last days of the mullahcracy. In their own way Iranians are making a huge statement.
You can listen to the news yourself (in Farsi of course) everyone is very happy and celebrating defying the mullahs and burning of Khamenei's picture and trying to burn all mullah's houses. There are people calling from all over Tehran, from Gorgan, and northern provinces... It is amazing!
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/04_03_14_corner-archive.asp#027382
SYRIA
"As clashes continued Monday between pro-regime forces in Syria and the nation's Kurdish minority, loyalists of President Bashar Assad were reported to have committed acts of violence against Kurds in the Syrian city of Qahtaniya, killing a number of them.
Most of the Kurds in the city, where the some 2,000 Kurds comprise 10 percent of the population, were said to have fled Qahtaniya for a Kurdish town close to the Iraqi border.
Syria Monday sealed off its borders with Iraq after Iraqi Kurd fighters threatened to enter the country if violent clashes between security forces and their Syrian brethren were not brought to an end.
Other reports, from hospitals in the city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, where the riots began last Friday, indicated that some 400 Kurds who had been hospitalized for injuries sustained in the unrest, were expelled from the hospital in order to make room for Syrian soldiers to be housed there.
The internet site of the Kurdish party in Syria published video footage in which Syrian soldiers were seen going house to house in the course of the rioting.
Disturbances continued throughout the Kurdish regions in the north of the country, as an American delegation was sent in to try to stabilize the situation.
The American team travelled in secret from Iraq to the Kurd region in northern Syria following the several days of riots which came on the heels of a violent soccer game between a Kurdish-backed and a mostly Arab-backed team, Kurdish sources and Syrian exiles in Europe told Haaretz on Monday.
The information was also published on Kurdish websites in Europe.
The U.S. team, which includes intelligence officers, contacted senior officers in a Syrian delegation sent to the region by President Bashar Assad to negotiate with local leaders.
According to the sources, two U.S. helicopters arrived Sunday from Iraq to the city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, where the riots began.
The sources believe that the American delegation has warned the Syrian government that if the riots continue, the situation could get out of control and the Syrians will find it difficult to restrain the Kurdish militias in northern Iraq, who want to come to the aid of the Kurds in Syria.
According to Kurdish sources, isolated exchanges of gunfire continued overnight Sunday in several towns, but in general, the violence was diminishing. The sources claim that demonstrations continued in the city of Haleb and that 19 Kurds were killed during the exchanges of fire in the northern town of Hassake.
The sources said that Syrian security services were conducting mass arrests, claiming that some 2000 people have been detained in Damascus and Aleppo.
Kurdish sources said that in Damascus, almost every male Kurd over the age of 16 has been detained.
The legal advisor of the Paris-based National Council for Truth, Justice and Reconciliation in Syria, George Sara, Sara claimed he could not determine the exact number of people killed during the riots, but that his organization estimated the number to be between 60 and 100. He expressed disappointment with the lack of coverage of the riots in the western media, but asserted that Kurdish media in Turkey began showing interest on Sunday.
Kurdish sources in Europe claim that in the city of Qamishli on the Turkish border, where the riots began, authorities are stipulating the release of 25 bodies from a hospital with the families conducting quiet funerals that will not again turn into political rallies.
Kurdish activists take over Syrian consulate
Some 60 Kurdish activists took over the Syrian consulate in Geneva on Monday, in what they said was an attempt to raise public awareness in the world to "the massacre of Kurdish civilians being carried out by Syrian army and police forces."
The Kurds agreed to leave the consulate after a few hours, with the intervention of Swiss police and a promise that a letter concerning their matter would be sent to the United Nations. "
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/404906.html

Renee
I found the same article regarding Syria in the Seattle PI and The Moscow Times.
Nowrouz is such a major Kurdish holiday - was this a deliberate attempt to spark unrest? *rhetorical*
Renee
Renee