Terrorism Watch

  The Turkish Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) said Murat Çalık, the jailed opposition mayor of İstanbul’s Beylikdüzü district who faces a risk of lymphoma recurrence, can remain in prison, the Medyascope news website   reported . In its assessment the ATK’s Second Supreme Board said Çalık’s medical condition does not prevent him from remaining in prison, arguing that his health is being adequately monitored at the prison infirmary. The opinion rejected his lawyers’ request for release or suspension of pretrial detention on medical grounds. The lawyers had challenged an earlier ATK report dated August 13 that deemed Çalık fit for custody, arguing that it ignored the severity of his condition and lacked a scientific basis. Çalık has reportedly lost around 25 kilograms since his detention. Çalık’s lawyers had also appealed to the Turkish Constitutional Court for urgent medical release, but the court  ruled  on September 8 that his continued detention did not pose “a ...

  The Syrian army shot down hostile drones launched by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) toward military positions near the Tishreen Dam in eastern Aleppo on Friday, calling it a violation of the March 10 agreement between Damascus and the SDF, state media reported. The drones were intercepted before reaching their targets, the state-run SANA news agency said. Separately, SDF forces targeted a checkpoint of Syria's Internal Security near the al-Shihan roundabout in Aleppo, injuring one security personnel, the report added. Mohammad Abdel Ghani, commander of Internal Security in Aleppo province, said SDF snipers deployed in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods opened fire on a checkpoint while officers were regulating civilian movement. Abdel Ghani warned civilians to avoid conflict zones for their safety, saying authorities are working to maintain stability. He added that continued violations by the SDF would be met with "necessary measures," holding the group ...

  Source  https://stockholmcf.org/german-court-deems-turkeys-gulen-trials-disproportionate-grants-asylum-citing-risk-of-renewed-prosecution/ A German administrative court has ruled that criminal proceedings in Turkey against individuals accused of links to the faith-based Gülen movement are disproportionate and discriminatory, concluding even after serving prison sentences they remain at risk of renewed prosecution, arbitrary punishment and politically motivated targeting, grounds warranting international protection under asylum law,   Nordic Monitor   reported. In a decision dated November 24, 2025, the Administrative Court of Sigmaringen granted asylum and refugee status to a Turkish national previously convicted in Turkey of alleged membership in the Gülen movement. The court overturned a decision by Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and annulled a deportation order to Turkey. The plaintiff, a Turkish citizen born in 1965, entered Germany ...

  Haje Bakoyan is among the most visible advocates for women’s rights within Armenia’s Yezidi community. As the director of  Shams Humanitarian NGO , her work challenges deeply rooted gender norms while resisting the notion that empowerment requires abandoning tradition. Instead, Bakoyan argues that change is possible by preserving what sustains the community and confronting what limits women’s freedom. Bakoyan’s activism is rooted in personal experience. From an early age, she witnessed girls leaving school not because of a lack of ability, but because education was discouraged by family expectations and community norms. “From childhood, I saw girls who didn’t continue studying simply because the family didn’t allow it, or because tradition stood in the way,” she told the  Weekly . She followed that same path herself. Bakoyan married young and initially did not pursue higher education. When she later attempted to resume her studies, she encountered resistance both within...

With clashes again erupting between Syrian interim govt forces and the Kurdish SDF in Aleppo, the process to integrate Kurdish units into the Syrian army has faced another setback. The latest clash saw two people being killed and many injured, and came just after Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan’s latest visit to Damascus. In an exclusive interview,  Tülay Hatimoğullari , co-chair of the Turkish DEM Party, spoke with  Rudroneel Ghosh  on the peace process with the Kurds, both in Turkey and Syria: After the recent Turkish parliamentary delegation's visit to meet PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, where does the peace process stand? The meeting marked a significant step forward. We have witnessed numerous attempts at dialogue and unilateral ceasefire declarations in the labyrinth of this half-century-long conflict – many of which were conducted in the grey corridors of intelligence and remained confined to the convoluted inner workings of politics. What is different today is th...

  Deadly clashes erupted in Syria's northern city of Aleppo between government forces and Kurdish-led security personnel on Monday as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged the Kurds to integrate into the Syrian army. The Syrian government and the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces traded blame over who started the clashes, which killed three civilians according to tolls from Syrian state media and the SDF. The violence comes ahead of a deadline for implementing a March 10 agreement between Damascus and the Kurds to integrate the SDF which controls vast swathes of Syria's oil-rich northeast into the state. State news agency SANA said on Monday that "two civilians were killed and eight others were wounded in SDF shelling on districts of Aleppo", a city that has witnessed heightened tensions and a previous bout of violence between the two sides in October. The SDF said a woman was killed and six civilians wounded on its side by "the targeting of Sh...

  Israel’s likely backing of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is not ideological sympathy—it is a strategic necessity. That the SDF is leftist, PKK-adjacent, and far removed from Iraq’s pro-Western Kurdish elites has not deterred Jerusalem. In fact, what matters is that the SDF constrains two of Israel’s most pressing regional challenges: 1) Turkish power projection and 2) Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Clearly, this logic fits a long Israeli pattern. Since the 1950s, Jerusalem has cultivated ties with non-Arab and minority actors to offset hostile majorities.  Historically, that meant Iraqi Kurds—especially networks linked to the Barzani tribe. Syria’s Kurds differ in ideology and lineage but are functionally similar in what they deliver: territorial control, disciplined forces, and resistance to shared adversaries. Strategically, the relationship took shape after 2014 as the SDF emerged as the most effective ground force against ISIS, ultimately dismantling the...

  A Turkish court on Friday sentenced academic Berfin Azdal to more than six years in prison on terrorism-related charges in a case linked to an investigation into the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Congress (HDK), the İlke TV news website   reported . The İstanbul 14 th  High Criminal Court convicted Azdal of membership in a terrorist organization, citing her phone conversations and participation in political events as evidence. Azdal was  arrested  on February 21 as part of a broader investigation into the HDK, an umbrella organization for left-wing and pro-Kurdish groups. She was released pending trial at the first hearing on June 26. Prosecutors accuse the HDK of operating as a “legal front organization” for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and operating as an “alternative assembly” to the Turkish Parliament, alleging that it follows the orders of PKK executives. They also cited a 2020 ruling by Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals that fo...

Hezbollah’s recovery process depends not only on military capabilities but, to a large extent, on its economic and financial infrastructure. At the center of this system is the “Al-Qard al-Hasan” institution, which serves as a key pillar of the organization’s economic activity and its ties with the Shiite support base in Lebanon.  The institution has approximately 300,000 clients, and the scope of its activity is estimated at more than $3 billion, figures that underscore its strategic importance to Hezbollah. Subsequently, it was reported on December 8 that a delegation from the U.S. Treasury Department visited Lebanon and delivered an unequivocal demand to the Lebanese government to shut down “Al-Qard al-Hasan.” According to the reports, the Americans urged the Governor of the Banque du Liban, Karim Saeed, to begin taking initial steps to implement the move, including setting a timetable for gradual implementation. It was further reported that Saeed approached Lebanon’s Internal S...

Hezbollah has issued a forceful warning to the Lebanese government, urging it to reject Israeli demands to disarm the group and to focus instead on securing a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied border areas. In a statement released Wednesday by its parliamentary bloc, the Iran-backed movement framed Israel's disarmament ultimatum as a trap designed to "humiliate" Lebanon's army and violate its sovereignty, setting the stage for a potential crisis as a key deadline approaches. A Clash Over Ceasefire Obligations and National Priorities The political statement directly challenges the core condition set by Tel Aviv for lasting calm. Israel has stated it will halt attacks only if the Lebanese government implements a plan to disarm Hezbollah by December 31—a deadline now just days away. Hezbollah rejected this outright, arguing the "national priority" is to compel Israel to fulfill its own obligation under the November 27 ceasefire: a complete militar...