Deadly Iran protests continue as Trump renews intervention threat

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By JON GAMBRELL AP The death toll in violence surrounding protests in Iran has risen to at least 35 people, activists said Tuesday, as the demonstrations showed no signs of stopping. The figure came from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which said more than 1,200 people have been detained in the protests, which have been ongoing for more than a week. It said 29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces, The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest. A wave of protests sparked by Iran’s failing economy has continued for a ninth day, as President Donald Trump renewed his threat of US intervention. Trump warned on Sunday night that Iranian authorities would be “hit very hard” if more protesters died. “We’re watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they ...
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Kurdish PKK disbands and ends Turkey insurgency, PKK-linked agency says

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By Daren Butler Reuters

The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has been locked in bloody conflict with the Turkish state for more than four decades, decided to disband and end its armed struggle, a news agency close to the group reported on Monday.

The PKK decision is set to have far-reaching political and security consequences for the region, including in neighbouring Iraq and also in Syria, where Kurdish forces are allied with U.S. forces.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK launched its insurgency in 1984. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

“The PKK has completed its historic mission,” the group said, according to the Firat news agency, which published what it said was the closing declaration of a congress that the PKK held last week in northern Iraq where it is based.

The PKK held the congress in response to a call in February from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan to disband.

“The PKK 12th Congress decided to dissolve the PKK’S organizational structure, with the practical process to be managed and carried out by Leader Apo, and to end the armed struggle method,” the statement said, using Ocalan’s nickname.

“The PKK struggle has broken the policy of denial and annihilation of our people and brought the Kurdish issue to a point of solving it through democratic politics,” the statement said.

The PKK’s decision will give President Tayyip Erdogan the opportunity to boost development in the mainly Kurdish southeast, where the insurgency has handicapped the regional economy for decades.

Omer Celik, spokespeson for Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, said the PKK’s decision to dissolve was an “an important step toward a terror-free Turkey”.

Turkey’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the announcement, which Ankara had been expecting.

The lira was flat at 38.7375 against the dollar while the main share index rose 2.4%.



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/yoUOkWc

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