Region

ISTANBUL — Several Kurdish lawmakers and thousands of prison inmates in Turkey have ended their hunger strike, heeding a call from jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, MPs said on Sunday, 200 days after the protest was launched.

The decision removed a source of tension in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey after Ankara let Ocalan meet his lawyers this month for the first time since 2011, triggering speculation about possible fresh efforts to end conflict in the region. 

Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Leyla Guven began a hunger strike in November in a bid to end Ocalan's years of isolation by securing him regular access to his family and lawyers.

"Comrades who have committed themselves to hunger strikes and death fasts, I expect you to end your protest," Ocalan said in a statement read out by one of his lawyers at a news conference in Istanbul on Sunday morning.

Ocalan has been held in an island prison since Turkish special forces captured him in Kenya in 1999 and is revered among Kurdish HDP supporters who see him as key to any peace process. 

On Wednesday, the lawyers visited him for the second time this month. Authorities had repeatedly rejected earlier requests to visit him, citing reasons including ship repairs and poor weather.

In Diyarbakir, the southeast's largest city, a hunger-striking MP announced the end of the protest at a news conference. Hunger strikers' mothers, wearing white headscarves, applauded and chanted in Kurdish "long live the prison resistance". 

The lawyers' visits resumed a month before a rerun of the Istanbul mayoral election and prompted speculation of steps towards a new peace process four years after Ankara's talks with Ocalan on ending conflict in southeast Turkey fell apart.

However, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul has denied there is any connection.

Some commentators have suggested the decision to allow lawyers to visit Ocalan could be an attempt to win over Kurdish voters by the AK Party. 

In March's Istanbul mayoral election, the HDP supported the opposition candidate who narrowly beat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party candidate. 

Election authorities annulled the vote, citing irregularities. The HDP has indicated it will again support the opposition in the June 23 election rerun. 

Kurds make up around 15 per cent of Istanbul's population of more than 15 million and mostly vote for either the pro-Kurdish HDP or the AK Party. 

Ocalan offers 

role in Syria

Before being transported to hospital by ambulance, Guven said the hunger strike had achieved its goal.

"But our struggle against isolation and our struggle for social peace will continue in all areas. This struggle must lead to an honourable peace," she said in a written statement. 

Ocalan is the founder of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and United States. 

His lawyer Newroz Uysal cited him as saying Ankara's permission for lawyers to meet him did not mean there was a negotiation process. But Ocalan said he was ready to play a positive role on issues concerning Syria.

Earlier in May, Ocalan called on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to resolve disputes in Syria without conflict. Ankara views the YPG militia, which forms the core of the US-backed SDF, as part of the PKK.

Guven was joined on hunger strike by three more MPs, around 3,000 inmates in prisons across Turkey and activists abroad, according to her party, the third largest in parliament.

The HDP said seven people, six in Turkish prisons and one in Germany, had killed themselves in March in protest against Ocalan's isolation. Guven had been consuming water, vitamins and sugar during the hunger strike.

In November 2012, Ocalan made a similar call to end a hunger strike by prisoners. A month later it emerged that he was in talks with Ankara on a peace process.

Those talks and a ceasefire broke down in 2015, unleashing some of the worst violence since the insurgency began. 

DUBAI — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has assured Yemen’s leader that the world body will remain impartial in efforts to resolve the country’s conflict, rejecting accusations that its envoy was siding with rebels.

The pledge came in a letter from Guterres to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who had accused the UN special envoy to Yemen of bias.

“I would like to assure you that every effort will be made to maintain the impartial stance that is expected of the United Nations,” while implementing a ceasefire agreement, Guterres said in the letter seen by AFP on Sunday.

In his own letter addressed to Guterres, Hadi accused envoy Martin Griffiths of “providing the Houthi militia with guarantees to stay in Hodeidah and its ports under the umbrella of the UN”.

“I can no longer accept these offences by your special envoy which threaten chances to find a [lasting] solution,” Hadi said.

Hodeidah is the main entry point for the bulk of Yemen’s imports and humanitarian aid, providing a lifeline to millions of people.

Earlier this month, the United Nations supervised the rebels’ handover of the ports of Hodeidah, Saleef and Ras Issa to a “coast guard”, but the government said they were in fact Houthi forces in different uniforms.

The pullback is in line with a ceasefire deal for Hodeidah reached in Stockholm in December.

Guterres said that he and Griffiths were prepared “to discuss the legitimate concerns of the government of Yemen referenced in your letter, which we take very seriously.”

He also gave an assurance that the United Nations had no plans to set up an international administration in Hodeida.

The UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, on Sunday condemned a deadly strike on a petrol station east of the city of Taez.

The attack on Friday killed 12 civilians, seven of them children, she said, updating an earlier death toll.

“Innocent lives continue to be lost in Yemen because of this conflict,” she said in a statement, without identifying the assailants.

Government forces — backed by the coalition — and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have been locked in a four-year war that has pushed the country to the brink of famine. 

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

The conflict has triggered what the UN describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with more than two-thirds of the population in need of aid.

BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces on Saturday denied accusations by rights groups that they had coerced Syrians who had landed at Beirut airport into signing forms to return to their war-torn country.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and four other groups on Friday accused Lebanon of "summarily deporting" at least 16 Syrians on April 26, after forcing them to sign "voluntary repatriation forms".

Most of them had been sent back to Lebanon after they were barred from entering northern Cyprus via Turkey, quashing their plans to seek asylum, HRW said. 

But Lebanon's General Security agency "categorically denies it forced any Syrian to sign any form", it said in a statement carried by state-run news agency NNA on Saturday.

"Any Syrian who arrives in Lebanon and does not meet entry requirements, and... wants to go to Syria because they do not wish to remain in their country of residence for a number of reasons, signs a declaration of responsibility for choosing to return voluntarily," it said.

Lebanon hosts almost 1 million Syrian refugees, a significant burden for a country that had 4.5 million inhabitants before the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.

The latest deportees said they were "pressured" by general security officers at the airport, the rights group said.

Around 30 Syrians have been deported from Beirut airport this year by the general security agency, the rights group said, citing local refugee organisations.

General security estimates that over 170,000 Syrians returned home from Lebanon between December 2017 and March 2019.

The conflict has wound down in Syria, after a string of victories by the regime since 2015, but the United Nations has stressed all returns should be voluntary.

The rights groups say some 74 per cent of Syrians in Lebanon lack legal residency and are at risk of detention. 

Local media in Lebanon have reported that the supreme defence council, whose decisions are not made public, recently instructed general security to deport all Syrians who have entered the country illegally. 

The official NNA news agency, quoting a "security report", said on Friday that Lebanese authorities had deported 301 Syrians between May 7 and May 20.

Syria's war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions inside the country and abroad.

The war was triggered in March 2011 by a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.

CAIRO — The head of Sudan's ruling military council arrived Saturday in Cairo, where he is to meet President Abdel Fattah Sisi, the Egyptian presidency said.

General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan is on his first trip since taking power following the April ouster of president Omar Al Bashir after months of protests.

His visit comes after Sudanese protest leaders announced a two-day strike from Tuesday, as talks with the military over installing civilian rule remain suspended.

The Alliance for Freedom and Change umbrella movement is at odds with the generals over whether the transitional body to rule Sudan should be headed by a military or civilian figure.

Their negotiations have been on hold since Monday.

Egypt, whose President Abdel Fattah Sisi currently chairs the African Union, has voiced backing for Sudan’s military council.

Egyptian Presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said Sisi had received Burhan at the capital’s Ittihadia Palace.

Last month he hosted a summit where African nations urged the regional bloc to allow Khartoum “more time” for a handover to civilian rule.

Protest leaders were set to hold meetings with demonstrators at a sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum on Saturday to discuss how to resolve the deadlock.

On Friday they said their strike at “public and private institutions and companies”, accompanied by civil disobedience, was “an act of peaceful resistance with which we have been forced to proceed”.

Thousands of protesters remain at the sit-in to demand the departure of the generals who seized power after ousting Bashir.

Protest leaders have also called for people to march on Sunday from residential areas of Khartoum towards the sit-in.

Several rounds of talks have so far failed to finalise the makeup of the new ruling body, although the two sides have agreed it will hold power for a transitional period of three years.

Western nations have called on the generals to hand power to a civilian administration, while the ruling army council has received support from regional powers including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — both close allies of Egypt.

KHARTOUM — Sudan's protest leaders have called for a two-day general strike starting on Tuesday amid deadlock in talks with the ruling army generals on installing civilian rule, the key demand of demonstrators.

The umbrella protest movement, which led nationwide demonstrations against former leader Omar Al Bashir that led to his ouster on April 11, is at odds with the generals over the forming of a new governing body.

"There is no longer any alternative to using the weapon of a general strike," the Alliance for Freedom and Change said in a statement on Friday.

It said the strike, affecting "public and private institutions and companies", would be accompanied by civil disobedience and was "an act of peaceful resistance with which we have been forced to proceed".

Talks between the protest leaders and generals have been suspended since Monday after a disagreement over who should lead the new authority — a civilian or an officer.

The generals who seized power after Bashir was toppled have resisted calls from the demonstrators and the international community to step down.

 Meeting demonstrators 

The protest alliance said that on Saturday its leaders will hold meetings with demonstrators at the sit-in outside the military headquarters to consult the demonstrators on how to end the deadlock in talks with the generals.

Thousands of protesters remain camped at the sit-in demanding that the generals who seized power after ousting Bashir step down.

The Alliance for Freedom and Change has also called for rallies from residential areas in Khartoum heading towards the sit-in on Sunday.

On Thursday, employees of several companies as well as government institutions, including the central bank, held spontaneous demonstrations in parts of the capital in support of the protest movement.

Several rounds of talks have so far failed to finalise the makeup of the new ruling body, with both the generals and protest leaders insisting on their demands.

Western nations like the United States, Britain and Norway have consistently called on the generals to hand over power to a civilian administration, while the ruling army council has received support from regional allies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Days after Bashir was ousted, oil-rich Gulf states Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pledged to inject $500 million into Sudan's central bank and $2.5 billion to help provide food, medicine and petroleum products.

They said the move was aimed at shoring up the Sudanese pound.

In recent years Sudan has been hit by an acute lack of dollars, a key factor behind the nationwide protests that first erupted in December and led to the toppling of Bashir.

But the Western troika, which has previously been involved in mediation in Sudanese conflicts, reiterated this week that the two sides reach an agreement urgently.

"Any outcome that does not result in the formation of a government that is civilian-led, placing primary authority for governing with civilians, will not respond to the clearly expressed will of the Sudanese people for a transition to civilian rule," the United States, Britain and Norway said in a joint statement.

"This will complicate international engagement, and make it harder for our countries to work with the new authorities and support Sudan's economic development."

TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday a US decision to deploy 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East is a "threat to international peace", state media reported.

"Increased US presence in our region is very dangerous and a threat to international peace and security and must be confronted," Zarif told the official IRNA news agency before heading home from a visit to Pakistan.

Washington says the reinforcements, which come after the deployment earlier this month of an aircraft carrier task force, B-52 bombers, an amphibious assault ship and a missile defence system, are in response to a "campaign" of recent attacks approved by Iran's top leadership.

Those include a rocket launched into the Green Zone in Baghdad, explosive devices that damaged four tankers near the entrance to the Gulf, and a drone attack by Yemeni rebels on a key Saudi oil pipeline.

Iran has denied involvement in any of the attacks.

"Americans make such claims to justify their hostile policies and to create tension in the Persian Gulf," Zarif said.

The United States this month ended the last exemptions it had granted from sweeping unilateral sanctions it reimposed after abandoning a landmark 2015 nuclear between major powers and Iran in May last year.

The move dealt a heavy new blow to Iran's already reeling economy as even vocal critics of the renewed sanctions, like Turkey, announced they had stopped buying Iranian oil.

Iran has appealed repeatedly to the other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia — to rescue it from renewed US sanctions, so far to little avail.

Britain, France and Germany launched a special payment system called INSTEX — the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges — in late January to enable Iran to keep trading with European companies.

But in March Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the mechanism as a "bitter joke".

 Brinkmanship fears 

Earlier this month, on the first anniversary of Washington's withdrawal from the agreement, Tehran announced it was rolling back some of the limits on its nuclear activities it had agreed under the deal.

It threatened to suspend more if there was no action from the major powers within 60 days on honouring their own commitments to sanctions relief.

The European powers denounced Iran's threat to resume nuclear work, but urged the US not to further escalate tensions with a military build-up.

The successive US deployments have raised concerns, even among governments close to Washington, that brinkmanship with Tehran could lead to a dangerous miscalculation.

The Gulf sultanate of Oman, which has acted as a broker between Iran and the United States in the past, said it was trying reduce tensions, following a visit to Tehran this week by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah.

On Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi announced that he was sending delegations to the US and Iran in an attempt to ease tensions between the two countries, which are both key Baghdad allies.

Tehran has refused to hold talks with Washington "under any circumstances" if the rights of the Islamic republic are not respected.

"We have said clearly... as long as the rights of our nation are not satisfied, as long as words don't change into action, our path will stay the same as now," Supreme National Security Council spokesman Keyvan Khosravi said on Thursday.