Mother Tongue Day as an act to obscure genocide

Kurds still need insurance

Journalist Fréderike Geerdink reflects on a decade-old column amid the PKK’s recent move to end its armed struggle. She argues true peace requires reciprocal steps—disarmament must follow, not precede, political concessions. Until then, Kurdish arms remain a form of insurance.

Mother Tongue Day as an act to obscure genocide

Journalist Fréderike Geerdink criticises International Mother Language Day as a token gesture by the UN, arguing that true linguistic protection requires recognising forced assimilation as genocide. Drawing parallels between Kurdish and Palestinian struggles, she highlights how the denial of self-determination suppresses languages and cultures, framing it as a systematic process of erasure.

Fréderike Geerdink - Dear Roboskî village, I am with you today – from a distance, but close

No conflict lasts forever. At some point in time, the full truth will come out, either via the courts or via a real peace process in which the state takes responsibility for what it has done. Don’t think it is unrealistic to hope for this. The unthinkable is unthinkable only until it happens.

Why I am seriously worried about Kobani and the whole of Rojava

We know what Turkey wants Öcalan to say. He is supposed to announce the dissolution of the PKK and demand the YPG and YPJ drop their weapons. This much has been made clear by the AKP's coalition partner, the MHP, who think Öcalan can be lured into saying things in exchange for more freedom or even house arrest. But Öcalan isn’t in it for himself, he’s in it for the people. And if there is one thing he believes in, it’s self-defence, the right to which he will never deny his own people.

FREDERIKE GEERDINK - In the light of the Gaza genocide, Turkey’s crimes aren’t small potatoes at all

Turkey’s persistent war crimes against Kurds are no “small potatoes”. Fréderike Geerdink examines how these actions fit into a systematic plan of erasure, drawing parallels with the Gaza genocide.