Turks have not realised yet that they have lost their Ottoman Empire about a century ago. Thanks to the US and EU, Turkey still treats Kurds as if they are ruled by their empire. read more… »

Kurdish question and national demands should be addressed via political activities and not military. World leaders and policy makers must insist that the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples to be respected. The participation of minorities in the state affairs and electoral representation is essential if conflict is to be prevented and lasting peace to be built.  Qandil : I sacrifice my soul to your snow when it fiercely falls… read more… »

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Muslim countries did not need the approval of the United States to record great achievements, amid continued tension over Iran’s nuclear drive. read more… »

An international anti-money laundering body will alert members on Thursday to deficiencies in Iran’s system of combating money laundering and terrorism financing, a U.S. Treasury official said. read more… »

Amnesty International has called on Iran to stop persecuting people who campaign for women’s rights. read more… »

He’s spent almost a third of his life in prison as a political dissident. She’s been arrested many times on myriad charges. Together, Taqi Rahmani and Narges Mohammadi are a dynamic duo of political activism, husband-and-wife “superheroes” fighting human rights abuses by Iran’s theocratic regime. read more… »

The European Union has called on Iran to drop provisions in a draft penal code stipulating the death penalty for apostasy, heresy and witchcraft. “These articles clearly violate the Islamic Republic of Iran’s commitments under the international human rights conventions,” the Slovenian EU Presidency said in a statement. read more… »

An American judge has ruled for the first time that Iran was responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina. Judge Ellen Huvelle, who sits in Washington, ruled Monday that Tehran must pay about $63 million to the family of an Israeli diplomat who was one of 29 killed in the Buenos Aires attack. read more… »

Mr. ElBaradei has used his Nobel Prize to cultivate an image of a technocratic lawyer interested in peace and justice and above politics. He is a deeply political figure, animated by antipathy for the West and for Israel on what has increasingly become a single-minded crusade to rescue favoured regimes from charges of proliferation. IAEA technical experts have complained anonymously to the press that the latest report on Iran was revamped to suit the director’s political goals. read more… »

Iran’s leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that no amount of UN sanctions will deter Tehran from its nuclear path. “If they want to continue with that path of sanctions, we will not be harmed. They can issue resolutions for 100 years,” he said in a TV interview. read more… »