CEFTUS, Kurdish Progress and Daymer Joint Forum with Mr Ahmet Şık and Mr Ismail Saymaz 4

‘From Gezi to Kobane: Recent developments in Turkey and the Media’ Over the past few weeks, the city of Kobane on the border of Syria and Turkey have passed from relative obscurity to being thrust into the spotlight of the world press as the ‘Kurdish Stalingrad’, thus described for its importance and resistance in the struggle against the Islamic State (IS). Despite having taken in a large number of refugees escaping from the war-ridden city, Turkey has received a large amount of criticism from the international community because of its approach to the events surrounding Kobane. For many around the world, the sight of Turkey’s tanks immobile on the border with Syria is tantamount to supporting IS. Turkey’s recent actions, however, have seemingly discredited these theories: by allowing the entry of Peshmerga forces through the Turkish border, Turkey is clearly showing that the fall of Kobane to IS hands is not in their interest. On the other hand, the crisis in Kobane have led to protests in southeastern cities of Turkey and major cities in the west including Istanbul. 6-7 October 2014 protests that left 40 deaths behind due to clashes with security forces and involvement of masked gunmen almost put the peace process on hold. Experienced journalists Şık and Saymaz will analyse the unrest among people of Turkey from last year’s nationwide Gezi protests through to the recent Kobane protests. They will elaborate on what the significance of Kobane is for the Kurds as well as public opinion regarding the protests.