MER Article Document: Forced Evictions and Destruction in Villages in Turkish Kurdistan This document is excerpted from a longer report by the Netherlands Kurdistan Society, Forced Evictions and Destruction of Villages in Dersim (Tunceli) and the Western Part of Bingöl, Turkish Kurdistan, September-November 1994 (Amsterdam, 1995). (Author not identified) • 8 min read
MER Article "Should I Shoot You?" The stark black letters on white stone in the cemetery are all that remain of rioting that left 17 dead last year in Istanbul’s Gazi neighborhood. The shattered glass has been replaced, the burned cars swept off the streets, the angry leftist slogans on walls painted over. What remains of those two Aliza Marcus • 8 min read
MER Article Turkey's Death Squads The emergence of legal Kurdish parties and the frequent occurrence of death squad-style political assassinations were two developments in Turkey’s political life during the 1990s. For the first time in Turkey’s history, there was a group in the parliament that represented -- if only implicitly -- Ku Martin Van Bruinessen • 12 min read
MER Article How the Sex Trade Becomes a Slave Trade “Trafficking into Israel is not simply a story of economic migration; it is a modern slave trade.” [1] -- Martina Vandenberg Anya Stone • 9 min read
MER Article The Cost of Peace We know the images well: ethnic cleansing in Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia, intra-communal violence in Northern Ireland, and competing claims to land rights spurring the forcible transfer of populations in Palestine and Israel. Claims to self-determination and minority rights, often found at the heart Kathleen Cavanaugh • 10 min read
MER Article Understanding Ghada: The Multiple Meanings of an Attempted Stabbing I came to know Ghada, a young Palestinian village woman, during my 14 months of fieldwork in her village in the West Bank. Ghada’s village, located south of Bethlehem, is home to approximately 3,000 residents, all of whom are Muslims. Ghada gained notoriety in the village and the surrounding communi Celia Rothenberg • 6 min read
MER Article So No One Can Say "We Didn't Know" In a world where journalists are increasingly attacked for their work, it is gratifying when an organization of Amnesty International’s stature appreciates a reporter’s work. But there is a more important reason as a journalist to be grateful. Over the past 22 years in the Middle East, I Robert Fisk • 3 min read
MER Article Letter We are writing to inform you of a Women’s Action Alert for Nuban Women and Children. As MERIP readers know, an unabated civil war has been in progress in Sudan for decades. However, since the National Islamic Front and its military wing took power in 1989, the viciousness of the war has intensified. (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article A New Strategy for the Palestinian "Minority" in Israel In December 1997, the first “Equality Conference” was held in Nazareth to address the continuing marginalization of the Palestinian Arab community in Israel. This event represents part of the ongoing struggle of Palestinian citizens to overcome discriminatory laws and state practices in Israel. The Hatim Kanaaneh, Rhoda Kanaaneh • 3 min read
MER Article Bahrain's Crisis Worsens Since early June 1997, an upsurge of crude firebombings, street demonstrations and heavy repression has added some nine deaths and an unknown number of arrests and injuries to the toll of the ongoing unrest in Bahrain. The troubles erupted there three years ago with demonstrations over unemployment, discrimination and the Joe Stork • 11 min read
MER Article Secularism and Personal Status Codes in Lebanon Marie Rose Zalzal is secretary general for Tayyar al-‘Ilmani (Movement for Secularism) and a practicing lawyer in Abu Rumana, Matn, Lebanon. Part of a research project on the impact of Lebanon’s civil war (1975-1990) on women, the interview was conducted by Suad Joseph on September 29, October 6 and Suad Joseph • 8 min read
MER Article Disappearances Some of the cases are old but certainly not forgotten. The most recent inquiry that I received about a “disappearance” in Lebanon came in April 1997 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The caller was a Palestinian whose brother, Rushdi Rashid Hamdan Shihab, “disappeared” in Sidon in October 1987. “At 10 am, Virginia N. Sherry • 8 min read
