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Turkey Orders 17 Jailed Pending Trial over 2014 Kobani Protests

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
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Turkey Orders 17 Jailed Pending Trial over 2014 Kobani Protests

Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of 82 people including members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), in Istanbul. (Reuters)

A Turkish court ordered the pre-trial detention on Friday of 17 people, including senior pro-Kurdish opposition members, for their role in violent protests against the army’s inaction during a militant attack on the Syrian Kurdish town Kobani.

The protesters in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast accused Turkey’s army of standing by as ISIS militants besieged Kobani in plain view just across the Syrian border in October 2014. The protests led to the deaths of 37 people.

As well as ordering the formal arrest of 17 people, the Ankara court released three other detainees subject to judicial supervision, the state news agency Anadolu reported. A party source said the same. They were among 82 people ordered detained a week ago.

Turkish authorities said the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union, incited the protests and that the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supported them. The HDP, the third largest party, denies links to terrorism.

Also on Friday, the Interior Ministry said the mayor of northeastern province Kars, Ayhan Bilgen, who was among those remanded in custody, was removed from his position and replaced by the provincial governor.

This means the authorities have now removed all of HDP’s provincial mayors who were elected in March last year. The party now holds six town and district municipalities, compared to the 65 it won in total last year.

Bilgen had said two days ago that he would resign from his position, in an apparent effort to prevent Ankara from appointing an official in his place.

Two HDP lawmakers have been ejected from parliament since elections in 2018 after being convicted on terrorism charges. Eleven others were ejected in the previous term.

Former HDP leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag have been in jail since 2016 on charges related to the Kobani protests.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms against the state in 1984.

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Vance Says Some in Israeli Government Sought to Sway US on Iran Deal

US Vice President JD Vance speaks at This is the Turning Point Tour at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, US, April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo
US Vice President JD Vance speaks at This is the Turning Point Tour at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, US, April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo
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Vance Says Some in Israeli Government Sought to Sway US on Iran Deal

US Vice President JD Vance speaks at This is the Turning Point Tour at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, US, April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo
US Vice President JD Vance speaks at This is the Turning Point Tour at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, US, April 14, 2026. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo

US Vice President JD Vance said some members of the Israeli government had tried to influence US public opinion to oppose a deal by the US to end the war with Iran, in a podcast episode with host Joe Rogan posted on Wednesday.

The comments echoed earlier criticism of Israeli government policy by Vance, whom many view as a potential future presidential candidate, in a widening public rift between the two countries, Reuters reported.

Vance defended a deal reached last month to end the war with Iran, which critics in the US and Israel have slammed for failing to curb Iran's missile program and providing no clear path to dismantling its nuclear facilities, while constraining Israel in its war with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, Reuters reported.

"I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there have been people within the Israeli government who are trying to, like, actually shift us away from that policy because they want to continue the military campaign," Vance said.

The vice president said that, while he has "good relationships" with some members of the Israeli government, "there are some people within their system that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely".

Vance said that many countries, allies and adversaries try to influence American policy and that "it doesn't bother me that Israel tries to do this, it frankly doesn't even bother me that Russia or some of these other countries do it". He said it was "just the nature of being a political leader in 2026".

"What does bother me is when those operations, those influence campaigns, actually affect American political judgment," said the vice president.

Vance lashed out at Israeli critics of the Iran deal in June, saying President Donald Trump is Israel's only ally, in a sharp rebuke that referenced the billions in US defense aid the country receives.

Israeli senior officials, speaking anonymously, have said the deal's terms were bad for Israel because they failed to address concerns over Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program, a view they say is shared across Israel's leadership.

When asked if he thought the US would have engaged in the most recent war with Iran were it not for Israeli influence, Vance said, "yes, yes I do."

"I think the president, separate from any influence from Israel, believes very strongly, and again I agree with this, that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon," Vance said.

World

Ukraine Says Received 501 Bodies from Russia

Russian soldiers in Crimea (Reuters - file photo)
Russian soldiers in Crimea (Reuters - file photo)
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Ukraine Says Received 501 Bodies from Russia

Russian soldiers in Crimea (Reuters - file photo)
Russian soldiers in Crimea (Reuters - file photo)

Ukraine has received 501 bodies from Russia believed to be those of fallen soldiers, authorities Thursday, in one of the few areas of cooperation between the warring neighbours.

"As a result of repatriation efforts, 501 bodies of the deceased have been returned to Ukraine, which, according to the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian servicemen," Kyiv's prisoners of war centre said, AFP reported.

The Red Cross helped facilitate the exchange, it added.

Investigators and forensic experts will now identify the repatriated remains, the Ukrainian body said.

Russia received the bodies of 31 soldiers, Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev told the RBC news outlet.

Since Russia's 2022 invasion, exchanges of prisoners and the remains of fallen fighters have been one of the few areas of contact between Moscow and Kyiv.

World

UK Unveils Sanctions against Sudan Gold Networks

The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
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UK Unveils Sanctions against Sudan Gold Networks

The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo
The Britain's national flag flies next to the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, in London, Britain, March 23, 2022. REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/ File Photo

Britain on Thursday announced sanctions targeting what it said are "illicit gold and finance networks" propping up rival factions in Sudan's devastating civil war.

The foreign ministry said the war-torn country's gold trade worth billions of dollars was helping finance "weapons procurement, military operations and the activities of armed groups".

The sanctions are aimed at 11 individuals and businesses suspected of being linked to the networks financing and supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army, AFP reported.

The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, that erupted in April 2023, has killed 200,000 people by some estimates and displaced upwards of 11 million.

"The people of Sudan continue to pay the price for a war fuelled not only by guns and fighters, but by illicit flows of gold and finance to fill the war chests on both sides," Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

Africa's third-largest country is one of the continent's top gold producers, and the state Sudanese Mineral Resources Company reported a "five-year high" in production of 70 tonnes in 2025.

The United Nations on Wednesday said the rival factions were profiting from control over the country's resources and that a "war economy" was sustaining the conflict.

The UK has previously sanctioned senior commanders of the RSF, who have also been targeted by the European Union.

On Tuesday, the European Council had said it was also boosting sanctions.

In measures designed to "curb sources of financing for the conflict," the Council said it would ban "the purchase, import or transfer if gold originating in Sudan."