Macron Meets Iranian Rights Activists

 A photo published by Shima Babaei, showing French President Emmanuel Macron holding the hand of Roya Piraei, whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.
A photo published by Shima Babaei, showing French President Emmanuel Macron holding the hand of Roya Piraei, whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.
TT

Macron Meets Iranian Rights Activists

 A photo published by Shima Babaei, showing French President Emmanuel Macron holding the hand of Roya Piraei, whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.
A photo published by Shima Babaei, showing French President Emmanuel Macron holding the hand of Roya Piraei, whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday met a delegation of prominent exiled Iranian rights activists, later hailing the women-led protest movement in the country as a “revolution.”

Iran has for the last weeks been rocked by protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by the morality police.

“We welcomed with great honor and pleasure a delegation of Iranian women,” Macron told a session at the Paris Peace Forum, an annual conference held in the French capital, after meeting the activists at the Elysee.

“I want to emphasize our respect and admiration in the context of the revolution they are leading,” he added.

The delegation included Roya Piraei, whose mother Minoo Majidi was killed by security forces at the start of the protest crackdown, US-based activist Masih Alinejad, Shima Babaei, who has campaigned for justice for her father who has disappeared in Iran, and Ladan Boroumand, the co-founder of a Washington-based rights group.

In mid-October, Macron said Paris stands by the protesters in Iran, which in turn considered it an “intervention” in its internal affairs.

France Inter radio said it will broadcast an interview with Macron on the Iran issue on Monday.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonnaconfirmed Saturday that two more French citizens have been detained in Iran, bringing the total number of French citizens held in Tehran to seven.

“We are worried about two other compatriots and the last verifications show they are also detained,” Colonna told daily newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday.

On Oct 6, France lashed out at Iran for “dictatorial practices” and taking two of its citizens hostage after a video aired earlier in which they appeared to confess to spying, amid weeks of unrest that Tehran has tied to foreign foes.

Paris reiterated its demand for their immediate release and the immediate, unconditional access to its two compatriots in accordance with the international obligations to which Iran subscribed under the Vienna Convention of April 24, 1963.

“It is more important than ever to remind Iran of its international obligations. If its aim is blackmail, then it cannot work,” the minister said.

“My Iranian counterpart, with whom I had a long and difficult conversation, has committed to respecting the right of consular access. I expect that to happen,” AFP quoted Colonna as saying.

On Friday, Le Figaro newspaper reported that the two nationals had been arrested prior to the start of anti-government protests in September over Amini’s death.



Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
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Türkiye Presses PKK to Disarm ‘Immediately’

An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)
An Iraqi Kurdish woman waves a flag bearing the portrait of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan as people gather at Freedom Park to listen to an audio message by the jailed leader in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on February 27, 2025. (AFP)

Türkiye on Thursday insisted the PKK and all groups allied with it must disarm and disband "immediately", a week after a historic call by the Kurdish militant group's jailed founder.

"The PKK and all groups affiliated with it must end all terrorist activities, dissolve and immediately and unconditionally lay down their weapons," a Turkish defense ministry source said.

The remarks made clear the demand referred to all manifestations of Abdullah Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has led a four-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, costing tens of thousands of lives.

Although the insurgency targeted Türkiye, the PKK's leadership is based in the mountains of northern Iraq and its fighters are also part of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key force in northeastern Syria.

Last week, Ocalan made a historic call urging the PKK to dissolve and his fighters to disarm, with the group on Saturday accepting his call and declaring a ceasefire.

The same day, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the promises were not kept, Turkish forces would continue their anti-PKK operations.

"If the promises given are not kept and an attempt is made to delay... or deceive... we will continue our ongoing operations... until we eliminate the last terrorist," he said.

- Resonance in Syria, Iraq -

Since 2016, Türkiye has carried out three major military operations in northern Syria targeting PKK militants, which it sees as a strategic threat along its southern border.

Ankara has made clear it wants to see all PKK fighters disarmed wherever they are -- notably those in the US-backed SDF, which it sees as part of the PKK.

The SDF -- the bulk of which is made up of the Kurdish YPG -- spearheaded the fight that ousted ISIS extremists from Syria in 2019, and is seen by much of the West as crucial to preventing an extremist resurgence.

Last week, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi welcomed Ocalan's call for the PKK to lay down its weapons but said it "does not concern our forces" in northeastern Syria.

But Türkiye disagrees.

Since the toppling of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in December, Ankara has threatened military action unless YPG militants are expelled, deeming them to be a regional security problem.

"Our fundamental approach is that all terrorist organizations should disarm and be dissolved in Iraq and Syria, whether they are called the PKK, the YPG or the SDF," Omer Celik, spokesman for Erdogan's ruling AKP, said on Monday.

Ocalan's call also affects Iraq, with the PKK leadership holed up in the mountainous north where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years.

Turkish forces have also established numerous bases there, souring Ankara's relationship with Baghdad.

"We don't want either the PKK or the Turkish army on our land... Iraq wants everyone to withdraw," Iraq's national security adviser Qassem al-Araji told AFP.

"Turkish forces are (in Iraq) because of the PKK's presence," he said, while pointing out that Türkiye had "said more than once that it has no territorial ambitions in Iraq".