Speakers:

Professor Khatchatur Pilikian

Professor Mary Davis

Rıza Dalkılıç, Vice-president of Turkey’s Human Rights Association (HRA) (via skype)

Date/time: 3rd February 1012/ 18:00
Venue:Junior Common Room (SOAS main building, Russell campus), SOAS – School for Oriental & African Studies, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Society at SOAS and Kurdish Studies and Student Organisation

For further information

mc@ksso.org.uk

www.ksso.org.uk

You are cordially invited to Jashn-e sadeh celebrations with Persian and Kurdish music

Date: Monday 30 January 2012

Time: Doors open from 7pm. Concert starts at 7.30pm

Venue: Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), SOAS University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, UK

In this concert, Peyman Heydarian on santur will be accompanied by a wonderful singer, Suna Alan, plus a special guest performer on ney, and we are pleased to announce that we also have a talented daf player Sara Fotros who joined us recently.

The programme starts with a short description of the ancient “Sadeh” celebrations and will be followed by Persian and Kurdish classical music performed by our wonderful musicians and singer.

In the first part we shall perform Persian classical music in dastgah-e segah mode, including modulations from the main mode to derivative modes, chaharmezrab (metric pieces) and other instrumental and vocal pieces. There will be a 20-minute break, after which we shall continue with Kurdish instrumental and vocal music in dastgah-e shur mode. Further to Persian and Kurdish pieces, there will be a few Azari and Armenian pieces as well.

Ticket prices are £15 Regular / £10 Students and Unwaged / £6 SOAS students

If you wish to purchase your tickets online and pay in advance (no booking fee), please go to our event page at www.thesantur.com

If you wish to reserve a place and pay at the door, please write to
events.santur@yahoo.com, stating the names of all persons requiring tickets. Confirmation will be sent by return.
Admission with advance booking/purchase only.

Event on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/295072290529985/

Our next event:
Future direction of Iranian music (talks and music performances)
Date /Time / Venue: Friday 24 February 2012 at 7pm @ SOAS
http://www.facebook.com/events/271174689603244/

About Jashn-e Sadeh:
Legends of how man learned to make fire are as numerous as there are ancient nations. The most striking is the Iranian legend, preserved, among other writings, in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh. To put it in short: Fire was accidentally discovered when a flint-axe, thrown by King Hushang to kill a snake, missed and struck a rock and threw a spark. That sparked the idea to kindle fire by striking two pieces of flint together. This theory is confirmed by archeologists to be the most probable means of its discovery in the early stone stage.
Hushang, the Iranian legend says, celebrated the discovery by throwing a feast, a feast that has been kept alive through ages. It is held every year on 10 Bahman (30 January), almost mid-winter. It is called “Sadeh,” meaning “century” because according to one popular tradition, it falls on the hundredth day from 21 October, the beginning of winter among ancient Iranians. Another explanation is that it is 50 nights and 50 days away from Nowruz. Or, it is the contracted form of the Avestan “saredha,” Persian “sard,” meaning “cold, winter.”

You are cordially invited to the Kurdish Studies Seminar

Real Time On Line Direct Democracy

Speaker: Dr Fereydun Refiq Hilmi

Date and Time: 26.01. 2012 @19:00pm

Venue: Room 442 School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG
Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organization (KSSO) and Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)

Kurdish Studies seminars are open to interested students, academics and people who are interested in Kurdish matters

Venge Dur – Kurdish Music band

KaeKurd – Stand up comedian (in English)

Awazi Win- Kurdish Music Band

Halparke – Kurdish folk dance group

Chako D- Hip Hop Artist

Kurdish music: Modern and Folkore genres

There will also be a dance floor so be sure to come along!

ALL proceedings will go towards aid for children and families badly struck by the aftermath of the earthquake in Wan.

*Food & Drinks Available On Site*

Sponsors and supporters of this event include:

Kurdistan Children’s Fund (KSC-KCF)

Westminster Student Union

Westminster Kurdish Society

Kurdish Professional’s Network (KPN)

Kurdish Studies and Student Organisation (KSSO)

13th JANUARY 2012. 7PM – 11PM

Student Organised Event – ALL WELCOME!
Join us for a Friday evening packed with amazing performances:

- KaeKurd Stand up Comedy
- Venge Dur Band
- Sarwat Koyi Musician
- Halparke (Folklore line dancers)
- Live music + more
- Food available on-site

ADULT: £10
CHILD: £5

BOOK TICKETS ONLINE ONLY:
www.togetherforwan.eventbrite.co.uk

Come dressed in your Kurdish clothes for full impact of the evening!

A night packed with laughs and full on entertainment!
Its a Friday – there is no better place to be but here!!

Start 2012 the right way – Donate generously & COME ALONG!

** ALL Tickets & Proceedings go towards aid for Wan’s Earthquake Appeal Via British registered kurdish charity: Kurdistan Children’s Fund (www.ksc-kcf.org) **

Turkey’s new constitution drafting process and human rights

Speakers:
Mr Altan Tan, Diyarbakır MP of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP

Mr Öztürk Türkdoğan, President of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and lawyer

Date: 15 December 2011
Time: 19:00
Venue: Room B102, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London(SOAS)Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS), Britain Peace Council and Kurdish Studies and Students Organization (KSSO)

You are cordially invited to the forthcoming seminar

Turkey’s new Constitution drafting process and human rights

Speakers:
Mr Altan Tan, Diyarbakır MP of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP

Mr Öztürk Türkdoğan, President of the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and lawyer

Date: 15 December 2011
Time: 19:00
Venue: Room B102, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London(SOAS)Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Britain Peace Council, Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS) and Kurdish Studies and Students Organization (KSSO)

Seminar Abstract

To mark Human Rights Day we are holding an evening seminar on “Turkey’s new constitution drafting process and human rights”.

Despite the claims of the Turkish government and Prime Minister Erdogan to be implementing democratic reforms in Turkey and  highlighting the importance of democratic transition in the Middle East, human rights organizations,  PEN International, the worldwide association of writers and different bar associations and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have publicly highlighted their  concerns about politically motivated mass arrest of human rights activists, Kurdish politicians  and mayors, journalists, lawyers, children and now even a professor. Thousands of Kurdish politicians and human rights activists are being questioned since 2009 and about 4000 people are jailed including six of the pro-Kurdish party BDP’s deputies are currently in prison.

Both speakers will talk about the new form of political McCarthyism and the politics of fear in Turkey and responses of the civil organizations, oppositions to the ruling party’s policies

Work in progress: Turkey’s democratization process

Speaker: Ms Nicole Pope (author & journalist -former Turkey correspondent for the French daily Le Monde, columnist at the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman)

Chair: Dr Janroj Keles of London Metropolitan University

Date and Time: 1.12. 2011 @18:00pm
Venue: SOAS’ Phillips Building, Room 116, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organization (KSSO) and Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)

Kurdish Studies seminars are open to interested students, academics and people who are interested in Kurdish matters

Seminar abstract

Seen as a rising regional power in the light of the Arab awakening, can Turkey address domestic shortcomings to complete its own democratic transition?

Speaker Biography

Nicole Pope is a Swiss journalist and writer based in Istanbul. She worked for 15 years as Turkey correspondent for the French daily Le Monde and published articles in other international publications. She currently writes a column for the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman and pursues a career as an independent analyst and writer. She is the author of Honor Killings in the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2012) and the co-author of Turkey Unveiled: a History of Modern Turkey (updated 4th edition, December 2011). She holds an MA in International and Community Development.

We are extremely excited to have the brand new Picturehouse Hackney as the main venue for our festival which is providing digital technology to showcase Kurdish films… Read More

Kurdish Studies Seminar

ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND TURKEY: THE CASE OF DERSIM AS A TABOO SUBJECT FOR ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Speaker: Dr. Sukru ASLAN, Lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University/ Istanbul/Turkey
Chaired: Ms Filiz Celik, PhD candidate at Swansea University

Date and Time: 21.11. 2011 @19:00pm
Venue: SOAS’ Phillips Building, Room 116, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Organised by Kurdish Studies and Students Organization (KSSO) and Kurdish Society at SOAS (KSSOAS)

Kurdish Studies seminars are open to interested students, academics and people who are interested in Kurdish matters

Seminar abstract
ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND TURKEY: THE CASE OF DERSIM AS TABOO SUBJECT OF ACADIC RESEARCH

This extra ordinary seminar will focus on difficulties in doing research on ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. As the case study, Dr. Sukru ASLAN will explore the issues related to people of Dersim who experienced the most organised Turkish state coercive violence at the end of 30s.

Seminar will be accompanied by a documentary film screening. The documentary film called “38″ ( by Cayan Demirel, 67min, 2006) provides eyewitness and defendant testimonies of the Dersim massacre which took place during the Turkish state nationalist and coercive policies in Dersim between 1937-1938 in order to “create a country speaking with one language, thinking in the same way and sharing the same sentiment…” (Law of Settlement 1934, TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, Devre:IV, Cilt:23, İçtima:3, 14/06/1934, p. 141). This documentary film is related to the oral history of people of Dersim and it is also a good example of visualizing Oral History.

In this seminar, Turkey’s “nation-state” mentality, which to a degree still continues to be influential, will be discussed in terms of how it is interfering with bringing of certain studies into the academia such as discussion of some ethno/cultural matters. Dersim is on top of the list of such subjects. An academic researcher studied the topic for the first time in 1970’s merely from the perspective of “forced settlements/internal displacement” and how he has been treated since set up a typical example for illustrating the difficulties in researching the any subject related to Dersim. Today, taking it further from there to present time to show how the research regarding Dersim has progressed would not only shed a light into how such research influenced current circumstances of academia in Turkey but also would provide opportunity to bring the unique nature of the Dersim into light in terms of its history and culture.

Biography
Dr. Sukru ASLAN is a lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Literature and Sociology Department. His research interests are urban sociology, migration, and social movements. He is the author of several books and numerous articles. His books are;
May Day District (Turkish: 1 Mayıs Mahallesi) (2004), İletişim Yayınları, 2004
Sociological approaches on the City (Turkish: Kent Üzerine Sosyolojik Düşünceler) (2007) İnşaat Mühendisleri Odası.
The Secret Known By Everyone (Herkesin Bildiği Sır: Dersim) (2010) İletişim Yayınları,
Les Quartıers Populaıres Et La Vılle (2010) Sukru Aslan, Mustafa Poyraz ve Loic Gandais .L’Harmattan
Remebering Dersim 1938 (Turkish: Dersim 38’i Hatırlamak) ( 2011) Sukru Aslan, Bülent Bilmez ve Gülay Kayacan , Tarih Vakfı, 2011

Documentary film “38″, by Cayan Demirel, 67min, 2006

This Documentary film is the first film of director Çayan Demirel and it explores violent events that took place in Dersim in 1937-38. There are detailed eyewitness and defendant testimonies and expert accounts from historians regarding the circumstances that caused great traumatic events in the lives of people from Dersim. Çayan Demirel’s first and second documentary called “Prison nr 5/ 5 nolu cezaevi (2009)” have been screened widely at international festivals.