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Geopolitics

Major Prisoner Swap Begins: 2,130 Syrians For 48 Iranians

HÜRRIYET (Turkey), THE GUARDIAN (UK), REUTERS, FRANCE 24

Worldcrunch

ISTANBUL– The Syrian government has announced it would free 2,130 civilian prisoners on Wednesday, in exchange for the release of 48 Iranians held by Syrian rebels.

Iranian state TV confirmed that the 48 hostages, captured by the Free Syrian Army back in August, had been freed. The Syrian rebels say the Iranians, who claimed to be religious pilgrims, were working for the Damascus regime.

Although there has been no confirmation from the Syrian government so far, Bulent Yildirim, head of the Turkish non-governmental organization Humanitarian Relief Foundation that helped broker the swap, told Reuters that the exchange was underway: "The 48 Iranians have been released and are being taken to Damascus, accompanied by Iranian and Syrian officials."

Biggest ever since uprising began prisoner swap taking place in #syria.2000+ prisoners in exchange for 48 Iranians

— Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) January 9, 2013

Among the 2,130 civilians held captive by the Syrian regime there are at least four Turkish citizens, Yıldırım told Turkey’s Hürriyet, adding that the swap -- happening simultaneously in several cities including Damascus, Latakia, Homs, Idlib and Aleppo -- was being directed with mediation from Turkey, Qatar and Iran.

The news comes as the UN World Food Program (WFP) warned that it was unable to reach one million desperate and hungry Syrians because of the perilous security situation across the country after nearly two years of deadly conflict, France 24 reports.

The WFP is handing out food rations to about 1.5 million people in Syria each month, a spokeswoman for the organization said, but it still falls short of the 2.5 million to be reached.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

The Hardest Soft Power: How Moscow Forces The Russian Language On Occupied Ukraine

Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine goes well beyond the battlefield. Russia is trying to destroy Ukrainian identity by imposing the Russian language in occupied areas, as a prime weapon in Moscow's policy of "Russification."

Image of a woman teaching a language to children in a classroom.

March 21, 2022: Volunteer Tereza Svandova helps a teacher in the class school for Ukrainian refugee children to learn Czech language in Brno, Czech Republic,

Vaclav Salek/ZUMA
Taras Kremin

-Op-Ed-

KYIV — In all spheres of public life, where the enemy's boots have trodden, we will have to fight back against Kremlin myths, while dealing with the tragic consequences and the physical ruins of the attacks that have caused irreparable damage to the people of Ukraine.

In Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk, a new generation of forcibly Russianized Ukrainian youth has emerged over the past nine years. At the same time, cities and villages that were under temporary occupation suffered similar catastrophic losses.

For these and other reasons, which have damaged national interests, it is crucial to pay increased attention to the spheres of education, culture, and media in the de-occupied territories.

Experts point out that this process could be tragic for Ukraine, as the Kremlin has been doing everything it can to break the mental ties between the occupied territories and Kyiv since the first days of the occupation.

It all started with linguistic discrimination, bans, threats, and then the actual genocide of the Ukrainian people. A linguistic ban is one of the most significant humanitarian risks associated with Russian aggression.

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