Italo Rondinella

09/07/2026

My short video report on the Defense Industry Forum of the NATO Summit held in Ankara on July 7, 2026
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Ankara showcases Turkey's strategic ambitions

by Italo Rondinella

The NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum took place in Ankara against a backdrop of mounting domestic tensions. In the weeks leading up to the event, Turkish authorities intensified their crackdown on dissent, carrying out numerous arrests of political opponents, journalists, academics, and civil society activists.
Among the cases that attracted the greatest media attention was that of Deniz Göktas, a young comedian, writer, and podcaster best known online for his dark humour and political satire. He was arrested over satirical jokes targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reigniting international debate over freedom of expression in Turkey.
Yet while human rights organisations continue to raise alarm over the country's domestic record, Ankara wants to position itself as an increasingly indispensable partner in Euro-Atlantic security.
By hosting the NATO summit and promoting its expanding defence industry, President Erdoğan's government aims to reinforce Turkey's image as a key NATO ally and an emerging pillar of European defence.
These ambitions were reiterated by Turkish Defence Minister Yaşar Güler during his address to the Forum.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stressed that the Alliance's deterrence depends on its ability to accelerate the production of weapons and military equipment.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attended the Forum. Zelenskyy renewed his appeal to European allies to step up deliveries of missiles and air defence systems.
The Forum underscored the growing importance of the defence industry in NATO's strategic planning while providing Turkey with a high-profile international platform to promote itself as a rising military and industrial power. This carefully cultivated image, however, stands in stark contrast to the country's deepening erosion of the rule of law, press freedom, freedom of expression, and the democratic principles that underpin a pluralistic society.

09/06/2026

*English below
Ciao a tutti,
Sto lanciando una campagna di raccolta fondi (attraverso la piattaforma GoFundMe) per finanziare parte della produzione della mia mostra fotografica su Aleppo, a poche settimane dalla caduta del regime di Assad.
Il progetto è stato selezionato come una delle mostre principali del Colorno Photo Life 2026, un festival internazionale di fotografia che si terrà a Colorno, in provincia di Parma, tra settembre e novembre 2026.
Giorni di inaugurazione: 26, 27 e 28 settembre 2026.
Chiunque si trovi in ​​Italia in quei giorni è il benvenuto!
Un contributo di qualsiasi importo, anche il più modesto, sarà prezioso per sostenere il progetto.
Grazie per il vostro supporto!
italo
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Hello everyone,
I'm launching a fundraising campaign (through the GoFundMe platform) to finance part of the production of my photography exhibition on Aleppo, a few weeks after the fall of the Assad regime.
The project has been selected as one of the main exhibitions of Colorno Photo Life 2026, an international photography festival to be held in Colorno, in the province of Parma, between September and November 2026.
Opening days: September 26, 27, and 28, 2026.
Anyone who is in Italy during those days is welcome!
A contribution of any amount, even the most modest, will be invaluable to support the project.
Thank you for your support!
italo

HOPE AMID DESTRUCTION: ALEPPO DOPO DODICI ANNI DI GUERRA CIVI… Italo Rondinella ha bisogno del tuo sostegno per Mostra fotografica su Aleppo dopo dodici anni di guerra

09/06/2026

https://gofund.me/be8a74ede

13/04/2026

My video interview with Iranian artist Rend is now available on Radiotelevisione Svizzera (RSI)

LINK IN BIO

Photo 1 - On the hill where Istanbul’s metro crosses the Golden Horn, the artist wears a mask to conceal his identity.

Photo 2 - In the poetry of Hafez, the concept of “rend” evokes a free-spirited, ironic, rebellious figure who defies convention.

Photo 3 - The Iranian artist at work on his latest graffiti piece.

Photo 4 - Rend in the Karaköy district, on the eastern shore of the Golden Horn in Istanbul.

Photo 5 - In Tehran, graffiti is not only art but also a coded language that challenges censorship and convention.

USA Israel war

12/04/2026

REND, AN IRANIAN ARTIST

by Italo Rondinella

Rend is one of the pen names of the renowned 14th-century Persian poet and mystic Hafez, and also the alias chosen by a contemporary Iranian graphic artist to protect his identity, at a time when the Islamic regime of the Ayatollahs has grown particularly ruthless toward internal dissent.
Born in Tehran into an upper-middle-class, secular, intellectual family, Rend studied art in the United States. While he also paints on canvas, his first passion, discovered in adolescence, was graffiti.
He came of age within Iran’s underground scene, which in the early 2000s was especially vibrant despite government repression.
He now lives in Istanbul but frequently returns to Tehran, where his family still resides. Since the outbreak of the latest war, launched by Israel and the United States against Iran and Lebanon, his parents have joined him in Turkey for safety.
We interviewed him wearing a mask to ensure his anonymity.
His perspective on Iran’s complex political landscape, and on the heavy Israeli-American military strikes against his country, broadens the lens beyond the entrenched polarization between the ruling Shiite fundamentalists and supporters of the former monarchy, backed then, as now, by the United States.
This polarization effectively sidelines the only political force with the legitimacy to fight for regime change in Iran: civil society, embodied by young Iranian women and men whose highest expression is the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Before this unacceptable and criminal military aggression, they had already sacrificed many young lives in the struggle for their people’s freedom.
Rend, who also holds U.S. citizenship, spares little criticism for much of the Iranian diaspora that advocates the return of Reza Pahlavi, son of the last Shah. He considers support for U.S. intervention unacceptable, condemning what he describes as the reckless stance of its president, who, gripped by a constant sense of omnipotence, one day promises to restore the greatness of the Persian people, and the next threatens to bomb them “back to the Stone Age”.