Gebrekirstos Gebreselassie Gebremeskel

Gebrekirstos G. Gebremeskel (sometimes also Gebrekirstos Gebreselassie or Gebrekirstos Gebremeskel) is the founder and chief editor of Tghat. He is a researcher based in the Netherlands and his research focuses on the intersection of Information Retrieval/Recommender Systems and society. Some of his academic publications can be found in Google Scholar.

Gebrekirstos also manages mermru.com, a website dedicated to collecting and developing Natural Language Processing tools and resources for learning and the computational processing of Geez-based languages such as Tigrinya, Geez and Amharic. The website has an extensive capability to take any Tigrinya verb and provide tens of thousands of inflections. It also promotes a standard, explainable writing (spelling) for the Tigrinya language.

Gebrekirstos writes for other platforms, speaks in different platforms and events, and appears on local and  international media including Al Jazeera and the BBC to offer analysis and views on the Tigray war, Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. He tweets at gebrekirstosG or posts at Facebook.

Partial List of TV Appearances on International Media Outlets

• August 17 2023, TRT World: Is Ethiopia witnessing an onset of another conflict?
• Nov 3, 2022 , AJ Inside story on the Pretoria Cessation of Hostilities Between the TPLF and the Abiy Government.
• On 3 November 2021, Al Jazeera Inside Story. I argued the criminals in Addis need to be brought to justice. I also stressed comparing #TigrayGenocide to human rights violations in Afar & Amhara was wrong. On the JIT report, I said it was wrong both on methodology and failed to meet bare standards of impartiality and that it was insulting and doing more harm to victims.
• 24 November 2021, on Al Jazeera Arabic (through a translator). I thew doubt on Abiy’s announcement of going to the war front and said that the Tigray government’s aims are to break the siege, bring perpetrators of crimes to justice and to usher in an inclusive dialogue.
• Worked as assistant researcher in the making of Al Jazeera Arabic Documentary on the War on Tigray
• 18 December 2021, Al Jazeera Inside Story, offered my views on the UN HRC resolution to set up international rights probe and related issues
• 7 April 2022, Al Jazeera Inside Story, spoke in connection to the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report on Western Tigray “We Will Erase You from This Land” Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing in Ethiopia’s Western Tigray Zone. I praised the report for scratching the surface, pointed out its weaknesses of trying to stick to previous wrong Amnesty report on Mai Kadara and to the Abiy regime’s framing and talking points, and criticized it for not connecting with the overall genocidal war, the genocidal rhetoric, targeting of Tigrayans everywhere in Ethiopia and calling it a genocide.
• 25 November 2021, Al Jazeera Inside Story, offered my views why the Ethiopian army was losing against Tigrayan forces
• 27 November 2021, Al Jazeera Arabic,
• 25 November 2021, Al JAzeera Arabic,
• 26 November 2021, Al JAzeera Arabic,
• 27 November 2021, Al Jazeera Arabic
• 10 December 2021, Al Jazeera Arabic, my view about Abiy’s new inclusive national dialogue. I said an inclusive national dialogue is welcome, but made the point that it is hard to trust it is genuine and that it is most probably an attempt to again deceive the IC and to avoid removal from AGOA. I mentioned the cases of the establishment of Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Elders and the announcement of inclusive dialogue in October as examples that weren’t genuine, but deceptions. I asked, in the case that it is genuine, who is going to lead it?
• 16 July 2021, BBC World News,  I spoke about the Abiy regime laying siege to Tigray.
• 4 November 2021, BNC News, I explained why the JIT report is categorically rejected by all sections of the Tigrayan society. 
• 2 Jun 2021, BNC News, on the government-created famine in Tigray.
• 22 September 2021, BNC News, the situation in Tigray and the engineered famine

Talks and Presentations

• A Public Lecture on the Need for the Standardization of Written Tigrinya, in Mekelle, Tigray. Also See the Question and Answer session.
• At the 9th Symposium of the Tigray Academy of Languages: ፊደላትን ግስሳን ( The Alphabet and the Root and Pattern System of the Tigrinya Language)
• One of the organizers of and a panelist at the Alarm Bell for Tigray Event at Splendor Amsterdam
• Panelist at the Tigraya Diaspora Council Europe’s Panel Discussion on The Role of Media In The Tigray Genocide
• Panelist at Tigray War organized by African Association St. Gallen
• 24 September 2021, Nova Southeastern University

• 9 December 2021, Gave a talk on “RUSI Roundtable: Reckoning with Ethiopia”
• Keynote Speech at The 6th Workshop on Online Abuse and Harms (WHOA) (video here)

Radio Appearances

• August 29, 2023 on NPR radio documentary “How did Ethiopia go from its leader winning the Nobel Peace Prize to war in a year?“
• July 15, 2021, BBC Newsday, On the renewed Ethiopia-Amhara war on Tigray. (From minute mark 31:15 to 36:02)
• 02 November 2021, BBC Newsday, on the TDF-OLA alliance and march on Addis Ababa. (From minute mark 27)
• May 2021, City University of London Radio Interview on the Tigray war in light of a lack of international media attention.
• 15 Jun 2021, City University of London Radio Interview on the Election in Ethiopia

ኣብ መራኽብቲ ሓፋሽ ትግርኛ

• ጥርሪ 2016, ቴቪ ትግራይ: ኣብ ቋንቋ፥ ስነዳን ፍትሕን ተሓታትነትን
• 18 ጥቅምቲ 2014፥ ድምፂ ኣመሪካ ትግርኛ፥ ተራ ማሕበራዊ ሚዲያ ኣብ እዋን ግጭት
• 8 ጥር 2013፥ ፕሮጀክት ምፅናት ዓሌትን ምሁራት ትግራይን ኣብ ቲኤምኤች
• 3 ሚያዝያ 2014፥ ቲኤምኤች፥ እዚ ሕማቕ ዘበን (ክፋል 1፥ ክፋል 2)
• 18 ግንቦት 2012 ቲኤምኤች፥ ዒላማ ስነ ኣእምሮኣዊ ኩናት ኣብ ልዕሊ ትግራይ (ክፋል 1፥ ክፋል 2)
• 17 የካቲት 2013  ቲኤምኤች፥ ንህዝብና ድምፂ ንዅኖ ስለ ታሪክ ሂወት፥ ስለ ትግሃት፥ ስለ ስነዳ፥ ስለ ቃልሲ፥ ስለ መፃኤ ትግራይ-ኤርትራ ኣውጊዕና ኣለና።
• 9 ታሕሳስ 2013 ቲኤምኤች፥ ዕምቈትን ስፍሓትን ኲናት ትግራይ
• 23 ታሕሳስ 2012 ቲኤምኤች፥ ንጥፈታት ተጋሩ ኣብ ሚድያታት
• 8 ግንቦት 2013፥ ሜዲያ ኣክሱማዊት፥ ንሰርሕ ኣለና እናበሉ፣ ስርሖም ዘኢይርአይ ሰባት ኣይይሰርሑን ዘለው እሞ፣ እቲ ግፍዒ ባዕልትና ንሰንዶ
• ሜድያ ዛንታና፥ ብዋሕዲ ቑፅርና ናብ ዘይንዕብለለሉ በሪኽ ቦታ ክንድይብ ኣለና – ገ/ክርስቶስ ገ/ስላሰ [ተማራማራይ] 1ይ ክፋል
• ሜድያ ዛንታና፥ንህዝብና ካብ ሓደጋ ጥሜት ቀልጢፉ ዘናግፍ ቃልሲ: ኲናት ዶስ ዲፕሎማሲ?
• ሜድያ ዛንታና፥ ትግራይ ንኸጥፈኡ ተመሓሒሎም ዝኣተውዎ ኲናት ስለዝኾነ ኣየቋርፅዎን!መንግስቲ ትግራይ መሓዙት ከፍሪ ኣለዎ!
• ቲኤምኤች፥ ኣንፈት ፖለቲካ ትግራይ
• ቲኤምኤች: መረፃ ትግራይን ደጋዊ ተፃብኦታቱን ( 1ይ ክፋል፥ 2ይ ክፋል)

Documentary

• August 29, 2023 on NPR radio documentary “How did Ethiopia go from its leader winning the Nobel Peace Prize to war in a year?“
• 27 March 2022, EEN PROGRAMMA OVER DE JAREN TACHTIG, A Dutch TV documentary ( I speak in English with Dutch subtitles) of the 1980s where I talked about the Great Ethiopian Famine and its link to the genocidal war on Tigray.

Other Publications

• Publications at Tghat under my name
• Review of African Political Economy፡ A response to “The Pretoria Agreement: Mere cessation of hostilities or heralding a new era in Ethiopia?”
• In WORLD PEACE FOUNDATION, Plagiarism in Abiy Ahmed’s PhD Thesis: How will Addis Ababa University handle this?
• The war on Tigray: A multi-pronged assault driven by genocidal undercurrents 
  • has been translated to Dutch https: Nobelprijswinnaar voor de Vrede voert meedogenloze oorlog in Tigray, Ethiopië
• Database: the Ethiopian public universities during the Tigray war

Quoted in

• In Geographical,  the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society: Tigray: the war the world forgot
• The Atlantic: The Fleeting Promise of a Peaceful Ethiopia
• Lithuanian National Television: Pražiopsotas karas Etiopijoje: „Tai tigrėjų genocidas“
• BBC: Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict: What are Facebook and Twitter doing about hate speech?
• National Catholic Register: Ethiopia Is Committing Genocide Against the Tigrayan People, Say Priests From Region