Posted on Thu, June 11, 2015 at 18:53 pm CEST
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Post-Election Turkey: Now What?

No one among Turkey’s politicians wants an early election… Read more

Topics: Democracy • Kurdish People • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Wed, February 11, 2015 at 19:08 pm CET
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Kobani: A Symbol of Kurdish Resistance

After nearly five months of fighting for Kobani, the Kurds recaptured the town on January 26… Continue reading

Topics: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center • Islamic State • Jihadism • Kurdish People • Syria • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Wed, April 3, 2013 at 12:08 pm CEST
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The Arab-Kurdish Battle in Syria: Implications for Turkey’s Standing

The battle over the Syrian town Ras al-Ain on the border to Turkey damaged Turkish relations with the Kurds in Syria, and with parts of Syrian opposition… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Fri, February 1, 2013 at 21:00 pm CET
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Turkish-Kurdistan Energy Relations: An Assessment

Much is made of the grand strategy of the Turkish-Kurdish energy puzzle… Continue reading

Topics: Energy • Iraq • Iraqi Kurdistan • Kurdish People • Turkey 
Posted on Sun, January 27, 2013 at 20:03 pm CET
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The AKP’s New Dialogue with Öcalan: A Process but Which Process?

The AKP is conducting a “psychological war” rather than sincerely trying to solve the Kurdish Issue… Continue reading

Topics: Iraqi Kurdistan • Kurdish People • PKK • Syrian Kurdistan • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Thu, December 20, 2012 at 20:55 pm CET
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Fighting Blind: The AKP’s Increasingly Hardline Kurdish Policy

Even if the Turkish military wins every battle against the PKK, an even more dangerous war is being lost… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sat, December 8, 2012 at 14:29 pm CET
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Syria’s Assyrians, caught in the middle

Of all the Christian communities in Syria, the Assyrians, that is, those Christians who identify as such by virtue of belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, arguably have the most complex relationship with the Assad regime… Continue reading

Topics: Christianity • Culture • Iraq • Kurdish People • Religion • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Mon, November 19, 2012 at 00:57 am CET
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Erdogan’s Way – Confrontation at Home and Abroad – May be Backfiring

Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party has been well served by the confrontational style of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Kurdish People • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, October 27, 2012 at 16:24 pm CEST
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What Does Turkey Hope to Achieve with Its War Threats Against Syria?

The Turkish government appears to hope to deter the continued Syrian – and Iranian – deployment of the Kurdish card against Turkey… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 21:12 pm CEST
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Values and Identity: The Resurgence of the Kurdish Hizbullah

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the center of Diyarbakır for a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth. The event was organized by a coalition of NGOs affiliated with the radical Sunni Islamist organization known in Turkey as Hizbullah… Continue reading

Topics: Islamic Fundamentalism • Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Sunni Islam • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sun, April 8, 2012 at 11:48 am CEST
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Reinventing a Broken Wheel: The AKP’s ‘New’ Kurdish Strategy

On 21 March 2012, Turkish government officials began briefing trusted journalists on what they described as the new strategy of the ruling AKP for solving the country’s long-running Kurdish problem… Continue reading

Topics: History • Kurdish People • Kurdistan • PKK • Security and Defense • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, March 27, 2012 at 22:21 pm CEST
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No Escape from Authoritarianism? Turkey Suffers from the Lack of a Constituency for Liberal Change

Turkey’s old habits of state authoritarianism persist under the rule of the AKP… Continue reading

Topics: Culture • Democracy • Kurdish People • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, January 31, 2012 at 02:21 am CET
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Ankara and Baghdad: A Parting of Ways?

Until now, Turkey’s presence in Iraq has generally been encouraged by all major Iraqi groups… Continue reading

Topics: Economy • Iraq • Kurdish People • PKK • Politics • Security and Defense • Shia Islam • Sunni Islam • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, December 22, 2011 at 19:55 pm CET
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Has Erdogan Reached His “Democratic Limits”?

Internal and external dynamics no longer compel Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to transcend his democratic limits… Continue reading

Topics: Islamism • Kurdish People • Politics • Sunni Islam • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Thu, December 1, 2011 at 01:13 am CET
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Turkey and Syria: from Friendship to War?

The inability of the Baath regime in Damascus to bring the situation in the country under control has compelled Turkey to… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Diplomacy • Economy • Kurdish People • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, November 19, 2011 at 01:21 am CET
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Syria: No Longer Revolution, It is A Civil War, A Guide to the Battle

The only honest answer to the question of what will happen in Syria is… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Christianity • Democracy • Kurdish People • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sat, November 19, 2011 at 00:18 am CET
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Syria, Turkey and the Kurds

Bashar al-Assad is apparently aiming to destabilize Turkey… Continue reading

Topics: Iraqi Kurdistan • Kurdish People • PKK • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Fri, November 11, 2011 at 23:23 pm CET
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The Latest KCK Arrests: One Step Closer to Breaking Point

The AKP is using the KCK investigation as an instrument to try to crush all opposition to its increasingly hawkish policies on the Kurdish issue… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • PKK • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Fri, November 4, 2011 at 00:27 am CET
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Turkey’s Anti-PKK Operation Faces Major Obstacles

The Turkish government has now responded with one of its largest counterinsurgency operations in years… Continue reading

Topics: Counter-terrorism • Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sat, October 15, 2011 at 23:22 pm CEST
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Turkey’s New Constitution: a Last Chance to Solve the Kurdish Issue?

There has long been a broad consensus that Turkey’s current constitution needs to be replaced… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • PKK • Turkey 
Posted on Sun, October 2, 2011 at 00:41 am CEST
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The Secret MIT-PKK Talks: Was a Turkish-Kurdish Peace Accord Ever Close?

The effort to explore a peaceful solution was doomed because ultimately the ruling AKP has not disengaged from Turkish state tradition… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • PKK • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, September 6, 2011 at 16:42 pm CEST
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Will the CHP, Turkey’s Main Opposition Party, Ever Become a Relevant Political Alternative?

The Republican People’s Party (CHP), Turkey’s main opposition party, will have to adopt a whole new discourse and appropriate a new political… Continue reading

Topics: Economy • Kurdish People • Turkey 
Posted on Sun, September 4, 2011 at 20:07 pm CEST
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Erdogan’s War: Will Turkey’s Most Powerful Leader Since Ataturk Succeed in Securing the Country’s Unity?

Attacks carried out by Kurdish separatists since mid-July have set Turkey on the road to war… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Neo-Ottomanism • PKK • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sat, August 20, 2011 at 20:23 pm CEST
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Turkey and Syria: a Parting of Ways

The turmoil in Syria threatens to deprive Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party of one of its most significant foreign policy achievements… Continue reading

Topics: Arab Spring • Economy • Iran • Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Kurdistan • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Fri, August 12, 2011 at 18:21 pm CEST
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Spring comes, but not for Iraq’s Kurds

Amid widespread protests during this so-called “Arab Spring,” one place that has received relatively little media coverage is Iraqi Kurdistan… Continue reading

Topics: Arab Spring • Democracy • Iraq • Iraqi Kurdistan • Kurdish People • Kurdistan