Kurds

By Bahar Baser and Ahmet Erdi Öztürk | (The Conversation) | – – Ever since the June 2015 elections, which thwarted the proposed presidential system that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long craved, Turkey has been hurtling into one of its most turbulent periods in decades. And with a snap election called for November 2015, […]

Authoritarianism

Crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan: Attacked by ISIL & Turkey; and Now Leaderless

contributors

Honar Hama Rasheed | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – As the issue of Iraqi Kurdistan’s vacant presidency heats up, delegations from the US, Turkey and Iran have all visited to have their say. But what do they really want? The current Iraqi Kurdish presidency officially ended yesterday. Massoud Barzani, who heads the Kurdish Democratic […]

Iraq

Turkey Hit by Wave of Attacks as It Continues Mideast Military Strikes

contributors

By Anne Koopman | ( Global Voices Online) | – – At least nine people fell victim to a spate of attacks in the Turkey's largest city Istanbul and the south-eastern province Sirnak on August 10. As the country gets knee-deep in the Middle East crisis, the fear of more attacks is pervasive. Ever since […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Syria: Kurdish YPG Expels “bloodthirsty” ISIL “gangs” from Hasaka (VICE News)

contributors

VICE News | (Video Report) | – – “The northeastern city of Hasakah is one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in Syria. Its population of Kurds, Sunni Arabs, and Christians was until recently politically divided between equal zones of Kurdish and Assad regime control. Immediately following the fall of the strategic border town […]

Authoritarianism

Turkey: As Violence hits Istanbul, southeast, Can Pres. Erdogan turn it to Political Advantage?

contributors

By Alpaslan Ozerdem | (The Conversation) | – – Armed attacks on the US consulate and a police station are the latest in a wave of bloody violence in Turkey that has now reached Istanbul. They are just two violent incidents to take place in the past few weeks, all of which appear to have […]

Iraq

Controversy: Did Turkish anti-PKK Airstrikes hit civilian Kurdish village of Zargeli?

contributors

BBC | (Video News Report) | – – “Turkey may have joined the air war against Islamic State militants across the border in Syria. The nation has also been taking action against Kurdish fighters that it accuses of launching attacks within Turkey. One such airstrike took place last Saturday over the border in Iraq, where […]

Counter-Terrorism

Turkey’s AKP strikes back: the Politics of attacking both KurdS & ISIL

contributors

By Tristan Dunning – (The Conversation) – – Tristan Dunning, The University of Queensland Stemming from a presumed Islamic State (IS) suicide bombing killing 32 leftist Kurdish university students in Suruc and the killing of several Turkish policeman claimed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey has begun bombarding both IS forces in Syria and […]

Featured

Another Bush Legacy in Iraq: Barzani asks PKK to Leave

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Sunday morning, Kurdish separatist guerrillas launched a suicide-bombing strike on Turkish forces in Angri province, using a tractor laden with explosives. On Saturday, the president of the Kurdistan Regional government of northern Iraq, Massoud Barzani, condemned the Turkish airstrikes on Iraq and asked the PKK […]

Kurds

Turkey opens up old wounds with a new campaign against the PKK

contributors

By Cengiz Gunes | (The Conversation) | – – The recent surge of violence in Turkey following the massacre of socialist activists in Suruc has brought Turkey perilously close to an all-out conflict with the Kurds. Turkey has begun regular air strikes targeting the bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas as part of […]