Middle East

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Monday’s massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake in south-central Turkey, in which at least 20,000 have died — and probably tens of thousands more — has shocked that country and the world. It inescapably has political implications, with Turkish parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for mid-May. President Tayyip Recep Erdogan is facing […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syria bears Brunt of economic Devastation caused by Quake

Michael Jansen

( Irish Times ) – The death and devastation wreaked by Monday’s massive earthquake is greatest in Turkey, but that country is in a far better position to deal with the aftermath than Syria, due to warfare and sanctions. The civil conflict and proxy interventions have left Syria divided, with 70 per cent of territory […]

Books

Plagues and Painting with Words: Glimpses of Orhan Pamuk’s Writing Process

Erdag Goknar

By Erdağ Göknar | – ( LA Review of Books) – DURING THE LONG summer days in Istanbul, Orhan Pamuk devotes himself to intensive writing on Büyükada, an island in the Sea of Marmara, and in the evenings, he meets with visitors. Last August, Pamuk and I had dinner there and discussed everything from politics […]

Dissent

Iranian Protesters turn to TikTok to get their Message past government Censors

The Conversation

By Whitney Shylee May, The University of Texas at Austin | – Images of the protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, in Iran and reports of the government’s brutal crackdown have circulated widely on social media. This flow of information comes despite efforts by the Iranian regime […]

Turkey

In Devastating Earthquake, Many Turkish Buildings Tragically Pancaked – But Why?

The Conversation

By Mark Quigley, The University of Melbourne | – (The Conversation) – A pair of huge earthquakes have struck in Turkey, leaving more than 3,000 people dead and unknown numbers injured or displaced. The first quake, near Gaziantep close to the Syrian border, measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as the […]

Houthi

Houthis Violating Women’s and Girls’ Rights in Yemen: UN Experts Highlight Widespread Harm

Human Rights Watch

By Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – Several United Nations human rights experts recently sent a letter to Ansar Allah – also known as the Houthis – the de facto authority in much of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, detailing the […]

Featured

With Thousands Dead or Wounded, Will earthquake Aid for Syria be Impeded by US Sanctions?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A 7.8 earthquake that struck south-central Turkey and northwest Syria early on Monday morning. Although over two thousand are being reported dead in Turkey at midnight on Monday and more than a thousand in Syria, the death toll will grow a great deal as the rubble is combed by rescue […]

Houthi

Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War (Review)

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Stacey Philbrick Yadav, Yemen in the Shadow of Transition: Pursuing Justice Amid War (London: Hurst and Co., 2022). Greifswald, Germany (Special to Informed Comment) – In a context of war, do accountability and justice need to wait until the end of the conflict? In her well-researched and original book Yemen in the Shadow […]