Ethnic/Religious Minorities

A Kurdish fighter from the Iranian Kurdish armed faction Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) stands with his rifle at a site near the Iraqi border with Iran in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on March 8, 2026.

Interview

PJAK leader mocks Iran’s claim Turkey spiked US Kurdish-backed regime-change plan

The PJAK co-leader says he does not believe Washington or Israel would abandon a strategic objective as significant as toppling Iran's government because of Turkish objections.

Siamand Moeini

Siamand Moeini

PJAK Executive Council Member

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (L) welcomes France's President Emmanuel Macron for a joint press conference in Damascus on July 7, 2026.

Explainer

How Macron seeks to carve out France's role in new Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to visit Syria since the fall of the Assad regime, showcasing Paris' support for Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa while seeking to secure a share of the country's emerging reconstruction market.

Volunteers of the Druze-led National Guard manage traffic at a checkpoint, Suwayda, Syria, Jan. 22, 2026.

Clashes between Druze fighters, Syrian forces raise fears of renewed violence

The episodes in Druze-majority Suwayda escalated amid kidnappings, various disputes, and absent movement on integrating Druze into state institutions.

A Druze fighter stands at a roundabout draped with the Druze flag and a portrait of a local leader in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda in southern Syria on July 21, 2025.

Druze gunmen, Syrian government forces clash in Suwayda: What to know

The United Nations recently said that the government has thus far failed to bring calm to the area of southern Syria following sectarian clashes last year.

Latest News

3 IRGC members killed in twin attacks as Iran intensifies Kurdish crackdown

Members of the crowd wave Iranian flags during a funeral procession held for IRGC Navy Chief Alireza Tangsiri.

Explainer

Israel's Armenian genocide recognition marks new front against Turkey

Members of the Jerusalem Armenian community hold placards as they march during commemorations for the 94th anniversary of mass killings of their kin under the Ottoman Empire, Jerusalem's Old City, April 24, 2009.

Culture

Turkey’s Erdogan meets Orthodox patriarch amid push for reopening Halki Seminary

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Orthodox Patriarch of Bartholomew at the presidential complex, Ankara, Turkey, June 16, 2026.

Feature

Backed by Trump and Turkey, Armenia's Pashinyan eyes third term in pivotal poll

US President Donald Trump (L) welcomes Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 8, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

An ultra-Orthodox Jew carries his infant child through the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jerusale, May 4, 2005.

Israeli ultra-Orthodox learn about Holocaust over phone

Since ultra-Orthodox schools do not include history classes in their curricula, Israel Goldwasser and his friends came up with the idea of recorded Holocaust-history classes over the phone.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Rivalry between Arab parties threatens Arab, ultra-Orthodox Knesset alliance

Ultra-Orthodox Knesset parties are furious over the Muslim Ra’am party voting with the coalition on the Enlistment Law, with the ultra-Orthodox political alliance becoming collateral damage of the rivalry between the two Arab parties.

This picture shows a general view of the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, Israel, Dec. 3, 2021.

Arab-Israeli city takes battle against violence into its own hands

Tired of rising violence and police helplessness, the municipality of Umm al-Fahm presents its own plan to combat crime and decrease social tensions.

Syria church

Last Christian in Idlib recalls his community

The last Christian in Idlib is 90 years old. Despite the war and the challenges, he stayed in Idlib even as all Christians left as a result of the war and restrictions imposed by extremist Islamic factions.

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli entrepreneurs to set up first medical center in Arab city

Entrepreneurs from the Arab city of Sakhnin are done waiting on the government and working with Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital to establishment a local medical facility.

In the Netflix period drama "The Club," Rasel (played by Turkish actress Asude Kalabek) finds herself at the heart of the September pogroms that destroyed thousands of non-Muslim premises in Istanbul.

Turkish Netflix series turns cameras on pogroms, hidden Greeks

"The Club," whose first season woke the ghosts of Turkey’s Jewish community, turns its lens on Turkey’s Greek Orthodox Community and the pogroms of 1955.

Nubian women sell souvenirs in the village of Gharb Seheyl, near Aswan, Upper Egypt, Feb. 5, 2020.

Nubians demand repatriation during Sisi visit

Nubians in Upper Egypt still seek return to the land of their ancestors, after years of forced displacement, amid complaints of political and cultural marginalization.

Volunteers check IDs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Nov. 17, 2021. There are fears emergency measures are leading to the profiling of ethnic Tigrayans.

Ethiopia detaining Tigrayans deported from Saudi Arabia, rights group says

Human Rights Watch urged Ethiopia to release the arbitrarily detained Tigrayans and called on Saudi Arabia to stop its deportations.

Gaza Christmas

Gaza at Christmas: a bleak outlook

A Christmas tree brings some joy; Gaza’s Jewish quarter and a new wall; "We want to live" protests Hamas policies; Hamas, PIJ killings continue; Racism persists against Black Gazans.

A girl holds on to a fence as she stands near the lit-up Christmas tree in the courtyard of the YMCA Gaza in Gaza City on Dec. 10, 2021.

Gaza’s Christians light Christmas tree

Gaza's tiny Christian community celebrates Christmas in a giant way.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Arab Knesset member shocks crowd, says Israel 'born Jewish'

Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas made big waves when he said that Israel was and will remain a Jewish state.

Gaza Christians

Gaza's few Christians lift economy

Gaza’s very small Christian community has been a strong force for the economy.