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

Jewish cemetery Iran

Israelis long to reconnect with Arab, Islamic homelands

Many Israeli Jews with Middle Eastern origins remember a painful expulsion from their homelands and want to preserve and celebrate the history of those Jewish communities.

kanievsky

Ultra-Orthodox anti-vaxxers threaten leading Israeli rabbi

When the Grand Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky called on his followers to vaccinate children, vaccine opponents within the ultra-Orthodox community turned against him.

Kakais Najwa Hamid (KDP) and Ahlam Ramazan (PUK) were elected to Iraqi parliament in October 2021.

Kakai minority scores two seats in Iraqi parliament

After years of absence, two female candidates from the Kakai minority managed to reach the Iraqi parliament following the fifth Iraqi legislative elections held on Oct. 10 for the provinces of Ninevah and Kirkuk.

Lebanese arriving to Cyprus

Will Lebanon’s economic crunch stir demographic change?

The emigration of Lebanese, especially Christians, raises concerns in Lebanon in terms of the demographic change that it may lead to, in light of the economic crisis that the Lebanese have been experiencing for nearly two years.

Circassian

German video reignites Turkish Circassian controversy

Turkey’s Circassian groups have found themselves in the crosshairs of nationalist parties after complaining of assimilation.

An Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jew talks on a mobile phone as others pray during the Passover blessings.

Israeli ultra-Orthodox rabbis make case to keep 'kosher' mobile phones

A delegation of the most senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis met with Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel to express their concerns over his panned communication reform.

This picture shows the Mughrabi ramp, leading from the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound that includes the Dome of the Rock Mosque (background) in Jerusalem's Old City, on Sept. 10, 2021.

Western Wall rabbi in eye of storm

Progressive Jews believe Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz is preventing them from obtaining an egalitarian prayer space, but for the ultra-Orthodox, Rabinowitz is too much of a compromiser.

Amhara militiamen and villagers stand near a mass grave for victims killed in an alleged massacre in the village of Chenna in Ethiopia, on Sept. 14, 2021.

Egypt weighs impact of Ethiopia's civil war

The civil war further threatens Ethiopia as Tigray forces threaten to advance toward Abbis Ababa.

Netflix's "The Club."

Why was cosmopolitan Istanbul so threatening to Turkish identity?

A new Netflix series has kicked off conversations on long-hushed questions about Turkish identity.

"The Club," a Netflix series released on Nov. 5, looks at the turbulent past of the Jewish community in Turkey in the 1950s.

Netflix series awakens ghosts of past for Turkey's Jews

"The Club" explores the old wounds of Turkey’s minuscule Jewish community, from lost Ladino songs to the wealth stolen by a draconian 1942 tax.

Naftali Bennett, head of the Habayit Hayehudi party, the Jewish Home party, during a visit to the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, on Jan. 21, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel.

Bennett in bind over prayer space by Western Wall

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett knows that in the current political constellation, he has little choice but to advance the outline for a Jewish prayer space by the Western Wall.

Ethiopian Jews

Israel agrees to allow entry of 5,000 Ethiopians with links to Judaism

Israel's National Security Council had initially opposed the proposal to bring in more Falash Mura.