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 Iraqi family listen to questions asked them by government officials conducting the country's official census, October 16. Iraqis stayed at home on Thursday as the country conducted its first census for 10 years, the first since the imposition of sanctions by the United Nations following Iraq's invasion of -Kuwait and the subsequent Gulf-War. - PBEAHUMQHCP

Iraq's plans to take census raise controversy

The central government's plans to undertake a census late next year have raised the concerns of groups in multicultural Iraqi cities such as Kirkuk.

More Druze risk prison to reject military service in Israel

A campaign launched years ago continues to have an impact as more Arab Druze in Israel are refusing to join the army despite the risk of imprisonment.

An undated picture taken in 2016 shows a man walking past images of executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on a wall in the Awamiya area in Saudi Arabia's Eastern province.

In a Sunni-majority kingdom where banners of King Salman, his crown prince and deputy crown prince are widely displayed, the homage paid to Nimr is unusual and provocative.

/ AFP / STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP/Getty Images)

Trump pressed to punish Saudi Arabia over religious intolerance

A federal commission on religious freedom wants the president to end a decadelong pass for Riyadh.

A priest blesses worshippers during an Orthodox Easter service at the Church of Saint Jacob in the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria on April 28, 2019. (Photo by Delil souleiman / AFP) (Photo credit should read DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Christians in northeastern Syria seek to revive Easter spirit following IS ouster

After the fall of IS, Easter celebrations were held in only in some northeastern Syrian areas.

Will Netanyahu re-create Arab Affairs Ministry?

Consideration linked to coalition talks and to the importance of the Arab constituency might persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to re-create the Ministry for Minorities Affairs.

Likud's election day dirty tricks

The day after Knesset elections, a public relations firm that worked for the Likud revealed the party's “secret plan” to deter Israeli Arabs from voting.

Blue and White ignored Israeli Arab vote at own peril

The Blue and White list shunned the Arab electorate, lost their vote and as a result will now have to sit in the opposition.

The grand delusion: The Israeli right's quest for Arab votes

After advocating and adoption of the Nationality Law and inciting against Arabs, Israeli right-wing parties are fervently wooing the Arab vote.

Druze people take part in a rally over U.S. President Donald Trump's support for Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in Majdal Shams near the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights March 23, 2019 REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RC1883F0B370

Druze feelings mixed about Trump’s recognition of Golan

Some Druze residents of the Golan Heights protested US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory, but others welcomed it.

Iraq’s religious leaders join hands to promote peaceful coexistence

Leaders of various religious groupings in Iraq have been holding meetings in places such as Lalish, Karbala, and Baghdad to join hands for peace.

The campaign to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism

Although some acts of anti-Semitism are perpetrated under the guise of anti-Zionism, anti-Zionists, a group that includes some Israelis, are not anti-Semitic despite a definition of anti-Semitism being promoted by the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance and Israeli governments under Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ethnic Uighur demonstrators hold East Turkestan and Turkish flags during a demonstration against China in Istanbul, Turkey, February 23, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RC1BEF41E5B0

Intel: How China just struck back at Turkey over its criticism of Uighur Muslims