Kurds

Youths play the daf, an Iranian frame drum, during a protest demanding the right to education in the Kurdish language in Al-Qamishli, Syria, on September 22, 2026. The demonstrations follow a decision by the Syrian Interim Government to allocate only Kurdish language classes in schools. (Photo by Amjad Kurdo / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Culture

Syria's Kurds, Arabs find common cause in battle for language rights

As Kurdish students protest language restrictions, unexpected alliances are emerging between Syria’s Kurds and Arabs.

Mazloum Kobane, leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks during a televised speech at the People's Palace in Damascus on Aug. 25, 2026.

Analysis

Capitulation or compromise? What SDF's dissolution means for Sharaa, Turkey and Syria's Kurds

The Syrian Democratic Forces' dissolution ends an era of Kurdish self-rule while opening a new political chapter in Damascus.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Equality and Democracy Party lawmakers

Explainer

Turkey’s Kurdish peace process moves to implementation: What to know and what’s next

Turkey’s peace process with Kurdish militants has entered the implementation phase this week, with authorities setting up working groups to verify the Kurdistan Workers Party’s disarmament.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander-in-chief Mazloum Kobane speaks during a press conference in Syria's northeastern city of Hasakeh on Dec. 6, 2024.

Explainer

SDF chief Kobane’s Damascus visit a high wire act for Syria’s Kurds

The SDF says its integration with Damascus is complete, but major questions remain over its fighters, weapons and the future of Kurdish self-rule.

Latest News

Interview

Barzani calls for enhanced air defense for Kurdistan Region to counter drone attacks

Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, gives a press conference in the autonomous region's capital Arbil on June 25, 2025.

Masrour Barzani

Masrour Barzani

KRG Prime Minister

Explainer

Why Iran targeted Barzani family stronghold in Iraqi Kurdistan

Smoke rises after explosions were heard and air defences activated near the airport in Erbil, on July 24, 2026.

Analysis

How Turkey's PKK amnesty law entwines Kurds' hopes with Erdogan's ambitions

Fighters with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) line up to put their weapons into a pit during a ceremony in Sulaimaniyah, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, on July 11, 2025.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Iraqi Kurdish president’s meeting with Syria’s Sharaa signals shift in SDF dynamics

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in Damascus, Aug. 3, 2026. IKRPresident/X

Mazloum Kobane, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), speaks with AFP during an interview in the countryside outside the northwestern Syrian city of Hasakah, in the province of the same name, on Jan. 24, 2019.

Syria’s SDF releases detainees as 'goodwill' gesture after talks with Damascus

The talks on the situation in Aleppo, where a siege of Kurdish areas is reportedly ongoing, come as the Syrian government and the SDF work on a deal to integrate the Kurdish-led force into the new army.

Mark Savaya

Who is Mark Savaya, Chaldean-American businessman named Trump’s Iraq envoy?

Mark Savaya supported Trump in the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections and was credited by the president with helping to secure votes in the battleground state of Michigan.

Kurds wave Kurdistan Workers' Party flags (PKK) and flags depicting Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan, during a demonstration to call for Ocalan's liberation outside the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Sept. 15, 2025.

Exclusive

PKK leader Ocalan appeals to Iraqi Kurdistan president for help in Turkey peace talks

In a letter shared exclusively with Al-Monitor, the jailed PKK leader asks Barzani to help advance negotiations aimed at ending decades of conflict with Turkey.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

BARBOD KHORSHIDI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Grenade attack on IRGC kills 2 in Iran’s Kurdistan province: What to know

The deadly assault comes amid recurring tensions and clashes in Iran’s Kurdish-majority western region.

Manifest

Culture

Turkey's women, LGBTQ artists top targets of Erdogan's drive for cultural hegemony

From pop stars to performers, Turkey’s secular arts scene faces increasing pressure under Erdogan’s conservative push.

Richard Moore

UK’s top spy uses farewell from Turkey to lure Russian recruits, sparks fury

The outgoing MI6 chief called on Russians with "truths to share" to contact the agency, sparking diplomatic unease just days before Erdogan’s White House meeting.

Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin gives a press conference following talks with Sweden and Finland over their bids to join NATO at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on May 25, 2022.

Turkey’s spy chief in Damascus as Israel, Syria weigh new security map

Ibrahim Kalin’s visit comes as Israel presses Syria on a buffer zone plan and Turkey frets over Kurdish autonomy.

Interim Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa appears in the Citadel of Aleppo in Syria, on May 27, 2025.

Syria holds first post‑Assad parliamentary vote: What to know

Syria’s first post-Assad parliamentary elections — with seats chosen by local committees rather than a public vote — spark backlash as the government postpones voting in Druze- and Kurdish-majority regions.

This picture shows pumpjacks in an oil field and smoke plumes rising in the background, following reported Turkish drone strikes near the town of al-Qahtaniyah in Syria's northeastern Hasakah province, close to the border with Turkey, on Nov. 23, 2022.

Exclusive

UK-based oil firm victim of standoff between Damascus, Syria’s Kurds

Gulfsands Managing Director John Bell outlines his company’s plans and Syria’s energy prospects in an exclusive interview.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Kurdish Syrians demonstrate in the Syrian eastern city of Qamishli to demand the release of the jailed founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ocalan in Turkey, on May 29, 2025.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish DEM party to meet jailed PKK leader Ocalan

The meeting will come as Ankara ramps up threats against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to disarm.

Smoke billows over a neighborhood of Sulaimaniyah, east of the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, after security forces arrested opposition figure Lahur Sheikh Jangi, following several hours of armed clashes on Aug. 22, 2025.

Analysis

Iraqi Kurdish factional feuds erupt anew with violent arrest of Lahur Talabani

Violent clashes in Sulaimaniyah underscore long-standing political tensions and a scramble for influence in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

DEM Party co-chair Tuncer Bakirhan speaks during a group meeting in Ankara, on May 13, 2025.

Turkey’s parliamentary body on solving Kurdish issue bars Kurdish language speech

Two Kurdish women invited to address the parliamentary committee were told they could not speak Kurdish during the session.