Turkish-Kurdish conflict

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to MPs at his party's group meeting in the Turkish parliament on Jan. 21, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey.

Analysis

How the Iran war is giving Turkey's Erdogan a big boost

Opinion polls show Turks turning to Erdogan as a steady hand during the war, even as the country's finances remain fragile.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Bibi Heybat mosque is seen in front of Bibi Heybat Oil Field, situated at the coast of the Caspian Sea outside Baku on March 19, 2019.

Analysis

How Azerbaijan benefits — and risks losing — from Iran war

Azerbaijan is cashing in on soaring oil prices and Israeli demand, but risks Iranian retaliation, pipeline attacks and regional blowback if the war escalates.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

An Iraqi oil tanker waits at the Khawr Abd Allah canal leading up to Al-Faw port in southern Iraq, on June 6, 2024.

Desperate to sell its oil, Iraq turns to Turkey amid standoff with Kurds

As Iraq looks to reroute oil to Turkey, Baghdad is also using the plan to push the Iraqi Kurds to greenlight exports through their territory.

Ali IHSAN OZTURK / AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

No strangers to turmoil, Turkey-Iran to maintain ties under Mojtaba Khamenei

Even as war heighten tensions between Ankara and Tehran, the mix of rivalry and pragmatic cooperation that has long defined Turkey–Iran relations is likely to endure.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Analysis

Could Kurds be Trump's lever in Iran regime-change scenarios?

Protesters hold a banner reading "Come and weave resistance together" and "Women, life, freedom."

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Feature

After SDF-Damascus truce, is Kurdish haven still safe for Syria's Alawites?

Members of People's Defense Units (YPG) stand guard as Syrian government internal security personnel enter the northeastern city of Hasakeh, a Kurdish stronghold, on Feb. 2, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Kurds, Damascus step back from brink as SDF signs fresh deal with Syrian government

Kurdish security forces patrol the street on Jan. 23, 2026 in Qamishli, Syria.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Interview

YPG spokesman: Syrian forces' strategy is to isolate Kurdish towns and cities

Siyamend Ali

Siyamend Ali

Siyamend Ali

YPG spokesman

US President Joe Biden (R) speaks with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prior to a plenary session of a NATO summit at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Brussels, on June 14, 2021.

The Takeaway: Pragmatism is the new watchword in US-Turkey relations

Plus: A fresh start for Israel; Iran’s hard-line front-runner on the issues; Egypt’s faltering Palestinian mediation; Saudi-Syria talks; Golani’s makeover.

A Kurdish female peshmerga fighter carries her weapon while walking in the foothills of the Qandil Mountains located along the Iraq-Iran border, May 5, 2006.

Deadly attacks stoke KDP-PKK tensions in Iraqi Kurdistan

Turkish Kurdish militants entrenched in Iraqi Kurdistan face mounting calls to leave the region after the killing of six members of the Iraqi Kurdish armed forces.

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters arrive in the northern Iraqi city of Dahuk on May 14, 2013.

KRG puts PKK on notice for killing of peshmerga forces

The Biden administration slams PKK attack on Iraqi Kurdish allies as 'brutal.'

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Pervin Buldan delivers a speech during the party's parliamentary group Meeting in Ankara on June 8, 2021. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Top Turkish prosecutor refiles case to shutter pro-Kurdish party

The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s third largest party, faces the threat of closure once more after a top prosecutor refiled an indictment late Monday seeking to ban nearly 500 members from politics on terror-related charges.

The entrance of the UNHCR Makhmour refugee camp, controlled by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), is seen Sept. 4, 2003. Journalists have been barred from the site as well as all arms since PKK militants were banned from carrying arms by the United States in Iraq.

Turkish attack near Makhmour camp extends anti-PKK operations deeper into Iraq

Days after warning of a coming operation on Iraq’s Makhmour camp, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a senior Kurdistan Workers Party official was “neutralized” near the camp Saturday, underlining Ankara’s drive to put pressure on militants in the region.

Biden, Putin

Will Syria come up in Biden-Putin summit?

US pressing to maintain humanitarian corridors into Syria; Erdogan’s issues with US Syria policy; UN envoy refers to Syria’s "tragic irony."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech after a signing ceremony with Libyan Government of National Unity Prime Minister at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on April 12, 2021.

Erdogan threatens to strike refugee camp inside Iraq

The rhetoric against Makhmour, a settlement where residents are overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Kurdistan Workers Party, could be part of a strategy to divert attention away from economic problems at home.

Tabqa Dam

NGOs in northeast Syria warn of low water levels in hydroelectric dams

Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River could shut down next month, which would affect electricity and water supplies for millions of people in autonomous administration, government and rebel territory.

Senior US State Department official Joey Hood delivers a statement in Tripoli during a visit to Libya, in a show of support for the country's transitional government, May 18, 2021.

Turkey touts assassination of top PKK militant as retribution to US

The Turkish media has trumpeted the killing of a high-ranking PKK militant by Turkish security forces in northern Iraq as a reprisal of the US support of the Syrian Kurdish groups, while Turkey seems to be a major blockade before Syrian Kurds’ desire for political recognition.

A man drives a motorcycle past a makeshift refinery using burners to distill crude oil in the village of Bishiriya in the countryside near the town of Qahtaniya west of Rumaylan (Rmeilan) in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeastern Hasakeh province, on July 19, 2020.

Biden administration poised to ax US oil company’s waiver for Kurdish-led northeast Syria

The decision to withdraw the waiver to produce and sell oil in Syria has been presented by administration officials as a policy correction, not a shift.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Talk of Kurdish weddings code for terror plots, Turkish prosecutors say

The Turkish justice system is overwhelmed with thousands in prison for such dubious crimes as texting about weddings.

Iraqi police protect Turkish embassy against protest

Turkish forces in fresh offensive against PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan

The latest Turkish military operation against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan comes at a time when Ankara finds itself increasingly under strain, both on the domestic front and in its frosty ties with Washington.