Kurds

Members of Iraq's security forces stand guard on the the al-Rabia border crossing with Syria on April 20, 2026.

How Syria's border opening with Iraq redefines Turkey-Kurd balance

After years of closure, the reopening of al-Yaaroubiya crossing is redrawing Kurdish economic leverage and reinforcing Turkey’s regional strategy.

Kurdish people waving Kurdistan flags gather to celebrate Nowruz on the hill of Urkesh in the countryside of Amuda in northeastern Syria on March 18, 2026. Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancient festival that marks the start of spring and the new year on the vernal equinox, which usually falls on March 20 or 21. It is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide and has been observed for over 3,000 years across regions including the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Eastern Euro

Analysis

Is Syria’s Sharaa poised to outdo Turkey in formalizing gains for Kurds?

Damascus is making limited but tangible progress in its engagement with Syrian Kurds, even as Ankara seeks to shape the terms of any settlement.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

A armed Kurdish Peshmerga of the Komala party waves the Komala flag in a ceremony held in memory of Komala Martyrs' Day in Sidakan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, on March 17, 2021.

Interview

Despite Trump’s U-turns, US may still support Iran’s Kurds, says Komala’s Mohtadi

In an exclusive interview, the Komala leader discusses US backing, Kurdish ambitions and Trump’s shifting stance.

Abdulla Mohtadi

Leader of Komala

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) walks with Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on June 1, 2022. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Inside Turkey’s role in the US-Iran ceasefire

Turkey used its intelligence networks and rare access to both Washington and Tehran to quietly facilitate the US-Iran ceasefire while advancing its own regional security priorities.

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

Latest News

Analysis

Hostage to Hormuz, can Gulf rewire future energy flows to bypass Iran’s chokepoint?

A police speed boat patrols the port as oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage near the Strait of Hormuz on March 30, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

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

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.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Analysis

Iran's first strike on Iraqi Kurdish forces since war began a warning to US allies

An Iranian Kurdish peshmerga member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran inspects the damage sustained at the Azadi Camp following an Iranian cross-border attack in the town of Koye, east of Erbil district, on March 3, 2026.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Exclusive

Iraqi oil flows to Turkey after US pledges role in Baghdad-Kurds customs dispute

A view of the oil refinery on March 17, 2026 in Erbil, Iraq.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Demonstrators attend a rally for International Women's Day in Iraq's southern city of Basra on March 8, 2021.

Child rape and security forces’ behavior spark outcry in Iraq

Violent crimes perpetrated against Iraqi women and girls has led to outrage and renewed calls for women to have greater representation and decision-making opportunities in the country, as all-male government formation talks continue.

Women hold a banner with the picture of Deniz Poyraz who was killed at Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Izmir headquarters, June 19, 2021.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party seeks justice for murdered party volunteer

The Peoples’ Democratic Party charges that the prosecutors are reluctant to fully investigate the links of the health worker who attacked the party’s office in June.

Children are pictured in the northern city of Raqqa, the former Syrian capital of the Islamic State, on Dec. 19, 2021.

Kurdish leaders say poverty 'biggest threat,' driving Syrians into arms of IS

Offers of money by the Islamic State to join its ranks prove "irresistible" to those hit hard by Syria's collapsed economy.

A resident reacts as she walks down a debris-filled street in the area of Daratu, on the outskirts of Erbil, after flash floods caused by torrential rains left eight people dead, Iraqi Kurdistan, Dec. 17, 2021.

Floods hit Kurdistan region as drought leaves many Iraqis in need

Parts of northern Iraq have been hit by flooding after a year marked by drought, which many say is due to climate change likely to worsen in the coming years.

Iraqi riot police protect the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad after calls on social media to gather outside the embassy to protest Turkey's vows to invade the northwestern enclave of Sinjar, Iraq, Feb. 18, 2021.

Turkey targets PKK-linked Yazidis inside Iraq

A local Yazidi armed group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party and affiliated with the government-incorporated Popular Mobilization Units has been targeted as part of stepped-up Turkish cross-border operations.

Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters pose for a photo next to a military vehicle bearing the Kurdish flag after they reportedly captured several villages from the Islamic State in the district of Daquq on Sept. 11, 2015.

Jihadis from Syria blamed for multiple attacks on Iraqi Kurds

An onslaught of attacks on Kurdish peshmerga forces and villages in northern Iraq has sparked concerns over the presence of Islamic State cells and whether they have been bulked up by jihadis arriving from Syria.

Pro-Kurdish lawmaker Leyla Zana is embraced by lawmaker Aysel Tugluk (R) as she arrives at the parliament in Ankara on Oct. 1, 2011.

Kurdish politician's plight highlights Turkey's indifference to critically ill inmates

Aysel Tugluk, who defended PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan in his trial decades ago, is now suffering from advanced dementia behind bars, despite widespread calls for her release.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi visited Liheban in the Makhmour district on Dec. 8, 2021.

Iraqi prime minister visits site of Islamic State attack

Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with Kurdistan Region security forces in disputed Makhmour.

Turkey protest

Turkish police arrest alleged members of far-left organization

Lawyers have accused Turkish authorities of unjustly detaining people for alleged Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) links.

Mourners on Oct. 27, 2021, surround caskets of victims of yesterday's IS attack on the village of Al-Rashad in Iraq's eastern Diyala province.

Islamic State targets peshmerga in Iraq’s disputed Diyala and Makhmour

A recent string of attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan Region peshmerga forces have raised concern over how effective long-discussed coordination with the central government is in the country’s flashpoint disputed territories.

Peshmerga fighters hold a position behind sandbags at a post in the strategic Jalawla area, in Diyala province, which is a gateway to Baghdad, as battles with the Islamic State continue, Sept. 27, 2014.

Islamic State carries out another attack on Iraqi Kurdish forces

The Islamic State has attacked the security forces in Iraqi Kurdistan in recent days.

Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraqi militia leader and Shiite Muslim cleric, gives a news conference in the central holy shrine city of Najaf, on Nov. 18, 2021.

Shiite leaders gather in Baghdad to break political deadlock

In order to break the political deadlock resulting from Iraq's recent elections, Shiite leaders gathered to find a solution to forming the next government.