Turkish-Kurdish conflict

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

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

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

Latest News

Analysis

How Azerbaijan benefits — and risks losing — from Iran war

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.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

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

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

Analysis

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

Ali IHSAN OZTURK / AFP via Getty Images

Barin Kayaoglu

By Barin Kayaoglu

In Ankara, reporting on geopolitics and national security

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad during their meeting in Sochi on May 17, 2018.

Erdogan open to hosting Assad, Putin as Syria-Turkey channels widen

The remarks came as both Erdogan and Assad raised the possibility of resuming dialogue between Ankara and Damascus.

AFP via Getty Images

Turkey launches airstrikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq

The Turkish army's strikes are the first since the Iraqi central government’s decision to ban the Kurdistan Workers Party in March.

A large sign put up by private citizens bearing the portrait of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, with text in Arabic below reading "total allegiance", is displayed along Abo Romaneh street in the capital Damascus on May 10, 2021 ahead of the country's presidential elections. - A Syrian former minister and a member of the Damascus-tolerated opposition will face Assad in the May 26 presidential election, according to the constitutional court in Syria. The election will be the second since the start of a dec

As Assad 'welcomes' mending ties with Turkey, can Russia or Iraq mediate?

The stalled Ankara-Damascus dialogue is likely to see some fast developments, one expert says, though he warns not to expect too much thanks to complications including the upcoming US elections.

A Boeing 737 aircraft of Emirati airline FlyDubai is seen on the tarmac of Sulaimaniyah Airport in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on August 2, 2020, as the airport resumes flight operations following the COVID-19 lockdown.

Turkey extends flight ban on Iraq's Sulaimaniyah airport for 6 months

The extension of the ban indicated that Ankara and the Iraqi Kurdish party controlling Sulaimaniyah had yet to resolve their differences.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (R) and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after a joint statement to the media in Baghdad on April 22, 2024.

Iraq's PM says Baghdad mediating potential Syria-Turkey reconciliation

The Iraqi prime minister says he is in contact with the Turkish and Syrian presidents as part of reconciliation efforts

DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey's Erdogan threatens Syrian Kurdish groups as local elections near

The Turkish president said his country would "not hesitate to take action" as Ankara dials up its threats of a fresh military incursion into regions held by Kurdish-led groups in Syria.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi attend a joint press conference in Ankara, on Jan. 24, 2024.

How Raisi’s death will impact Turkey-Iran geopolitical rivalry

While leaders and some commentators in Turkey posthumously praised the late Iranian president and foreign minister, many geopolitical challenges await Ankara and Tehran once Iran elects a new president.

Kurdish women hold portraits of their missing sons on May 18, 2011, during a demonstration in Istanbul against the recent killing of 12 Kurdish rebels by security forces.

Many faces of motherhood in Turkey: From new Mothers Museum to 1,000th vigil of Saturday mothers

As a new museum in Ankara pays homage to motherhood, the mothers of the country remain a fractured group, divided by political lines and economic woes

Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, looks on during a joint statement to the media in Baghdad on April 22, 2024.

What’s behind Erdogan’s pardoning of generals jailed over Turkey’s 1997 coup?

The move comes after a landmark meeting between the Turkish president and the main opposition leader that sparked hopes for political reforms in the country.

A boy waves a flag of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan as tens of thousands of Kurds gather during a rally of the DTP.

Turkey hands Kurdish leaders heavy sentences, dimming hopes of democratic change

Selahattin Demirtas, co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), and others were sentenced to a combined 375 years in Turkish prisons. Demirtas has remained in prison since 2016.

Iraqi autonomous Kurdish region's peshmerga forces and fighters from the Yazidi minority, a local Kurdish-speaking community targeted in a brutal campaign by the Islamic State (IS) group, enter the western Iraqi city of Sinjar, in the Nineveh Province, on Nov. 13, 2015.

Turkey’s Fidan says Iraqi Sinjar must be ‘clear’ of PKK presence

The top Turkish diplomat’s comment comes as Ankara is ramping up its threats for a large-scale operation in northern Iraq.

This picture taken on April 25, 2023, shows a shrapnel-pocked walled in the village of Hiror near the Turkish border in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, where firefights occur between the Turkish army and fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey launches fresh airstrikes in Iraq as Erdogan renews threats for offensive

The strikes come as Ankara renews its threats of a fresh offensive in northern Iraq against the outlawed Kurdish militants and criticizes Iran and an Iraqi Kurdish political party for their lack of action to Turkey’s security concerns.