Erdogan Demanding Full Kurdish Integration: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Syrian Kurds to integrate with the Syrian government following a ceasefire between the Kurdish-led...
A ceasefire between the government in Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), agreed to on October 7, pulls Syria back from the brink of bloodshed. Tensions, already high, rose the...
2015 marked a change in the Syria policy of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He began to walk back his initial goal of toppling the Asad regime and turned towards Syria’s surging Kurdish forces....
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian forces traded rocket artillery fire near Deir Hafir, east of Aleppo, on September 10. While no military personnel were killed, two civilians died and...
On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in al-Sham (ISIS), was recorded on video speaking at the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, Iraq. (“Al-Sham” is the traditional Arabic...
Ahmed al-Shara’s attempts to concentrate power and spurn Syria’s minorities are destabilizing the country.
On August 13, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that Turkish Minister of Defense Yasar Guler and Syrian Minister of Defense Murhaf Abu Qusra signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)...
When Bashar al-Asad’s regime abruptly collapsed in December 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan saw more than just a regional upheaval. He saw a long-awaited opportunity. With Iran’s...
Syria is a patchwork of identities, par for the course in a region where novel nationalities vie with tribe and religion for the citizenry’s loyalty. For most of the country’s history, the Assad family...
Turkey’s Kurdish political movement is unexpectedly emerging as a crucial partner in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ongoing drive to consolidate power and entrench autocratic rule. On...
Self-determination in the Middle East is inconsistent. For Muslim Palestinians, statehood is seen as an unfulfilled destiny. Yet for religious minorities like the Druze or ethnic groups like the Kurds,...
The US military killed an Islamic State (IS) commander in an airstrike in northwestern Syria on June 10. The commander, who was identified as Rakhim Boev, was involved in planning attacks against the US...
On May 20, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about the U.S. decision to engage with the new Syrian government in Damascus. Rubio said that an unstable Syria has historically...
Syrian president Ahmed al-Shara will need to show commitment to stabilizing the country and integrating its regions, while the United States may find it has more leverage now by embracing Damascus.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a secessionist campaign against Turkey since 1978, announced on May 12 its decision to end its armed struggle. Under the leadership of Abdullah...
Kurdish Armed Group to Disband: The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) announced its decision to disband on May 12, in a reported step toward peace following more than four decades of...
U.S. forces in Syria continue to support their partners in the war against ISIS. This is part of a mission that dates back to 2015, when the U.S. first became involved in Syria. However, recent reports point to an increasing likelihood that the U.S. role in Syria may end within months.
Iran and Armenia held their first joint military exercises, “Peace,” near their shared border region of Nodruz on April 9 and 10, according to the Armenian Defense Ministry and the Islamic...
Erdoğan is arguably negotiating with the Kurds mainly as a means of securing Kurdish parliamentarians’ votes to extend his rule as president
Imamoglu Charged: Istanbul MayorEkrem Imamoglu, the main rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was formally arrested on March 23 and charged with corruption. Imamoglu,...