Islamic State graffiti in the ruins of Sinjar in July of 2019, following war with the Islamic State | Picture Credits: Levi Clancy/Wikimedia Commons Nearly a decade after the Islamic State’s territorial defeat, thousands of foreign fighters remain in detention across North and East Syria. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) aims […]

The Euphrates River in Turkey | Picture Credits: Carole Raddato/Wikimedia Commons There is a sense of irony in the photo of the signing of the water deal between Iraq and Turkey.  The photo shows Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan and Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein. Both men are Kurds. Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani, the prime minister of Iraq, stands […]

Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa, Syria | Picture Credits: Qasioun News Agency / Wikimedia Commons The announcements made by Turkish state officials in the first few months of the current resolution process suggest that the process has  two legs—one in Turkey and the other in Syria—, and that the two legs are […]

Omar Mukhtar Street in Gaza City, showing damage from Israeli bombing, February 23, 2025 | Picture Credits: Jaber Badwen/Wikimedia Commons Donald Trump’s new ‘20-Point Gaza Peace Plan’ is being sold as a blueprint for stability after one of the most devastating wars in recent memory. Yet beneath its humanitarian veneer lies a familiar pattern. Like […]

Meeting of Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara | Picture Credits: Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) On 18 September 2025, Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main ally since summer 2015, called for […]

Iran is among the Middle East’s most diverse societies in terms of nationality and language. Persians, Azeris, Kurds, Lors, Arabs, Baluchs, Turkmens, Mazandaranis, and Gilaks each possess distinct languages and territories. It is often regarded as a multi-ethnic mosaic. Before succumbing to the nation-state paradigm, which began in the late nineteenth century during the Qajar […]