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Articles on Kurdistan

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Pinar Selek at a conference in Paris in 2010. Streetpepper/Wikimedia

Debate: The case of Pinar Selek is a stark reminder of the dangers faced by academics in Turkey and around the world

A refugee in France, the Turkish sociologist has been persecuted in her country for 25 years. Her case is emblematic of the repression of academics in Turkey – and elsewhere.
Flag of Kurdistan on military uniform. Bumble Dee/Shutterstock.com

Why there is no Kurdish nation

Despite many attempts, the Kurds have never won and kept their own nation – though, after World War I, they came close.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces at al-Omar oil field in Deir Al Zor, Syria, at the announcement that they had ended the Islamic State’s control of land in eastern Syria, March 23, 2019. Reuters/Rodi Said

Kurds targeted in Turkish attack include thousands of female fighters who battled Islamic State

Kurdish women have fought on the front lines of military battles since the 19th century. A scholar explains the origins of Kurdistan’s relative gender equality in a mostly conservative Muslim region.
Kurdish fighters in Syria say the U.S. is abandoning its allies and potentially empowering the Islamic State by withdrawing from northeastern Syria and allowing a Turkish assault, Oct. 7, 2019. AP Photo

Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds

Since defending northern Syria from the Islamic State, Kurdish people have established an egalitarian society where women are equal, democracy is direct and religious freedom is guaranteed.
In this December 2009 file photo, a member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, trains on a weapon at their camp in the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border with northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Yahya Ahmed)

The elusive quest for peace between the Turks and the Kurds

Why did negotiations between the Turkish state and the Kurds, aimed at mitigating ethnic conflict and bringing about peace, fail in Turkey?
Many of the Iranian dead in the Nov. 12 Iran earthquake lived in the Mehr Housing, state-built affordable apartments that crumbled when other buildings stayed up. AP Photo/Vahid Salemi

Kurdistan earthquake: politics creates roadblocks to relief

On Nov. 12, a 7.3 magnitude quake killed some 500 and injured 7,000 along the Iran-Iraq border. This Kurdish area has also been crushed by war and, after a recent separatist vote, militarily attacked.

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