On the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, we asked scholars to reflect on the significance of Armenian insistence on remembering and Turkey’s insistence that the genocide never happened.
The flows of refugees from the conflicts in Iraq and Syria are yet another driver of demographic changes that are threatening to destabilise other states long regarded as strong and democratic.
Feature films and television shows notoriously play fast-and-loose with the facts. When prologues proclaim “Based on a True Story,” they’re gracefully implying that what follows is mostly fiction. Awards…
On the evening of January 27, Kurds celebrated the liberation of Kobanê from the Islamic State (IS) siege. The celebrations started after the Kurdish fighters of the People’s Defence Units (YPG) and Women’s…
Since 2011, more than 3.2m Syrians are known to have taken refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and a number of other countries. The real scale of the crisis is likely to be much greater, as not all refugees…
Like many high school students I completely misunderstood the philosopher Herbert Spencer’s phrase “survival of the fittest.” I interpreted it to mean that those animals of a species that were the most…
As the Kurdish town of Kobane continues to defy Islamic State (IS) forces, many pundits have condemned Turkey’s unwillingness to help the People’s Protection Units (YPG) keep the forces of “evil” at bay…
In this latest instalment in our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours, we head south-east to Turkey. The former centre of the Ottoman Empire has been booming in the past decade – and Russia…
The biggest new development in the ongoing conflict between the Kurds and Islamic State has been the growing co-operation between the Kurdish movements in Iraq and Syria – a phase change that forces to…
When armed conflict becomes a fact of everyday life, and generations grow up knowing nothing else, imagining life in a state of peace is hard work. The fragile state of Turkey’s negotiations with Kurdish…
The ongoing humanitarian tragedy of Kobanê has raised serious questions about the future of the Kurds. The unstoppable advance of Islamic State (IS) over the last few months has already scrambled the power…
Less than a month since Barack Obama went to the American public with his strategy for defeating the Islamic State (IS), expectations of a successful outcome are already being significantly lowered. This…
In recent weeks, the Kurdish town of Kobanê on the Turkey-Syria border has become centre stage in the struggle against IS (Islamic State). The latest round of attacks on the town and its surrounding areas…
The black flag of ISIS has been sighted in the Syrian city of Kobanê. For three weeks, heavily armed ISIS gangs have advanced on Kobanê – also known as Ayn al-Arab – steadily pushing back the local YPG…
It’s another hot Australian New Year’s Day, and 1200 people are aboard a train bound for a picnic when a burst of gunfire shatters the festive atmosphere. Police return fire, killing the attackers – but…
Associate Professor in Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University