Kurdistan
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Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan
Erdogan's Kurdish Gambit
Turkey's prime minister Erdogan envisions a new regional order under Turkish leadership, based on a realignment between Turks and Kurds that underpins a strategic partnership for exploiting the region's last untapped energy resources. By Sinan Ulgen
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On-going Sectarian Tension in Kirkuk
Stranded in Legal Limbo
Claimed by Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen alike, the oil-rich province of Kirkuk remains one of Iraq's most disputed and politically flammable regions ten years after Saddam Hussein was toppled. Karlos Zurutuza spoke to the most senior representatives of the region's different communities about the province's diverse problems
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Iraq Ten Years after Saddam
Disenchanted Nation
Ten years after the start of the Iraq War and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi reviews developments in the country and considers whether things are better or worse now than they were before the Allied invasion
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Öcalan Announces PKK Peace Plan
Too Good to Be True
The offer of a ceasefire made by Abdullah Öcalan, the incarcerated head of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), has been welcomed by the Turkish government. But how can there be real peace when the conflicts of the past are glossed over instead of being openly discussed and addressed? A commentary by Ömer Erzeren
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Peace Negotiations between Turkey and the PKK
Kurdish Conflict Threatens Erdogan's Legacy
Turkey's head of government Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led his nation into the modern age. He could bask in his success, but while skyscrapers shoot up in Istanbul, other parts of Turkey still languish at levels comparable to those of developing countries. The Kurdish conflict is partly to blame, and if Erdogan is to avoid squandering his achievements, he must at last secure peace. Commentary by Christiane Schlötzer
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The Domiz Refugee Camp in North Iraq
The Agony of the Syrian Refugees
Syrian refugees are flocking in ever-greater numbers to the neighbouring countries, fleeing from the violence at home. In the Domiz refugee camp in northern Iraqi, 700 new people arrive every day. But the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and the Kurdish autonomy government are unable to provide for them. A report by Jan Kuhlmann
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Alliance between the PKK and the Assad Regime
A Political Sect on the Wrong Track
Just as the Assad regime is foundering, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, is proving to be its loyal henchman. In this essay, Stefan Buchen writes that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan made a deal with the Syrian regime back in the days of Hafez al-Assad
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The Iraqi Education System
Education in an Age of Terror
Once renowned throughout the Arab world for the importance it attached to good education, Iraq and its education system have suffered enormously since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein nine years ago. Many intellectuals fled abroad or into the provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan, triggering change in the education system there. Birgit Svensson reports from Baghdad
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Syrian Refugees in Iraq
Exodus into the Unknown
Birgit Svensson visits a refugee camp in Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan where she finds Shefat and her brother Omar: they want to tell the world about the terrible things that are happening to the Syrian people
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Social Media in Turkey
Circumventing Censorship
A growing number of young Turks are turning to social media, complaining that mainstream media are being increasingly controlled by the government. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul
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Turkey's Kurdish Policy
The Return of the Hardliners
Just a few years ago, it looked as if the government in Istanbul was embarking on a policy of reconciliation with Turkey's Kurdish population. But that dynamic of reform has long since stalled and trouble is brewing, as Ömer Erzeren reports
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Kurdish Language Studies in Turkey
A Radical Change in Quiet Stages
The walls may be ancient, but the students are young: the Zinciriye Madrasa in Mardin already offers a Masters in Kurdish Language and Culture and is now to start offering a Bachelors programme. It's a quiet but remarkable change in the Turkish university system. Sonja Galler reports