Kurdistan
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Interview with Olivier Roy on the conversion of Hagia Sophia
"Islamising stones is easier than Islamising souls"
The photos of the first Friday prayers in Hagia Sofia in 86 years triggered passionate and diverse responses around the world. Surrounded by a coterie of ministers, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, led worshippers in prayer at the recently rededicated mosque. Eren Güvercin spoke to the renowned French political scientist Olivier Roy and asked him about the significance of the controversial reconversion
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Interview with Kurdish director Selim Yildiz
When one dies, the next goes up into the mountains
In his film “Dialogue“, Selim Yildiz addresses a social taboo which is a reality for many Kurds in Turkey: young men suddenly disappear and joined armed groups in the mountains. Interview by Semiran Kaya
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Counter-terrorist, terrorist – what's the difference?
YPG returnees under suspicion
The Kurdish YPG militia did the heavy lifting in the fight against the "Islamic State", yet many foreign YPG adherents, including Germans, have come home to find themselves under suspicion of terrorism. By Esther Felden & Matthias von Hein
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Turkish incursion into northern Syria
You reap what you sow
Many Turks, at home and abroad, feel misunderstood. The Syrian offensive is intended to ease matters and does not constitute ethnic cleansing, they claim. They also say there is no racism in Turkey. This is a misrepresentation of the situation, says Tayfun Guttstadt in his contribution to the debate
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Interview with Ali Ertan Toprak
"I am stunned by Europe's weak and inactive stance against Erdogan"
Ankara has begun its Syrian offensive. The Kurdish region is threatening to sink into chaos. The aim of the operation is to expel the Kurds, says Ali Ertan Toprak, chairman of Germany’s Kurdish community, in an interview with Daniel Derya Bellut
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The language of migrants
Being a stranger in a second language
Kurdish writer and translator Nabaz Samad Ahmed reports on his ambivalence towards second languages as a result of his socialisation in Iraq
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Mr. Erbil Gentlemanʹs Club
The Kurdish hipsters are in town
The fashion bloggers of "Mr. Erbil Gentlemenʹs Club" from Kurdistan are a worldwide success. They wish to tell the true story of life in their homeland. At the invitation of the German Foreign Office, they came to Berlin for a visit. By Annette Walter
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Iraqʹs wrangle over natural resources
The battle for Kurdish oil
Tensions between Iraqi federal government and the Kurds centres around a long-running dispute over the countryʹs oil revenues. While Baghdad denies Kurdistanʹs right to conclude production contracts without prior central government approval, the Kurdistan Regional Government claims this as a constitutional right. By Stasa Salacanin
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James Joyce′ "Ulysses" in Kurdish
Across snotgrean seas
Author and translator Kawa Nemir has just finished translating James Joyce′s masterpiece of Irish literature into the Kurdish language of Kurmanji. His aim? To build bridges between the Kurdish culture and world literature. By Tom Stevenson and Murat Bayram
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Interview with Kurdish author Bachtyar Ali
"I only exist where my words take flight"
Among Kurds, Bachtyar Ali has long been a celebrated author. In Germany, he shot to fame when ″Der letzte Granatapfel″ (The Last Pomegranate) was published. Recently, "Die Stadt der weißen Musiker" (The City of White Musicians), the second of his novels to be translated into German, was released. Interview by Sonja Galler
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Turkey’s Afrin offensive
Wrong, but not unjustified
Although the presence of an armed group on Turkey′s border – especially one allied to the PKK – was inevitably going to be perceived as a threat, Ankara′s Afrin offensive has been given short shrift in Germany. Commentary by Ulrich von Schwerin
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Bachtyar Ali's novel "Die Stadt der weißen Musiker"
Poetry and truth
Bachtyar Ali, probably the best known contemporary novelist and poet from the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, has produced a major novel about art and reconciliation. It has recently been translated into German and is proving a major success. By Stefan Weidner