Photo Essays

Istanbul and its "guests": almost 400,000 Syrian refugees live in the Turkish megalopolis in the meantime and it's estimated that there are just as many of them in Istanbul as in the whole of Europe. The refugees are considered to be "misafir", or guests - without rights to asylum or work

Stranded at the Bosphorus

In Istanbul, there are almost as many Syrian refugees as in whole Europe. Many of them feel stuck in the Turkish city, between the ...More

Though reputed for her difficult character, Zaha Hadid was brilliant. She made it to the top of a field dominated by men. She was the first woman to receive the equivalent of the Nobel Prize of architecture, the Pritzker Prize, in 2004, the highly prized Praemium Imperiale in 2009, and the Royal Gold Medal of British Architects in September 2015. Born in Baghdad, Hadid lived in London

Zaha Hadid - the visionary architect (31 October 1950 - 31 March, 2016)

For a long time Zaha Hadid's designs were considered impossible to build - until she proved the opposite. The Iraqi-born British national ...More

Slightly north of the High Dam, West Suheil is a Nubian village that was not submerged by flooding from the ever-rising reservoirs built by the state. Towns like this have become tourist destinations as a window into a ″pristine Nubian past″

Nubian women in post-revolution Egypt

The Nubians, inhabiting a 700 mile stretch of Nilotic villages between Egypt and Sudan since the days of the Pharaohs, have been around ...More

Rescue-ready: along with the Phoenix and the Argos, the "Dignity 1" makes up the rescue fleet MSF is running in the Mediterranean Sea throughout 2015. This 50-meter long vessel has brought aboard more than 5,000 people from the sea. Together, the three MSF ships have rescued 17,000 people. They operate in an area that stretches along an imaginary line 30 nautical miles off the coast of Libya

Search and rescue in a sea of refugees

Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) has been coming to the aid of sub-Saharan refugees trying to reach Europe from Libya by crossing the ...More

Indonesia's Communist witch-hunt

Between 1965 and 1966 millions of (alleged) Communists were hunted down, tortured and killed in Indonesia. The photographer Anne-Cecile ...More

Three brides from the Qashqai tribe, accompanied by Qashqai women in traditional dress

Traditional weddings in Iran

Iran is a country of many peoples with countless different tribes. Although weddings in the cities increasingly resemble those celebrated ...More

United in prayer: the Festival of Sacrifice marks the highpoint of the Muslim hajj – the pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims are expected to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lifetime, but not everyone can afford to. That′s why celebrations are held around the globe, such as here in Nairobi, and prayers are said everywhere

The festival of Eid-ul-Adha - a time of prayer and celebration

Around the world some 1.5 billion Muslims are currently celebrating Islam's principal annual festival: Eid-ul-Adha, or the Festival of ...More

Tens of thousands of Yazidis have fled the terror group "Islamic State" in Iraq this past year. Nobody knows when they will be able to return to their home villages in the Sinjar Mountains. Like this boy in a refugee camp in Silopi near the Turkish-Iraqi border, they still face an uncertain future

Children on the run

Never before have so many boys and girls been fleeing war and poverty. In camps in Asia and Africa, or on the risky journey to Europe, ...More

A perilous trek - refugees journey from Syria to Germany

The distance from Syria to Germany is approximately 3,700 kilometres. For refugees fleeing the civil war the journey can take weeks, if ...More

Aiham Ehab Makyam, 21, and Gofran Hussein Mohammed, 22, arrived in Djibouti by boat from Aden in late May. Today, Djibouti is the only neighbouring country that is accepting refugees from Yemen. Crossing the Gulf of Aden is the only way to get there.

Yemeni refugees: destination Djibouti

When it comes to refugees, the focus of Western media in recent months has been on the desperate people trying to cross the Mediterranean ...More

This picture, taken in 1962, shows two female medicine students at the University of Kabul listening to their professor as they examine a plaster model of a human body part. At that time, women played an active role in Afghan society. They also had access to education and were able to take up work outside home.

Afghanistan's modern past

Many people associate Afghan women with the burqa, the garment that covers a woman's entire face, head and body and is worn in a number of ...More

The migrants in Calais live in squalid tents and risk their lives to reach the UK. The only problem is that they are not welcome there either. Following weeks of increasing tension in Calais, the French and British governments have announced that they intend to further increase security.

The end of the line – the refugees trying to reach the UK from Calais

Calais has become a magnet for refugees trying to reach the UK. The reason for this is that the entrance to the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel ...More

The lasting horror of war

According to a WHO report from December 2014, more than one million Syrians have been wounded in the Syrian civil war since the spring of ...More

For years, the films made by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Pahani have been censored by the Iranian authorities. His newest documentary, "Taxi", won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2015 and has just been released in German cinemas.

A taxi ride through Tehran

This is a taxi ride like no other: Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi made "Taxi" on a shoestring budget. It not only ...More

Women get ready to go to the well to fill their jars with water

When freedom doesn't last forever: the landless nomads of Cholistan

A mere 70 years ago, the nomadic peoples of the Cholistan Desert still wandered between Rajasthan in India and the Punjab in Pakistan. But ...More

Dancing for a better life: transgender people in Pakistan

Life is anything but easy for "hijras" (transgender people) in Pakistan, where men dressed in women's clothes are still considered an ...More

At the bottom of the heap: foreign construction workers in Qatar

Qatar is considered to be one of the richest countries in the world and will be playing host to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The sporting ...More

Pakistan's gateway to another world

Far away from Pakistan's motorways and cities, there are regions of the country where centuries-old forts, imposing shrines and natural ...More

The ruins of Palmyra lie right in the middle of the Syrian desert. The once prosperous metropolis was surrounded by palms – hence its name – and for centuries was a popular caravan stop for those travelling to the Silk Road. It was a centre of wealth and trade. Gradually, however, the city went into decline and was recaptured by the desert sands. The ruins were later excavated, and given world heritage status in 1980.

Palmyra: an oasis of cultural history

The ancient ruins of Palmyra are remnants of a bygone golden era. For several days now, the ruins have been controlled by the militias of ...More

Rohingya migrants on a boat off the southern Thai island of Koh Lipe in the Andaman Sea. The boat, which was crammed with scores of Rohingya migrants, including many young children, was found drifting in Thai waters on 14 May. Passengers said several people had died in the previous days. Dozens of visibly weak people were on the deck of the stricken vessel, which was found apparently adrift several kilometres off Koh Lipe.

The Rohingya refugee crisis

Boats carrying more than 1,600 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants arrived off the coasts of Indonesia and Malaysia last week after human ...More

No entry: perched above the Akhurian River, the city of Ani once stood at the crossroads of various East–West trade routes. Ani's citadel, built in the seventh century, now overlooks the Turkish–Armenian border. In 1993, Turkey reacted to the Nagorno-Karabakh War by closing its borders with Armenia. A military sign warns that entrance to the area is forbidden.

The ghost city of Ani

On the Turkish side of the Armenian–Turkish border in the province of Kars lies the spectacular medieval city of Ani. Although no longer ...More

"River Tales": People of the Nile

For so many people, the River Nile is a source of life and income. It passes through no less than 11 countries on its way to the ...More

"Walls of Freedom": immortalising the Egyptian Revolution

The book "Walls of Freedom" presents readers with images of the street art of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The English-language photo ...More

TUNISIA. The blogger and the generals: no one criticises the army! This was the message sent out by a sentence handed down by a Tunisian military court on the case of the blogger Yassine Ayari. The young man was sentenced to three years in prison. His crime: "defamation of the army". Early this year, a military appeal court revoked the punishment, reducing Ayari's prison term to six months.

Fear of the free word

The high-profile case of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is not the only one of its kind. Throughout the Arab world, writers, journalists and ...More

Nowruz – The Iranian New Year

Nowruz is one of the oldest celebrations in the world. It has been a fixture on the cultural calendar in many regions for more than 2,500 ...More

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Most Recent Photo Essay

Birth of two nations: in 1947, British India was divided into two countries – India and Pakistan. Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his All-India Muslim League party had first demanded autonomy for Muslim-majority areas in the undivided India and only later a separate country for Muslims. Jinnah believed that Hindus and Muslims could not continue to live together, as they were distinctly different "nations"

Partition of India: The way forward

On 15 August 1947, British India split into two nations – Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The two countries continue to be hostile towards each other despite some efforts to improve bilateral ties. By Shamil Shams

Qantara dossier: European travellers in the Orient

(photo: Max Freiherr von Oppenheim-Stiftung im Hausarchiv des Bankhauses Sal. Oppenheim)

Our dossier contains a selection of interesting biographies and reports on renowned European travelers to the Orient from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.More

Top 10 books about Muslims and Islam by Saadia Faruqi


Media stereotypes and misinformation about Muslims are nothing new. In post-election America, Muslims are finding more allies who often want to help but don’t know much about Islam. More and more non-Muslims have questions and are seeking answers.More

An eye-catching tableau for resistance: graffiti art in Bethlehem

The trailblazer: in 2005, the legendary British street artist Banksy visited the West Bank and left behind nine stencilled graffiti images on the wall and on private buildings in and around Bethlehem. His satirical and critical commentary on Israel's occupation policy marked the start of an onslaught of international and Palestinian graffiti artists – amateurs and professionals alike – who have adorned the wall with their political and personal messages.

An eye-catching tableau for resistance: graffiti art in Bethlehem

In 2002, the then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved the construction of a barrier wall that would run along the ceasefire line of 1949 with the intention of separating Israeli territories from the Palestinian West Bank. In Bethlehem, graffiti artists have started using the wall as a canvas for political protest and socially critical art. By Laura Overmeyer

Female Kurdish singer rallies the troops

Kurdish singer Helly Luv (photo: Getty Images/Safin Hamed)

Iraqi Kurdish singer Helly Luv was in Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, filming the video to her latest hit. Luv is aiming for international fame as she releases her new English song 'Revolution', calling for action against terrorism and violence.More

Syria's Cultural Heritage in Danger

Over four millennia, Babylonian, Egyptian, Persian, Greek and Roman influences crossed paths in Syria. Today, precious cultural sites from these eras are being damaged as the Syrian civil war takes its toll on the country's cultural heritage. This week, the United Nation's cultural organization UNESCO made fresh reports about damage to Syria's historic sites.

Syria's Cultural Heritage in Danger

The civil war in Syria, which has taken the lives of thousands since 2011, is becoming increasingly brutal. Valuable cultural sites are also being destroyed in the fighting. UNESCO has now provided reports on the damage.

"The Crusades: Holy War"

Dr Thomas Asbridge (source: BBC.co.uk)

In this three-part documentary by BBC 2, Dr Thomas Asbridge presents a revelatory account of the Crusades, the 200-year war between Christians and Muslims for control of the Holy Land. More