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Young people in Iraqi Kurdistan
Turning towards religion or away from it?
Young people in northern Iraq are so disillusioned that many are trying to leave the country any way they can. Some fear widespread discontent could push people toward potentially dangerous religious fundamentalism. By Cathrin Schaer
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Arab world
Conflict and climate change drive Syria's water crisis
Northeastern Syria is experiencing its worst drought in nearly 70 years, with rising temperatures and erratic weather exacerbated by tensions with Turkey. Daniela Sala, Bart von Laffert and Shaveen Mohammad report
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Turkey
Joint Kurdish plan? Turkish opposition hope for election boost
For the first time in 19 years, polls suggest Turkey's opposition could be on track to defeat President Erdogan at the next election. To boost their appeal to Kurdish voters, politicians are now talking openly about solving the Kurdish issue. But how sincere are they and how realistic their chances of success? Leyla Egeli reports
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U.S.-Russian diplomatic tug-of-war
How will Syria's unending war play out in the northeast?
Facing the various divergent interests of external players such as Russia, the United States, not to mention Turkey and Iran, the future of northeast Syria remains anything but certain. By Stasa Salacanin
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Death of Grup Yorum singer Helin Bolek
Against the death cult
Activist and musician Helin Bolek, member of the popular group Grup Yorum, died at the beginning of April after nearly nine months on hunger strike. She fell victim both to oppression at the hands of the Turkish state and a hostile cult of martyrdom present on the Turkish and Kurdish left, argues Tayfun Guttstadt
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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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Support for Turkey's AKP dwindles
Erdogan’s homegrown rivals
Erdogan has ruled Turkey firmly for the last 18 years, but his party now faces a huge challenge: former party heavyweights who have jumped ship to establish their own new parties. By Ayse Karabat
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Syria's constitutional committee
Geneva is key to Assad's rehabilitation
Finding a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict is the challenge facing the constitutional committee that has been meeting in Geneva since the end of October, under UN mediation. But achieving this goal is an illusion, since the Syrian regime has for years shown no willingness to surrender any of its power. By Kristin Helberg
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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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Turkey isolated amid international pressure
Erdogan's captive audience
Most Turkish citizens approve – to a greater or lesser extent – of their countryˈs incursion into Syria and are deeply irritated by the Westˈs apparent incomprehension of the situation on Turkeyˈs southern border. By Ayse Karabat
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Turkey's Syria offensive
Burying the Kurdish autonomy project
When the Kurds of Syria came under Turkish fire less than ten days ago, the Kurdish Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria was left with no choice but to call on Assad for help. Thus ends a political project that many hailed as a model for the future order of Syria. But, as Ulrich von Schwerin points out, it was a project built on very shaky foundations