rudaw.net | By Karwan Faidhi Dri | 26/06/2020

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A Turkish court has sentenced 68 Kurdish politicians and civil activists, including a former mayor, to up to ten years in prison for their alleged links to an umbrella group linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

theguardian.com | Bethan McKernan | Wed 24 Jun 2020

Local election gains by the HDP in 2019 have been eroded by a government crackdown.

kurdistan24.net | 24/06/2020

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Turkish drone strike on Tuesday evening killed three civilian females at a residence in the village of Helincê, located outside the northern Syrian city of Kobani, according to local security forces.

Ahvalnews.com | By David Phillips

Former U.S. national security advisor John Bolton’s new book, “The Room Where It Happened”, is a damning account of Donald Trump’s presidency and kow-towing to authoritarian world leaders. It highlights a pattern of unethical and illegal behaviour, including how Trump gave “personal favours to dictators he liked.” According to Bolton, Trump practiced "obstruction of justice as a way of life”.

Voanews.com | By Michael Lipin, Ramin Haghjoo

WASHINGTON - Iran has withheld confirmation of its apparent recent execution of a Kurdish activist, in the latest example of its long-running practice of secretly executing ethnic minority dissidents.

Nytimes.com | By Alissa J. Rubin

MOSUL, Iraq — From the moment Iraq’s new prime minister stepped off the Iraqi Army MI-17 helicopter for a tour of Mosul, the city most damaged by the Islamic State’s takeover in 2014, he plunged into a landscape of loss.

nytimes.com | By Ben Hubbard | 15/06/2020

President Bashar al-Assad faces threats he cannot bomb into submission, as protests erupt over living standards and a rift opens among the ruling elite.`

Washingtonpost.com | By Philip Bump

Rudaw.net | Zhelwan Z. Wali 

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — After years of political wrangling, the main ruling and opposition parties in northeast Syria jointly announced Wednesday that they have reached a "common political vision" on governance and partnership.

middleeastmonitor.com | June 12, 2020

Twitter has announced that it has taken down 7,340 accounts linked to an information campaign led by the Turkish government which targeted Kurdish parties and sought support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).