Nytimes.com | Farnaz Fassihi

The uprising began in September, after a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, died in the custody of Iran’s morality police. She had been arrested on accusations of violating mandatory-hijab rules, and a gruesome photo and video of her unconscious in a hospital bed went viral, sparking outrage and grief. The protest movement — known as Woman, Life, Freedom — quickly morphed into broader demands for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule.

On the surface, Iraq appears to have achieved a measure of stability. The country finally has a functioning government after a yearlong political vacuum. Terrorist violence has fallen to its lowest rate since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Even the country’s Iran-backed militias—long a source of tension with Washington—have significantly reduced their attacks on U.S. diplomatic and military sites. In a May 4 speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan credited a U.S strategy built on the “twin pillars of deterrence and diplomacy” for the decrease in attacks on U.S. interests. 

From Lausanne 1923 to Lausanne 2023

What future for the excluded peoples from the Lausanne Treaty in 1923
Current situation and perspective

Organized by the Kurdish Institute of Paris, in partnership
with the City of Lausanne, AFKIV and Switzerland – Armenia Association

June 10, 2023

Hôtel de Ville
Lausanne City Council Hall

Jpost.com | By JONATHAN SPYER

In the 1980s, thousands of Kurds made for these mountains and for Iran, to escape the poison gas attacks of the Saddam Hussein regime. Now, the traffic is in the opposite direction.

Washingtonexaminer.com  By Michael Rubin

On Saturday, General Mazloum Abdi, the head of the Syrian Kurdish militia and America’s chief ally in the fight against ISIS , was wrapping up meetings in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaymani. He had been meeting with both the local Kurdish leadership and American officials. Together, the group drove in a convoy to the local civilian airport, where they planned to see Mazloum off on a short flight back to Syrian Kurdistan.

Al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

U.S. Department of State

Cnn.com |  By Nadeen Ebrahim

Turkey’s persecuted pro-Kurdish party has emerged as a kingmaker in the country’s upcoming election, playing a decisive role that may just tip the balance enough to unseat two-decade ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Nytimes.com | By Lydia Polgreen Opinion Columnist

ADIYAMAN, Turkey — Beneath each fresh mound in this rapidly expanding graveyard lies a tragedy. One morning at dawn, Zeki Karababa told me about his.