Aug. 15 marks the 39th anniversary of the launch of the armed campaign by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party against the Turkish state. The group has evolved over the years, shedding its demands for Kurdish independence. Yet however much it rejects the nationalist label, many Kurds continue to join the group in the hope of forcing Turkey to grant its long-repressed Kurdish minority autonomy at the very least. Failing to resolve the Kurdish issue remains one of the biggest obstacles to democracy in Turkey, says Dutch author Frederike Geerdink.
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There has been an alarming spike in anti-Semitic attacks in the UK since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing nearly 1,200 Israeli citizens. Hate crimes monitor Dave Rich and historian Andrew Apostolou unpack the dynamics.
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As the conflict in Gaza rages on, Palestinian children are dying by the thousands while many others are horribly injured. Hospitals are under unremittingly attacked by Israel forces and doctors struggle to treat the wounded.
Seema Jilani, a rare American doctor to make it into the Gaza Strip, has been telling the world about what she has seen and is facing a backlash for doing so.
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Turkey blocked Sweden's NATO membership for nine months saying Stockholm needed to curb anti-Turkish groups it classifies as terrorists. Those demands were widely dismissed as a foil for Ankara's real aim, to get the United States Congress to authorize the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey. Yet, some of Turkey's concerns were legitimate, says Sweden's Former Foreign Minister Ann Linde.
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The Islamic State carried out an attack against a Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul on Jan. 28, killing one person. In its statement claiming responsibility for the attack the group referred to Turkey as "Wilayat al Turkiya" — or its "Turkish province" — sending a chilling message that it views the country among its prime targets. Any further such attacks would deal a big blow to Turkey's multi-billion dollar tourism industry in the midst of economic turbulence.
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The deaths of three US servicemen Sunday in an attack by an Iran-backed Shiite militia at a base wedged between Syria and Jordan has raised the specter of a direct confrontation between the United States and Iran like never before. But are things as black and white as they seem? Does Iran have full control over the Shiite militias that are part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces created to fight the Islamic State? A US withdrawal from Iraq and Syria would help resuscitate the Islamic State which recently killed hundreds of civilians inside Iran. What is the end game?
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Syrians for Truth and Justice and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights have filed a complaint with German federal prosecutors against Turkish-backed Sunni factions they accuse of war crimes against Kurds in Afrin.
These include ethnic cleansing, rape and looting. German prosecutors have convicted individuals accused of torturing fellow Syrians on behalf of the Assad regime. They hope similar judgements can be handed down to the Turkish-backed militias, some of which are already under sanctions for war crimes by the United States.
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Tensions between the United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels continue to escalate in the Red Sea, disrupting maritime traffic in a key shipping lane. A barrage of US airstrikes against the Houthis shows little signs of slowing them down. The Shiite rebels insist they won't stop targeting merchant ships and US naval vessels unless Israel ends its war against Palestinians in Gaza. Kuwaiti academic Bader Al-Saif tell Al-Monitor they should be taken at their word.
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The assassination of Hamas' number two man in Beirut on Tuesday has deepened concerns that the conflict in Gaza will engulf neighboring Lebanon.
However, Esther Solomon, the editor-in-chief of Haaretz English, dismisses the idea that Israel wants to provoke a war with Iran that would drag in the United States.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has openly sided with Hamas in its ongoing conflict with Israel in Gaza, making him a hero on the Arab street. However, his vocal support for the group that is designated as terrorists by the United States will likely further strain relations between Ankara and Washington. It will also make it harder for Turkey to normalize relations with Israel in the future, according to Alan Makovsky, a leading analyst of Turkish affairs in Washington.
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As Israel’s war to unseat Hamas in the Gaza Strip grinds into its second month, the former top US military commander in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel (ret.), says the hardest fighting is yet to come. While the IDF appears to be implementing some of Washington’s advice by allowing for the flow of humanitarian aid and civilian evacuation corridors, there remains real risk that Iran-backed militias throughout the region may escalate reckless attacks that could draw the United States into another war. Ultimately, there must be a postwar political solution for Gaza and a re-calibration of US military presence in the Middle East to deter Iran, Votel argues.
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