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What happens to PKK strongholds in the Kurdistan Region after the PKK vacates them?
One year after Abdullah Ocalan’s call to the PKK to disarm, the peace process has entered a phase in which the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is the physical stage on…
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Arivan
Iran’s Kurdish Opposition Unveils a New Alliance, but Leaves the Hard Questions Unanswered
Five Iranian Kurdish opposition parties have announced what they call the “Kurdistan Alliance,” a new framework intended to coordinate decision-making for Iranian Kurdistan. The announcement was made in the Kurdistan…
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Arivan
Turkey’s PKK Peace Commission Adopts a Disarmament Framework and a Regional Doctrine
Turkey’s parliamentary peace commission, established to chart a political and legal path out of the decades-long conflict with the PKK, adopted its landmark report on 18 February 2026, laying out an architecture…
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Arivan
Mazloum Abdi at Munich: What It Was, and What It Was Not
Mazloum Abdi’s participation in the Munich Security Conference mattered, but it must be understood within its proper context. Inflating its significance risks pushing expectations beyond what the conference, or the…
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Arivan
The Syria Crisis Triggered a Different Battle in the Kurdistan Region: Over What It Means to Be Kurdish
When fighting between the Syrian Democratic Forces and Damascus-aligned forces escalated in early-to-mid January, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq responded on two levels at once. The mainstream reaction was instinctive…
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Arivan
Iraq’s Power Struggle Has Two New Wildcards: A U.S. Veto and a Weakened Iran
Three months after Iraq’s November 2025 parliamentary elections, the country remains without a government. The Coordination Framework — the umbrella alliance of Shia parties that holds the parliamentary majority —…
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Arivan
The Perception Bubble: How an Echo Chamber Shaped the SDF’s Strategic Miscalculation
Following the SDF’s major territorial losses last month, much of the commentary has argued that the March 10 integration agreement stalled because PKK pressure from Qandil blocked pragmatic concessions. That…
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Arivan
The Maverick Playbook: How Bafel Talabani Is Trying to Turn Kurdistan’s Math Against the KDP
Bafel Talabani is running a two-front strategy against the KDP that has eliminated Masrour Barzani’s path to forming a government on his own terms. In the Kurdistan parliament, Bafel has…
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Arivan
ENKS Seeks Its Own Lane as Damascus Plays Kurdish Factions Against Each Other
A delegation from the Syrian Kurdish National Council, known as ENKS, met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara and Foreign Minister Asad al-Shaybani in Damascus yesterday. The visit marks the first…
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Arivan
Four Maps That Explain Iran’s Complex Kurdish-Populated Provinces
To outsiders, the Kurdish region of Iran, often called Rojhelat (eastern Kurdistan) among Kurds, might appear as a monolithic ethnic block clinging to the Zagros Mountains along the Iraqi and…
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