Syria’s Kurds: Peripheral to the Centre, Central to the Periphery
An earlier National Context report showed how the demographic map of northern Syria has foreclosed the more ambitious versions of…
Pentagon Zeroes Out Peshmerga Funding as Lebanon and Jordan Enter the Picture
The Pentagon’s budget request for next year proposes to end U.S. training and weapons support for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s…
Iraq’s CEO Candidate
Iraq’s Coordination Framework on April 27 named businessman Ali al-Zaidi as prime minister-designate, and President Nizar Amede tasked him the same day…
Written by
Arivan
Why Turkey’s PKK Peace Process Has Stalled
More than a year after Abdullah Ocalan called for disarmament from his prison on Imrali island, Turkey’s peace process with the PKK has reached its first genuinely hard question: which…
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Arivan
Courts, Coercion and Control: Why SDF-Damascus Integration Is Hitting Its Real Test
On the latest developments in the SDF-Damascus integration process, a clearer disagreement is emerging over the future of the judicial system in the parts of Hasakah province that remain under…
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Written by
Arivan
Casualty Data Point to a Narrow Social Base for Iran’s Exiled Kurdish Parties
The exiled armed parties have built their strategy around merging with an internal Iranian uprising rather than sustaining a conventional insurgency. The recent casualty data show where that linkage could…
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Written by
Arivan
The SDF’s Integration Deal Enters a New Phase After the US Withdrawal
Just hours after SDF commander Mazloum Abdi’s meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, the full US withdrawal from Syria was announced as complete. One notable detail is that Qasrak airbase,…
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Written by
Arivan
How a Cross-Sectarian Bloc Led by Iraq’s Next Generation Is Reshaping the Country
Across-sectarian bloc led by five of Iraq’s next-generation political leaders has pushed a presidential vote through despite a boycott by Masoud Barzani and Nouri al-Maliki, and is now positioned to…
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Written by
Arivan
The War Did Not Break Iran’s PKK Exception. It Revealed How Deep It Runs
Much of the discussion around the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has focused on whether Kurdish armed groups might be used to open a new front against Tehran. That question matters.…
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Written by
Arivan
Iraq’s Presidential Vote Exposes KDP’s Shrinking Reach in Baghdad
On April 11, 2026, the Iraqi parliament elected Nizar Amedi, a PUK figure from Duhok, as the new president of the republic. Amedi won 227 votes in the second round.…
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