Shiite Factions Clash Over PMF Legislation Amid U.S. Pressure and Iraq’s Election Year
In an election year marked by mounting pressure from the new Trump administration, internal rifts among Iraq’s Shiite factions over…
Why Iran is Suddenly Embracing Kurdish Newroz Celebrations?
Newroz 2025 marks the first time in decades that Kurds across the region have been able to celebrate their traditional…
What Does the Barzani–Waltz Call Reveal About US Strategy on KRG Oil?
Masrour Barzani with Mike Waltz and three other members of the U.S. Congress, March 2024.
Written by
Arivan
Peace with PKK, Crackdown on CHP: The AKP-MHP Strategy to Rule Past 2028
Yesterday’s arrest of the popular opposition Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu appears contradictory when viewed through the lens of recent peace talks with the PKK and its leader Öcalan—talks that emphasize…
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Written by
Arivan
Why More Kurds Seek Asylum Despite Lower Poverty Than the Rest of Iraq?
New data on poverty in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and the trend over the last decade helps us examine a puzzling migration trend: according to a Home Office report,…
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Written by
Arivan
How Baghdad’s Customs Checkpoints Have Diminished KRG’s Trade Power
Six months into Baghdad’s customs centralization policy with the Kurdistan Region, traders are increasingly relocating their operations to Iraqi-controlled territories—a deliberate outcome aimed at reshaping regional trade dynamics. From the…
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Written by
Arivan
Kurdistan’s Widening Income Gap: Expenditures Outstrip Earnings
The Iraqi national census and socio-economic surveys published by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Planning, have been released separately and…
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Written by
Arivan
Damascus-SDF Agreement Signals Turkey’s Strategic Compromise: PKK Dissolution in Turkey, SDF Survival in Syria
The newly announced agreement signed today between Ahmad Al-Shara’a, president of the HTS-led administration in Damascus, and Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), appears to have been…
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Written by
Arivan
Four Insights on How Assad’s Remnants Set a Strategic Trap by Exploiting Syria’s Factional Chaos
A few days ago, remnants of the Assad regime ambushed and killed several police officers in Syria’s coastal region, a stronghold of the Alawite community. In response, armed factions affiliated with…
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Written by
Arivan
From Fighting Turkey to Shaping It: How Ocalan and Ankara Are Rewriting the Kurdish-Turkish Relationship
The current PKK-Turkish talks must be viewed within their regional and global context, as the PKK issue has long been regionalized and even globalized alongside internal Turkish and Kurdish politics.…
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