What chance freedom of religion?
Deportation fears grow among Turkey's Protestant minority
Bab L'Bluz's "Nayda"
Rocking the gateway to the desert
Interview with Mark Terkessidis
What does Black Lives Matter have to do with Germany?
Corruption in the Arab world
Why are most Arabs so prepared to trust the military?

What chance freedom of religion?

Deportation fears grow among Turkey's Protestant minority

Ever since the Andrew Brunson incident, tensions have been growing between the Turkish government and the country's Christian community. Religious freedom is in jeopardy, as the Subasiguller case illustrates. By Deger AkalRead more

Christians in Turkey: The Turks' fear of the missionary menaceTurkey's Aramaic Christians: Where they speak Jesus' languageThe Orthodox Christian church in Turkey: Caught in the crossfire between secularists and Islamists

Album review: Bab L'Bluz's "Nayda"

Rocking the gateway to the desert

The Franco-Moroccan band Bab L'Bluz has named their debut CD "Nayda!" after the musical youth movement. Stefan Franzen introduces the unique music comboRead more

Gnawa World Music Festival in Essaouira: A kind of "Moroccan Woodstock"Album review: Imarhanʹs "Temet": Keeping it realThe master musicians of Joujouka: The faded myth of the goat-God

Interview with racism researcher Mark Terkessidis

What does Black Lives Matter have to do with Germany?

The protests against police violence in the USA have triggered a discussion in Germany about discrimination, immigration and the country's image of itself. Why are people who do not look German considered foreign even if they hold citizenship? And how could we all live together better? A conversation with racism researcher Mark TerkessidisRead more

Interview with journalist and performance artist Michel Abdollahi: "People with dark hair always have to go the extra mile"The death of George Floyd and endemic discrimination: It's time to replace "race" in the German constitutionRacist terror in Germany: ʺNever againʺ? Let’s hope so!

Corruption in the Arab world

Why are most Arabs so prepared to trust the military?

Why do so many people in Arab countries trust the armed forces, even though most armies in the region are highly corrupt? Abdalhadi Alijla has the answersRead more

Military dictatorships in the Middle East: The real enemies of the Arab SpringThe role of Egypt′s armed forces: A military empireCorruption in Tunisia: Why look to Panama?

Politics

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj (left) visiting the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on 4 June 2020, Ankara (photo: picture-alliance/AA/M. Aktas)

Mask diplomacy and power politics

Erdogan's foreign policy in the shadow of coronavirus

In the age of corona, Ankara's regional power strategy is twofold: on the one hand, Turkey is engaged in a charm offensive to revamp its political image, which has suffered lately in certain quarters. On the other, President Erdogan is pursuing a tough policy of interests backed up by military force. By Ronald MeinardusMore

A truly international conflict: How can Europe help prevent the carving-up of Libya?Conflict in North Africa: In Libya, Russia sinks its teeth into another proxy warLibyan civil war: EU divisions over Libya leave a gap for others
Celebrating the military during the uprising against Mubarak in 2011, Cairo (photo: Reuters)

Corruption in the Arab world

Why are most Arabs so prepared to trust the military?

Why do so many people in Arab countries trust the armed forces, even though most armies in the region are highly corrupt? Abdalhadi Alijla has the answersMore

Military dictatorships in the Middle East: The real enemies of the Arab SpringThe role of Egypt′s armed forces: A military empireCorruption in Tunisia: Why look to Panama?
UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer addresses the media during a press conference following the presentation of the torture report at the 40th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on 01.03.2019 (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Di Nolfi)

International Day in support of victims of torture

"The international human rights system is slowly eroding"

From Syrian war crimes to U.S. hypocrisy in the Julian Assange case, the global "erosion of human rights standards" is of critical concern, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer tells Matthias von HeinMore

Assad's crimes against his own people: Syrian ex-secret police stand trial in GermanyInterview with the journalist and author Garance le Caisne: Caesar and the butcher of DamascusOpinion: The EU cannot remain silent on torture in Iraq
"Straight Voice", Khartoum, Sudan: a young man recites a poem, holding his left hand to his chest. He is surrounded by demonstrators who light him up with their cell phones. The jury chose the picture by the Japanese artist Yasuyoshi Chiba because it provides inspiration to the viewer in uncertain times. It also won the category "General News, Single Image" (photo: AFP/Y. Chiba)

Germany hosts the Sudan Partnership Conference

A historic opportunity to move Sudan's transition along

The Sudan Partnership Conference on 25 June is seeking funding commitments to rebuild Sudan’s desolate economy. As Annette Weber argues, the crucial point will be aligning financial assistance with a successful transition processMore

Horn of Africa: Give Sudan's fledgling democracy the support it deserves!Democracy movements in the Arab world: Look to Sudan, Algeria!Political crisis: Sudanʹs deadly counter-revolutionary militia
more Politics »

Society

Racism researcher Mark Terkessidis (source: Facebook/Mark Terkessidis)

Interview with racism researcher Mark Terkessidis

What does Black Lives Matter have to do with Germany?

The protests against police violence in the USA have triggered a discussion in Germany about discrimination, immigration and the country's image of itself. Why are people who do not look German considered foreign even if they hold citizenship? And how could we all live together better? A conversation with racism researcher Mark TerkessidisMore

Interview with journalist and performance artist Michel Abdollahi: "People with dark hair always have to go the extra mile"The death of George Floyd and endemic discrimination: It's time to replace "race" in the German constitutionRacist terror in Germany: ʺNever againʺ? Let’s hope so!
Michel Abdollahi is an Iranian German conferencier, performance artist, painter, journalist and writer (photo: Asja Caspari)

Interview with journalist and performance artist Michel Abdollahi

"People with dark hair always have to go the extra mile"

Journalist Michel Abdollahi was born in Tehran in 1981 and moved to Hamburg in 1986. His big breakthrough came with his television documentaries on social issues such as integration, racism and right-wing populism. He spoke to Qantara.de about his book "Deutschland schafft mich!" (Done away with by Germany – What happened when I found out I wasn't German after all)More

Nine Muslims on right-wing populism: Should I stay or should I go?Racist terror in Germany: ʺNever againʺ? Let’s hope so!Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Europe: Targeting the Muslim population: Presumed guilty
Protestant pastor Lutfu Subaisguller, Joy Anna Crow Subasiguller and their children (photo: private)

What chance freedom of religion?

Deportation fears grow among Turkey's Protestant minority

Ever since the Andrew Brunson incident, tensions have been growing between the Turkish government and the country's Christian community. Religious freedom is in jeopardy, as the Subasiguller case illustrates. By Deger AkalMore

Christians in Turkey: The Turks' fear of the missionary menaceTurkey's Aramaic Christians: Where they speak Jesus' languageThe Orthodox Christian church in Turkey: Caught in the crossfire between secularists and Islamists
Screenshot of Omar Abdulaziz' Twitter account (source: Twitter/Omar Abdulaziz)

The case of exiled Saudi activist Omar Abdulaziz

Critics of Saudi Arabia and Khashoggi's colleagues, beware

A friend of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Omar Abdulaziz is a thorn in the side of Saudi Arabia. Living in exile in Canada, the activist has been warned by the police of a possible threat against him. By Diana HodaliMore

Murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi: Donald Trump's ersatz realityThe Khashoggi aftermath: The inconvenient truth about Saudi ArabiaInterview with Middle East expert Guido Steinberg: No one wants conflict with Saudi Arabia
more Society »

Culture

Franco-Moroccan band Bab L'Bluz (photo: Bab L'Bluz)

Album review: Bab L'Bluz's "Nayda"

Rocking the gateway to the desert

The Franco-Moroccan band Bab L'Bluz has named their debut CD "Nayda!" after the musical youth movement. Stefan Franzen introduces the unique music comboMore

Gnawa World Music Festival in Essaouira: A kind of "Moroccan Woodstock"Album review: Imarhanʹs "Temet": Keeping it realThe master musicians of Joujouka: The faded myth of the goat-God
Forough Farrokhzad, "Poem about love", by Michael Ghahari (graphic design) based on Majid Mehdizadeh's calligraphy (photo: Michael Ghahari/Majid Mehdizadeh)

Book review: Kurt Scharf's "Halt aus in der Nacht bis zum Wein"

A window on modern Iranian poetry

Iran’s contemporary poets are less well known in Germany than the old Persian classics. Kurt Scharf has now translated 32 of them into German. Marian Brehmer dipped into the anthologyMore

Goethe and the Orient: Why did the poet's mind wander to far-off climes?Interview with the Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi: ″Self-censorship is the worst″The "Green Memories" project of Forough Farrokhzad: Desperation and hope set to music
Turkish TV series" Suleyman the Magnificent" (photo: imago/Seskim Photo)

Islamic popular culture

A match for Bollywood – the rise of Turkey's dizis

Turkey is the second-largest exporter of TV series in the world, boasting a growing presence on international screens from Pakistan to Chile. The "dizis" offer audiences an elaborately staged alternative to Hollywood and Bollywood. Marian Brehmer reports from IstanbulMore

Pakistanʹs premier Imran Khan: Playboy turned politicianErdogan and Turkish foreign policy: Neo-Ottoman rumblingsReligion and media in Turkey: Reviving Sufism with Yunus Emre
Regina Keil-Sagawe and Albert Memmi in Essaouira in March 2010 (photo: GOUFRANI)

Obituary: Tunisian author Albert Memmi

Adieu, Albert!

Albert Memmi, Tunisian author and pioneer of a sociology of de-colonisation, died on 22 May 2020 in Paris. He was nearly 100 years old. He was the last of a generation of Maghreb novelists writing in French. A personal obituary by Regina Keil-SagaweMore

Portrait Albert Memmi: A sober look at freedomMalek Alloula: A peep inside the haremQantara dossier: Arabic literature
more Culture »

In brief

More

Most Recent Photo Essay

Rainbow wares: leather goods are a popular holiday souvenir from Morocco. In many of the narrow souks in the old town centres, there are alleys full of leather shops. But you can also buy the brightly coloured shoes, belts, bags and co. directly from the leather factories. There, animal skins are still processed according to traditional methods. Working conditions in the tanneries are correspondingly tough

A filthy occupation: leather-tanning in Morocco

Those looking to visit a leather factory In Morocco should visit the tanners' quarter in the town of Fez. For tourists the ancient craft may be fascinating, for the workers, however, it is extremely exhausting. By Stefanie Hoppner

Israel's contentious annexation plan for the West Bank

.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the West Bank settlements "an integral part of the historic Jewish homeland." Palestinians say the plan is an "existential threat" and have threatened to respond with their own measures.More

Where’s the beef? Lebanon’s currency crash puts desperation on the menu

Cropped section of Manakish zaatar (photo: Serge Melki/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0))

Meatless meals are another example of the fraught calculus that has become daily life for most Lebanese, as they face a crumbling economy, dwindling savings and a political class seemingly intent on stopping reform and beggaring the country.More

Egypt: a state serving the military

The Egyptian flag on the uniform of an Egyptian paratrooper (photo: Mike Pryor/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)

Since the coup of 2013, there has been a process of structural change within the Egyptian state, where civilian institutions have fallen under the sway of the security apparatus.More

Researcher Adrian Zens defends Chinese Uighur birth control expose

 

Forced sterilisation has led to a steep decline in birth rates among China’s Uighur community, claims researcher Adrian Zens. A senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Zens says he based his report on Chinese government documents, family planning documents, reports and witness testimonies, describing the policy as "drastic, horrific and unprecedented".More

UAE author Ahmed Mansoor made honorary member of PEN

UAE author Ahmed Mansoor (photo: Martin Ennals Foundation)

Germany's PEN has appointed blogger, poet and human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, imprisoned in the United Arab Emirates since March 2017, as an honorary member and is demanding his unconditional and immediate release. Mansoor is one of the few independent voices to have publicly denounced human rights violations in the country.More

Qantara-Dossier: Arabische Literatur

Arabic calligraphy (photo: picture alliance/Tone Koene)

Our dossier features the latest news from the Arabic literature scene and profiles of famous authors from the Maghreb to the MashriqMore

Egypt's culinary history: what have Egyptians been eating for the last 7000 years?

RAWI (source: Facebook)

In the tenth issue of its online magazine. RAWI – Egypt's Heritage Review – delves into Egypt's fascinating culinary past, while also dishing up a few contemporary treats.More