Kurdistan

From terrorist to peacemaker

On Saturday, the PKK declared a ceasefire in response to jailed leader Abdullah Öcalan's call to disarm. The collapse of the last Turkey-PKK ceasefire in 2015 triggered an eruption of violence. Will Öcalan succeed in ending the 47-year-old conflict this time?

Myths re-imagined

Kurdish singer Hani Mojtahedi and German electro legend Andi Toma of Mouse On Mars have collaborated on an album that also pays homage to Mojtahedi’s grandfather, a Sufi master

Kurds drifting away from democracy

In Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan, regional elections are being repeatedly postponed, institutions weakened and structures are becoming more autocratic

Yazidis relive the horror as deportation looms

Recently Germany's "culture of welcome" has given way to a much tougher asylum and immigration policy. Now Yazidi survivors of IS genocide face an uncertain, potentially re-traumatising future

Stories from a future republic

"Kurdistan + 100" is the third anthology in Comma Press's "future past" series, and a fourth – Egypt + 100 – is set to be published next year. Writers are asked to imagine a moment in the future connected to an event in their shared past

Yavuz Ekinci's new novel

Armenian genocide denial is a great and enduring lie by the Turkish state, characterised by ongoing violence and racism. Yavuz Ekinci takes up the subject in an unsparing and powerful novel: "Das ferne Dorf meiner Kindheit" – 'the distant village of my childhood'. Gerrit Wustmann read the book

Iraq's Transport Corridors – no place for Kurdistan?

Excluding Kurdistan from a new infrastructure project in Iraq, designed to connect the Gulf with Turkey via road and rail, is purely political – despite the economic unfeasibility argument. Commentary by Sardar Aziz

Countering patriarchal cliches

Focusing on music from the Levant to Central Asia, Osnabruck's Morgenland Festival occupies a special place in the German festival landscape. Prior to the 18th festival, which begins on 21 June, Stefan Franzen spoke to festival manager Michael Dreyer about the musical concept, the political dimension, and whether the term 'Morgenland' [engl. 'the East', 'Orient'] is still in keeping with the times

The deep scars left by IS terror

For centuries, the Yazidis lived in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar. In 2014, the region was overrun by the so-called "Islamic State", which committed genocide against the Yazidi population. This brutal chapter in Yazidi history has left deep and lasting scars. To this day, the community in Sinjar is still picking up the pieces. By Birgit Svensson

Nowruz: New Year, Spring Festival and National Holiday

How to end domestic violence in Iraq?

In Iraq, the murder of another young woman by a family member has led to renewed calls for the country's government to finally enact a law on domestic violence, one that has been stuck in parliamentary limbo for years. Cathrin Schaer reports