Nytimes.com | By ROD NORDLANDDEC

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — When Kurdish officials here in Diyarbakir, the biggest Kurdish city in the world, say they’ve been “unavoidably detained,” it is not just an excuse for lateness.

Nytimes.com | By Peter W. GALBRAITHDEC - TOWNSHEND, Vt. — The civil war in Syria is over. Now it is time to stop the fighting.

Aided by Russia, Iran, Shiite militias and Hezbollah, the government of President Bashar al-Assad is on the verge of taking Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city. Supported by its powerful allies, the Syrian Army will then move to eliminate the remaining pockets of resistance, notably around the northern city of Idlib. While Iran has been Mr. Assad’s most important military ally, the Syrian regime would still want to have Russian airpower to finish its reconquest of the country’s populous west.

The New York Times International | By ROD NORDLAND - November 19-20, 2016

Turkey’s Free Press Withers as Erdogan Jails 120 Journalists

ISTANBUL — A prominent columnist wrote recently about how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey hates cigarettes so much that he confiscates packs from his followers, lecturing them on the evils of smoking.

The columnist, Kadri Gursel, then urged his readers to protest the president’s anti-democratic ways by lighting a cigarette and not putting it out.

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) – In a statement, Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani, called for the release of the co-presidents and a number of Parliamentarians of the Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party, HDP, after their arrest in Turkey.

The-american-interest.com | Henri J. Barkey

They came in the early hours of the morning to arrest members of the parliament belonging to the People’s Democracy Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish party that received more than five million votes and 59 seats in the latest elections. This is part of major countrywide crackdown initiated by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s mercurial authoritarian leader. Erdogan has been on a tear since the failed coup attempt of this past July 15.

Brookings.edu | BLOG | Kenneth M. Pollack

I spent last week in Irbil, Iraq along with Michael Knights of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. We met with a wide range of senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials, as well as journalists, analysts, and academics. The trip included a visit to Kirkuk after the terrorist attack there on October 21 as well as time spent near the frontlines, observing Peshmerga military operations against the Islamic State (also known by its Arabic acronym, Da’esh) and discussing the campaign with U.S. and Kurdish military officers.

JERUSALEM POST ┃AUGUST 5, 2016

Meet the female fighters combating ISIS on the front lines

Kurdish women take up arms alongside men to defend their people

The presence of women fighting ISIS became an exotic and sensational topic in 2014 and 2015, but the reality of life for many women is more complex.

Last December on “Kurdish Flag Day,” young Kurdish women turned out in Dohuk in the northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan to celebrate their nation’s desire for independence. Typically, Kurdish women would wear traditional clothes on this day: a brightly colored dress and sash around the waist with a see-through shawl sometimes draped on the shoulders. But last year many women turned out in green forest-camo uniforms. It wasn’t only in Dohuk; as I drove across Kurdistan that day, teenage girls in small towns were dressing up as fighters for Peshmerga, the national defense forces of Kurdistan.

INTERNATIONAL NEW YORK TIMES | By ERIC SCHMITT SEPT. 21, 2016

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is weighing a military plan to directly arm Syrian Kurdish fighters combating the Islamic State, a major policy shift that could speed up the offensive against the terrorist group but also sharply escalate tensions between Turkey and the United States.

Nytimes.com By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Shaken by a failed coup attempt, Turkey’s government and many of its citizens are desperate for someone to blame. Instead of undertaking a thorough investigation of the facts, though, they have accused the United States of complicity in the insurrection. This has ignited a new wave of anti-Americanism that, combined with a sweeping government crackdown against enemies real and imagined, poses a serious risk to NATO, relations with the United States and Turkey’s long-term stability.