Kurds

The Easter service was held for the first time in eight years at the historical Surp Giragos Armenian Church in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır's Sur district after it reopened for worship following restoration works.

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have regained control of a key border town in northeastern Syria, according to the DPA, citing the UK-based Syrian Human Rights Monitoring Center.

According to information from the centre, SDF fighters seized the city of Ras al-Ain from Turkish forces and their allies, who entered the city two days ago.

New developments have complicated the situation in Syria. Kurdish officials have announced they have reached an agreement with Bashar al-Assad's government forces. The Syrian army marched north against Turkey's offensive in Kurdish-populated areas. This creates the risk of even greater conflict and direct clash between Syria and Turkey.

Authoritarian governments around the world have increasingly embraced the disgraceful tactic of arresting U.S. citizens and holding them as de facto hostages in an attempt to gain leverage over Washington. Iran and North Korea were pioneering practitioners — and both repeatedly extracted U.S. concessions. That probably encouraged other nations, including Egypt and Venezuela.

The Syrian government is open to negotiations with Kurds over their demand for autonomy within Syria's borders, the foreign minister has said, striking a conciliatory tone as military tensions worsen between the sides in eastern Syria.

The UN Security Council on Sept. 21 warned that a referendum on independence by Iraq's Kurdistan region was potentially destabilizing, adding its weight to international opposition to the vote.

I was wandering around in a historic caravansary a little outside Kashan in Iran, a Turkic city that dates back to antiquity. A group of students, from the University of Tehran, I later found out, were sightseeing at the historical building just like me. They were having a conversation among themselves.

Russia said on Feb. 15 that Turkey's shelling of Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party(PYD) and Syrian regime positions in the north of the country was a "provocative" action.

A Kurdish militia that has been backed by U.S.-led air strikes in Syria has joined a new military alliance that includes Arab groups, a statement released overnight said. 

?Profiterole for the Kurds?? (this column, Sept. 10, 2009) recalled the early days of Kudistan Workers? Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan?s 1998-1999 odyssey, when a group of Kurds launched a hunger strike in Klafthmonos Square in Athens in protest of his arrest in Rome.