When we talk about the ‘Kurdish question’ in Turkey, two of the major problems being discussed are authoritarianism and anti-Kurdish racism. Kurdish people face state-sponsored discrimination and violence on the basis of their ethnic identity. They also lack access to meaningful democratic avenues by which to effect political change. A timely new paper by Dr. Lisel Hintz and Harun Ercan, “Permissive prejudice in localized authoritarian consolidation: evidence from Turkey's municipalities...

On March 31st, millions of voters across Turkey went to the polls to elect mayors and municipal councils. For the pro-Kurdish political movement and millions of Kurdish voters, the elections were particularly critical. Local democracy gives Kurds a chance at self-governance and an opportunity to implement policies that would be impossible to put into practice at the national level in Turkey's authoritarian, nationalist political climate. At the same time, the Turkish government under Presiden...

This is a recording of a live Kurdish Peace Institute event held on March 26, 2024. In March 2019, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the U.S.-led Global Coalition Against Daesh captured the last ISIS-held territory in Syria, marking the territorial defeat of the caliphate. Since then, the United States has maintained a military presence in Syria in order to ensure the enduring defeat of the jihadist group. The SDF continues to conduct counter-ISIS operations and keep tens of thousands of ISIS-...