With only days left before landmark elections in Turkey, pressure is intensifying on the one party that could swing the outcome, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). More than 50 party members and canvassers were detained in separate early morning raids in the eastern province of Erzurum, the southeastern province of Sirnak and in the western provinces of Bursa and Izmir, the opposition daily Evrensel reported. Among those detained were senior figures from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the the HDP’s sister organization in the mainly Kurdish southeastern region.

As Turkey keeps up attacks against Kurdish rebels in their stronghold in the Qandil Mountains straddling Iran and Iraq, the plight of Turkish soldiers, intelligence operatives and various other Turkish citizens being held by the militants has received scant attention and there is growing worry among their families they might get caught in the middle.

Some 74 years ago, Meskhetian Turks were deported from their homeland in Soviet Georgia. They've been trying to return to the region ever since.

Karbala’s Lake Milh hasn’t seen a lot of visitors in the last few years. Once a popular picnic destination for Karbala residents, the lake’s water has dwindled, leaving most of it a desert with nothing but derelict fishing boats and dead animals.

A rare agreement has reportedly been reached by the United States and Turkey, with the Syrian Kurds stuck in the middle.

With the Iraqi parliament and High Judicial Council calling last week for a partial recount of votes cast in last month’s general election – and for a cancelation of many results in the country’s Kurdish region – Iraqi Kurdistan now faces some major political uncertainty.

Turkey and the United States seem to have finally agreed on how to solve the Manbij puzzle in Syria, which has been poisoning relations like an open wound for almost two years. A long-awaited summit between Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week in Washington sealed a road map, which represents the U.S.’s official commitment to the withdrawal of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to the east of the Euphrates River.

A flurry of statements by Turkish leaders in recent days have heralded a ground operation on the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, where the leadership and major camps of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based.

The ink on a road map for the Syrian town of Manbij announced Monday between Turkey and the United States has barely dried. But differences in interpretation as to its actual substance are already casting a shadow over the latest stab at salvaging US-Turkish ties and rekindling trust between the two countries. They could result in things getting worse, not better, some analysts warn as Washington grapples to balance ties with Turkey, a critical NATO ally, and its Syrian Kurdish partners in the fight against the Islamic State.

Just hours after Iraq's parliament called June 6 for a partial recount of votes from the May election — where the bloc of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr won a plurality — a massive explosion rocked the section of Baghdad that bears his family's name, Sadr City. At least 18 people were reported killed and dozens were wounded.

What messages are the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) giving to voters on the Kurdish issue? What solution framework does it pledge?

Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish bloc and right-wing nationalists have found common ground thanks to growing worry about potential fraud by the ruling Justice and Development Party in the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections. The Peoples’ Democratic Party and the Iyi (Good) Party have teamed up with the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Saadet (Felicity) Party, a small Islamist party, and several trade unions and civil society initiatives to establish what they are calling the “Fair Election Platform.”

Congressional frustration with Turkey has reached a boiling point.After months of deferring to the Donald Trump administration and forgoing punitive measures for fear of worsening an already sour relationship with a NATO ally, lawmakers are taking matters into their own hands.

Iraqi Kurds are opening a new chapter in their relations with Iran, seven months after Tehran sided with Baghdad in crushing their ambition for independence following a 2017 referendum in which nearly 93% of Kurds opted to secede from Iraq.

Turkey is heading into the June 24 elections with two major alliances. The People’s Alliance is composed of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the ultranationalist National Action Party (MHP), and the anti-Erdogan Nation Alliance is made up of the Republican People’s Party, the Iyi or Good Party, the tiny Islamist Felicity Party and the Democrat Party.