This is Beirut

Erdogan and Pro-Kurdish MPs Meet in 'New Phase' of Rapprochement

This is Beirut, 07/07 17:35 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish DEM party Monday to discuss the next steps after PKK militants agreed to end their decades-long insurgency. DEM, Turkey's third-biggest party, has played a key role in facilitating an emerging peace deal between the government and jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan, whose ...

Kurdish Delegation Heads to Damascus for Talks

This is Beirut, 31/05 16:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces

A delegation from northeast Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish administration was headed to Damascus on Saturday for talks on implementing a March deal to integrate Kurdish institutions into the state, a member of the delegation said. Under the agreement signed by Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led ...

Syria's Kurd to Insist on Decentralized Government in talks

This is Beirut, 26/05 16:45 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds

Syria's Kurds will insist on a decentralized system of government in upcoming talks with the new authorities in Damascus, a senior Kurdish official said on Monday. The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria signed an agreement with the new Syrian government in March to integrate into Syria's state institutions. The two sides ...

Syrian Government Visits Notorious Camp for First Time Since Kurds Deal

This is Beirut, 24/05 18:55 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Al-Hol Refugee Camp

A Syrian government delegation visited a notorious camp in the Kurdish-administered northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State group jihadists, the new authorities' first visit, both sides said Saturday. Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the northeast hold tens of thousands of people, many with alleged or perceived links to the ...

Syrian Forces Deploy at Key Dam Under Deal with Kurds

This is Beirut, 12/04 17:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Syrian Democratic Forces Kurds

Security forces from the new Islamist government in Damascus deployed Saturday around a strategic dam in northern Syria, under a deal with the autonomous Kurdish administration, state media reported. Under the agreement, Kurdish-led fighters of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will pull back from the dam, which they captured from the ...

Kurdish Authorities and Syrian Government Reach Deal on Tishrin Dam

This is Beirut, 10/04 20:50 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Syria Kurds Damascus Tishrin dam

The Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria have struck a deal with the central government on running a key dam they captured from jihadists with US support, a Kurdish source said Thursday. "An agreement has been reached between the autonomous administration and the Syrian government for the management of the Tishrin Dam" on the Euphrates ...

Pro-Turkey Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area

This is Beirut, 08/04 19:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Turkey Syria Afrin Kurds

Pro-Turkey Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in an historically Kurdish-majority area of the country's north, which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday. The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria's new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the ...

Syria's Kurds Reject Legitimacy of New Government

This is Beirut, 30/03 17:35 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Syria Syrian Government Kurds

The Kurdish-led administration in northwestern Syria on Sunday rejected the legitimacy of the new national government formed by the Islamist coalition that toppled longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad in December. "Any government that does not reflect the country's diversity and plurality cannot ensure proper governance of Syria," it said in a ...

Peace Hopes Remain Remote as Turkey's Kurds Mark 'Newroz'

This is Beirut, 21/03 17:10 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Middle East Turkey Kurds New Year

Three weeks after jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan urged his militants to disband, Turkey's Kurds were celebrating their Newroz New Year Friday with peace prospects still remote. The efforts to broker a solution to the decades-long Kurdish conflict have likely been complicated by the widespread unrest provoked by Wednesday's arrest of Istanbul ...

Kurds of Syria Celebrate Agreement with Damascus

This is Beirut, 13/03 20:05 - Reading : less than a minute

Damascus Syria Kurds SDF PKK

The Kurds of Syria celebrate the agreement reached between the new Syrian government and the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are primarily made up of Kurds.

Syria Rejoices: Agreement Between the SDF and the Interim Government

Yara Germany, 11/03 15:50 - Reading : less than a minute

Syria SDF KURDS Demonstrations

The Syrian presidency announced on Monday an agreement with the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to “integrate” all civilian and military institutions of the Kurdish autonomous administration into the Syrian state—a decision welcomed with joy by Syrians.

Ocalan Calls for PKK to Drop Weapons, be Dissolved

This is Beirut, 27/02 16:50 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

PKK Abdullah Ocalan Turkey Kurds

Jailed PKK founder Abdullah Ocalan on Thursday called for his Kurdish militant group to lay down its weapons and dissolve itself in a landmark declaration read out in Istanbul. "All groups must lay down their arms and PKK must dissolve itself," he said in a declaration drawn up in his cell on Imrali prison island where he has been held in ...

KURDS