THE KURDISH CENTRE FOR STUDIES -

There is no greater irony than for a foreign head of state to ask the leader of a country hosting him on its territory to stop his regime from harming its vulnerable groups and communities, as was the case in the Paris meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Ahmed al-Sharaa. However, were the demands made by […]

The fall of the dictatorship of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, late in December 2024 has opened the door wide for speculation about what the future holds for the religiously diverse and ethnically mixed country. Strangely, two days after Assad had fled, Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, called for the protection of minorities […]

Syria has deep geopolitical and historical significance in the Middle East. The complex and intertwined interaction between politics and religious faith has always been the cornerstone in shaping the modern Syrian state and its turbulent development path. Throughout history, Syria has been a fertile ground where the roots of the interaction between politics and faith […]

Since the Hamas offensive a year and a half ago, the Middle East has been witnessing events of utmost importance in terms of their results achieved thus far and their repercussions on the region as a whole, as well as on international issues such as the Iranian nuclear file and the Ukraine crisis. With the […]

In a commentary on the CSIS podcast published on March 20, 2025, conducted by John Alterman with the journalist from The Economist, Nicolas Pileham, who interviewed the interim Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, numerous impressionistic phrases are used in an attempt to craft a well-rounded profile of the new Syrian authority figure. According to Pileham’s portrayal, […]

The statement issued by the Syrian presidency in response to the outcomes of the ‘Kurdish Unity Conference’ held in the city of Qamishlo on 26 April 2025, contained many fallacies that were, as usual, wrapped in nationalistic and unity slogans. This was done to market the statement to Syrians and public opinion as a defender […]

In two different historical contexts, more than a hundred years apart, two political statements or declarations emerged, reflecting the aspirations of Syrians toward independence and building a national state in Syria: the first is the ‘Declaration of the General Syrian National Congress’ (1920), and the second is the ‘Declaration of the Kurdish Unity Conference’ (2025). […]

The election in November 2024 of Donald Trump for a second presidential term in the White House was received with anxiety by people in the autonomous Kurdish enclave of Rojava. A month later, the secularist Arab nationalist regime of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, fell to Islamist- leaning extremist groups. This transformative shift- which could […]

Two hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded his speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 27, Israeli jets killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a raid on his headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The next day, from Jerusalem, Netanyahu described Nasrallah’s death as “reshaping the power […]

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) have reached an agreement to form a coalition government, weeks after the February 23, 2025, parliamentary elections.  Analysts describe the results as a significant shift in the German political landscape.  The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party emerged as the runner-up, securing 20.8% of […]