Kaya Genç Ruffians, Gamblers, Thieves, Outcasts Over more than two decades, the amateur historian Reşad Ekrem Koçu led an ever-expanding project to document Istanbul’s vanishing past. October 4, 2023
Kaya Genç Cries from the Rubble After last week’s earthquakes, many thousands were trapped under ruins in Erdoğan’s “New Turkey.” February 15, 2023
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad Syrians Die in Western Media Darkness When the world stopped paying attention to Syria’s civil war and its refugees, it wasn’t just the regime that welcomed impunity. A European government took the invitation, too. July 20, 2021
Viken Berberian Armenia’s Tragedy in Shushi Purged of its Armenian population during fighting over the disputed enclave of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, the historic center now faces cultural cleansing. December 21, 2020
Elizabeth Tsurkov The Syrian Mercenaries Abroad The nearly decade-long civil war has created an entire generation of young men whose only marketable skill is fighting. October 16, 2020
Patrick Strickland A Greek Backlash to the EU's Refugee Warehouse Although the EU poured billions of euros into Greece to provide facilities and improve asylum services, the closed borders turned Greece into what refugee rights groups described as a “warehouse.” March 4, 2020
Elizabeth Tsurkov Who Are Turkey’s Proxy Fighters in Syria? Mazen, a Levant Front fighter, used the third person to describe his faction’s participation in Turkey’s Syrian intervention: “they [the SNA fighters] are employees of the Turkish state to protect its border.” Then he switched to the first person: “The Turks are using us as cannon fodder. We’ve become mercenaries.” November 27, 2019
Khabat Abbas A Dispatch from Kurdish Syria Our American allies turned their backs on us. There is a proverb in Kurdish that says, “Don’t spit in the dish you ate from.” The Americans spat in their dish. October 23, 2019
Debbie Bookchin Report from Rojava The US maintains that its relationship with the SDF alliance of Kurdish, Arab, and Syrian militias has been purely “transactional.” But this five-year collaboration has had huge military significance for Western security interests in the region. April 4, 2019
Ayten Tartici Turkey’s Photography Doyenne The first academically trained Turkish female photographer, Yıldız Moran is enjoying a much deserved revival in Turkey, with some of her photographs being exhibited for the first time. March 9, 2019