Amberin Zaman

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held his first phone call with President Donald Trump on Sunday touching on a range of issues, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to a readout from Turkey’s Presidential Communications Directorate. Erdogan offered support to Trump’s effort to end the three-year-long war and called for closer coordination between Ankara and Washington, the directorate noted in its statement.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

Imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan made a historic call on Thursday for members of his outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to lay down their weapons and end more than four decades of conflict with the Turkish state. Ocalan’s statement was relayed by lawmakers from Turkey’s largest pro-Kurdish DEM party who met with the rebel chief earlier today on the prison island where has been held since his capture by Turkish special forces in Kenya in 1999.

1 month ago | al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

In a widely anticipated statement that many hope will set the stage for ending more than more than four decades of conflict between Turkey and the Kurds, imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan called on his followers Thursday to lay down their weapons and disband the rebel organization. “I am making a call for the laying down of arms, and I take on the historical responsibility for this call,” Ocalan said in his remarks that were relayed at a news conference in Istanbul.

Jan 15, 2025 | al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

Mazlum Kobane, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Pentagon’s top ally in the fight against the Islamic State, is expected to meet with Masoud Barzani, former president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the elder statesmen of Kurdish politics worldwide, three well-placed sources have confirmed to Al-Monitor.

Dec 10, 2024 | al-monitor.com | Amberin Zaman

Turkish-backed Syrian opposition factions are advancing on Kobani, a Kurdish-majority town on the Turkish border, which emerged as a symbol of Kurdish nationalism during the fight against the Islamic State. Well informed sources in northeast Syria confirmed to Al-Monitor that the factions, backed by Turkish air power, had crossed the Karakozak bridge connecting the western bank of the Euphrates river to the eastern side after fierce clashes.