Syria’s new government has adopted a temporary constitution that concentrates much power in the hands of the interim president and retains Islamic law as the foundation of the legal system. The interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, signed the constitutional declaration on Thursday following the dissolution in January of the previous constitution under the authoritarian president, Bashar…
Turkey’s military has kept up deadly attacks in Syria and Iraq on fighters linked to the Kurdish insurgent group P.K.K. in the two weeks since the movement’s founder called on his followers to lay down their arms and disband. The P.K.K. leadership, which is based in the Qandil Mountains of Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, responded…
In the Syrian capital, Damascus, the country’s new leader has hosted a national unity conference and welcomed foreign dignitaries as crowds gather at cafes, speaking out freely for the first time in decades. But 400 miles away in northeastern Syria, a region beyond the control of the Damascus government, battles that have been going on…
The Kurdish guerrilla group that has been fighting a long-running insurgency against Turkey declared a cease-fire on Saturday, days after a call from its jailed leader to disarm and disband the organization which raised hopes of ending a conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people over four decades. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or…
By seeking a peace deal with Kurdish militants, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is attempting something momentous that not only aims to end 40 years of violent insurgency inside Turkey but envisions ambitious change across the region. The call on Thursday by Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K.,…
The imprisoned leader of a Kurdish guerrilla movement that has been waging a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for decades called on Thursday for his fighters to lay down their arms. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and other countries. The group’s leader,…
For more than four decades, Turkey has been fighting an armed insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a militant group that says it seeks greater rights for the country’s Kurdish minority. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, in both P.K.K. attacks on military and civilian targets, and Turkish military…
Syria’s interim president called on Tuesday for unity and the rebuilding of his fractured nation during a two-day conference meant to chart a path forward after decades of dictatorship. Hundreds of participants attended the long-awaited “national dialogue” to bring together the country’s many religions and sects in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Monday and Tuesday….
President Trump’s sweeping executive order to halt foreign aid threatens to freeze a U.S. program supporting security forces inside a notorious camp in the Syrian desert that holds tens of thousands of Islamic State members and their families, Syrian and U.S. officials said. The order has also wreaked havoc on another U.S. organization in Syria…