Ethnic/Religious Minorities

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Orthodox Patriarch of Bartholomew at the presidential complex, Ankara, Turkey, June 16, 2026.

Culture

Turkey’s Erdogan meets Orthodox patriarch amid push for reopening Halki Seminary

The meeting comes ahead of US President Trump’s expected attendance at next month's NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey, after Trump personally urged his Turkish counterpart to reopen the Halki Seminary.

US President Donald Trump (L) welcomes Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 8, 2025.

Feature

Backed by Trump and Turkey, Armenia's Pashinyan eyes third term in pivotal poll

As Russia and the West vie for influence, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appears on track to secure a new mandate for his peace agenda with Azerbaijan and rapprochement with Turkey.

Amberin Zaman

By Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Arab-Israeli Knesset member Ahmed Tibi takes part in a demonstration against rising crime rates against Arab-Israelis in Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 31, 2026.

Interview

Ahmad Tibi says Arab parties in Israel can block Netanyahu without joining next government

Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab Israeli Ta’al party, accused US President Trump of enabling Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza and escalate settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Ahmad Tibi

Ahmad Tibi

Israeli Arab lawmaker

San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl speaks at a press conference following a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego in Southern California, on May 18, 2026.

Three victims identified in San Diego mosque attack: What to know

One of the victims, Amin Abdullah, was a security guard at the center who "played a pivotal role in preventing this from being much worse," San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said.

Latest News

Iraq's Shiite alliance nominates Ali al-Zaidi as PM candidate: What to know

Ali al-Zaidi

Iran arrests Ahwazi separatist leader amid war crackdown: What to know

Iranians carry the coffin of one of the people killed in a shooting attack, during their funeral in the city of Izeh in Iran's Khuzestan province, on November 18, 2022. In some of the worst violence since the protests erupted, assailants on motorbikes shot dead seven people, including a woman and two children aged nine and 13, at a central market of Izeh on the evening of November 16, 2022, state media said. (Photo by ALIREZA MOHAMMADI / isna / AFP) (Photo by ALIREZA MOHAMMADI/isna/AFP via Getty Images)

Analysis

Hostage to Hormuz, can Gulf rewire future energy flows to bypass Iran’s chokepoint?

A police speed boat patrols the port as oil tankers and high speed crafts sit anchored at Muscat Anchorage near the Strait of Hormuz on March 30, 2026 in Muscat, Oman.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Analysis

Displacement and dissent: Hezbollah’s war with Israel splits Lebanon’s Shiites

A Hezbollah flag is seen in a destroyed car after an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Chit (Al-Nabi Shayth), Lebanon, on March 26, 2026. In the first week of March, the Israeli army carried out an unsuccessful nighttime commando operation there to recover the remains of Ron Arad, a pilot missing since 1986, triggering airstrikes and destruction in the area that forced residents to flee their homes. (Photo by Fabio Bucciarelli / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

Karim Safieddine

By Karim Safieddine

In Beirut, reporting on politics

Israel’s ‘Mizrahi revolution’ enters a new stage

Education Minister Naftali Bennett is acting to include works by Mizrahi figures in literature and poetry in the school curriculum.

Thousands left stateless in Iran amid ID card limbo

Thousands of mainly ethnic Balochs are deprived of access to basic government services in Iran as they are formally stateless without state-issued ID cards.

Nationality Law leads some Druze to re-evaluate identity

While Druze soldiers and generals in the Israel Defense Forces have taken the lead in protesting against the discriminatory aspects of the law defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, many Israeli Druze are saying the controversial legislation came as no surprise.

Genocide still haunts Iraq's Yazidis

Four years after the genocide against them, Yazidis mark its anniversary without a noticeable improvement in their situation.

Palestinians and Arab Israelis demonstrate in solidarity with protests in the Gaza Strip on May 4, 2018 near the Erez crossing point with Gaza. - Hundreds of Palestinians began gathering along the Gaza Strips border with Israel for a sixth consecutive Friday of mass protests following violence in which dozens of Gazans have been killed by Israeli forces. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Without conscription, will Israel's Arab citizens ever obtain equal rights?

The relative contribution of Arab Israelis to the shaping of Israeli culture, economy and science is more significant than that of their Druze neighbors, yet Israeli Jewish society refuses to acknowledge it.

Israeli Bedouins hold flags during a rally marking the fifth anniversary of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit near the southern kibbutz of Kerem Shalom June 25, 2011. The International Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Shalit is still alive nearly five years after his capture by Palestinian militants. June 25, 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of Shalit's capture. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - GM1E76P1TT401

Israel’s Bedouin sidelined as Netanyahu makes deal with Druze

The Bedouin community is bitter over the offer outlined by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to assuage the Druze community's concerns about the controversial new Nationality Law.

Druze anger rising over Israel’s Nationality Law

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not foresee the degree of anger the Nationality Law would generate among the Druze, with protests spreading quickly, including to the military.

Nationality law makes Israel's Druze second-class citizens

The Druze community in Israel has condemned the Jewish Nationality Law, which effectively demotes them to second-class citizens despite their military and other service to Israel.

Iraqi Turkmen shout slogans holding weapons as they gather to express their willingness to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities on June 23, 2014, in the Iraqi village of Taza Khormato, 20 kilometers south of the city of Kirkuk. Sunni Arab militants hold a string of towns and surrounding areas west and south of the the ethnically mixed oil city of Kirkuk. AFP PHOTO / MARWAN IBRAHIM (Photo credit should read MARWAN IBRAHIM

Turkmens see chance to expand influence in Kirkuk

With Kurdish peshmerga gone, and Kirkuk back under Baghdad's authority, Turkmens in the province feel their time might have arrived.

How a tea kettle came to symbolize Turkish election opposition

The Pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and their imprisoned leader and candidate, Selahattin Demirtas, are running a positive and creative election campaign, rattling the nerves of an increasingly anxious Justice and Development Party and government.

Kurdish singer aspires to run for Turkish parliament on AKP ticket

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surrounds himself with celebrities such as legendary Kurdish Arab singer Ibrahim Tatlises as a means of boosting support.

Ankara backtracks on freedom to commemorate Armenian murders

The 2018 commemoration of the Armenian massacres was memorable for the ban on using the word "genocide" and a big drop in attendance.