Matt Broomfield is a freelance journalist and PhD researcher formerly based in Syrian Kurdistan, and the author of Hope Without Hope: Rojava and Revolutionary Commitment.
The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad was met with widespread celebrations in Syria. But the situation is full of unknowns for the Kurdish population, with Turkish-backed militias massively expanding their presence in the country.
Donald Trump’s presidency was bad news for the Kurdish movement, as Washington abandoned Rojava and gave NATO ally Turkey a free hand in the region. But Joe Biden continued to allow Turkish impunity — and Kurds fear Kamala Harris will do the same.
Turkey’s war on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has seen it build a permanent military presence in Iraq. But its de facto occupation is also about building the “Development Road” — a megaproject meant to strengthen Turkey’s power across the region.
Faced with criticism of the war in Gaza, Israeli leaders cynically ask why the world worries about the Palestinians and not the Kurds. Israel’s supposed pro-Kurdish stance is empty posturing — and risks damaging the Kurdish fight for liberation.
The war in Gaza has split Kurdish opinion, marked by often strong hostility to Islamism as well as Zionism. But Kurds’ responses also draw on their experience of statelessness — and point toward a democratic order not based on rival nation-states.
When two British volunteers died in Ukraine this month, they were duly hailed for selflessly joining its fight against invasion. Yet both men had also faced terrorism charges for supporting the Kurds — showing the double standards of British foreign policy.
Railways that once offered quick routes through Yugoslavia are today slowed by old rolling stock and new border controls. Their frayed infrastructure reflects the collapse of Tito’s internationalist vision, and the capitalist Wild West that followed.
After months of brinkmanship, NATO chiefs have announced that Sweden will be allowed to join the alliance. The deal rewards Turkish demands for Sweden’s collaboration in its anti-Kurdish repression — and makes a mockery of NATO’s purported stand for freedom.
In Turkey’s election, oppositionist Kemal Kiliçdaroğlu hopes to end hard-right president Erdoğan’s two decades in power. But given Kiliçdaroğlu’s inconsistent defense of the Kurdish minority, he offers no catch-all solution to Turkey’s nationalist slide.
In Mostar, Bosnia, fascists destroyed the graves of 700 Resistance fighters. The shameful attack is part of a Europe-wide effort to crush the anti-fascist legacy of World War II.