MUST-READS

• Kurds fear Erdogan win amid sharper nationalist rhetoric

  Kurds opposed to President Tayyip Erdogan fear victory for him in Turkey's presidential election could reinforce a crackdown the state has been waging against them for years, alarmed by a surge in nationalist rhetoric ahead of Sunday's vote. Kurds, who make up around a fifth of Turkey's population, have been seen as potentially crucial to the opposition's hopes of ending Erdogan's 20 years in power - a reign in which he first courted but then cracked down hard on Kurdish groups.

• Iraq PM risks new crisis as tensions with Kurds resurface

  After more than a year of political deadlock, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani could face a debilitating new crisis with Kurdish leaders that risks undermining his efforts to set policy and compile a badly needed state budget. Sudani, whose government was approved in October, has vowed to reform the economy, fight corruption, improve deteriorating public services and combat poverty and unemployment -- tall orders in a country that has been craving stability and cash since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

• Kurds fear ‘everything will change’ if Syria, Turkey reconcile

  A decade into their experiment in self-rule, Syria's Kurds fear an apparent rapprochement between Damascus and their foe the Turkish government could cost them their hard-won way of life. Before Syria's conflict broke out, the country's roughly two million Kurds were not permitted to learn the Kurdish language in school or celebrate their cultural occasions. A year after Syria's uprising began in 2011, government forces withdrew from swathes of the north – paving the way for a Kurdish-led "autonomous administration" to run its own institutions, including schools where Kurdish was taught.

• Iraqi Kurds take to the streets over economy, alleged mismanagement

  The Kurdistan region of Iraq has been rocked by protests over deteriorating economic conditions and alleged mismanagement by the authorities. Urged by the opposition New Generation Movement (NGM), the unrest has been centered in areas controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Police in Sulaimaniyah used tear gas against hundreds of demonstrators. In Dohuk and Erbil, where the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is dominant, protesters were prevented from congregating by security forces.

• Independent oil exports land Iraq’s Kurds in hot water once again

  The KRG first started to independently export crude oil to Turkey back in 2014. In the first half of last year, it exported more than 77M barrels of oil—generating 4.1B USD in revenues. Most of these exports transited Ceyhan port in neighbouring Turkey. Of note, the Kurdistan region of Iraq also produces 5B cubic meters of natural gas annually. Some observers maintain that output could increase to 40B cubic meters a year by 2035.

• Syria’s Kurds Wanted Autonomy. They Got an Endless War.

  The Kurds of northeastern Syria dreamed of establishing an autonomous, multiethnic and gender-equal utopia. Instead, their breakaway region has been engulfed in conflict since its creation.

• Sadr dubs Shiite rivals ‘national opposition’ after hosting Kurds, Sunnis

  In a sign that he won’t budge on forming a “national majority” government, Iraqi Shiite cleric and politician Muqtada Al-Sadr has hosted his Sunni and Kurdish partners at his Najaf headquarters. Importantly, Sadr has also for the first time dubbed his Shiite rivals as the “national opposition,” indicating that he will not include them in the government he envisions.

• Kurds say United States agreed to stay in Syria

  A leading Syrian Kurdish politician said on Thursday the United States will stay on in Syria to destroy Islamic State, build infrastructure and remain a player in the search for a political settlement after more than 10 years of civil war. After meetings in Washington with representatives of the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon, one of Syria's top Kurdish leaders told Reuters that the United States had given a clear commitment to the Kurds.

• A year on, Syria Kurds displaced by Turkey long for home

  The five-month-old baby girl of Wadha Sharmoukh has only lived in a tent because Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies captured her family's hometown in northern Syria from Kurdish forces a year ago. She was a born in a dusty camp crowded with Kurdish civilians who fled their towns and villages when Ankara's October 2019 offensive seized a 120-kilometre (70-mile) long strip of land on the Syrian side of its southern border.

• Turkey in the Region
  SDF Commander Gen. Mazloum Abdi Calls on U.S. President Donald Trump to Prevent ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of Kurds in Syria

  Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has a message for U.S. President Donald Trump: The United States must act now to bring Turkey in line with the terms of the U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement and stop Ankara’s campaign to drive the vulnerable Kurdish minority out of Syria.

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