Daniel R

Turkey’s far-right has a long, bloody tail, and much of it still wags in broad daylight. The Grey Wolves (officially Idealist Hearths — Ülkü Ocakları) were never just some harmless nationalist youth group. Founded in the late 1960s by Alparslan Türkeş as the paramilitary street muscle of what became the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), they spent the 1970s turning Turkish campuses and cities into war zones — clashing with leftists, Kurds, and anyone who didn’t fit their vision of ethnic...

In May 1966, the Iraqi army marched into the Kurdish mountains with aircraft, artillery, napalm and confidence. The Peshmerga answered with terrain, patience and Kurdish steel.

Kurdistan is not defined by one border, one government, or one capital. It stretches across mountains, plains, rivers, old trade routes, ancient fortresses, modern cities, and memory. Kurdish cities are spread across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and the wider historical region of Kurdistan, each carrying a different part of the Kurdish story. Some cities matter because they are large. Some matter because they are old. Some matter because they became centres of Kurdish politics, language,...