Turkish police have reportedly arrested an estimated 109 people with suspected ties to Kurdish rebels as part of an ongoing campaign to investigate officials with ties to the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK). The KCK, a group that has been largely involved in cases defending the rights of Kurdish municipal workers, has been under investigation by Turkish authorities for their alleged ties to the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). The PKK has been labeled as ...

Maria Fantappie, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, in a piece for the Los Angeles Times' Babylon & Beyond blog, writes that the wave of protests across the Arab world is also having an effect in Iraqi Kurdistan.  Although protests have erupted in the Arab areas of Iraq over a variety of issues, Fantappie states that the Kurdish protests have focused on popular youth discontent with the traditional Kurdish leadership ...

Sean Kane, writing at Foreign Policy, examines the overlooked tensions that have been simmering in Iraq since waves of popular unrest have swept across the Middle East.  Recently, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) deployed units of the Peshmerga, the Kurdish regional security forces, south of Kirkuk following popular protests there in February.  The KRG is worried about anti-Kurdish sentiments in the ethnically diverse city and has reportedly deployed, according to ...