TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies

🔖Why the PDKI Must Immediately Sever Ties with the Iran Freedom Congress ✍️ Sharif Behruz 🌐Kurdistan Agora 👨‍💻 Behruz, Sharif. (2026). Why the PDKI Must Immediately Sever Ties with the Iran Freedom Congress. TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies: Bonn, Germany. Abstract The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan’s (PDKI) affiliation with the Iran Freedom Congress (IFC) is a fundamental strategic error that severely compromises party sovereignty and the Kurdish national struggle. Structurally, the IFC operates not as an equal-partner coalition, but as a centralist macro-institution that subjects historic political parties to majority-vote overrides and external auditing—equating a national movement with single individual members. Ideologically, the IFC’s platform replicates and exceeds the failures of the 2023 Georgetown Declaration (Mahsa Charter) by substituting explicit Federalism and National Self-Determination with non-committal formulas of “decentralization” and “pluralism” under an unmodified centralist state. This compromise directly violates Dr. Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou’s foundational principle that core political status must precede administrative substance—a warning proven by the KRG’s experience in Iraq, where even constitutional federalism faces centralist encroachment. Strategically, the IFC’s attempt to monopolize opposition diplomacy and its recent “anti-war” statements against external pressure on Tehran directly contradict the PDKI’s doctrine of overthrowing the regime through all viable means, including armed struggle and strategic alliances. To protect its organizational autonomy, honor its historical mandate, and preserve the rights of the people of Eastern Kurdistan, the PDKI must formally sever all institutional ties with the IFC immediately. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/why-the-pdki-must-immediately-sever-ties-with-the-iran-freedom-congress/ 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖“Rojava Has Been Extinguished. It is Gone. It Is A Tragedy” Kurdish Constitutional Struggles, Regional Upheaval, and the Future of Kurdish Self-Determinationm 🎙 An Interview with: Brendan O’Leary, Interviewed by: Mahsun Oti 🌐TISHK Interviews 👨‍💻 O’Leary, Brendan and Mahsun Oti  2026. “Kurdish Constitutional Struggles, Regional Upheaval, and the Future of Kurdish Self-Determination” TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. TISHK Interviews.  Abstract This interview with Prof. Brendan O’Leary—Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and former constitutional adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from 2003 to 2017—examines the Kurdish constitutional experience in, Iraq, the aftermath of the 2017 independence referendum in Southern Kurdistan[1], and the implications of the current regional upheaval for Kurdish political prospects across Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. Drawing on O’Leary’s extensive work in constitutional design and his direct involvement in Kurdish governance, the interview situates Kurdish political struggles within the comparative frameworks of federalism, consociation, and O’Leary’s views on the “right-sizing” of states. O’Leary offers an assessment of the systematic violations of Iraq’s 2005 constitution, particularly the failure to implement Article 140 on the disputed territories, and the internal Kurdish divisions that led to the catastrophic loss of Kirkuk by the Kurds following the 2017 referendum. The interview further addresses the collapse of the Rojava project in northeastern Syria, the PKK’s disarmament without reciprocal guarantees from Turkey, and the strategic calculus facing Kurds in Iran amid an ongoing regional war. Throughout, O’Leary argues that Kurdish political movements have repeatedly been undermined by a combination of great-power indifference, neighboring-state hostility, and internal fragmentation, a pattern stretching back over a century to the broken promises of the post-World War I order. At a moment when the Middle East is undergoing another profound structural rupture, this interview insists that Kurdish voices and Kurdish historical experiences must be understood not as peripheral footnotes to regional geopolitics, but as central to any durable political settlement. Read the interview: https://doi.org/10.69939/2026iv01 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖Broken and Suspended Iranian Political Society Between the State’s Atrocities, External Destruction, and the Bankruptcy of Opposition ✍️ Shahin Modarres 🌐Kurdistan Agora 👨‍💻 Modarres , Shahin (2026). Broken and Suspended. TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies: Bonn, Germany. Abstract In the essay “Broken and Suspended,” international security analyst Shahin Modarres explores the paralyzed state of Iranian political society following the devastating Israeli and American military strikes of June 2025. Modarres argues that while the Islamic Republic is militarily shattered, the Iranian people remain in a “state of suspension,” a liminal condition where they are dispossessed by a repressive regime and bypassed by external actors. Central to this analysis is the “conceptual failure” of the organized opposition, which has historically internalised a permanent state of exception—indefinitely deferring democratic deliberation in favor of perpetual emergency. Through a game-theoretic lens, the author diagnoses a “coordination failure” where mutual fixation on the divisive figure of Reza Pahlavi has created a political void. Ultimately, the essay contends that true liberation must be an act of sovereign political construction by Iranians inside the country, rather than a gift from foreign militaries or diaspora factions. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/broken-and-suspended/ 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖From Fragmentation to Federation: Building the Political Architecture for a Free Iran ✍️ Soraya Fallah DOI: https://doi.org/10.69939/TISHKar03 📄Articles in Advance Abstract Despite decades of organizing, the Iranian opposition has failed to produce a political structure capable of credibly challenging the Islamic Republic. This article argues that the problem is not a lack of unity but a flawed architecture of unity. The dominant model, the unified front, demands premature ideological convergence, creates winner-take-all dynamics, and presents a single point of failure to a regime skilled at fracturing dissent. In its place, this article proposes a federated coalition model grounded in international human rights law, drawing on the coordination record of Iran’s Kurdish political parties as a domestic proof of concept and on the democratic transitions of Spain, South Africa, and Sudan as comparative reference points. The article concludes that a federation anchored in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to self-determination, and transparent transitional governance mechanisms offers the most credible and durable path toward a free Iran. Read the Article: https://tishk.org/blog/articles-in-advance/from-fragmentation-to-federation-building-the-political-architecture-for-a-free-iran/ Save PDF https://tishk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/From-Fragmentation-to-Federation-Building-the-Political-Architecture-for-a-Free-Iran.pdf 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Uniting to End the Iranian Regime’s Lethal Legacy ✍️ Sharif Behruz 🌐Kurdistan Agora 👨‍💻 Behruz, Sharif. (2026).Uniting to End the Iranian Regime’s Lethal Legacy. TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies: Bonn, Germany. Abstract This article presents a scathing indictment of the Iranian regime, arguing that its systematic disregard for human life—from the lethal saturation of its own borderlands with landmines to targeted strikes on civilian infrastructure across the Middle East—has evolved from a domestic tragedy into an existential global threat. By detailing the heartbreaking toll on Kurdish civilians in Iran and the regime’s cynical victim narrative following technical military failures, the text illustrates a leadership that treats its citizens as human shields while prioritizing its own survival in fortified bunkers. The author contends that with the regime currently dragging 90 million Iranians into an unnecessary conflict while enforcing a total communications blackout and economic ruin, the window of opportunity for a decisive international intervention is closing. Ultimately, it issues a final call for the West, the Arab world, and the Iranian people to unite in a moral and strategic imperative to end the regime’s rule, asserting that its removal is the only path to reclaiming ancestral lands, securing global energy corridors, and preventing a future of nuclear-backed fanaticism. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/uniting-to-end-the-iranian-regimes-lethal-legacy/ 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖War, Statelessness and Kurdish precarious lives ✍️ Moureshin Kurdistani DOI: 📄Articles in Advance Abstract This article addresses different political currents in Iran in a moment of war. While its critique is directed primarily at segments of the so-called progressive left, it also extends, to some degree, to anti-imperialist positions and supporters of axis of resistance that identify the United States and Israel as the only imperial powers and overlook other forms of regional domination. Drawing on the positionality of Kurds as a stateless nation, and informed by the work of Judith Butler, this paper argues that a simple “no to war” stance is insufficient to capture the lived realities of populations that have experienced decades of continuous violence without comparable recognition or protection. Rather than prescribing a singular political position for Kurds, the paper seeks to illuminate the complexity of living under prolonged and normalized forms of violence. It asks: what does war mean for Kurds when it is not an exceptional event but an enduring condition? And what does it mean to be Kurdish in a moment when war is newly recognized by some, but has long been an everyday reality for others? By foregrounding questions of precariousness, recognition, and affect, this article seeks to show how moral responses to war are unevenly produced, how certain lives are rendered visible and grievable while others are not, and why Kurdish experiences remain marginal within dominant anti-war narratives. Read the Article: https://tishk.org/blog/articles-in-advance/war-statelessness-and-kurdish-precarious-lives/ Save PDF https://tishk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/War%5EJ-Statelessness-and-Kurdish-precarious-lives-1.pdf 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Extrajudicial Executions in Iran: Between Political Rhetoric and Grave Violations of the Right to Life ✍️ Kawa Khoshnaw 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚Khoshnaw, Kawa(2026): Extrajudicial Executions in Iran: Between Political Rhetoric and Grave Violations of the Right to Life. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract This article shows how the Iranian government employs a “conspiracy narrative” to mask systemic human rights violations and justify the suppression of dissent. By consistently blaming external actors for domestic crises, the state creates a political smokescreen that diverts public attention from internal economic and political failures while legitimizing restrictive security measures. It argues that this entrenched approach to repression extends beyond national borders, significantly impacting Kurdish populations both within Iran and in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Ultimately, the piece highlights a dangerous disconnect between the government’s political rhetoric and its concrete actions, which frequently result in extrajudicial executions and grave violations of the internationally recognized right to life. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/extrajudicial-executions-in-iran-between-political-rhetoric-and-grave-violations-of-the-right-to-life/ 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖The Kurdish Alliance and the Politics of Territorial Integrity in Iran ✍️ Fateh Saeidi 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Saeidi, Fateh (2026): The Kurdish Alliance and the Politics of Territorial Integrity in Iran. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract This article examines the formation of a new Kurdish political alliance in Iran and the debates it has triggered over territorial integrity and political sovereignty. It argues that Iranian nationalism remains structured around a Persian-centered core that systematically marginalizes non-Persian peoples. Kurdish demands are consistently reframed as security threats rather than recognized as legitimate political claims. The article shows how this dynamic reflects a deeper structural contradiction within the Iranian state. It concludes that, under these conditions, meaningful equality is unlikely within the existing framework, and that the question of Kurdish independence emerges not as a distant possibility, but as an urgent horizon where the limits of the Iranian political order are finally laid bare. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/the-kurdish-alliance-and-the-politics-of-territorial-integrity-in-iran/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Unequal Lands: War, Infrastructure, and Survival in Iran’s Kurdish Regions ✍️ Shna Pasbar 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Pasbar, Shna(2026): Unequal Lands: War, Infrastructure, and Survival in Iran’s Kurdish Regions. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract This article argues that the impact of conflict is dictated by a pre-existing “geography of inequality” that marginalizes East Kurdistan. While Iran’s central and southern provinces are defined by high-value economic assets, a century of occupation and systemic underinvestment under both the Pahlavi and Islamic Republic regimes has left Kurdish regions with little more than crumbling, lethal basic infrastructure. Instead of industrial development, the state has prioritized a dense security architecture designed to control a restive population, shifting the nature of wartime strikes from economic disruption to intensified militarization. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that war does not create this inequality but rather reveals it, exposing how decades of political marginalization and militarized state priorities have structured the landscape long before the first strike occurred. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/unequal-lands-war-infrastructure-and-survival-in-irans-kurdish-regions/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Water and Survival in Greater Kurdistan ✍️ Dawod Rasooli Keya and Evin Adin DOI: https://doi.org/10.69939/TISHKar02 📄Articles in Advance The Point When fighting reached the outskirts of Qamishli in the early years of the Syrian conflict, the first thing many residents noticed — before the checkpoints, before the shortages of bread — was that the water stopped flowing. The pumping station had been hit. Families began walking long distances to collect water from whatever sources remained, often contaminated. Children fell ill. The disruption of water, it became clear, was not a side effect of the war but a weapon within it. The destruction of water infrastructure exacerbated water scarcity in Syrian Kurdistan during the civil war. Pipelines, irrigation systems, and water treatment plants were damaged due to bombing and neglect. The Euphrates River, a critical water source for the region, experienced reduced flow because of both upstream damming by Turkey and local mismanagement amid the conflict. Villages in Hasakah and Qamishli faced acute water shortages, forcing reliance on contaminated wells. Read the Article: https://tishk.org/blog/articles-in-advance/water-and-survival-in-greater-kurdistan/ Save PDF https://tishk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Water-and-Survival-in-Greater-Kurdistan.pdf 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Protests, Repression, and Iran’s Uncertain Future: A Look at Iranian Kurdistan ✍️ Kouchar Pezeshk 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Pezeshk, Kouchar(2026): Protests, Repression, and Iran’s Uncertain Future: A Look at Iranian Kurdistan. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract In recent years, Iran has witnessed successive waves of popular protests—movements rooted in deep economic, political, and social crises. From nationwide uprisings to localized unrest, what stands out most is the persistence of public dissatisfaction and its expansion across diverse segments of society. In this context, Iranian Kurdistan has emerged as one of the primary centers of protest, playing a significant role in shaping this broader trajectory. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/protests-repression-and-irans-uncertain-future-a-look-at-iranian-kurdistan/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖A New Balance of Power: Kurdistan’s Strategic Leverage in a Fragmenting Iran ✍️ Shna Pasbar 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Pasbar, Shna(2026): A New Balance of Power: Kurdistan’s Strategic Leverage in a Fragmenting Iran. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract As the regional conflict involving Iran intensifies, Kurdish borderlands in western Iran have emerged as a pivotal geopolitical front. The February 2026 formation of the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK)—a unified alliance of major opposition parties—marks a strategic shift, as these actors now coordinate efforts to challenge Tehran’s authority while positioning themselves as indispensable interlocutors for future governance. While this unprecedented consolidation offers the potential to exert meaningful internal pressure, it simultaneously exposes the Kurdish population to severe risks, including retaliatory military strikes, humanitarian crises, and the historical danger of being instrumentalized by external powers for broader regional interests. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/a-new-balance-of-power-kurdistans-strategic-leverage-in-a-fragmenting-iran/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖The Delusions of National Unity: Why Promoting Autocracy Won’t Bring Democracy ✍️ Sharif Behruz 🌐Kurdistan Agora 👨‍💻 Behruz, Sharif. (2026). The Delusions of National Unity: Why Promoting Autocracy Won’t Bring Democracy. TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies: Bonn, Germany. Abstract This critique examines the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and its recent analytical shift regarding the Iranian opposition. The author argues that the FDD—specifically through the work of analysts like Janatan Sayeh and Saeed Ghasseminejad—has traded pluralistic democratic principles for a Persian-centric, monarchist agenda that promotes centralized autocracy over ethnic inclusion. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/the-delusions-of-national-unity-why-promoting-autocracy-wont-bring-democracy/ 🔍 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp ✉️ Telegram 🎮 Facebook 🐣X 📹 Youtube

🔖A Brief Derridean Reading of “A Cautionary Manifesto by Iranian Cultural Figures” That Opposes Kurdish Newroz. ✍️ Robin Fakhari 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Fakhari, Robin. (2026). A Brief Derridean Reading of “A Cautionary Manifesto by Iranian Cultural Figures” That Opposes Kurdish Newroz. TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies: Bonn, Germany. Abstract Since April 9, 2025, more than 900 Iranian intellectuals, artists, and cultural figures have been signing a manifesto condemning the public celebration of Kurdish Newroz—an ancient spring festival widely celebrated in Kurdistan — as a threat to Iran’s “territorial integrity.” Written in the language of nationalist rhetoric, the document questions why the Iranian regime allowed such festivities to take place. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/a-brief-derridean-reading-of-a-cautionary-manifesto-by-iranian-cultural-figures-that-opposes-kurdish-newroz/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Democratic Pathways: Assessing the Kurdish Political Experience in the Middle East ✍️ Shna Pasbar 🌐Kurdistan Agora 📚 Pasbar, Shna(2026): Democratic Pathways: Assessing the Kurdish Political Experience in the Middle East. Published online by TISHK Center for Kurdistan Studies. Abstract In this article, Shna Pasbar examines the evolution of democratic governance within the Kurdish regions of Iraq and Iran, positioning the Kurdish movement in Iran as a pivotal emerging democratic force in the Middle East. It explores how these movements have adapted democratic principles—such as decentralization, multi-party competition, and institutionalized power-sharing—to fit unique sociopolitical landscapes. ​In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the analysis highlights the development of a formal parliamentary system characterized by a functioning opposition and its role in shaping Iraq’s federalist constitution. In the Kurdistan Region of Iran, the focus shifts to the Coalition of Political Forces of Iranian Kurdistan (CPFIK), illustrating how grassroots cooperation and collective leadership can foster democratic norms even in the absence of state authority. Ultimately, the article argues that the Kurdish experience offers a vital blueprint for the region, suggesting that sustainable democracy is built not just through elections, but through a persistent commitment to dialogue, diversity, and inclusive governance. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/democratic-pathways-assessing-the-kurdish-political-experience-in-the-middle-east/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Engineering Unilaterality Governance, Spectacle, and Transitional Legitimacy in Iranian Opposition Media ✍️ Pedram Baldari DOI: https://doi.org/10.69939/TISHKar01 📄Articles in Advance Abstract This article analyzes Iran International as a structurally decisive opposition broadcaster operating under conditions of informational scarcity within Iran. Drawing on a thirty-hour corpus from the 2022 Jin Jiyan Azadi uprising (baseline) protest cycles and qualitative study of early 2026 protests in Iran, in addition to coverage of the Israel-U.S Military operations against Iran, the study identifies recurring representational patterns: leadership centralization, lexical containment of Kurdish political ontology, interactional asymmetry, and adjacency-based salience sequencing. These patterns collectively produce what I term engineered unilaterality—the stabilization of a singular centralized exit narrative while multi-national and ethnic constitutional possibilities are administratively managed. Rather than alleging conspiratorial coordination, this article advances a structural argument: opposition broadcasting can reproduce centralized state ontology through agenda-setting, classification, and symbolic capital accumulation. Integrating political economy analysis, agenda-setting theory, distribution of the sensible, dynamics of spectacle, plurality, Bourdieu’s symbolic power, and Rawls’s account of public reason, the article argues that transitional legitimacy in multi-national and ethnic polities depends on reciprocity. When constitutional plurality is formatted as conditional or secondary at best, and repeatedly as a state security threat, regime change risks elite substitution within a centralized ontology rather than democratic refoundation. Comparative cases demonstrate how such horizon contraction has historically preceded illiberal restoration. Read the Article: https://tishk.org/blog/articles-in-advance/engineering-unilaterality-governance-spectacle-and-tran-sitional-legitimacy-in-iranian-opposition-media/ Save PDF https://tishk.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Engineering-Unilaterality-Governance%5EJ-Spectacle%5EJ-and-Transitional-Legitimacy.pdf 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖The Opposition’s Kurdish Blind Spot: How Chauvinism Sabotages the Fight for Iran ✍️ Shna Pasbar The Point This article examines how “structural chauvinism” within the Persian-centric Pahlavi opposition undermines the struggle against the Islamic Republic by prioritizing nationalist uniformity over anti-regime coordination. As Iran faces military escalation, the author argues that the Pahlavi camp increasingly frames organized Kurdish forces—who possess rare internal ground capacity—as existential threats to “territorial integrity” rather than as strategic allies. This hostility, rooted in a historical legacy of hyper-centralization, reveals a preference for maintaining a singular national narrative over building a pluralistic, multipolar coalition. Ultimately, the text warns that by delegitimizing the very forces capable of internal resistance, the exile-led opposition risks ensuring that any future transition is defined by internal conflict rather than a negotiated democratic settlement. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/blog/jiyanewe/the-oppositions-kurdish-blind-spot-how-chauvinism-sabotages-the-fight-for-iran/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖The Paper Tiger’s Decapitation and the Path to a New Iran ✍️ Sharif Behruz The Point In this piece, Sharif Behruz argues that the February 28, 2026, joint U.S.-Israeli strikes—which eliminated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC’s top command—represent a deliberate “systemic liquidation” designed to dismantle the Iranian regime’s infrastructure rather than simply forcing it to negotiate. By dismissing both the Monarchist and NCRI blueprints as exclusionary and top-down, the author posits that the only path to long-term stability is a “Grand Bargain” that replaces centralist repression with a decentralized, federalist republic. This shift is validated by recent diplomatic signals from Washington and Jerusalem—specifically Prime Minister Netanyahu’s “Roaring Lion” address to Iran’s diverse nations—which suggest a strategic pivot toward empowering ethnic peripheries like the Kurds to act as “king-makers” and anchors of a new, inclusive union that coexists peacefully with its neighbors. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/the-paper-tigers-decapitation-and-the-path-to-a-new-iran/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖Kurdish Alliance Announced in Iran is a Historic Step and a High-Stakes Gamble ✍️ Halmat Palani The Point On February 22, 2026, five major Kurdish parties in Eastern Kurdistan: the Kurdistan Freedom Party, Kurdistan Free Life Party, Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, Khabat Organization of Iranian Kurdistan, and Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, formed a historic alliance aimed at overcoming longstanding fragmentation and strengthening Kurdish leverage in anticipation of potential upheaval in Iran. The article argues that while the coalition represents a significant step toward political consolidation and preparedness for a post Islamic Republic transition grounded in self determination, democracy, and national rights, it is also a high stakes gamble constrained by internal ideological differences, the non-participation of some factions, regional limitations, and ongoing security threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ultimately, it contends that the alliance’s success will depend not just on regime collapse but more so on its ability to institutionalize unity, develop coherent military and governance structures, and withstand geopolitical pressures. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/kurdish-alliance-announced-in-iran-is-a-historic-step-and-a-high-stakes-gamble/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube

🔖After “Bratîya Gelan”: Rojava, Betrayal Narrative, and the Need for a Kurdish Political Imagination ✍️ Mahsun Oti The Point In critique of "Brotherhood od Nations", Mahsun Oti identifies January 2026 as a pivotal "moment of betrayal." It describes how Arab-majority cities and tribal militias allegedly turned against Kurdish forces and civilians. This is personified by the "desecration" of Kurdish graves in Raqqa, which the author views not just as a military defeat, but as a political diagnosis that the "promised we" of multi-ethnic coexistence has failed. ​The author critiques the ideological framework of Democratic Confederalism and the motto "Brotherhood of Nations" (Bratîya Gelan). The text argues that: ​It forced Kurds to dilute their national identity for a "moral universalism." ​It created an asymmetric burden where Kurds practiced radical pluralism while their neighbors and colonizing states (Turkey, Syria) remained committed to centralized, nationalist, and militarized agendas. ​The ideology is now viewed by many as a "discipline imposed on the colonized" rather than a genuine path to liberation. ​Furthermore, there is a rising "internal rage" within Kurdish society directed at their own political leadership. The "Save Rojava" protests are highlighted as a space where once-sacred slogans are being rejected. The author argues this isn't "primitive nationalism," but a legitimate critique of a political language that treats colonial domination as a "family problem" through the metaphor of brotherhood. ​The text concludes that the "exhausted language" of brotherhood is being replaced by a reparative geography. Instead of seeking a "non-national solution," protesters are calling for Kurdish unity across colonial borders. Read the article: https://tishk.org/blog/kurdistanagora/after-bratiya-gelan-rojava-betrayal-narrative-and-the-need-for-a-kurdish-political-imagination/ 🌐 Web 📷 Instagram 🌐 Whatsapp 💬 Telegram 💬 Facebook 💬X 📺 Youtube