Celebrated journalist and Kurdistan expert Fréderike Geerdink addresses the deep and open wounds left after entire neighbourhoods of Kurdish cities were razed by the Turkish Armed Forces in 2015 and 2016.

"What needs to be done, is to stop the occupation, both of Palestine and of Kurdistan. Land can be shared with humanity and equality. It can. And it must be. Because the alternative is permanent annexation and the oblivion of Palestinians and Kurds. We can never allow that to be the end of the occupation."

This week, Israel has been on trial at the International Court of Justice, and the International Court has been on trial before the world. The case is of universal importance, including for the Kurds, who are threatened with being trapped in the centre of an expanding Middle East war, and who are suffering their own persecution at the hands of Turkey. Meanwhile, in contrast to the debates about genocide in the Hague, Selahattin Demirtaş finished his defence speech in Turkey by talking about peace and living together, and North and East Syria continues to try and work for a positive future despite growing frustrations with the role of the United States.

Turkey's attacks in North and East Syria impact not only the present but also play into the hands of active ISIS cells. Sarah Glynn discusses the dangerous repercussions.

This week saw the first provincial elections in Iraq in ten years. The ethno-sectarian nature of Iraqi politics seems to be taken for granted, but how did it get this way and what are the implications? What is the background and significance of the Kurdish vote in Kirkuk, and how did the Yazidis vote in Nineveh? This review also looks at recent diplomatic meetings between Iraq and Turkey, and between Turkey and Iran; at the Syrian Democratic Council conference; and at the forces trying to destabilise North and East Syria. It looks at attempts to disrupt democracy in Turkey, and at two positive rulings from Turkey’s Constitutional Court; at anti-immigrant legislation in Europe; and at a Christmas greeting in Syriac

Sırrı Süreyya Önder, the deputy speaker for the Turkish parliament, has restored human dignity to the parliament, allowing everyone to breathe, argues Fréderike Geerdink. "Even if you were to threaten my life, I would not interfere with a person’s mother tongue,” Önder had said, after arguments over DEM MP George Aslan's use of the Syriac language in parliament.

The PKK, founded 45 years ago on Monday, has given birth to all the different organisations that make up the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Terrorist listing allowed the London celebrations of this anniversary to be attacked by the police. By contrast, Japan has shortened their list of international terrorist organisations to exclude the PKK – along with other groups such as Hamas. This week’s review also looks at the nature of Hamas; the hypocrisy of Turkey’s words of support for Palestine while they continue to trade with Israel; the impact of current events on North and East Syria - especially as described by the SDF’s Commander in Chief, Mazloum Abdi; judicial corruption in Turkey; and some frightening statistics from Iran.

"How to struggle? It’s an extremely important but also an extremely difficult question. And I can’t answer it. I can only share my thoughts about struggle – thoughts for which I am indebted to the Kurdish political movement. Educate, organise, analyse, are the three words that I have learned are key."

Attempts by the new leader of the CHP to build bridges with Kurdish voters demonstrate the huge gulf still to be crossed by Turkish politics; while recent news provides many examples of the deliberate erosion of Kurdish lives and culture by the Turkish state. This week’s review also looks at the role of Hüda Par, attacks on North and East Syria, Germany’s thirty-year ban on the PKK, and the campaign for Öcalan’s freedom.

During its ongoing invasion of Gaza, Israel has so far killed over 13,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and forcibly displaced 1.7 million of the region's 2.3 million Palestinian residents. Almost 1,300 Israelis were also killed by Hamas and other militant, Islamist groups during the 7 October attack on southern Israel which sparked the invasion, while the crisis has also led to geopolitical ramifications throughout the Middle East and across the globe.