On the Middle East with Amberin Zaman

AL-Monitor
  • 4.2 (33)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED MONTHLY
On the Middle East with Amberin Zaman

AL-Monitor Senior Correspondent Amberin Zaman interviews newsmakers, journalists, and thought leaders from the US and Middle East about the latest news and trends in the region. Amberin travels the region for AL-Monitor, specializing in news and analysis in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the Caucasus and writes the weekly Turkey Briefing newsletter. Prior to AL-Monitor, she covered Turkey, the Kurds, and conflicts in the region for The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and the Voice of America, and was The Economist's Turkey correspondent from 1999 to 2016.

  1. Turkish lawmaker Cengiz Candar: 'Turkey's endgame is to destroy Kurdish autonomy in Syria'

    DEC 12

    Turkish lawmaker Cengiz Candar: 'Turkey's endgame is to destroy Kurdish autonomy in Syria'

    Cengiz Candar is a lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish DEM party in Turkey who has spent long years in the Middle East. Candar outlines how Israel has hugely benefited from the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, while Turkey — another big winner — is seeking to thwart Kurdish aspirations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    38 min
  2. How Turkey is playing with fire in Syria with its backing of new anti-Assad offensive

    DEC 3

    How Turkey is playing with fire in Syria with its backing of new anti-Assad offensive

    French academic Fabrice Balanche, who has written extensively on Syria and just returned from a ten-day -long trip there, believes Turkey is paying a high stakes poker game in Syria through its backing of a Salafist group that has made stunning advances against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    26 min
  3. What will Middle East policy look like under the new Trump administration?

    NOV 14

    What will Middle East policy look like under the new Trump administration?

    Jim Jeffrey, the director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center and former Syria Envoy under the first Trump administration, says in his new term Trump could pull US forces out of Syria. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    42 min
  4. What is Turkey’s human rights outlook with new spy law, ousting of Kurdish mayors?

    NOV 7

    What is Turkey’s human rights outlook with new spy law, ousting of Kurdish mayors?

    Human Rights Watch’s Turkey director, Emma Sinclair Webb, analyzes new legislation targeting journalists and civil society and the ouster of Kurdish mayors. The new wave of repression is being greeted with silence by Turkey's western allies. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    20 min
  5. What does the PKK want from Turkey?

    OCT 28

    What does the PKK want from Turkey?

    The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is holding exploratory talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, to end the 40-year-old Kurdish conflict. Turkey has made clear its expectation that the PKK lay down its arms and end the conflict. What would it take for the PKK to comply? Giran Ozcan, executive director of the Kurdish Peace Institute in Washington, believes Turkey needs to grant its estimated 16 million Kurds basic rights such as being able to teach and learn their long banned mother tongue if the effort is to succeed. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    25 min
  6. What does the death of Fethullah Gulen mean for Turkey?

    OCT 22

    What does the death of Fethullah Gulen mean for Turkey?

    Fethullah Gulen, the Sunni Muslim Cleric who was accused of engineering the failed coup to overthrow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has died in self imposed exile in the United States. Once feted as a moderate who steered generations of young Muslims away from radicalism, Gulen did untold harm to Turkey's fragile democracy, says Turkish analyst Selim Koru. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    31 min
  7. What are Hezbollah's choices after Israel killed its leader, and which way will Iran point?

    OCT 1

    What are Hezbollah's choices after Israel killed its leader, and which way will Iran point?

    The risk of a region-wide war is growing as Israel carries out ground and air operations against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and beyond. Hezbollah and Iran have been irreversibly weakened in this latest cycle of violence, argues scholar Lina Khatib of Chatham House.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    23 min
  8. Israel's war on Hezbollah: Why it's existential and what comes next

    SEP 24

    Israel's war on Hezbollah: Why it's existential and what comes next

    Jim Muir, one of the most seasoned Western journalists in the Middle East, has been covering the Arab-Israeli conflict for almost 50 years. Muir tells Al-Monitor that the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is unlike any other in the past, with unforeseeable consequences for both sides, as well for Lebanon and Iran. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    27 min
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About

AL-Monitor Senior Correspondent Amberin Zaman interviews newsmakers, journalists, and thought leaders from the US and Middle East about the latest news and trends in the region. Amberin travels the region for AL-Monitor, specializing in news and analysis in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and the Caucasus and writes the weekly Turkey Briefing newsletter. Prior to AL-Monitor, she covered Turkey, the Kurds, and conflicts in the region for The Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph, The Los Angeles Times and the Voice of America, and was The Economist's Turkey correspondent from 1999 to 2016.

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