Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

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Demonstrators hold Kurdish flags and flags with portraits of the jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan during a gathering to celebrate Newroz in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir March 21, 2013. Source: REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Big Brother Erdoğan

by Nicholas Birch | Apr 8, 2013 | The Majalla Magazine

Five years ago in Diyarbakır, a Kurdish city built on a volcanic outcrop over a bend in the River Tigris in southeast Turkey, I met a man who was famous for ending blood feuds. Like many in that troubled region, Sait was a pragmatist: by day, he ran a funeral parlor...

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An Egyptian man, living in UAE, casts his vote during the referendum for the Egyptian new constitution, at the Egyptian consulate in Dubai, UAE on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Democracy and the Caliphate

by Abdullah Al-Rashid | Mar 21, 2013 | The Majalla Magazine

An article entitled “Doctrines of People in Elections,” published on March 20, 2005, on the website Islam Today , described elections as a “mishap” and presented the “correct” legal and political stance towards them. The article was written as a response to the first...

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Egyptian Salafists shout slogans during a demonstration demanding the implementation of the Shari’a (Islamic law) in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on November 2, 2012. (AFP Photo)

Déjà Vu in Cairo

by Mehdi Khalaji | Mar 14, 2013 | The Majalla Magazine

I arrived at the hotel at 4:30 p.m. I left my baggage in the room, picked up the map and went out. I had read on the plane that there was a demonstration in Tahrir Square organized by Salafists protesting against the drafted constitution, and instead arguing for...

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Lawrence of Legend

by The Majalla | Jan 10, 2013 | The Majalla Magazine

When I was spending summer afternoons copying Arabic lettering off the blackboard at Oxford University’s Oriental Institute, I would often catch myself staring out of the dull, aluminum-framed windows. Where were the sweeping skylines pricked with minarets, the...