William Gourlay

William Gourlay is a PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, Australia; he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for Modern Turkish Studies at İstanbul Şehir University, Turkey, in 2014-15. Follow him at @GourlayWill.

Conflicting interests in crowded skies prolong Syria’s agony

Turkey-Russia spat is a symptom of different, often incompatible agendas.

By William Gourlay

/ 14 Dec 2015

Politics and diplomacy in Turkey: time to talk

Beset by domestic and regional crises, Turkey has adopted a defensive posture where dialogue would be preferable.

By William Gourlay

/ 26 Aug 2015

Syrian Kurds turn the tables on ISIS

Syrian Kurds have won a strategic victory in Tel Abyad, uniting two of their self-run cantons and putting ISIS on the back foot.

By William Gourlay

/ 19 Jun 2015

Turkey: seeing Kurdish politics through a narrow prism

With its stance on Kobane, Ankara is in danger of undoing advances in the Kurdish peace process. It must act boldly now to set things back on course.

By William Gourlay

/ 2 Dec 2014

Turkish-Kurdish peace: has the hour come?

Could Kurdish voices become part of the political mainstream in Turkey; and could the PKK have its status as “terrorist” removed?

By William Gourlay

/ 28 Aug 2014

After Gezi: Turkish-Kurdish fault lines

Turkey’s political landscape may be shifting in the wake of the Gezi protests, but the Kurdish peace process is flagging and distrust lingers between Turkish and Kurdish camps

By William Gourlay

/ 27 Sep 2013

Can rancour in the south Caucasus go beyond tit for tat?

For close on a millennium Azeris and Armenians co-existed reasonably peaceably. At the end of the Soviet period tensions erupted and they have been bubbling ever since. No need, thinks William Gourlay, because they are actually quite similar. Is it just a case of ‘must try harder’?

By William Gourlay

/ 2 Oct 2012

Turkey’s Kurds: in need of more voices

The military approach, sole government policy since the 1980s, has failed. Hawkish voices are no longer able to dominate discussion and portray the Kurdish question solely as a security issue. Can a solution best be found through democratic means?

By William Gourlay

/ 6 Aug 2012