Omar Alshikh

01 / OMAR ALSHIKH

Biography

Omar Alshikh (عمر الشيخ) is a Syrian poet, journalist, editor and researcher in political and media affairs based in Larnaca, Cyprus. His experience spans more than fifteen years across Arabic journalism, cultural writing, poetry, television production and research, with a particular focus on Syria, Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean.

He began his professional career in the Syrian press, working as a reporter and editor for Al-Nahda newspaper from 2008 to 2014, covering cultural, local and community affairs. This period provided a foundation in field reporting, interviews and source-based journalism.

Between June 2009 and December 2012, he contributed opinion articles and cultural correspondence from Damascus to Lebanon’s An-Nahar, writing about poetry, fiction, theatre, cinema and Syrian cultural life. This work developed a parallel practice in literary criticism and cultural journalism.

From December 2012 to November 2015, he served as Al-Akhbar’s Damascus correspondent. During the Syrian conflict, he reported on everyday life, displacement, education, public services, local economies, and social and urban change through fieldwork and direct contact with local sources.

Alongside print journalism, he worked in television programme preparation and editing at the Syrian General Authority for Radio and Television between 2010 and 2015, within the production environment of Syrian state television and Syria Drama TV. His responsibilities encompassed editorial preparation, social, political, educational and entertainment programmes, and production and editing processes.

During 2014–2015 he also worked as a drama consultant and script reviewer, examining narrative structure and providing editorial feedback on characters, dialogue and production suitability. This experience intersected with his sustained interest in Syrian drama, cinema and theatre criticism.

After moving to Cyprus in 2015, he began contributing to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed (The New Arab) in December of that year as a journalist, opinion writer and Cyprus contributor. His work addresses political and social developments in Syria, migration, asylum and refugee experiences in Cyprus, identity, citizenship, public discourse and regional affairs.

Since January 2018, he has contributed analytical and research-based writing to Salon Syria, exploring Syrian society, political and institutional change, memory, displacement, and the longer-term effects of conflict on social relationships and collective identity.

His media work has also included journalism and analysis for Baladi News Network (2016–2018) and cultural reporting for Al-Modon (June 2019–January 2023), where he published literary criticism, interviews and cultural features on Syria, Arabic literature, theatre and cinema.

From March 2020 to October 2022, he served as lead producer and researcher at Sharq.Org, contributing long-form Arabic research and media materials, scripts, editorial planning and content addressing peace, pluralism, public debate and Syrian affairs.

Between June 2024 and May 2025, he worked as a journalist and fact-checking writer at Misbar, examining media claims, disinformation, hate speech, political narratives and the mechanisms through which misleading content affects public discourse.

His research interests include political and institutional change in Syria, governance, identity, collective memory, displacement and asylum, as well as Cypriot affairs, Syrian–Cypriot relations, migration, integration, and political, social and security developments across the Eastern Mediterranean.

His approach brings together open-source research, field knowledge, direct interviews and factual verification. His professional skills include research briefs and reports, Arabic editing and proofreading, editorial planning, oral-history documentation, media production and intercultural communication between Arabic and Greek.

He founded and manages the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies and Research, reflecting his interest in regional knowledge, research collaboration and the production of work that contributes to an informed understanding of the area and its transformations.

He studied electronic technologies in Damascus, completing industrial secondary education and further study at the Institute of Electronic Technology from 2006 to 2008. His training also included computer skills in 2007 and television, documentary production, filming and editing in 2010. At the University of Cyprus, he studied Modern Greek for non-native speakers, completing five levels and progressing to advanced coursework.

Alongside journalism and research, he writes poetry and literary prose. He is the author of four Arabic poetry collections: Sam Bard (Cold Poison, 2008); Mata Asbah Khabaran Ajilan? (When Do I Become Breaking News?, August 2009); Mubashir min Jazirat al-Montaj (Live from Montage Island, 2014); and Qabla an Tamtalik al-Ard (Before You Own the Land, 2019). He contributed to a project translating Saad Gebran’s poetry into Greek, published by Vakxikon, and to a five-episode dramatic screenplay, El-Hob Kollo, in 2014.

Arabic is his native language. Having completed five levels of Modern Greek at the University of Cyprus through advanced coursework, he uses Greek professionally and in cultural exchange; his English proficiency is intermediate in professional contexts. He is open to collaboration in journalism, research, fact-checking, editing, translation and shared literary or media projects.