Basheer Nafi | 17 February 2016
In Syria, as well as over other issues in MENA, the Obama administration no longer has the appetite to support the Arab revolution
Galip Dalay | 15 February 2016
The Kurdish question dominates Turkey’s political agenda again, this time through low-intensity urban warfare. Just a year ago, a peace deal between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkey seemed attainable, but the situation has deteriorated since the summer of 2015. The government has not sufficiently appreciated how the Kurds’ gains in Syria and Iraq have become the reference points of the Kurdish movement in Turkey. Recent fighting has resulted in the further consolidation of the Kurdish movement around the PKK, which bodes ill for the future of Turkey and the Kurdish movement in general. This vicious cycle can only be broken by the mutual accommodation of Turkey and the PKK on Syria and Turkey’s Kurdish regions. Turkey will need to cease to question the Syrian Kurdish gains and look for some kind of modus vivendi with this entity; the PKK must reciprocate by terminating its urban-warfare strategy in Turkey
Mahjoob Zweiri | 15 February 2016
The nuclear deal and its ramifications have added new elements of tensions between the Islamic Republic and the Gulf States. The lifting of the sanctions will be a significant addition to Iran’s financial capacity, which is likely to further Iran’s Involvement in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. With King Salman’s new foreign policy approach to the Middle East, more Iranian involvement in the region with the removal of the sanctions is probably going to complicate regional politics between the Iran and the Gulf States and will exasperate the competition for regional and international influence.
Dimitar Bechev | 12 February 2016
The Russian perception of the Arab Spring is one of a geopolitical power play, which explains Russia’s limited interest in Tunisia and Egypt compared to its heavy involvement in Syria. Russia is unlikely to concede to leaving Syria as Syria is the place for Russia to balance the Western powers in the region while simultaneously carving out an influence zone for its own foreign policy. Thus, understanding Russia’s approach to the Arab Uprisings is a key factor in analysing Russian presence in Syria and its regional foreign policy.
Mohamad Elmasry | 26 January 2016
The re-solidification of an authoritarian order and the impending uprising in Egypt.
Basheer Nafi | 21 January 2016
Identity wars are contributing to the enfeeblement and decline of states,
Galip Dalay | 21 January 2016
This attack appears intended at disrupting Turkey's tourism industry by depicting the country as unsafe.
Al Sharq Strategic Research | 26 December 2015
The Al Sharq Forum has inaugurated the first stage of the "Jewar" initiative by training 23 activists from 15 different countries in the Al Sharq region on "Social Peace and Reconciliation"
Galip Dalay | 26 December 2015
Turkey needs to strike a fine balance between establishing public order in PKK-occupied places and avoiding military overreaction.
Basheer Nafi | 23 December 2015
Turkey's past tussles with Russia offer no guarantee of similar outcomes today, while geopolitics, rather than history, also holds lessons for Egypt
