Galip Dalay | 02 December 2015
Turkey will do its utmost to de-escalate tensions with Russia but it is unlikely to remain silent where its national security is threatened in Syria.
Al Sharq Strategic Research | 02 December 2015
Turkey, with its massive military power and lucrative developing economy, and Qatar, with its large amount of natural gas resources and effective diplomatic prowess, are two emerging powers in the Middle East as vigorous countries in conflict resolution processes and claiming for the gradual regional transformation. They took similar positions towards the Arab Uprisings. Both countries have been supporting popular movements against the pro-status quo regimes. They have been backing the Syrian opposition against the Assad regime and have been searching for an Assad-free Syria.
Dimitar Bechev | 27 November 2015
But with Turkey and Russia more friend than foe, is it a battle royale or pissing match?
Galip Dalay | 24 November 2015
Local and regional developments since the outbreak of the crisis over the Kurdish presidency indicate that Masoud Barzani will remain in power.
Galip Dalay | 24 November 2015
After its electoral comeback, the AK Party has to deal with crises in Syria, Iraqi Kurdistan and negotiating with Europe over the refugee issue.
Basheer Nafi | 24 November 2015
Iran and the Arab states of the counter-revolution have wreaked havoc, death and destruction - giving way to brutal groups like ISIS.
Basheer Nafi | 24 November 2015
The fate of Egypt and Syria shows the need to revisit the rapprochement between Islamist and nationalist currents that has been lost since 2011
Basheer Nafi | 12 November 2015
Understanding the relationship between Islamism and Arab nationalism has always been problematic. The separation between Islamists and Arab nationalists, and political conflict between them is a relatively late development in modern Arab history. From the early 1950s, a series of military coups brought young Arab nationalist military officers to power in many Arab countries, including Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Algeria. Arab nationalism, expressed in exclusive, radical and even socialist discourse, became the official ideology of these Arab states. The military background of the ruling forces, their fragile base of legitimacy, and the sweeping programs of modernization and centralization they pursued, turned most of their republican, nationalist countries into authoritarian states. One of the major results of this development was the eruption of a series of confrontations between Arab nationalist regimes and Islamic political forces, in which questions of power, identity and legitimacy were intertwined.
Galip Dalay | 12 November 2015
Beneath the euphoria and much vaunted hype of Kurdish unity as a result of the Kurdish fight against ISIS, the seeds of discord and dangerous rivalry have been planted. This rivalry, which is reminiscent of the old bloody and perilous rivalries in Kurdish politics, is taking place along two axes: on the regional setting between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Worker Party (PKK), and within the context of the KRG between the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
