The ups and downs in relations between the U.S. and Russia has resulted in the countries finding themselves on different sides of the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, and in each of these crises Russia has continued to test the U.S.'s commitments.

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) non-permanent member elections took place last week and the results of these elections fostered many debates and discussions.

The elections will not end polarization in Turkish politics. In fact, this election should be seen as the first phase of the presidential elections of Aug. 10, 2014.

The crisis in Ukraine is yet another serious test of U.S. leadership in terms of its international alliances, guarantees and assurances.

Following the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al Assad, who has violated all the red lines in international politics, the US and others have started to discuss a possible military intervention in Syria, but this is mostly because they have concerns about maintaining the legitimacy of the international system.

Turkey shouldn’t abandon its goal of establishing an alternative rating agency due to Fitch’s upgrade.

 SETA PANEL DISCUSSION  Chair:     Taha Özhan, SETA    Panelists:     Ali Çarkoğlu, Sabancı Univ.       Cengiz Çandar, Radikal     Yavuz Baydar, Sabah  Date: June 15, 2011 Wednesday  Time: 14.00-16.00  Venue: SETA, Ankara   

Perhaps the most consequential and drastic decision in Turkish foreign policy in recent months was to engage in direct negotiations with Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. This is significant because, since the onset of Iraq War in 2003, Turkey has sought to ignore or marginalize Iraqi Kurds, and has refrained from all acts that could be viewed as concessions or de facto recognition. Although the Iraqi Kurdish leadership has received red-carpet ceremony in Ankara in the1990s, Turkish foreign policy toward northern Iraq, since the war, has been stymied by anxiety and emotional rhetoric. Indeed, the fear of Iraq’s disintegration and the rise of an independent Kurdish enclave in the north, inspiring or even assisting separatist sentiments in Turkey, have appeared to cloud the possibility of rational evaluation of the pros and cons of policy alternatives. As a result, the policy of projecting illegitimacy to the Kurdish Regional Government has cost Turkey a significant loss of clout not only in northern Iraq but also in the wider Iraqi political affairs, as Kurds have come to occupy significant positions in the central government as well.

Güvenlik çalışmaları son yıllarda ülkemizde gelişme eğilimi gösteren bir alandır. Güvenliğin alanı, muhatapları, üretimi ve tüketimi ile ilgili yeni bakış açıları devlet eksenli bir güvenlik anlayışından, insan ve toplum merkezli bir güvenlik yaklaşımına geçişin sınırlarını zorlamaktadır. Bu çalışma, geleneksel güvenlik yaklaşımlarının dışında bir bakış açısı ile hem devletin hem de insanların güvenliğinin beraber sağlanmasının önündeki iki açmazı, güvenlik-demokrasi ve güvenlik istikrar ikilemlerini tartışmaya açıyor. Sadece teorik bir analiz sunmuyor, aynı zamanda Afganistan ve Suriye örneklerinde meseleyi inceliyor. Bu coğrafyalarda yaşanan güvenlik sorunlarının uluslararası dengelerin yanı sıra ülkelerin iç sorunlarından kaynaklandığını ileri süren çalışma, bölgedeki sorunlara bakışta okuyucuya yeni bir perspektif sunuyor. “Güvenliksizlik” ihraç etmekle itham edilen bu ülkelerdeki sorunun “kendi evlerine çeki düzen” verme sorunuyla ilintili olduğu alanda yapılan çalışmalarla desteklenerek açıklanıyor.