Obama's Legacy and the Trump Presidency

Trump will focus his time and energy on dismantling Obama's legacy at home and abroad. The question remains whether he, who proved eager to take on the establishment, can overcome the 'institutional' obstacles in his path

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Obama's Legacy and the Trump Presidency
Rapprochement between Turkey Iraq Implications for the Region

Rapprochement between Turkey, Iraq: Implications for the Region

In a historic visit by the Turkish PM to Iraq, the two governments emphasized mutual respect for one another's territorial integrity and national sovereignty, cooperation to fight against terror and non-state actors. This rapprochement between Turkey and Iraq will consolidate the Iraqi return to a national and independent foreign policy

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It's important to keep in mind that it isn't just U.S. citizens who are unsure about America's new role in the world.

Constitutively, the “Euphrates Shield” operation had two phases. The first phase aimed to liberate several villages and areas in the west and south of Jarabulus in order to be able to lay siege to the city. In the second phase, an offensive attack enabled the entrance of the aforementioned forces to the city center.

Western leaders should stop confessing and try repentance instead. The world would be a better place if they refrained from making mistakes on purpose

The Chilcott report claims that things in the Middle East would be quite different than the current situation if the U.S. and U.K. decision makers at the time of the Iraq war had pursued a logical strategy

The Question of Federalism in Syria

Russia wouldn't want to lose face in Tehran despite having bowed to Israeli pressures to limit their support for Bashar Assad and Hezbollah. Willing to do anything to weaken the Assad regime and Iran, Israel openly supports a federal solution.

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The Question of Federalism in Syria

The U.S.'s failed strategy to fight DAESH, which shares outrageous similarities with al-Qaeda, despite the differences between those times and today, showing the state is taking no lesson from former experiences.

The Syrian refugee crisis, escalating terror attacks and global economic growth were the headlining topics of the G20 Leaders Summit successfully hosted by President Erdoğan.

Former British PM Blair's answer to a question about the causes for the emergence of ISIS and the war in Iraq are confusing.

On July 13, 2009, an intergovernmental accord on the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline was signed. The 3.300 kilometer long pipeline will transport Caspian, Iraqi and likely Iranian gas in the future depending on the changing situation and its relationship with the USA, and to a lesser extent Egyptian natural gas resources, via Turkey to Austria. The Turkish leg of the pipeline will be 2000 kilometers long.Given that the pipeline is designed to export non-Russian Caspian resources – Azeri, Kazakh, and Turkmeni - to European markets, thereby, diversifying energy supplies for western energy markets, several European states and the US have supported this project. The project is planned to become operational in 2014 with an estimated cost of 7.9 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars). In addition to enhancing its energy corridor role, the pipeline will provide significant benefits to Turkey in terms of revenues, employment, etc.

Al-Jazeera invited almost a dozen Turkish scholars and journalists to its Fourth Annual Forum last month in Doha. It was the first time so many Turkish participants attended. Why did al-Jazeera invite so many Turks to an event focused on the Arab world? More generally, why do people in the Middle East pay attention to Turkish perspectives on their affairs?

Turkey's relations with NATO in parallel to signs that the United States and the European Union have embarked on a process of greater transatlantic integration demands closer attention

Turkey’s new seat in the UNSC marks a historic achievement for Turkish foreign policy since 1961. Turkish diplomatic corps around the world and political leaders have lobbied towards this end since 2003.

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.

The escalation in attacks by the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) on Turkish troops and civilians has brought Turkey to the brink of war with the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has declared that unless action is taken against the PKK, Turkey will act unilaterally. Despite the intensifying rhetoric, however, the crisis may be an opportunity to find a lasting solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey and the region

In one of his farewell speeches the outgoing Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer reiterated his belief that the regime in Turkey is in danger. He thinks that if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan becomes president the secular principles of the republic will be jeopardized. President Sezer is not alone in this.

The picture was clear and symbolic: on the EU’s 50th birthday German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented as a gift to French President Jacques Chirac a cup with a depiction of Napoleon’s invasion of Alexandria in 1798. Never mind that Turkey, as a candidate country, has not been invited to the party. Never mind either the fact that the current EU president, Merkel, has nothing to hide in her opposition to EU’s membership.