Quran burning amid Qurban Bayram and Erdoğan's message to the West

Sweden made headlines in Türkiye again this week by permitting yet another Quran burning under police protection on the first day of Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha. That heinous act took place near a mosque in Stockholm, as had another burning in January, and had absolutely nothing to do with freedom of expression. Quite the contrary, it was a hate crime targeting Muslims and an obvious act of provocation.

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Quran burning amid Qurban Bayram and Erdoğan's message to the
Can EU formulate an autonomous policy in Afghanistan

Can EU formulate an autonomous policy in Afghanistan?

The United States and the European Union do not share the same views on Afghanistan. In the midst of a new crisis, Europe needs more autonomous foreign policy planning and implementation

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The U.S. invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime, but left the country to a much stronger Taliban. After 20 years of occupation, this withdrawal has brought about many regional consequences for the U.S.

Daesh attack highlights the multitude of challenges that the Taliban face in Afghanistan. Forming a new government, which would include members of the old administration and local groups, may not be the hardest part after all.

America has reached the peak of its loss of power and authority, a decline that started on Sep. 11, 2001, and that has culminated in the Taliban's recent takeover of Afghanistan. After this process, it is now a question of how the balance of power in the world will shift

With the U.S. withdrawal, the West abandoned pro-democracy groups for the second time, thus contributing to the emergence of a geopolitical environment that radicals could easily exploit

Is Washington closing its Afghan chapter for good?

Last week U.S. President Joe Biden finally announced a deadline for the withdrawal of all the U.S. troops from Afghanistan. It was something that former U.S. President Donald Trump also wanted to do but could not achieve.

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Is Washington closing its Afghan chapter for good
How long will 21st-century trends continue

How long will 21st-century trends continue?

The modern international system was established after the Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the French Revolution. Although France, the state representing the new age, was defeated by the traditional empires, the values and institutions of the French Revolution dominated the European continent throughout the 19th century and the rest of the world throughout the 20th century.

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Yemen is one of the poorest countries of the Arab world and has been suffering for decades. Ali Abdallah Saleh's pre-Arab Spring administration was corrupt, leading the Yemeni people to take to the streets, eventually toppling the Saleh government in 2012 when the waves of the Arabic revolutions reached the country.

People trying to put labels on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strong reaction to French President Emmanuel Macron’s Islamophobic provocations make plenty of accusations – all part of a broader, ideologically charged campaign to distort the truth. Critics accuse Erdoğan of waging a "culture war" and contributing to the radicalization of Muslims by promoting an atmosphere of violence. Others question why the Turkish president seeks to write a new, anti-Western story.

Turkey has been upgrading its status in international politics and has recently achieved a higher degree of autonomy in its foreign policy. The stronger Turkey gets, the more threats it faces from friendly countries as well as adversarial actors, and the more it is otherized by foreign governments.

For Western capitals, a Turkey led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a problem they do not know how to manage. It has also been election campaign material for politicians since Brexit. You can be sure that the Erdoğan factor will persist in election campaigns in Germany in 2021 and in France in 2022.

Social scientists, think tank experts and policymakers are trying to grasp how the coronavirus pandemic and the transformations that may occur in its aftermath will influence life all around the world. Medical experts and scientists in various disciplines of natural sciences are trying to find a remedy for the novel coronavirus. In particular, the medical staff who are struggling ceaselessly to save people’s lives in overcrowded hospitals are the new heroes of our time. They are currently at the front lines of the struggle against COVID-19; however, once the virus' spread is brought under control, the focus will shift to the more complicated consequences of the pandemic. There will be a whole new research agenda for social scientists and policy researchers.

Turkish-American relations are experiencing the heavy burden of Washington's alliance with the People's Protection Units (YPG), as the YPG is the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist group, which Turkey has been struggling against for the last four decades. This vision will not change any time soon despite Washington's denial of the PKK-YPG connection. There are many other significant obstacles to the normalization of Turkish-American relations but Washington's flirt with the YPG is the most controversial one.

Turkey's war against Daesh played a crucial role in the defeat of the notorious group and the killing of its leader

The Donald Trump administration continues to use American power crudely every day. Washington not only continues to dismantle the post-World War II liberal order, an American creation, but has also imposed its unilateral national interest on the international arena and its actors.

The horrific terror attack in New Zealand led to the death of 50 Muslims in two separate mosques in the city of Christchurch – the Al Noor and Linwood mosques.

The killing of 49 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand was a terrorist act of critical importance. One of the terrorists, Australian Brenton Tarrant, broadcast the massacre live on social media after posting an 87-page manifesto online.

In the absence of an agreement with Turkey, a hasty U.S. withdrawal from Syria won't solve any problems but rather fuel the present conflicts in the country

The brutal actions of the Saudi kingdom have put President Trump in a difficult position with Congress, strengthening the Democrats' hand against him

Ankara will never allow the YPG, or whatever the Americans intend to call it in the future, to represent Syrian Kurds at the negotiating table