Turkish-Arab relations are getting closer on the level of state policies and consolidated by cooperation agreements, strategic alliances, high level exchange of visits and expansion of trade volume. Although a promising future is ahead of Turkish-Arab relations, civil and human dimensions on the level of public perception on each side seem to be lagging behind political developments. Today, public support is increasingly sought in foreign policies as it provides legitimacy and confidence in pursuing a certain direction. Mobilization of public support in Turkey and the Arab world will boost Turkish-Arab relations on the basis of mutual trust. In order to achieve this goal, both sides should work together to eliminate biased views, stereotypes and negative images held towards each other.

Once Turkey considers and comes to terms with the challenge of formulating a new political language, it can rise to the level it aspires to as a new actor in a new region and in a new global order.

Turkey’s position, in this respect, will have decisive impact on regional power balances between Turkey, Iran and Arab world in post-Arab Spring period. 

It would be misleading to interpret the changes in the Arab world as isolated developments taking place in each and every country.

Turkey has refreshed its social and historical memory of each and every country that experienced change and revolution.

Turkey is so involved in developments in the Middle East that it cannot be a mere spectator to what is currently taking place.

Recent Arab revolutions have brought both opportunities and challenges to Turkish foreign policy. 

Conspiracy theories are instruments of creative thinking. Yet, there is a huge difference between creative thinking and insisting on selective facts that only align with a theory.

SETA’s public seminar “Seeking Justice And Accountability: Rights Abuses And The Arab Uprisings” brought together Joe Stork and Jan Egeland of Human Rights Watch to discuss human rights in foreign policy making, and efforts to advocate for human rights and influence regimes like that in Syria which has turned a deaf ear to calls to end the brutal clampdown on demonstrators.

SETA PANEL DISCUSSION Minister of Foreign Affairs, Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia Rafik Abdessalem Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Time:13:00 Venue: SETA, Ankara Hall

Rafik Abdessaalem, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia and Ahmet Davutoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey will discuss Arab Spring and the relations between Turkey and Tunisia.

SETA Panel brought two distinguished speakers together to discuss Turkish-Tunisian relations, as well as the recent developments in the Middle East and the North Africa: Foreign Affairs Minister of Tunisia Rafik Abdessalem and Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu.

The study addresses the League’s policy proposals, decisions, and reactions regarding the Syrian crisis and con­centrates on what these all policy measures mean for the League as a regional organization. 

The Arab uprisings in early 2011 provided the US and Turkey with an opportunity and a necessity to discover new forms of cooperation and policy coordination due to the urgency for action on the ground.

The majority of those who claim that the Arab Spring has become an Arab Winter due to the violence that erupted in reaction to the obscene movie also happen to think that the Arab Spring itself was a motion picture.

The Arab world is going through fundamental social and political transformation. By the end of 2010, Arab states were stagnant and paralyzed.