Considering Turkey’s geostrategic location and its military and political power, Western countries need to calculate the cost of alienating Ankara
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Sports has been one of Qatar's leading soft power tools and the country advertises itself through sports as it has a magic transcending politics.
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The Gulf states undertook huge transformations in their foreign policy in 2021.
Tunisia's young and fragile democracy was shaken by this populist coup. What happens next boils down to defending oneself and democracy through peaceful means
Tunisian President Kais Saied's dismissal of the country's prime minister was interpreted as a coup. The only way this process will not progress is if Saied gives constitutional power to the parliament
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.
2021 will be an essential year for Turkey's foreign policy agenda and practice. Reforms, renewal and forward-looking perspectives are likely to be the focal points of Ankara's foreign policy this year. However, Turkey's structural challenges and diverging issues with key allies like the United States and some European countries are unlikely to see immediate resolutions.
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The wave of democratization, which began with the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, took down the authoritarian leaders of Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Whereas the uprising in Bahrain was crushed thanks to Saudi Arabia’s military intervention, Iran and Russia ensured the survival of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.
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In the wake of the Arab insurgencies and revolutions, the Arab world lost touch with its role as the main carriers of Arab nationalism. In reality, the process of the dissolution of the Arab world started on 9/11 when some citizens of Saudi Arabia executed the most devastating terrorist attacks in the history of the United States. Shortly after Sept. 11, the U.S. invaded Iraq, claiming that the Saddam Hussein regime was about to produce nuclear weapons.
In this piece, I will attempt to answer the question that I asked in last week’s column, in which I tried to assess the French approach toward Turkey. I will elaborate on the general view of the Western countries toward Turkey by answering the following questions: Why has the West been otherizing and alienating Turkey? What are the main sources of anti-Turkish sentiments in the West? Why is the West concerned about the democratic institutions in Muslim countries? Is the rise of Turkophobia related to the most recent wave of Islamophobia? Why is the West against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government? Are they worried about the rise of the Turkish state?
After the formalization or normalization of bilateral relations between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel, many observers began to discuss the agreement's impact on Middle Eastern politics and the Arab World. It seems that the biggest impact will be on the future of the “political Arab world,” which collapsed in the wake of the Arab insurgencies and revolutions during the Arab Spring.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plan to remove Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from power went down in the history of Turkish-U.S. relations. The fact that he made that statement some eight months ago does not make the situation any less grave. After all, those controversial words were not uttered by an inexperienced presidential candidate with no idea about foreign policy. Biden, who was President Barack Obama’s vice president, unveiled a thought-out and clear policy on Turkey.
Despotic Arab regimes must cooperate with western states, Israel to maintain power, says analyst
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) celebrated its 19th birthday earlier this week. Over the course of its history, the movement has single-handedly governed Turkey – an accomplishment that has eluded all others in the history of the country’s multi-party democracy.
All eyes turned to Lebanon after Tuesday’s horrible explosion in Beirut. According to the Lebanese health minister, at least 154 people died in the accident and over 5,000 others survived with injuries. An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 citizens have been left homeless. Lebanon, where protests broke out in October over economic hardships, suffered a financial loss of between $10 billion and $15 billion from the explosion.
Public scrutiny of foreign policy is the backbone of democracy. Criticism, when firmly rooted in a rational analysis of the balance of power and national interest, can be constructive. However, when critiques resort to populism, however, they become ideological.
There are also ghosts lingering in foreign and national security policies worldwide. The U.S. had a few of them. While approaching these issues maybe we should first be ready to understand the roots of the phenomenon..
Despite large-scale developments, changes since start of decade, some problems triggering start of uprisings in Arab countries still exist
Arabs have been demanding economic, political and cultural freedom since the outbreak of uprisings at the end of 2010. The Arab Spring, which continued for 2.5 years, from December 2010 to July 2013, brought about a complete breach from the old regional system. The Arab Spring sowed seeds of change in the Arab world, and the region was never the same as before.
This chaotic period, which intensified or started with the Arab Spring insurgencies, has been deepening every other day..
Mohammed Morsi, the first and only democratically elected president of Egypt, passed away on June 17. He was unable to resist the suppression of the Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi regime and suffered a heart attack during his defense in court. Everybody knows that he was isolated in jail, only able to see his family a few times over the past six years. Many observers claim that he was poisoned and that it had killed him gradually. These claims are yet to be confirmed; however, we all know that his death was not natural. The el-Sissi regime killed him, directly or indirectly.