The Battlefront of the ISIS-PYD Encounter Ayn Al-Arab (Kobani)

When has the PKK and the PYD’s relation with the Asad Regime started and how has it evolved? Why has ISIS begun to target the PYD? What are the possible implications of the fall of Ayn Al Arab?

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The Battlefront of the ISIS-PYD Encounter Ayn Al-Arab Kobani
Assad's Trick and his Increasing Invisibility

Assad's Trick and his Increasing Invisibility

When the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) emerged on the international public scene, the Syrian regime achieved multiple strategic goals at the same time.

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The anti-ISIS campaign has evolved into a chess game, played not only by Washington and Turkish officials, but also other regional actors involving a number of subsequent and contradictory moves.

After the U.S. decision not to attack the Syrian regime, questions and skepticism started to emerge about the U.S. strategy in Syria.

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.

U.S. officials are eager to point their fingers at Turkey and blame Ankara for its inaction in the crisis in Kobani.

Kobani: A City on Fire

The recent clashes around Kobani are once more demonstrating that the military airstrikes by the international coalition will not be sufficient to eradicate the ISIS from the region without a comprehensive strategy to resolve the crisis in Syria and Iraq at the same time.

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Kobani A City on Fire
Opportunism and the Disease of Pragmatism

Opportunism and the Disease of Pragmatism

The Kurdish political movements in both Syria and Turkey should give up being pragmatists in order to have pragmatic gains. The Kurdish political movements should also give up being opportunists in order to benefit from the opportunities in the region.

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Turkey wants regional players to establish a regional order in a peaceful and cooperative manner; it wants governments to reflect the sentiments of their citizens and end the conflicts in the region.

Erdoğan was right when he protested Western media reports associating Turkey with ISIS and the politically motivated decisions of credit rating agencies that contradicted their approach toward similar economies.

Ending sectarian politics and establishing a new inclusive government in Baghdad is essential to diminishing the continuing support for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), foreign policy expert Mehmet Özkan stresses.

First and foremost, the Abadi government will have to accumulate enough power to discourage Sunni tribes from joining ISIS fighters. The main question remains: what will happen once ISIS is defeated?

The U.S. is seriously considering taking action against ISIS now even though the chaos in Syria and Iraq could have been avoided if the U.S. had taken action in the first place.

In this new era of Turkish politics, unsurprisingly there will be significant continuities in many public policy realms. The new government formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu will continue most of the policies and projects that were started earlier.

Addressing the problem on both sides of the border would necessitate a more comprehensive strategy. The new strategy should involve actions more than PR campaigns and newspaper headlines.

We will see in the coming days if these operations in Iraq are some face saving measures for the Obama administration or a real attempt by the U.S. administration to start fulfilling its great power responsibilities.

There is an Israel problem in the Middle East and there are other crises that are gangrened around this issue. Different actors talk about the problem, but they themselves exploit the very same problem.

The Demirtaş campaign serves the Kurdish political movement's efforts to turn an ethnically-oriented, regional political party into a national force and to reach out to non-Kurdish voters - which is why they recently established the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

Today, Israel does exactly the same thing as 2008 and 2012, as the Gaza massacres merely attest to a shallow strategy. It spills blood yet again in Ramadan 2014.

Ahead of the presidential election in Turkey, candidates begin to challenge each other over foreign policy.