The current meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian presidents in Ankara comes only a few weeks before the multilateral summit in Annapolis, Maryland, in the US.  

Writing forty years ago in the "Journal of Contemporary History" Andrew Mango, the prominent British historian of modern Turkey, noted Turkey's potential new role in the Middle East as a "middle-power." He observed that "Turkey is socially and technologically the most advanced country of the Muslim Middle East.

The excitement Turkey generates in the Arab world and beyond (the Balkans, Europe and parts of Africa can easily be added to the list) seems to be sustained by the confluence of substantial changes in three areas: Turkey, the region and the world.

SETA PUBLIC LECTURE By  Alon Ben-Meir,  Professor of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies at the Center for Global Affairs, New York University Date: January 14, 2010 Thursday  Time: 11.00 – 12.30 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

Iraq is like a miniature of the Middle East with its population structure and social characteristics. Each domestic actor in Iraq has relations with ethnic and religious groups in the neighboring countries.

Turkey's soft power is on the rise in the Middle East and there is a widespread positive perception of Turkey's involvement in the region.   SETA PANEL DISCUSSION Organized by SETA &Al Sharq Centre for Regional and Strategic Studies   Chair:       Bulent Aras, SETA & Istanbul Technical University Panelists:       Mustafa Al Labbad, Al Sharq Centre for Regional and Strategic Studies     Akif Kireççi, Bilkent University Date: April 08, 2010 Thursday Time: 10.30 – 12.30 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

SETA PANEL DISCUSSION Chair:       Bulent Aras, Bulent ARAS, SETA, Coordinator, Foreign Policy Studies Panelists:        Robert Malley, International Crisis Group, Middle East and North Africa Program Director     Joost Hiltermann, International Crisis Group, Deputy Program Director, Middle East and North Africa     Peter Harling, International Crisis Group, Project Director (Iraq, Lebanon and Syria) Date: March 12, 2010 Friday Time: 13.00 – 14.15 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

CONFERENCE Organized by Yildiz Technical University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Strategic Research Centre (SAM) Politics, Economics and Social Research Foundation (SETA) Global Political Trends Center (GPOT) Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) USA Consulate General of Istanbul Date: 15-16 October 2010 Venue: Yildiz Technical University Presidential Hall

SETA PUBLIC LECTURE Chair:       İhsan Dağı, METU Speaker:       Roger Cohen Date: October 21, 2010 Thursday Time: 16.00 Venue: SETA Foundation, Ankara

Returning to Tunisia after 20 years in exile,the opposition leader Ghannouchi said Turkey provided political inspiration.

INSIGHT TURKEY DEBATES   Chair:     İhsan Dağı, Insight Turkey    Speakers:    Kemal Kirişci, Boğaziçi University     Alper Dede, Zirve University      Date: June 2, 2011 Thursday  Saat: 14.00-16.00  Venue: SETA, Ankara

‘What are the implications for the Palestinian problem?’ and discuss the New Middle East a year after the first flotilla and in the wake of the Arab Spring.

 SETA PANEL DISCUSSION  Chair:    Talip Kucukcan, SETA   Panelists:   Taha Özhan, SETA, President   Bill Park, Kings College London   Mohammed Ayoob,Michigan State University  Date: October 13, 2011 Thursday  Venue: SETA, Ankara Hall

Arab Spring has placed Turkey’s proactive Middle East policy at the top of international attention once again.

The wave of uprisings that spread through North Africa, and the Middle East have brought our region to an interesting junction in terms of the proxy wars.

The worry is not about the possibility of a war breaking out; it is about the hope of building a new regional order in the near future fading away.

The final leg of support for the Syrian Ba’ath regime’s geopolitical comfort zone was the political climate generated by the other dictatorships in the area.