After the victory of populist parties in the Hungarian and Polish parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2015, respectively, the victory of the Leave camp in the Brexit referendum in 2016 and the rise of anti-establishment parties in the Dutch, French, Austrian and German general elections in 2017, on March 4, 2018, Italy became the new symbol of the political system crisis spreading in Europe.

As the political and social atmosphere in the international system is rapidly evolving in favor of discriminatory figures, the warm meeting between Erdoğan and the pope was extremely valuable

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan went to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis. His official visit was significant because it was the first time in 59 years that a Turkish president has gone to the Vatican.

While hegemonic transitions tend to occur over long periods, it seems that the friction between neo-protectionism in strategic sectors and the push for all out liberalization will determine the fundamental axis of the ongoing rivalry between China and the U.S.

It is time for Turkey and European countries to end the tense relations of the last four years and establish more transparent, realist, rational and pragmatic relations.

Emerging trends in the European political context, including the rise of nativist nationalism and the emergence of hostile public discourses on immigration, have brought ideas traditionally attributed to the far-right into mainstream discussion, in the process popularising and in some cases ‘normalising’ them in the eyes of particular audiences. Especially since the turn of the new millennium, the discussion on the dynamics of, and threats from, violent radicalisation has received considerable fresh attention since a series of recent terrorist attacks testified to its highly disruptive and destructive potential. Taken together with the appreciable rise in instances of hate speech and in violent incidents against vulnerable groups (Muslim, Jewish, Roma communities; immigrants and refugees, etc.), it is now feared that we may be witnessing a much broader and profound ‘reverse wave’ towards more intolerance, exclusion, and normalisation of violent extremism in contemporary societies.

The Turkish leadership is not alone in their pursuit of normalization.

The long-term U.S. strategy for redesigning the Middle East with the creation of more compatible regimes continued with a series of attempts to trigger domestic tensions, civil strife and instability.

Regional powers and U.S. allies, nowadays, try to figure out what the nature of this trend is and what it will lead to. Although it is dubbed "pragmatic realism" by actors of this new foreign policy, it raises concern about a new form of isolationism and a more aggressive form of unilateralism. The belated expression of commitment to the collective security clause of NATO has become part of this concern.

Due to its unilateral and irresponsible foreign policy and conflicting political discourse, Trump's America instigated the rise of anti-Americanism even in friendly countries

It seems that Trump has tried to exploit the regional chaos, state failures and divisive policies of some Muslim countries.

Western political elites have developed three opinions about Islam and Muslims, which I will try to describe briefly here. The first and the most popular Western perception is anti-Islamism.

The escalation of the nuclear issue with Iran, the unveiling of the Gulf crisis with Qatar, the crisis with Turkey over the support for the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria and the alleged involvement in domestic power struggles in Saudi Arabia were all indications of this tendency.

The West does not seem to be bothered much about the rising tide of micro-nationalism in the Middle East, which is categorically perceived as an endemic conflict zone

Despite the push to present Meral Akşener, the chairwoman of the newly established İYİ Party, as an alternative candidate against President Erdoğan in the run up to the 2019 presidential elections, Professor Duran thinks this will not translate into results, as a true candidate for the opposition parties is yet to be identified

The current crisis with the West is structural and genuine. But the talk about Turkey turning its back on the West is used for operational purposes.

Needless to say, Greece stands to lose more than other EU countries if membership talks with Ankara come to an end. And we are not just talking about illegal immigration and terror threats either.