During the course of the demonstrations in Kiev, the Central Asian regimes once again tried to avoid possible fallout from these demonstrations by censoring the news about the events.

Turkey successful combination of fiscal discipline and welfare policies yielded desired results. The next step forward requires more R&D spending

Turkey, a country so critical in shaping the international system, should play a more effective role in international organizations.

Only time will tell whether a desire for such change will emerge in the political in Iran, and if it does, whether it will be achieved. Similarly, the answer to the question “Does the West prefer a normalized Iran in the region” is yet to become clear.

Although Assad and the apparatus of security that surrounded him managed to survive, their obstinacy left Syria in ruins.

The U.S.-Turkey relationship took on a fresh dynamic with the onset of the Arab Spring in early 2011.

Today, a new Turkey as a regional power is faced with a new US effort to reconsider its role in the region and around the globe.

If Turkey’s CHP believes that they are up to the task of running the country, the Syrian crisis may serve as a great opportunity to convince the still doubtful voters.

In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, the strategy that regional forces adopt will determine the future of the occupation in Iraq.

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.

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

The profound transformation in the priorities of Turkey’s foreign policy and macroeconomic strategy should be read in view of tectonic shifts in the world system...

The activism of late observed in Turkish foreign policy demonstrates a clear preference for a regional approach to international relations. It has been almost a mantra for Turkey’s new foreign policy elite to promote regional actors’ ownership of economic and security affairs in their own neighborhood. Various such initiatives that Turkey has been spearheading recently in its adjacent regions, including the Middle East, Caucasus, Balkans and beyond, underscore Turkey’s emergence as a regional power willing and able to assume leadership roles in those regions. Turkey has been pursuing customs and visa liberalization with many of its neighbors, while initiating strategic cooperation councils with others. Similar to Turkey’s initiation of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in the 1990s, Turkey has also launched a Caucasus Stability and Cooperation Platform. Complementing these efforts are various other bilateral or trilateral processes under its patronage, such as the ones between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, or between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

With the appointment of Yusuf Ziya Özcan as the new president of Turkey’s Higher Education Board (YÖK), there is renewed hope for the future of the Turkish university system. For too long Turkish universities have performed way below acceptable international standards. Nor have they catered to the increasing needs of Turkish society. Instead of improving the standards of higher education in Turkey, YÖK has acted like an academic police controlling everything in the universities.

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.

Everybody from Ankara to Brussels is asking the question “With the Justice and Devlopment Party (AK Party) strengthening its position in government and Abdullah Gül as the new president, will Turkey renew its efforts to join the EU as a full member?” No matter how the AK Party and the Turkish people answer the question, much still depends on what happens next in Europe.