The future of the international system is being debated fiercely nowadays. Everyone knows that the liberal order, backed by United States hegemony, is breaking down. Washington’s comeback isn’t widely expected to restore liberal order either.

The modern international system was established after the Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the French Revolution. Although France, the state representing the new age, was defeated by the traditional empires, the values and institutions of the French Revolution dominated the European continent throughout the 19th century and the rest of the world throughout the 20th century.

Unless the EU respects Turkey’s independent will to protect its own interests, it is unlikely that their relations will grow into a stable cooperation in the long run

The Middle East is experiencing an extraordinary amount of activity on the 10th anniversary of the Arab revolts. A series of developments and debates are intertwined: in the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey and Egypt are watching each other’s movements, as Tel Aviv sends warm messages to Ankara.

The new U.S. administration has declared that it intends to follow a “de-Trumpization policy” in the Middle East.

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.

For most people, the year 2020 will be remembered with negative developments, some of which have influenced many states and people throughout the world.

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.

The United States reached its long-anticipated decision on sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump imposed Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions on NATO ally Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) under pressure from U.S. Congress. The sanctions, as they stand, are not necessarily severe, although there is the possibility of additional steps being taken. However, what is important is that there is now room for the incoming U.S. administration to reengage with Turkey.

Iran's ruling elite has translated a poem that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recited in Baku, Azerbaijan, into political tension. While politicians made aggressive statements, Iranian media outlets accused the Turkish leader of pursuing a leadership role in the Muslim world and a policy of Ottomanism and pan-Turkism. Others claimed Ankara was fueling separatism in Iran, putting the country's territorial integrity at risk.

Pashinian threatened to turn Nagorno-Karabakh into the next Syria in order to fuel fears in Russia, Iran and Europe.

The latest clash in occupied Nagorno-Karabakh is in its third week. Observers witness that Azerbaijan, which is defending its territories, is the dominant power on the ground. Unlike the previous fights, the Azerbaijani armed forces have begun to free some parts of the occupied lands from Armenia's control for the first time in 30 years. It seems that Baku has increased its military capacity and from now on, it will be increasingly difficult for Yerevan to maintain its control over Azerbaijani territory.

Recent tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean have multiple drivers including the race for exploitation of energy resources, long-standing maritime disputes, and the broader geopolitical competition between regional powers. While Turkey’s recent assertiveness of her rights in the Eastern Mediterranean drew renewed attention to the region, this round of confrontation has been long in the making.

The French president seems to forget that people in the region already know that France is not a regional power and indeed, has colonial fantasies.

One of the main reasons for Greece’s anti-Turkish policies is the dramatic change in the balance of power between Turkey and Greece. Turkey began to play in the upper league and became a major regional power. Therefore, Greece has been trying to prevent the further rise of Turkish power in the region, and for this reason, it is insistently trying to provoke Turkey and push it over its limits.

Tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean are escalating anew to dangerous levels. Turkey responded to a Greek-Egyptian maritime agreement, which undermined Germany’s mediation efforts, by dispatching the research vessel Oruç Reis, alongside frigates, to the Mediterranean Sea. The Greek military consequently went into high alert.

In the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which officially belongs to Azerbaijan. Like the former Soviet Union, the United Nations also recognizes the region as part of Azerbaijan. Therefore, all steps taken by Armenia violate the main principles of international law and Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. The occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by Armenia is similar to the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights: The occupier wants to control a strategically important region to take advantage of its foe.