Due to their different regime types and ideologically-oriented foreign policies, relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia did not progress throughout the 20th century.

SETA PANEL Moderator: Ufuk UlutaÅŸ, SETA Foundation Speakers: Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Muhittin Ataman, Abant Ä°zzet Baysal University  Date/Time: May 25, 2012, FRIDAY 14:00  Venue: SETA Ankara room, ANKARA

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.

Israel wants regime change in Syria, as much as it wanted a change in Egypt, the heart of the Camp David order, of which the Syrian regime is branch.

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.

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.

In the past decade, Turkey moved towards more domestic democracy - while its neighbourhood changed in fundamental ways.

Once Turkey considers and comes to terms with the challenge of formulating a new political language, it can rise to the level it aspires to as a new actor in a new region and in a new global order.

In a rather unprecedented cry of outrage, Prince Turki al-Faisal, one of the most prominent figures of the Saudi state, put it bluntly: If the US under the new Obama administration does not change its policy toward Israel and Palestine, the Saudis will no longer maintain their “special relationship” with the US (“Saudi Arabia’s patience is running out,” Financial Times, Jan. 23, 2009). Quoting from the Saudi king that his peace plan, called “the Arab peace initiative,” is still on the table, the prince added that “it would not remain there for long.” 

The 2009 Gaza massacre is not the first incident where Israel has killed, pillaged and destroyed Palestinian lives. In 1982 the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) under Ariel Sharon allowed the killing of more than 2,000 Palestinians in two Palestinian refugee camps in Sabra and Shatila.  

A debate over the headscarf is revealing new dimensions of political discourse in Turkey. While conservatives and liberals use the universal language of basic rights and liberties, laicists use a heavily religious language to prove that the headscarf is not a religious obligation.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s visit to Ankara last Tuesday is important for the current state of Turkish-Iraqi relations. The visit focused on trade and security, and these are two crucial areas for both countries

The Bush administration’s troubles in the Middle East and at home show no sign of diminishing. More and more Americans are coming forward to call the US policy in Iraq a total disaster. Their remedy is immediate withdrawal from Iraq. But there is more to US troubles than the mismanagement of an unjustified war. After much fanfare, the Bush administration’s “new  strategy on Iraq” turned out to be similar to shooting in the dark hoping that some shots will hit their target. Sending more troops to Iraq without pressuring the Maliki government to stop sectarian violence was received with more suspicion than ever.

“Russia is the most reliable partner of the Islamic world and the most faithful defender of its interests,” Russian President Viladimir Putin said in 2005 in Chechnya’s capital of Grozny. Putin made this statement in the first session of the local parliament in Grozny. Given the place and its brutal history, what the Russian president has said is seriously ironic. But the story does not stop here.Russia’s desire to straighten its record with the Muslim world has gained visible momentum in the last few years. In 2005, Russia was granted observer status at the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the largest international organization in the Islamic world, representing 57 Muslim countries.

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.