Searching for a New Social Contract in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco

Tunisia and Morocco have improved their standards of democracy and positively responded to the demands of their people throughout the Arab Spring.

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Searching for a New Social Contract in Turkey Tunisia and
Assad's Trick and his Increasing Invisibility

Assad's Trick and his Increasing Invisibility

When the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) emerged on the international public scene, the Syrian regime achieved multiple strategic goals at the same time.

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The Western media sees Kobani as a symbol that will trigger an armed fight for democracy, as it did in the Arab Spring, which puts it to the fore.

The reconciliation process has been one of the vital components of Turkey's economic ascendancy in the last decade through its major support mechanism for politico-economic stability and improved relations with neighboring countries in the Middle East.

The anti-ISIS campaign has evolved into a chess game, played not only by Washington and Turkish officials, but also other regional actors involving a number of subsequent and contradictory moves.

After the U.S. decision not to attack the Syrian regime, questions and skepticism started to emerge about the U.S. strategy in Syria.

What do the UNSC Election Mean?

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) non-permanent member elections took place last week and the results of these elections fostered many debates and discussions.

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What do the UNSC Election Mean
Global Slowdown Turkey's Divergence and the G20

Global Slowdown, Turkey's Divergence and the G20

Turkey's presidency of the G20 in 2015 presents a golden opportunity to bring crucial development issues to the global governance agenda and stimulate dynamism of its national economy by forming new diplomatic and commercial linkages.

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The international community has to be more sensitive to the issue of Syrian refugees in Turkey and other neighboring countries and more supportive of these countries that now host millions of refugees.

U.S. officials are eager to point their fingers at Turkey and blame Ankara for its inaction in the crisis in Kobani.

Turkey is going through challenging times from a number of angles, but fortunately, there is sufficient political and administrative capacity as well as crisis management experience to overcome these challenges.

The recent clashes around Kobani are once more demonstrating that the military airstrikes by the international coalition will not be sufficient to eradicate the ISIS from the region without a comprehensive strategy to resolve the crisis in Syria and Iraq at the same time.

The Kurdish political movements in both Syria and Turkey should give up being pragmatists in order to have pragmatic gains. The Kurdish political movements should also give up being opportunists in order to benefit from the opportunities in the region.

Turkey wants regional players to establish a regional order in a peaceful and cooperative manner; it wants governments to reflect the sentiments of their citizens and end the conflicts in the region.

In a post-ISIS region, it is likely new radical groups claiming to wage jihad bent on shattering the Middle East's religious environment will emerge. Such radicalization in Turkey's neighborhood has become a growing threat.

Erdoğan was right when he protested Western media reports associating Turkey with ISIS and the politically motivated decisions of credit rating agencies that contradicted their approach toward similar economies.

Ending sectarian politics and establishing a new inclusive government in Baghdad is essential to diminishing the continuing support for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), foreign policy expert Mehmet Özkan stresses.

First and foremost, the Abadi government will have to accumulate enough power to discourage Sunni tribes from joining ISIS fighters. The main question remains: what will happen once ISIS is defeated?

First of all, it is not clear how ISIS will be destroyed and what the projected timeframe for this operation will be.