COLUMNISTS
November 26, 2015, Thursday
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What does Ankara want in Syria?
In the wake of the downing of the Russian jet, this question becomes more legitimate, acute and, in terms of crisis management and damage control, burning: Is there a Turkish strategy on Syria? And if so, what is it? If we presume its existence, the immediate conclusion is that at best, the answer is now out of date, defeated by the rapidly changing realities on the ground. It exposes serious shortcomings and a lack of official flexibility and realism. -
Turkey-Russia-Syria-NATO
Turkey downed a Russian jet. The pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) media is now very happy. After President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's “victory” over US President Barack Obama at the G-20 summit, where Erdoğan touched Obama's cheek, proving that he is superior to Obama, now Turks have proven once again that Turkey under Erdoğan's rule is a great power. The AKP's votes may now even rise to 60 percent. However, if your sources of information are not limited -
How will Moscow react?
It is no secret that Vladimir Putin's foreign policy is based on bravado and machismo. Unlike Western leaders well versed in the virtues of "soft power," Putin is all about flexing muscles and talking tough. And it is not just talk. His military adventures in Georgia, Ukraine and Syria clearly demonstrate that he takes Russia's "sphere of influence" very seriously. With strong ego and swagger, Putin has so far shown no reluctance in sternly exerting his pow -
Face the bear
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was reciting the names of the new government members on Tuesday while the country was all ears on the details of the downed Russian jet. Both the new Cabinet and the military assault of a country with the world's second-largest army mark two substantial breaking points for Turkey's near future. If the tension between Russia and Turkey continues to escalate, which seems quite likely given the initial reactions of Russian states -
The real cost of a destroyed civilization
The past weekend, Boğaziçi University hosted a conference organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation in cooperation with İstanbul's Bilgi and Sabancı Universities called “A Civilization Destroyed: The Wealth of Non-Muslims in the Late Ottoman Period and the Early Republican Era.” The theme of the conference included Armenians, Greeks, Jews and Arameans (Syriacs) during both the Ottoman and republican eras. The time span goes from the Armenian mas -
Fighting ISIL becomes more complex
Successive attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Turkey, Sinai, Beirut and Paris reveal how fighting ISIL has become more complex. On Oct. 31, a Russian airliner exploded in mid-air after leaving Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt, killing all 217 passengers and crew. The Russian authorities announced that the most likely cause was a homemade TNT bomb. ISIL has claimed responsibility for the act. In low-income countries, it is not difficult to -
Where corruption dovetails with tyranny
Turkey is experiencing the moment where corruption meets and overlaps with tyranny. Personal possessions are being impounded and people are losing their jobs, all because of sympathizing with a certain social movement. Journalists are being imprisoned, newspapers shut down, TV screens darkened. And all the while, an invisible hand fed by hatred turns not only the country's prosecutors and judges but also companies like the Turkish Satellite Communications Compan -
Erdoğan picks up a new contract from the West...
The world is now debating the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey. Most observers agree that bringing down that plane was very risky for Turkey. But is no one asking how Turkey had the courage to do this? I think this is the essential question in fact. What is giving Turkey the courage to stand up to like this to Russia, which is so much bigger, both militarily and economically? We are talking about the same Turkey that has never even brought down a Greek jet; Greece -
The always-happy expat crowd: cliché or cherished reality?
There are locations in the world that have become expat favorites in the sense that they simply attract more of us than other, less-frequented destinations. Somehow there are these “top spots” most of us would state as a potential destination should ever the chance arise to make a move overseas. When I was young, it was most definitely America where many of our generation were hoping to one day in the future either travel to or even live in. R -
Let us think it over: death wish
Nowadays the Belgian police are on high alert after discovering cells and caches of weapons attributed to radical Islamists in Brussels. Following incidents in Turkey, Egypt, Paris and Mali, that cumulatively ended the lives of nearly a thousand people, the whole world is uneasy. Islamist terrorists even threaten to reach Washington and other American cities, like they did as al-Qaeda. This time they go by the name of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -
Defeating ISIL will take much more than military action
I spent the weekend and the first part of this week in “lockdown” in Brussels. Schools, the metro, shops and restaurants were closed as the manhunt for fugitive Salah Abdeslam, who took part in the Paris terrorist attacks, and other terrorist networks continued, and the EU's political elites discussed how best to tackle the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) threat. I actually find it incredible that nearly 15 years after the tragic 9/11 at
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