It was Josep Borrell, the European Union’s high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, who said that a hurricane was brewing in the West. He made that remark in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País where he […]
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Middle East
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Egypt marked the completion of yet another stage in Türkiye’s normalization policy. The two countries thus agreed to brush aside their 12-year disagreement in an attempt to join forces anew. There is little sense […]
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits the Middle East this weekend for the fifth time since the Oct. 7 attack. Against the backdrop of the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan, CIA Director William Burns published an article […]
Against the backdrop of Israel’s massacre in Gaza, attention has been shifting to Iran. Following the bombardment of the Houthis by the United States and the United Kingdom for disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Iran and Pakistan experienced […]
A series of attacks and clashes sent shockwaves through the Middle East over the last week. Israel’s massacres in Gaza and low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah at the Lebanese border remain underway. Meanwhile, in the Red Sea, the United States and Britain […]
As Israel stands accused of genocide in The Hague, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spreads to the broader region. On Thursday, the United States and the United Kingdom bombed 72 targets in Yemen, retaliating against Houthi attacks on commercial vessels heading to […]
The Middle East rang in the new year with assassinations and terror attacks. Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy leader of Hamas’ political bureau, was assassinated in Beirut last Tuesday. The following day, two bombings in Kirman, Iran (for which Daesh has claimed responsibility) killed […]
President Erdoğan has been working on 2 projects at once as he asserts that Türkiye would undertake a ground campaign against the terrorist groups in northern Syria ‘at the most appropriate time’ and that he may meet Syria’s Bashar Assad […]
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Türkiye-Egypt normalization: Erdoğan and el-Sissi meeting
President Erdoğan’s handshake with Egypt’s el-Sissi eliminated a symbolic obstacle; yet, intelligence services and diplomats will have to engage in additional diplomatic contact to further the normalization process between Ankara and Cairo President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited the Qatari capital […]
The last three presidents of the United States – Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden – promised a partial disengagement from the Middle East to focus their country’s attention on China. As a matter of fact, President Biden rushed […]
US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle East reassures regional allies of continued engagement, but it is unlikely to mobilize them around US goals
Biden’s visit to the Middle East comes at a time when regional actors are reaching out to each other to reconcile their differences. The trip is unlikely to change the broader US retrenchment in the region, despite Biden’s vow to launch a “new […]
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Turkey-UAE: Why MBZ’s visit could mark the start of a new era
The recent visit by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) to Turkey highlights the ongoing recalibration of Ankara’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Turkey and the UAE have been locked in a struggle for regional influence for years, supporting opposite sides […]
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Questioning normalization with the United Arab Emirates
One can tell how foreign policy dialogue tends to serve individual interests by analyzing how Turkey’s opposition parties question normalization with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Critics assume that ideology and discourse play a defining role in Turkish foreign policy under the […]
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ) visited Turkey on Wednesday, concluding 10 agreements on energy, environment, finance and trade. That move was hailed as a “new chapter” in bilateral relations. The decision by Turkey and the United Arab […]
It is time for everyone in the Middle East to make a new strategic assessment. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced last Friday that Turkey had made “diplomatic contact” with Egypt. That statement suggests that the ongoing talks between the Turkish and Egyptian intelligence […]
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 […]
The Middle East is not a foreign policy priority for U.S. President Joe Biden – just as it wasn’t for his predecessors Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Obama’s performance during the Arab Spring demonstrated that the U.S.’ policy of democracy promotion had […]
Ayear ago, the world was expecting different things from the year 2020. There were already too many unknowns about world affairs. U.S. President Donald Trump and his presidential style generated too many uncertainties about U.S. foreign policy and international relations. […]
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 […]
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Geopolitical realism’s impact on Turkish foreign policy
On Wednesday, I joined a distinguished group of speakers to discuss Turkish foreign policy at the TRT World Forum. Once again, on the occasion, I concluded that Ankara’s involvement in global flashpoints is being questioned on two bases: Turkey’s overreach […]
Various geopolitical issues, in which Turkey has taken active steps in recent years, are quickly developing and on two key fronts, the conflict has given way to reconciliation. In Libya, Tripoli and Benghazi agreed to form a united government and […]
Joe Biden on Saturday declared victory in the 2020 United States presidential election, which was marked by a high voter turnout and angry rhetoric. Although the incumbent, Donald Trump, may challenge the result on the streets and in courts, those […]
After U.S. President Donald Trump had the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain sign the Abraham Accords on Sept. 15 at the White House, people have been wondering which Arab country will be next. Some have speculated that Qatar could […]
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US foreign policy after elections: Trump 2.0 or Obama/Biden 3.0?
After a long COVID-19 interval, the two U.S. presidential candidates launched their campaigns and started to meet voters. Trump campaign prefers to organize large rallies in the battleground states, despite a rise in the number of COVID-19 infections there. Joe […]
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From Libya to Syria, Turkey stands to gain strength in post-coronavirus period
As the world learns to live with the new normal in the post-pandemic period, all the ancient wars of words in Turkey’s political arena are already back. For days, the Turkish people have been talking about subtle hints from the […]
On February 10th the SETA Foundation at Washington, DC hosted a private roundtable discussion on Turkish Foreign Policy with members of Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee Delegation led by Minister Volkan Bozkır.
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With Soleimani dead and Iran vowing revenge, what’s next?
Since the killing of Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad last week, there have been debates, questions and concerns about the potential implications of this attack on U.S. foreign policy and the international relations of the Middle East in general. The missile […]
On Tuesday, January 7, 2020, the SETA Foundation at Washington, DC hosted a panel of experts to discuss ‘The Day After Soleimani: Are the US and Iran Headed to War?’ The discussion featured Luke Coffey, Director of the Douglas and […]
There will be a lot of questions about the state of global politics in 2020. The unpredictability and uncertainty of superpower behavior and instability of the international system generate a lot of question marks about the potential developments set to […]