Posted on Tue, June 11, 2013 at 23:16 pm CEST
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Can Assad’s Syria Survive Revolution?

How the Assad regime has managed to survive the revolution, for the time being and in contrast to other recent upheavals in the Middle East… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Culture • Democracy • History • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Wed, April 3, 2013 at 12:08 pm CEST
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The Arab-Kurdish Battle in Syria: Implications for Turkey’s Standing

The battle over the Syrian town Ras al-Ain on the border to Turkey damaged Turkish relations with the Kurds in Syria, and with parts of Syrian opposition… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, January 29, 2013 at 20:42 pm CET
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U.S. Intelligence Writes Turkey’s Future

U.S. intelligence community ponders the impact of Turkey’s growing significance in global affairs… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Economy • NATO • Turkey • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Thu, December 13, 2012 at 21:19 pm CET
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Who Will Rule Syria? A Detailed Assessment

The civil war in Syria is moving into the end-game… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Muslim Brotherhood • Politics • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, December 8, 2012 at 14:29 pm CET
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Syria’s Assyrians, caught in the middle

Of all the Christian communities in Syria, the Assyrians, that is, those Christians who identify as such by virtue of belonging to the Assyrian Church of the East, arguably have the most complex relationship with the Assad regime… Continue reading

Topics: Christianity • Culture • Iraq • Kurdish People • Religion • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Mon, November 19, 2012 at 00:57 am CET
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Erdogan’s Way – Confrontation at Home and Abroad – May be Backfiring

Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party has been well served by the confrontational style of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan… Continue reading

Topics: Diplomacy • Kurdish People • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, July 17, 2012 at 19:05 pm CEST
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Will the Rebels Win Syria’s Civil War and What That Means

The tide seems to be turning in Syria… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Security and Defense • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • U.S. Middle East Policy 
Posted on Sat, July 7, 2012 at 21:00 pm CEST
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“And What Do You Want to Say to the Iraqi People?”

I’ve been interviewed a number of times, for example, by Iraqi journalists. But this time there was a different kind of question at the end of the interview… Continue reading

Topics: Iraq • Iraqi Kurdistan • Shia Islam • Sunni Islam • The Media • The Middle East 
Posted on Mon, July 2, 2012 at 19:37 pm CEST
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Turkey and Syria: An Undeclared State of War

After Syria’s downing of a Turkish aircraft over the eastern Mediterranean, the question is not so much why Syria shot it down as why the two neighbors have become embroiled in a confrontation in the first place… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • PKK • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Syrian Revolution • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, May 10, 2012 at 21:12 pm CEST
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Values and Identity: The Resurgence of the Kurdish Hizbullah

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the center of Diyarbakır for a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth. The event was organized by a coalition of NGOs affiliated with the radical Sunni Islamist organization known in Turkey as Hizbullah… Continue reading

Topics: Islamic Fundamentalism • Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Sunni Islam • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sun, April 8, 2012 at 11:48 am CEST
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Reinventing a Broken Wheel: The AKP’s ‘New’ Kurdish Strategy

On 21 March 2012, Turkish government officials began briefing trusted journalists on what they described as the new strategy of the ruling AKP for solving the country’s long-running Kurdish problem… Continue reading

Topics: History • Kurdish People • Kurdistan • PKK • Security and Defense • Turkey 
Posted on Tue, March 27, 2012 at 22:21 pm CEST
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No Escape from Authoritarianism? Turkey Suffers from the Lack of a Constituency for Liberal Change

Turkey’s old habits of state authoritarianism persist under the rule of the AKP… Continue reading

Topics: Culture • Democracy • Kurdish People • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, March 17, 2012 at 20:41 pm CET
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The Snake that Doesn’t Touch Me: Turkey’s Special Authority Courts

In response to increasing international concern about controversial cases such as Ergenekon, Sledgehammer and KCK, the AKP has repeatedly insisted that the judicial system is independent and that there is nothing that it can do… Continue reading

Topics: PKK • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Wed, March 7, 2012 at 22:30 pm CET
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The Middle East’s real apartheid

Arab/Muslim apartheid comes in many forms, and some victims have been subjected to more than one… Continue reading

Topics: Academic Bias • Anti-Israelism • Anti-Zionism • Arab World • Culture • Global Islam • History • Islamic Countries • Leftist-Islamic Alliance • Religion • Slavery in Islam 
Posted on Tue, January 31, 2012 at 02:21 am CET
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Ankara and Baghdad: A Parting of Ways?

Until now, Turkey’s presence in Iraq has generally been encouraged by all major Iraqi groups… Continue reading

Topics: Economy • Iraq • Kurdish People • PKK • Politics • Security and Defense • Shia Islam • Sunni Islam • Turkey 
Posted on Thu, December 22, 2011 at 19:55 pm CET
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Has Erdogan Reached His “Democratic Limits”?

Internal and external dynamics no longer compel Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to transcend his democratic limits… Continue reading

Topics: Islamism • Kurdish People • Politics • Sunni Islam • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sat, December 3, 2011 at 18:13 pm CET
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Overviewing Shi’a-Sunni Conflicts

As we approach the end of the first year of what has been called the Arab Spring… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Bahrain • Culture • Iraq • Lebanon • Religion • Saudi Arabia • Security and Defense • Shia Islam • Sunni Islam • Syria • Yemen 
Posted on Thu, December 1, 2011 at 01:13 am CET
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Turkey and Syria: from Friendship to War?

The inability of the Baath regime in Damascus to bring the situation in the country under control has compelled Turkey to… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Diplomacy • Economy • Kurdish People • Politics • Security and Defense • Syria • Turkey 
Posted on Sat, November 19, 2011 at 13:51 pm CET
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WikiLeaks: Syria’s civil society (still) suffering

In recent weeks the Syrian security services have stepped up their already rapid pace of detentions… Continue reading

Topics: Human Rights • Syria • WikiLeaks 
Posted on Sat, November 19, 2011 at 01:21 am CET
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Syria: No Longer Revolution, It is A Civil War, A Guide to the Battle

The only honest answer to the question of what will happen in Syria is… Continue reading

Topics: Alawis • Arab Spring • Christianity • Democracy • Kurdish People • Syria • Syrian Revolution 
Posted on Sat, November 19, 2011 at 00:18 am CET
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Syria, Turkey and the Kurds

Bashar al-Assad is apparently aiming to destabilize Turkey… Continue reading

Topics: Iraqi Kurdistan • Kurdish People • PKK • Syrian Kurdistan • Syrian Revolution • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sun, November 13, 2011 at 20:21 pm CET
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Will Turkey Get a New Constitution that is a Societal Compact, and not a Dictate of the State?

The new constitution of Turkey needs to be societal compact that reflects the pluralism of society… Continue reading

Topics: Democracy • Politics • Turkey 
Posted on Fri, November 11, 2011 at 23:23 pm CET
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The Latest KCK Arrests: One Step Closer to Breaking Point

The AKP is using the KCK investigation as an instrument to try to crush all opposition to its increasingly hawkish policies on the Kurdish issue… Continue reading

Topics: Kurdish People • PKK • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Fri, November 4, 2011 at 00:27 am CET
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Turkey’s Anti-PKK Operation Faces Major Obstacles

The Turkish government has now responded with one of its largest counterinsurgency operations in years… Continue reading

Topics: Counter-terrorism • Kurdish People • PKK • Security and Defense • Turkey • Turkish Kurdistan 
Posted on Sun, October 16, 2011 at 23:47 pm CEST
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Turkey’s Foreign Policy “Revolution”: Assuming a “NeoConservative” Mission in the Middle East?

The Arab spring has catapulted democracy and human rights to the top of Turkey’s stated foreign policy priorities… Continue reading

Topics: Democracy • Iran • The Middle East • Turkey