Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits Washington this week amid escalating and intertwined Middle East crises. Turkey is a key NATO ally that borders Syria, Iran, and Iraq: three major focal points of U.S. Middle East policy. President Obama should consult with Prime Minister Erdogan to coordinate policies on these three fronts and to encourage Turkey to…
Late last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her tour of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. In Scandinavia, she was to address several forums on climate change and green energy. While in Sweden, she also planned to discuss Internet freedom, Afghanistan and the Middle East. But it is in the mountains of the Caucasus and Turkey…
Abstract: Russia is pursuing a Middle Eastern policy that is designed to reduce U.S. and Western influence in the Middle East, even at the risk of Islamist terrorism, which is a growing problem in Russia. It views the recent upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa as an American conspiracy to undermine Russia and friendly regimes in the region. Russia’s Soviet…
In 2005, Turkey formally fulfilled the European Union’s “Copenhagen Criteria” to achieve official candidate status. However, the EU has not negotiated with Ankara in good faith, and Turkey’s membership prospects are badly stalled. Unfortunately, the EU’s contrived negotiating position has provided the AKP with an opportunity to pursue an agenda that better reflects…
On September 12, 2010, Turkey took an important political step away from its secular nature—and, indirectly, away from its alliance with the United States and NATO. Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan forced a nationwide referendum to accept or reject 26 constitutional amendments for an up-or-down vote. The referendum passed 58 percent to 42 percent, a victory that Erdogan…
Peter Brookes discusses Turkey-Iraq relations on FOXs The OReilly Factor.…
(Archived document, may contain errors) i 609 October 14, 1987 TURKEX AN INCRE ASINGLY KEY STRATEGIC ASSET FOR THE US INIRODUCIION At a time when war and chaos in the Persian Gulf remind policymakers how difficult it is to.deal with Middle Eastern states, Turkey remains a rock of stability and reliability in the eastern Mediterranea n . Yet the U.S.…
On Wednesday the United Nations General Assembly voted on a resolution condemning the Syrian government’s forces while...…
The leader of al-Qaeda’s Iraq branch, the Islamic State of Iraq, announced on Tuesday the formal merger of his...…
At the fifth Global Forum of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) this week in Vienna, Austria, Turkish Prime...…
In his State of the Union address, President Obama showed a stunning lack of reality on terrorism and the Arab Spring....…
Today, a ceasefire was announced in the ongoing conflict between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas. With the...…
On Wednesday, Turkey retaliated against a Syrian…
Turkish fears of an emboldened Kurdish population in Syria are rising. Since the Syrian uprising began in February 2011,...…
Last weekend, hostilities between Turkey and Syria escalated after a Syrian anti-aircraft gun struck down a Turkish F-4...…
The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish nationalists who are determined to carve a Kurdish state out of eastern Turkey...…
Without a government for over two decades, Somalia is the model of a failed state. It is torn apart by civil war and...…
Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs