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The Americans call the five-day halt to Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria a ceasefire, while the Turks prefer to call it a pause. The Kurds call the incursion something else. For them, and for American soldiers who fought with them in the war against the Islamic State (IS), as well...
Is this the beginning of the end of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or even the end of the beginning of the end, as Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel has suggested? When the previously unbeatable president pushed for a re-run of the Istanbul mayoral election that his party’s candidate,...
When Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) ascended to power in 2002, Ankara’s foreign policy in the Middle East was extremely different from what it is today. From the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 until the beginning of this century, the ideology and stances of Mustafa...
The politics of Idlib are extremely complicated, particularly with respect to outside powers that have vested interests in the outcome of the fight for the province. The delicate balance of power in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib appears unsustainable and, to say the least, it is...
While the opposition hails the beginning of the end for Turkey’s ruling party, local election setbacks might actually be a blessing in disguise. Just when you thought the ship was steadying, last weekend brought another tumultuous moment in Turkish politics. Local and mayoral elections that...
While the AKP's electoral base has been loyal to the party this time, there is no certainty this will happen again in the future. The results of the Turkish local elections appear to be quite clear as of now — at least when it comes to the actual numbers emerging from the polling stations....
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to Dr. Anna Hayes, senior lecturer of political science at James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia. Uighurs are a Turkic people native to Central and East Asia and one of the 55 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the...
US involvement in Syria — hesitant, misguided, quixotic — has been benighted from the beginning. Donald Trump wants to pull US troops out of Syria as quickly as possible. Well, it’s Friday, so that’s what the president wants now. Tomorrow, who knows, maybe he’ll insist that Syria pay...
Reliably narrow definitions of national self-interest continue to drive Turkey and the US further apart. There’s one thing Turkey and the US can definitely agree on these days: Unreliability is now the bedrock of their relationship. It’s perhaps not surprising when the two powers are led by...
After the G-20 summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman can return home secure in the knowledge that his and his country’s standing in the world remain largely unaffected. All eyes were on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, at last week’s G-20 Summit in...
The Khashoggi affair played right into Turkey’s hands in the wider struggle for control of the Middle East. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is once again back, center stage. The question this time is what he is doing there. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has all the hallmarks...
