Original essays, research notes, and reports
Interview in English translation: Interview in Arabic: Watch video The full text of the interview: Question: Mr President, you are welcome on Ulusal TV station. My first question might be a bit strange, but I need to ask it, because in the Turkish and world media there has been a lot of information published to Read more
Continue ReadingThe Pakistanization of Turkey and the Afghanization of Syria in the new proxy-war by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Witnessing the first democratic elections in Tunisia in 2011, I stood at the edge of the city listening to residents explaining the role of “neighborhood watch committees” in keeping peace and protecting personal and public property. Read more
Continue Readingby Foti Benlisoy and Annalena Di Giovanni Turkey A few months ago, in January 2013, an accident in a steel factory of Gaziantep, a bordering town in southwest Turkey, claimed the lives of seven workers. Under normal circumstances such news would have passed unobserved and eventually forgotten; Turkey is after all a country in which Read more
Continue Reading*His Excellency Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan Minister of Foreign Affairs United Arab Emiratesvia fax +971 02 444 7766 Your Excellency, I write to you on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) to register shock and deep dismay at the denial of entry Read more
Continue Readingby Zaid al-Ali Iraq Ten years after the 2003 war, the Iraqi government credits itself with a number of achievements. All foreign soldiers have left the country, the 2005 constitution was approved by 80% of the population, several rounds of elections have taken place in the absence of credible accusations of massive fraud, and the Read more
Continue Readingby Mohammed al-Qaisi Al-Qaeda in Iraq attacks places of worship, culture and education deeming them blasphemous, officials say. As tensions increase between Syrian citizens and members of extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN) Iraqi officials, researchers and security leaders warned of similarities between JAN and al-Qaeda in Iraq in terms of ideology and strategy. “We are Read more
Continue Readingby Heiko Wimmen The deep implications of Iran’s strategic and ideological investment in the Assad regime forces international efforts for a ‘grand bargain’ to face the stark and unpalatable reality of political compromise in Syria. As the Syrian crisis continues its descent into a protracted civil war, a ‘political solution’ remains the professed preference of Read more
Continue Readingby Rooh-ul-Amin* The killing of women’s affairs director in eastern Laghman province on Monday is a reminder to us all, that, how violence against women is making deep inroads in our society and how much numb we have become to respond to such oft-repeated cruel incidents. It is not the first ever incident of this Read more
Continue Readingby Jacob Havel The advent of the so called “Arab Spring” in the Middle East and North Africa has come about with incredible velocity and intensity. The world has seen dictators, who had been in power for decades, fall in the blink of an eye in both Tunisia and Egypt. Consequently, the possibility of revolution Read more
Continue ReadingAnd what do the P5+1 want from Iran? by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Iran and the P5+1 group (United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany) are to resume negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan on February 26. Their last meeting was eight-month ago in Moscow. That meeting did not produce a breakthrough and that was expected because, Read more
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