Originally posted December, 2010
Turkey’s policy toward the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has undergone an important shift since 2009. Only a few years ago, Turkey did not recognize Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government and refused to meet with its representatives in any official capacity due to its fear that recognition would embolden Turkey's own Kurdish minority to demand similar home-rule status.
This piece first appeared as a op-ed in Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel on September 9, 2010
Turkey’s professional military has been a force for modernization and progress throughout the nation’s history. As the constitutionally-appointed guardian of the Turkish Republic, however, the military has often intervened in political affairs, resulting in a constant, underlying tension between the government and the military establishment in Turkey.
This is the first of three volumes examining the internationalization of higher education and the Middle East. The 12 essays included in this volume explore some of the changes that are taking place and the challenges that lie ahead as Middle Eastern countries seek to build sustainable higher education systems and strengthen their economies. Within the dynamic global higher education landscape, is the Middle East a stagnant backwater or a center of creative initiative? What are, and should be the roles of foreign partners and providers?
Asserting its need to be secure from future terrorism launched from Gaza, Israel used force last week to maintain a blockade that has been creating a humanitarian cataclysm for the people of Gaza. In the early days following the attack on the aid flotilla, the Israeli military interpretation of events dominated much of the popular media coverage in the United States. Gradually, though, attention shifted to the incident’s negative impact on Israel’s international standing and the security implications of continued international and regional uproar.
This Commentary was originally published as an op-ed in the Huffington Post May 24, 2010.
The Republic of Yemen occupies the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Unlike its oil-rich neighbors, Yemen is the poorest country in the Arab world. Like other countries football (soccer) is Yemen’s most popular sport. Football has been played in parts of Yemen since before the turn of the 20th century, and since the 1970s, the game’s popularity has increased significantly.
Hugh Pope, Turkey/Cyprus Project Director for the International Crisis Group (ICG), discussed the issue of recent speculation regarding Turkey’s “shift away from the West.”
In recent months, the Israeli-Turkish relationship, strong and stable during the 1990s, has been placed under severe pressure. Tensions began in January 2009 when Israel launched military operations in Gaza, later prompting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to walk out of a televised debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres following a heated exchange over the issue.
The convergence of multiple crises in an already vulnerable environment has left Yemen and aid agencies at a crossroads. The context has become an extremely complex and challenging one within which to reduce hunger, malnutrition, and fragility. Yet it is precisely because of these challenges that humanitarian intervention is vital to keep struggling populations from tipping into utter disaster.
“In some areas of the Gulf, you can’t tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district.”
— Majeed al-Alawi, Bahrain Minister of Labor (October 2007)
The Middle East Institute is proud to host two former Ambassadors to Yemen, Thomas Krajeski and David Newton, for a discussion about Yemen and the role of US foreign policy in a country some political analysts characterize as a failed state. As Yemen grapples with multiple crises, including the growing influence of Al Qaeda, a Houthi Rebellion in the north, a secessionist movement in the south and severe economic woes, what should the US do to help stabilize and secure one of the Arab world’s poorest countries?
This Commentary first appeared as an op-ed on BitterLemons-International.org, October 22, 2009
Syria could not be more ecstatic at the row that has recently developed between Turkey and Israel. Turkey, once among Israel's staunchest allies, now sees eye-to-eye with Syria regarding the difficulties in dealing with Israel and Israel's abusive treatment of Palestinians.
Since it emerged in Yemen around three decades ago, the country’s Salafi movement has maintained complex, if not tense links with Saudi Arabia.[1] Before establishing a Yemeni manifestation of Salafism with its own features and clerics,