Analysis_178_2013. Turkey and Syria: A Breakup Bound to Happen. While Syria and Turkey have called it quits for now, a possible regime change in Syria could bring them even closer together. The sultans must be green with envy. At no time since the fall of the Ottoman Empire have Turks held such sway over the Middle East. In the context of Arab uprisings, Turkey has been able to solidify a position it has been carefully trying to establish for the past decade. So far, Turkey appears to have made all the right choices. Now, it is navigating everyday turns in the Arab uprisings with a dexterity that is only more salient when juxtaposed with the failed, often barbaric attempts by the region's bumbling dictators to quash revolts, which never fail to pop back up. Ankara is now in frequent communications with and is hosting elements of the Syrian opposition, which looks poised to become the future Damascene government.
In the 1990s, Syria and Turkey, like many other countries, faced new globalization pressures. Turkey’s Tricky Drone Diplomacy With Israel and U.S. Over PKK. Montana was the only hope for women living 600 miles in any direction to obtain an abortion. Now there’s two clinics left thanks to vandalism. How long can they stay open? MINNEAPOLIS—There is a nearly 1,200-mile-wide desert of abortion providers stretching from the western border of Idaho to the eastern borders of North and South Dakota.
Across this five-state expanse, the total number of cities that offer any form of abortion access can be counted on just two hands. Last month, an apparent pro-life vandal destroyed the abortion clinic in Kalispell, Montana. Vandalism or Terrorism? Susan Cahill, a physician’s assistant, provided abortions in Montana for decades, through fire-bombings and lawsuits, but is now no longer practicing. Michelle Reimer, executive director of Hope Pregnancy Ministries, a local crisis pregnancy center, was soon revealed as the owner who forced Cahill out of her old office.
Eliminating Choice “When people get desperate, they get violent.” Desperate Measures? Baby-Steps for Turkey and China. Trading ties between the two countries improve but remain vulnerable Only a few months after the Chinese President-in-waiting trip to Turkey, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit, the first of its kind in 27 years, is yet another tale of an extraordinary turn of events in the context of Sino-Turku relations which suffered a major setback in 2009.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao; Source: AFP Today, Ankara and Beijing prefer to put their various differences to rest, and instead utilize their newly found economic and diplomatic might to advance their national interests in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. In other words, China and Turkey have entered a new period of strategic cooperation, the foundation of which was set in stone during the official exchanges by the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in 2010.
Nima Khorrami Assl More Posts. Turkey and Europe: An uncertain path. Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East: An Interview with Asli Bali (Part 1) This is Part 1 of a two-part interview in which Asli Bali discusses Turkey's foreign policy interests and obejectives with regards to the Middle East. In Part 1, Asli tackels the question of whether Turkey's foreign policy positions vis-a-vis the Middle East have changed with respect to what is otherwise described as a "western orientation. " She also explores whether whatever changes have occured can be traced directly to the AKP's rise to power within Turkish domestic policy, or rather form part of a larger strategic calculation on the part of Turkey's political elites. The interview was conducted on 30 November 2011 by phone.
It was transcribed by Ziad Abu-Rish. Edited Transcripts (Audio File Below) Ziad Abu-Rish (ZA): What is your understanding of Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East, prior to both the May 2010 flotilla attack and the 2011 Arab uprisings? This policy paid some dividends. AB: That is right. Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East: An Interview with Asli Bali (Part 2)
This is Part 2 of a two-part interview in which Asli Bali discusses Turkey's foreign policy interests and objectives with regards to the Middle East. In this second part of the interview, Asli discusses Turkey’s foreign policy in the face of the Arab uprisings, with particular reference to Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The interview was conducted on 11 February 2012. It was transcribed by Ziad Abu-Rish and Kristina Benson. Edited Transcript (Complete audio file below) Ziad Abu-Rish (ZA): Last time in the interview, you talked to us about how over the past ten years Turkish foreign policy has featured a transformation to a more focused engagement with Turkey’s neighbors and other regions. In this capacity, amongst other things, Turkey became both close to—for example Syria—and working as a mediator, for example, in crises within which Syria and Israel were involved. Obviously, this strategy hit the rocks during—and was in fact already subject to criticism before—the uprisings of 2011.
Cairo review - Turkish foreign policy symposium. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Tehran, May 17, 2010. Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/Corbis Reflecting on Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s exclusive interview with The Cairo Review of Global Affairs, five leading analysts discuss whether Ankara’s regional approach is meeting the challenges of a Middle East in transformation.
Steven A. Cook: Vintage Davutoğlu Michael Wahid Hanna: An Ambitious Foreign Policy Vision Leila Hilal: Turkey and the Syria Imbroglio Marc Lynch: A Muddled, Reactive Approach to the Arab Revolutions Kadir Ustun: Revolutions and the Question of Legitimacy Vintage Davutoğlu By Steven A. The Cairo Review’s wide-ranging interview with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is fascinating on a variety of levels. Some of this should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt. Steven A. An Ambitious Foreign Policy Vision By Michael Wahid Hanna Turkey and the Syria Imbroglio. Turkey's diplomatic rise. It is against the background of a retreat in global leadership by the US and the ambivalence of other global powers, such as emerging economies from the BRICS group, that Turkey has emerged from its accustomed shadow-land of subordination to the United States. It is one of the most encouraging dimensions of the global setting in this second decade of the 21st century, and offers the world a secondary model of diplomatic leadership that is already exerting a major influence within its region and beyond.
The credit for this extraordinary development belongs to the top echelons of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), that has governed Turkey since 2002 with increasing populist backing from the citizenry. The priority of this new leadership when first elected was to push as hard as possible on the closed doors of the European Union with the goal of Turkish accession to membership within a few years. Enter Ahmet Davutoglu Turkey breaks old taboos Internal issues.
Turkey’s Balancing Act - Mohammed Ayoob. Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – Turkey has over the past few weeks become the spearhead of a joint Western-Arab-Turkish policy aimed at forcing President Bashar al-Assad to cede power in Syria. This is quite a turnaround in Turkish policy, because over the past two years the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had gone out of its way to cultivate good relations with neighboring Syria, with whom it shares a long land border. This change of course on Syria has also cost Turkey a great deal in terms of its relations with Iran, the principal supporter of Assad’s regime, which Turkey had also cultivated as part of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy. Given these new strains, it is worth recalling that a only few months ago many American leaders were livid at what they perceived to be Turkey’s betrayal. In reality, Israel can track Iranian missile activity from several sites other than Malatya.