Author: Prof. Ilter Turan (Prof. Ilter Turan)

Pressure is building for foreign forces to depart Libya. In addition to two UN Security Council resolutions, last week the new Libyan Foreign Minister, Najla al Mangoush, called on all foreign forces, including Turkey’s, to leave the country. Turkey was also targeted for criticism by France, which is attempting to paint it as an interloper...

It may sound naive, but some of us were a little surprised by the fervently pro-Israel response coming out of the White House during this latest round of violence in Gaza. After four years of nonsense policy from the Trump administration, there was some hope of a return to reason under Joseph R. Biden. Last...

It was another week of bridge-building in Turkish foreign policy as Turkey continues to try to relieve some of the pressures it faces, both politically and economically. A concerted effort is being made to set things straight with Egypt; a phone call between President Erdogan and King Salman of Saudi Arabia suggests a more personalized...

It’s hard to debate the question of genocide in any context and leave your emotions at the door. Indeed, genocide, by its very nature, cuts to the core of what it means to be human and to build a just society. In Turkey, the question of genocide as it relates to the Armenian issue is...

No one was surprised and perhaps a little annoyed than Turkey when President Joseph R. Biden announced last week that the U.S. would be withdrawing its forces from Afghanistan by September 11 of this year. One can imagine the feeling of being punched in the gut: After being encouraged to facilitate the Afghan peace process,...

Tensions between NATO and Russia continue to mount as the Russians build up their military presence on the Ukrainian border. The possibility of another conflict in Turkey’s backyard does not bode well for a country already suffering from the effects of wars in its neighborhood and a global pandemic. And the underlying geopolitics of this...

The Chair Indicent may have been the talk of the town in Ankara, but last week’s meeting between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Europe Council President Charles Michel with the Turkish President Erdoğan was supposed to be something of a breakthrough in Turkey-EU relations, or at the very least, the first step...

It’s been a year of fits and starts in the Afghan peace process. In February 2020, the U.S. signed a bilateral agreement with the Taliban that offered a full U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in exchange for a vague promise of peace negotiations with the Afghan government. The May 1 deadline for the U.S. withdrawal is...

If you believe the headlines, a rapprochement may be in the works between Turkey and Egypt, or it seems at least that is what Turkey would like to see. But as in all things geopolitical, it’s not as simple as all that. Turkey and Egypt have historically had a complex relationship, and the years have...