January 30, 2017
Last Friday President Trump signed his most controversial executive order so far. Its title was “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States”. Soon, it was simply being referred to either as the “refugee ban” or the “Muslim ban”. Mr. Trump said the goal is to keep “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the US. Continue reading
January 26, 2017
It has been almost twenty-five years since Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn. President Clinton said at the time that the peace of the brave was within reach. Yet, a final settlement remains as elusive as ever. Continue reading
January 22, 2016
American exceptionalism is an American concept. President Obama has referred to it on more than one occasion. During a news conference in Strasbourg on April 4, 2009, on his first trip abroad as President, in responding to a question as to whether he subscribed to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world, he said: Continue reading
January 16, 2017
For understandable reasons, President-elect Donald Trump’s press conference and the Senate confirmation hearings of his team could not reflect a well-coordinated foreign and security policy approach. A reluctance to go into specifics as well as conflicting views were only to be expected. And, it appears that America’s coming to peace with a contentious election and Mr. Trump’s personal style will take time. Nonetheless, there are some clues regarding the incoming administration’s policy towards the Middle East. Continue reading
January 9, 2017
In early April 2009 Mr. Obama visited Ankara on his first trip abroad as US President. His address to the Turkish Parliament was full of praise for Turkey’s “strong, vibrant, secular democracy”. In May 2013, Prime Minister Erdogan visited Washington. Remarks made by the two leaders at their joint press conference reflected nothing but a cordial and strong relationship. Four years later, we have a different picture (1). Continue reading
January 4, 2017
After a violent year and minutes into 2017 Turkey hit world headlines. Again, the reason was a terrorist attack. And again, it was followed by the customary anti-terrorism ritual. Minister of the Interior visited the crime scene. Some other ministers made bland statements. A security summit was announced. A media black-out was imposed. Government members referred to “dark schemes to destabilize Turkey”, “our determination to remain united as a nation” and “our resolve to annihilate the terrorists”. Some media outlets, launched attacks against foreign supporters of terrorism including Turkey’s NATO allies. Continue reading
December 29, 2016
I had started my summing-up for the year 2015 with the following:
“Arab Spring turmoil has continued to dominate world’s agenda with the war in Syria, ISIL terrorism and the refugee problem as top items. The confrontation over Ukraine has somewhat receded confirming predictions of a frozen conflict. The only good news in 2015 were the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The rising cost of its involvement in Syria aside, this puts Tehran on top of the very short list of winners in 2015…” (*) Continue reading
December 26, 2016
President Obama assumed office on January 20, 2009. Washington’s relations with Moscow were troubled as a result of the military conflict between Russia and Georgia. The US was moving closer to withdrawal from Iraq but the war in Afghanistan was not getting anywhere. Continue reading
December 19, 2016
The tragedy of Aleppo which has become the symbol of the devastation and the suffering caused by the Syrian conflict appears to have entered a new phase. The agreement reached between Russia and Turkey for the evacuation of rebel fighters and civilians from Aleppo was off to a rocky start characterized by confusion and setbacks. Understandably, this was not going to be smooth process. Because, regime forces regard all rebel fighters as terrorists regardless of their group affiliation and would be extremely reluctant to let them go with their arms to resume fighting elsewhere. If a substantial number of civilians caught in the crossfire can be evacuated in the coming days this would in itself be a major accomplishment. Continue reading
December 12, 2016
On December 4, 2016 Secretary of State John Kerry addressed the Saban Forum (*). More than anything else he vented pent-up frustration with the Middle East. He was extremely blunt in his criticism of Israel’s settlement policy. And, this is how he described the complexity of the Syrian conflict:
“… There are about six wars in Syria, folks. I mean, you’ve got Saudi Arabia and Iran, you’ve got Israel and Hizballah, you’ve got Turk versus – you’ve got Turk versus Kurd, Kurd versus Kurd, Kurd versus Turk, PKK, you’ve got Sunni-Shia, you’ve got oppositionists against Assad, you’ve got – I mean, it’s just – it’s extraordinarily complicated in the proxyism.
“So you’ve got Turkey with its interests – its own Islamic and other interests – you’ve got the differences between Egypt and Kuwait and the Emirates versus Saudi, Qatari, and Turk…” Continue reading
Diplomatic Opinion - Ali Tuygan 