January 1, 2021 |
Elif Selin Calik One of the enduring images of 2020, the year of the pandemic, has been the sight of people connected to ventilators in hospitals. It is an image that helped...
December 9, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Our interview with Omar Salha, research and teaching fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS
November 25, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik In light of the extraordinary impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown measures on the energy system, global demand for gas has fallen substantially. Similarly oil demand has...
November 18, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Our interview with the Director of Seville Mosque Foundation, Ibrahim Hernandez
November 16, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Life in a Country Album is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and above all, inspirational. Nathalie Handal's musings are divided into four regional parts: Album...
October 20, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres registered the Turkey-Libya deal on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean. Under Article 102 of the UN Charter, "Every treaty...
September 28, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Turkey's 21st-century geopolitical strategy is called the Blue Homeland. It is the brainchild of retired Rear Admiral Cem Gurdeniz, who talked to MEMO about Turkey's eastern Mediterranean policy, which...
Published in:
Africa,
Asia & Americas,
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Egypt,
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Greece,
International Organisations,
Interviews,
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US Stephen Bronner is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Rutgers University
September 3, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Turkey's role in the transit of regional energy supplies has been likened to a sandwich: the upper slice has Russian gas, the lower slice has east Mediterranean and Caucasian...
Published in:
Africa,
Article,
Cyprus,
EU,
Europe & Russia,
Greece,
International Organisations,
Libya,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Turkey August 21, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik The recent release of a video featuring comments uttered by US presidential candidate Joe Biden about Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been roundly condemned in Ankara as being"interventionist"....
August 11, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Oil as a commodity is intertwined intimately with national strategies, power and global politics. This was a central theme in Daniel Yergin's The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil,...
July 17, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik ‘The only thing that has changed is the number of identified bodies of victims and the number of tombstones in Potocari. That is changing. Those numbers are growing,’ genocide survivor and army commander Serif Patkovic tells MEMO
July 14, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Veteran journalist Dr Bora Bayraktar greeted his audiences to the Hagia Sophia by saying, "Welcome to the heart of the world." His views have been recorded for his YouTube...
"After Srebrenica, you said never again…Shame on you World!" These were the words written on the posters of demonstrators who gathered in Sarajevo in 2016 to condemn the Assad regime's...
June 16, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent remarks that, "If Greece does not know its place, Turkey knows how to answer", drew a swift and equally menacing response from Athens....
The ongoing war in Libya took a dramatic turn recently exposing the extent of foreign involvement in the conflict, notably by Russia. Hundreds of Russian "military contractors" — aka...
April 23, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik The people of Greece and Turkey argue over many things. Food, for example; both claim "baklava" as their own, and prepare it in their own way. It would have...
April 3, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Academic Nukhet Varlık has written a timely book on the experience of the Ottoman Empire in coping with plague. The Professor of History at Rutgers University is the author...
March 23, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Coronavirus part 1: Should Russia really declare an oil price war against the Middle East? Gold prices have risen while that of oil has slumped due to the coronavirus...
March 10, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik This week we saw comparisons of the price of a barrel of oil — $30 — with the price of an empty barrel, at around $33. This is the...
March 3, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik This week we have seen the first reported death of a refugee in the latest phase of the Syrian crisis, when a Syrian man was shot by Greek border...
February 27, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik In 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. The current coronavirus epidemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has...
February 14, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik 'We have tried to expose the fact that there were people who could have been killed as a result of foreign mercenaries being hired by the UAE,' Hakan Camuz...
February 10, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik The situation in Idlib could be the greatest failure of the international community in human history, according to a member of the Turkish Presidency Security and Foreign Policy Council,...
Swedish furniture and home goods retailer IKEA is being praised for defending a Muslim employee after a racist online customer's review of its store in Aubonne, Switzerland, Daily Sabah...
February 7, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Last December, Robert Malley, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, penned an article for the Foreign Affairs magazine, addressing the topic: "The Unwanted Wars: Why the Middle...
January 29, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, African affairs were regarded as a secondary issue in the new state's foreign policy. Until relatively recently, that is, when...
January 20, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Distinguished Libyan journalist and political analyst, Ashur Shamis, has spoken out on the Libyan Civil War and ceasefire in the country
January 15, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Increasing tensions between Iran and the US have led to fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East, with energy market participants increasingly concerned that the fallout could...
Published in:
Article,
Asia & Americas,
China,
Europe & Russia,
Iran,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Qatar,
Saudi Arabia,
Turkey,
US January 10, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Turkey has announced that it is sending troops to Libya at a time when it is dealing with a new influx of refugees from Syria's north-western province, Idlib. Millions...
Published in:
Article,
Asia & Americas,
China,
Europe & Russia,
Greece,
Middle East,
Opinion,
Russia,
Syria,
Turkey,
US January 1, 2020 |
Elif Selin Calik Energy has always played a crucial geopolitical role. Natural gas is a part of this important sector; with the switch from coal-to-gas, the demand for natural gas jumped by...
December 24, 2019 |
Elif Selin Calik An interview with Professor Stephen Bronner, by Elif Selin Calik
![Health workers dealing with patients with COVID-19 in Gaza on 30 November 2020 [Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/20201201_2_45633143_60228506.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
One of the enduring images of 2020, the year of the pandemic, has been the sight of people connected to ventilators in hospitals. It is an image that helped...
Our interview with Omar Salha, research and teaching fellow at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS![Turkey's hydrocarbon research ship 'Yavuz' , escorted by Turkish navy, is seen offshores of the Mediterranean Sea [Turkish Defence Ministry/Handout/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20200917_2_44393265_58191408.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
In light of the extraordinary impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown measures on the energy system, global demand for gas has fallen substantially. Similarly oil demand has...
Our interview with the Director of Seville Mosque Foundation, Ibrahim Hernandez![Life in a Country Album [cover]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/images.jpg?resize=400%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Life in a Country Album is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and above all, inspirational. Nathalie Handal's musings are divided into four regional parts: Album...![Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar receives Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Libya, Mohamed Ali al-Haddad in Ankara, Turkey on October 19, 2020 [Arif Akdoğan - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Hulusi-Akar-and-Mohamed-Ali-al-Haddad-meeting-in-Ankara.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres registered the Turkey-Libya deal on the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction in the Mediterranean. Under Article 102 of the UN Charter, "Every treaty...![Retired Turkish admiral and author Cem Gurdeniz on 19 August 2020, at Heybeliada, on the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara, near Istanbul. [BULENT KILIC/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1228116368.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey's 21st-century geopolitical strategy is called the Blue Homeland. It is the brainchild of retired Rear Admiral Cem Gurdeniz, who talked to MEMO about Turkey's eastern Mediterranean policy, which...
Stephen Bronner is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Rutgers University![Escorted by Navy warships, Turkey's Oruc Reis seismic vessel is seen in the Eastern Mediterranean on 20 August 2020 [Turkish National Defense Ministry/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20200820_2_43977196_57548328.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkey's role in the transit of regional energy supplies has been likened to a sandwich: the upper slice has Russian gas, the lower slice has east Mediterranean and Caucasian...![Former US Vice President Joe Biden (R) addresses Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington, DC on May 16, 2013 [LADEN ANTONOV/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GettyImages-168887743-scaled-e1597953834289.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The recent release of a video featuring comments uttered by US presidential candidate Joe Biden about Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been roundly condemned in Ankara as being"interventionist"....![Oil field in Libya [Javier Blas/Wikipedia]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/oil-field-in-LibyaEl_Saharara_oil_field_Libya.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Oil as a commodity is intertwined intimately with national strategies, power and global politics. This was a central theme in Daniel Yergin's The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil,...![The first president of the Presidency of the newly-independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Alija Izetbegovic (1925-2003) and Colonel Serif Patkovic with the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina [Patkovic's archieve]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-17-at-09.47.47.jpeg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
‘The only thing that has changed is the number of identified bodies of victims and the number of tombstones in Potocari. That is changing. Those numbers are growing,’ genocide survivor and army commander Serif Patkovic tells MEMO
Veteran journalist Dr Bora Bayraktar greeted his audiences to the Hagia Sophia by saying, "Welcome to the heart of the world." His views have been recorded for his YouTube...![Mother of a Srebrenica victim Fazila Efendic visits graves of her husband and son who lost their lives in the genocide, which started on July 11, 1995 when soldiers under the command of Serbian commander Ratko Mladic took over the city of Srebrenica, at Potocari Memorial Cemetery in Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on February 15, 2020. [Samır Jordamovıc - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/20200215_2_40861845_52182189.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
"After Srebrenica, you said never again…Shame on you World!" These were the words written on the posters of demonstrators who gathered in Sarajevo in 2016 to condemn the Assad regime's...![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives before a meeting with European Commission President in Brussels on 9 March, 2020 [JOHN THYS/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-1206282838-scaled-e1592312507185.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent remarks that, "If Greece does not know its place, Turkey knows how to answer", drew a swift and equally menacing response from Athens....![Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) meets with Khalifa Haftar eastern Libya-based military commander at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House in Moscow, Russia on 13 January 2020. [Russian Foreign Ministry / Handout - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200113_2_40302175_51158024-e1579171756314.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The ongoing war in Libya took a dramatic turn recently exposing the extent of foreign involvement in the conflict, notably by Russia. Hundreds of Russian "military contractors" — aka...![The open sea maritime training of the third grade students of Naval Academy of Turkish National Defense University, that will inclusive of the harbour visits at Albania, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey's Mugla with TCG Bayraktar navy vessel kicks off, on 12 July 2019 in Istanbul, Turkey. [Muhammed Enes Yıldırım - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/20190712_2_37317713_46020898.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
The people of Greece and Turkey argue over many things. Food, for example; both claim "baklava" as their own, and prepare it in their own way. It would have...![Academic Nukhet Varlık [Newark History Dept/Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Nukhet-Varlık.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Academic Nukhet Varlık has written a timely book on the experience of the Ottoman Empire in coping with plague. The Professor of History at Rutgers University is the author...![Oil tanker [Jon Olav Eikenes/Flickr]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2012_10-4-oil-tanker8699927352_fd3873b675_o.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
This week we saw comparisons of the price of a barrel of oil — $30 — with the price of an empty barrel, at around $33. This is the...![Iraqis take medical precautions at the Bashmaq border crossing with Iran to prevent the spread of coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq on 23 February 2020. [Fariq Faraj Mahmood - Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/20200223_2_40992614_52426037.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
In 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. The current coronavirus epidemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, has...
'We have tried to expose the fact that there were people who could have been killed as a result of foreign mercenaries being hired by the UAE,' Hakan Camuz...
The situation in Idlib could be the greatest failure of the international community in human history, according to a member of the Turkish Presidency Security and Foreign Policy Council,...![Image of IKEA building [ Calvin Teo/Wikipedia]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2006_6_12-IKEA-building.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Swedish furniture and home goods retailer IKEA is being praised for defending a Muslim employee after a racist online customer's review of its store in Aubonne, Switzerland, Daily Sabah...![Collapsed and damaged buildings after Russian warplanes hit residential areas in Idlib, Syria on 30 January 2020 [İzzeddin İdilbi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/20200130_2_40591811_51672740.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Last December, Robert Malley, president and CEO of the International Crisis Group, penned an article for the Foreign Affairs magazine, addressing the topic: "The Unwanted Wars: Why the Middle...![Turkish President and leader of Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, Turkey on 14 January 2020 [Arda Küçükkaya/Anadolu Agency]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200114_2_40314903_51177253.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923, African affairs were regarded as a secondary issue in the new state's foreign policy. Until relatively recently, that is, when...
Distinguished Libyan journalist and political analyst, Ashur Shamis, has spoken out on the Libyan Civil War and ceasefire in the country
Increasing tensions between Iran and the US have led to fears of a widening conflict in the Middle East, with energy market participants increasingly concerned that the fallout could...![Qatar Petroleum (QP), the world's largest oil producer, announced Tuesday that it has raised its LNG capacity from 77 million to 100 million tons a year. Qatar Petroleum Chief Executive Officer Saad Sharida Al Kaabi told a news conference in Doha on 4 July, 2017 [Mohamed Farag/Anadolu Agency]](https://i2.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2017_07_04-Qatar-Petroleum20170704_2_24540733_23724959.jpg?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
Energy has always played a crucial geopolitical role. Natural gas is a part of this important sector; with the switch from coal-to-gas, the demand for natural gas jumped by...![Emeritus Professor of Political Science and a member of the Graduate Faculties of Comparative Literature and German Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey, Stephen Eric Bronner [Youtube]](https://i1.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/interview.png?resize=500%2C333&quality=85&strip=all&zoom=1&ssl=1)
An interview with Professor Stephen Bronner, by Elif Selin Calik