On July 10, 2020, Turkey’s high administrative court annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that had turned Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia mosque into a museum, dealing a further blow to the secularist legacy of modern Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Shortly afterward, a presidential decree transferred the site’s ownership from …

While the West views the fall of the US-backed government as a strategic disaster, Ankara plans to turn the crisis there to its own advantage. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on August 29 that Turkish diplomatic activity will continue in Kabul and all its embassy staff had returned to …

As Kyiv and Chisinau firm up once weak bilateral ties, the Kremlin observes the formation of what it suspects is an anti-Russian alliance with alarm. Moldovan and Ukrainian leaders aim to build a solid relationship to boost their respective European aspirations, having big players on the eastern flank of the …

This year’s joint military exercise organised by Russia and Belarus on NATO’s eastern border is an unprecedented attempt to bully the West, in a new context with fresh tactics, argues Polish security expert Anna Maria Dyner. The culminating stage of the Zapad 2021 joint Russian-Belarusian military exercise will take place …

Last weekend’s street battles show the former ruling DPS won’t shrink from taking the whole country down with it, if it feels its interests are vitally threatened. For what it’s worth, many ordinary Montenegrins are as confused as everyone else about what just happened in their country. The violent scenes …

Ein Kabinett nur aus Mitgliedern der Taliban, der Ministerpräsident auf einer Sanktionsliste der UN, der Innenminister ein vom FBI gesuchter Terrorist, fast alle Minister Paschtunen und keine Frau darunter – weiter von den „inklusiven“ Vorstellungen des Westens kann man kaum entfernt sein als mit dieser neuen Übergangsregierung in Afghanistan. Sie …

NATO’s war in Afghanistan is over. Over the last three weeks, the US and her allies – including Ireland – have evacuated over 120,000 people from Kabul International Airport. On Tuesday night, Major General Chris Donahue of the 82nd Airborne Division became the last US soldier to quit Afghan soil. …

Saudi Arabia’s air defenses intercepted and destroyed several explosive-laden drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi militia toward Khamis Mushayt on Thursday. The Arab coalition said the Iran-backed group continues to target civilians, which is tantamount to war crimes. The Houthis launch the rigged drones toward the Kingdom on a near-daily basis. …

The Syrian government and rebel groups recently reached a cease-fire deal in the southern city that played a large role in the 2011 uprising. Syrian government forces entered Daraa al-Balad on Wednesday as per an agreement with rebel groups in the southern Syrian city. Though there is a cease-fire, one …

Syria also agreed to transfer Jordanian electricity to Lebanon, while Iran already sent fuel. Several Middle Eastern states agreed to export natural gas from Egypt to energy-starved Lebanon, though the exact plan is not clear. The energy ministers of Egypt, Syria and Jordan met in Amman on Wednesday with their …