Middle Orient

As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watches Russian forces flounder in Ukraine, he may be rethinking his own ambitions — or concluding that Turkey is in a better spot than ever. Turkey’s diplomatic isolation was the focus of excited punditry in recent years. But today, Ankara is running out of …

Turkey’s position over the Russian invasion of Ukraine ​​has resonated as a pro-Western shift in Ankara’s foreign policy, but Erdogan needs to go the extra mile. Turkey is no longer the isolated country it was 21 days ago. The ruthless Russian invasion in Ukraine that began Feb. 24 has changed …

The Islamic State group is moving to solidify support for its new leader, sharing photos on social media showing fighters uniting behind his rule. One set of photos obtained by JihadoScope, a company that monitors online activity by Islamist extremists, and shared with VOA on Friday, shows a small group …

ran claimed responsibility Sunday for a missile barrage that struck near a sprawling U.S. consulate complex in northern Iraq, saying it was retaliation for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed two members of its Revolutionary Guard earlier this week. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest …

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdoğan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed in talks on Sunday (13 March) to improve ties, despite the long-running disagreements between the two NATO members, Ankara said. The Turkish and Greek leaders met Sunday in Istanbul mindful that the burgeoning conflict in Ukraine looms larger than …

Four days into the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine on February 27, 2022, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu declared that the operation in question was a “war.” He explained to CNN Türk, “Under these conditions, we will apply the Montreux agreement. Article 19 is pretty clear. In the beginning, it …

The suspected ISIS militants retreated after almost 15 minutes of fighting, the source added. Residents of the Kurdish-majority Mansoor village in eastern Kirkuk’s Daquq district repelled a suspected ISIS attack on Tuesday evening without suffering any causalities. The suspected ISIS militants attacked a checkpoint near the village, a resident, who …

Russia and its ties to the Middle East The Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched on a large scale on February 24, marked the most significant escalation by Russia against its neighbor since 2014 and the largest invasion in Europe since World War II. In the past few years, the Kremlin …

In the decade since the Arab Spring, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been locked in a rivalry, taking diverging positions on Egypt, Libya, and Qatar, to name just a few issues. The political tension greatly impacted their economic ties and reduced investment activity. However, Turkish President Recep …

When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, I rushed to a protest organized by Ukrainians in Oxford, England. I, along with fellow Syrians, brought the Syrian revolution flag to the protests to demand an end to the invasion. At the time, I struggled to put into …