Turkey

Turkey’s security establishment remains immutably opposed to the consolidation of any form of Kurdish autonomy in Syria that would mirror Kurdish gains in neighboring Iraq. Turkey’s overtures to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with last week’s meeting in Moscow between the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers, continue to …

Syrians are speaking out against a potential Turkish-Syrian rapprochement, with opposition-held areas holding vigils and protests across Aleppo and Idlib governorates. Protesters held a vigil in Idlib on Tuesday in protest of the Turkish rapprochement with the Syrian government. Protests have been taking place across different Syrian cities in Aleppo …

The Turkish foreign minister also vowed to continue the fight against ‘terrorism’ in Syria Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told media on 29 December that Ankara is willing to withdraw from the territory it occupies in northern Syria and hand it over to Damascus in the event that “political stability” …

On 12 December, under the pretext of environmentalism, dozens of state-backed “eco-activists” from Azerbaijan blocked the only land corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh. The blockade created a humanitarian crisis for the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting them off from the outside world. This is not the first time Baku …

SDF Commander tells Asharq Al-Awsat he won’t visit Damascus before conditions for political solution are available. Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said the American administration of former President Donald Trump “betrayed” its allies in the SDF when it did not oppose the Turkish infiltration in Syria …

As Turkey approaches critical general and presidential elections in 2023, President Erdogan is moving to fix frayed relations with rich Middle Eastern countries in the hope of securing a much-needed cash flow.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey has had poor relations with almost all Middle Eastern countries for nearly a decade, …

Les suspects rassemblaient des informations sur des Palestiniens. Les services turcs des renseignements ont démantelé dans la mi-décembre 2022 un réseau de 44 espions qui activent pour le Mossad israélien, a informé l’agence médiatique turque. Les suspects devaient récolter semble-t-il des informations sur des Palestiniens présents sur le territoire turc. …

The work of Israeli spy networks reportedly allowed the Mossad to launch online defamation campaigns and threats against Palestinians working and studying in Turkiye Istanbul police and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) on 14 December announced the arrest of 44 people suspected of leaking information about Palestinian expatriates in Turkiye …

Bulgaria rejected accusations that its border guards shot a Syrian refugee in October, according to Zaman al-Wasl. Bulgaria rejected accusations that its border guards shot a Syrian refugee in October after a video released Monday showed a man being fired at on the European country’s border with Turkey. The footage …

Israel/Palestine Double bombing rocked Jerusalem amid heightened volatility in West Bank, and victory of far-right coalition could bring even more destabilising policies in near future. Deadly bombings struck Jerusalem as Israeli and Palestinian violence continued in West Bank. In first such attack since 2016, unclaimed bombings at two bus stops …