A visit to Iraq led to a meeting with the country’s Prime Minister By Muhammad Sabreen, from Baghdad / Iraq Could Baghdad reveal its secrets, just for the sake time in the capital of Mesopotamia? I had no idea what awaited me in a town rising from severe destruction. While the reality of what was happening was ambiguous and mysterious, ...

To learn Mandarin is not to surrender to China—it is to learn to know China By Mehmet Enes Beşer Southeast Asia has always been a rich weave of cultures, languages, and identities. Diverse as that has been, it has also required a unifying linguistic strand that enables trade, diplomacy, and frequent intercourse across borders. European languages such as English, Dutch, ...

No visa for tanks trying to cross the Meric river into Türkiye Vatan Party Chairman Doğu Perinçek addressed the people on Saturday, May 24, 2025 at an Outdoor Meeting organized by the Vatan Party at the Post Office Square in Edirne, city bordering Greece. Perinçek stated that Türkiye was targeted in the NATO exercises under the command of the United ...

Deals, Delusions, and a Shifting Regional Chessboard By Islam Farag, from Cairo / Egypt It can be argued that U.S. President Donald Trump’s first international tour, early in his presidency, to the three Gulf states—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE—was merely a faithful reflection of his personal convictions, which viewed global affairs solely through the lens of deals. This perspective ...

China needs to concretely reconceptualize its approach to the region. By Orçun Göktürk, Beijing/China Donald Trump made his first foreign visit to the Middle East, breaking with the tradition of US leaders to visit NATO or European countries after their election. Trump’s visit poses a significant risk to Beijing’s regional interests, which are critical to the region’s economic and geopolitical ...

It’s a wake-up call… By Mehmet Enes Beşer Since the demise of Suharto’s New Order regime twenty years ago, Indonesia’s middle class has been hailed as the shining star of Indonesia’s achievement in democracy and development. Through economic liberalization and political reform, millions of aspiring citizens—entrepreneurs, bureaucrats, city professionals—have been created who are not only a consumer class but the ...

Why Trump decided to seek rapprochement with China. By Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein In 2011, long before entering active politics, Donald Trump tweeted that China was the enemy of the United States and that his goal was to destroy it. He later asserted, “On trade, the Chinese are cheats.” A year later, in 2012, he commented, “The concept of global warming ...

State Support and Global Competition By Mehmet Enes Beşer The People’s Republic of China has undergone rapid economic development since initiating its reform and opening-up policies in 1978, during which the logistics sector has experienced significant transformation. Comprehensive investments in road, rail, air, and maritime transportation since the 1990s have established a modern logistics infrastructure. This infrastructure serves as a ...

Despite the new government’s militarization politics, there might be a new chapter for German-Russian relations on the horizon. By Cengiz Köse The majority of German society punished the previous war-mongering government in the elections on 23 February 2025. With the defeat of the SPD-Greens, the “left” of imperialism weakened in Germany. However, the German society, trying to escape the rain, ...

Main political events in Türkiye in the last week. Last week in Türkiye, the Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul were at the forefront of the agenda. Besides hosting the meetings, Türkiye put in significant effort to bring the two sides together. Another important item of the agenda was President Erdoğan’s participation and talks in the European Political Community Summit held in ...