In the context of the ongoing geopolitical competition in the Eastern Mediterranean, the two central concepts constantly emphasized by Turkey’s opponents (especially in Greek and FETO controlled media) are revisionism (a stark reversal of the current geopolitical conditions) and Neo-Ottomanism. The Blue Homeland, my brainchild, is often lumped into the same category with these ideologies, especially after the Memoranda of Understanding ...

Families of Ottoman origin in South Africa have decided to apply for Turkish citizenship after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed interest in Africa’s Ottoman legacy. More than a hundred family members with the surnames Effendi, Pasha, Patel, Amjadi and Remzi Bey have already applied for Turkish citizenship. In the Ottoman era, their great grandfathers such as Abu Bakr Effendi ...

Ah, America’s much lauded “Freedom of the Press,” part and parcel of the holy writ of liberalism, the US constitution, which ostensibly enshrines the population’s right to freely publish and access information, separating our so-called “democracy” from the countries that get the epitaph “regime” in the papers. However, for those outside the western world, it might come as a surprise ...

Context On November 10, 2019, early elections to the Spanish ‘Cortes Generales’ (Parliament) were held in Spain, but no party won an absolute majority of seats in Congress needed to form a government. Moreover, even possible coalitions between the five major parties do not have an absolute majority and all need the votes of minority regional or nationalist (separatist) parties. ...

The main cause of the dramatic shifts in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Interview with Assoc. Prof. Volkan Özdemir, Director of ATA Platform (www.ataplatform.org) Tectonic changes in the international system have been taking place across the Middle East and this intense period of transition is showing no signs of slowing down. Thanks to shifts in economic wealth from the Atlantic to ...

Russia and Turkey are becoming key powers on which peace in Libya depends. However, a number of internal and external factors may complicate their efforts. On January 13 in Moscow, representatives of Russia, Turkey and the parties to the Libyan conflict held talks. The event was organized at the highest levels: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defense Minister Hulusi ...

Ukrainian plane crash A passenger plane with 180 passengers on board crashed after taking off from an airport in Tehran on the night of January 8. Later on, Iran admitted that the plane had been shot down by mistake due to the extremely tense standoff with the US. The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran fully acknowledged that the ...

An “Unforgivable Mistake” Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 sent shockwaves across the globe upon its crash merely two minutes after taking off from Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. The plane was almost instantly put on display in a video shared throughout social media – engulfed in flames and in rapid descension. Initial reports from Iranian Civil Aviation suggested technical malfunctions ...

Most experts believe that we should not expect a war between the US and Iran. However, the religious beliefs of political leadership in both countries might suggest otherwise. A missing factor The assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani has led to fresh tensions between the United States and Iran. In response to the assassination of the high-ranking military figure, Iran ...

After Iran had recognized that it is partially responsible for the catastrophe with the Ukrainian plane, anti-government protests began in the country. The world media is actively covering the events in Iran as popular outrage by the “Ayatollah regime.” What really caused the new wave of protest in Iran and what will be its consequences? The protest of the “rich kids” The ...