Turkey's Opium: Football
Great Ambition, Great Disappointment
Football is an integral part of daily life in many societies around the world. In Turkey, however, this passion...
Faisal Devji’s Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam offers a useful starting point for understanding the current crisis of political Islam....
Turkey’s path to the dictatorship
The first phase of Erdoğan’s plan to neutralize the main opposition party — carried out in cooperation with former CHP...
By moving to effectively install a court-appointed administration over CHP, Erdoğan's regime has taken a step that pushes Turkey closer to a Russian-style one-man...
As of early 2026, the U.S. had almost 170,000 active-duty troops stationed abroad in approximately 750 military bases located in some 178 different countries....
Turkey’s Strategic Neutrality in the US–Israel War Against Iran*
The ongoing war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran presents a revealing case for understanding...
The dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East in recent years has renewed interest in a long-standing question: how should Iran’s foreign policy...
Beneath the visible structures of Anatolian political culture lies a deeper emotional and symbolic reservoir—one shaped not merely by institutions or ideologies, but by...
What About Iran’s Proxy Forces in Turkey?
Before the Iranian “mullah regime” collapses, it has already built a serious infrastructure inside Turkey—under Erdoğan’s protection—to reproduce...
In a lightening offensive reminiscent of their overthrow of Assad in December 2024, Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s forces took some 80 percent of...
The Fragile Turkish-PKK Peace Process Threatened by Renewed Fighting between the Syrian Army & Pro-Kurdish SDF
The sudden fighting in Aleppo between the Syrian army...
Nationalism, at its core, is a political principle that answers three fundamental questions: Who are we as a collective? What norms and institutions should...
A year ago, Donald Trump entered office recommitting to “an America First” foreign policy. To many of his supporters that meant disengaging from the...
The Pakistanization of Turkey? Why Tactical Supports of Yesterday Could Be Turkey’s Ideological Crisis Tomorrow
On December 29, just before New Year’s Eve celebrations, three...
Trump’s New National Security Strategy (NSS):
Its Implications for U.S.-Turkiye, Kurdish, and Middle East Relations
Trump’s new National Security Strategy (NSS) abruptly posted in the middle...
There is a fashionable consensus among Turkey’s liberal and Islamist commentators—Ahmet Altan among them—that “the Young Turks destroyed the Ottoman Empire, and it is...
Recep Tayyip Erdogan—Turkey’s longtime leader as prime minister (2003-2014) and subsequently as president (2014-)—infamously once declared that “democracy is like a train; you get...
Two weeks ago, I again visited Iraqi Kurdistan—often referred to as the Iraqi Kurdistan Government (KRG)—to deliver the keynote address on “Kurdish Identity” at...
Erdogan’s September 2025 White House Visit:
Its Impact on Turkey’s Recent Balance-of-Power Strategy
On September 25, 2025, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited U.S. president Donald...
In any functioning democracy, collective organization (the ability of individuals to form groups, join associations, and pursue political, social, or cultural objectives) is not...
The digital landscape has become a critical battleground against violent extremism and the spread of anti-democratic values. Authoritarian regimes and extremist groups are...
The Rising Influence of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
Along with its status and mission, the institution referred to in Turkey’s official discourse as the “Fener Greek...
It will not be an exaggeration that Donald Trump has turned upside down America’s relations with Europe. From strong-arming NATO allies to commit to...
Turkey’s Renewed Balance-of-Power Policy among the Global Powers
Arguably the superpower of the entire world in the sixteenth century under Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the...
Turkey’s Return to Confiscation: A Historical Perspective on the New Law Granting Expanded Seizure Powers
On January 30, 2025, Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (TBMM) passed...
The Caucasus is a relatively small, but geostrategically significant region between the Black and Caspian Seas, athwart Europe and Asia, at the northern edge...
The Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, which began in Nagorno-Karabakh following the collapse of the Soviet Union, came to a halt after Azerbaijan emerged victorious in the...
Although Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been roundly criticized by many observers including this one for backsliding on democracy in his own country,...
On March 19, 2025, the arrest of Istanbul Mayor and opposition presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu reignited a political crisis that has been smoldering for...
