November 25, 2011

Further thoughts on Syria, Turkey, and democracy

This Monday, Nov. 28, I'll be speaking at a 2pm symposium in Washington DC on the topic "The Future of Syria: Political Turmoil and Prospects of Democracy". It is organized...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:42 AM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

May 27, 2011

Notes on Turkey and Syria, #2

Turkish FM Davutoglu today told a couple of media outlets (including the NYT) that Syrian President Bashar al-Asad should launch a "shock therapy" version of political reform. Did he use...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:07 PM | Fulltext link (8 comments)

May 24, 2011

Notes on Turkey and the Syrian transition

I'm sorry we haven't been able to fix the comments here yet. Meantime, you can go over to this post on my backup blog to read what I just wrote...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:56 PM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

March 30, 2011

More on Turkey/Syria

On Monday, I blogged that I thought Turkey's role in helping urge/midwife a successful push for reform in Syria could be key. I gave a few reasons for this-- chiefly,...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:55 AM | Fulltext link (40 comments)

November 01, 2010

Yesterday's Taksim Square bomb

Thanks to everyone who's expressed concern for my wellbeing after yesterday's bomb in Taksim Square. In the incident, a suicide bomber detonated himself at the entrance to a police bus....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 01:34 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

October 31, 2010

More impressions, Istanbul

So many conversations, so many amazing meals, so much history. One major thing that has emerged from the conversations, for me, is a much more robust sense that what we...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:15 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

October 27, 2010

Istanbul, for all that ails you

Today, I feel like maybe I died and went to heaven. I am sitting in an apartment that is perched on the heights of Istanbul's Cehangir neighborhood right across the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:13 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

June 28, 2010

Obama and Erdogan's 75-minute talk at G-20

Today's Zaman has an intriguing description of the 75-minute meeting that Obama held with Turkish PM Rejep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, the eve of yesterday's G-20 meeting in Canada. It's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:54 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

June 18, 2010

Turkey conf live-blog #4

Turkish Amb. Namik Tan: The U.S. needs to rely more on alliances and soft power than it has until now. Turkey is a country with many friends in its region...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:44 PM | Fulltext link (12 comments)

Turkey conf live-blog #3

I left after Kalin for a press gaggle that he and Celik did. That was interesting. More later. Main takeaway: More details about the contacts that the Turkish foreign minister...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:05 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Turkey conf live-blog #2

Ibrahim Kalin, speaking in effortless, US-accented English. He's talking about the need for a "process analysis" as opposed to just looking at momentary snapshots. Excerpts from his words: During Cold...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:35 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Turkey conf live-blog #1

First substantial speaker up is Omer Celik. He's speaking in Turkish, very rapidly. Translation: I was asked as I came what is purpose of visit to DC. I said it...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:17 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

Live-blogging DC conference on Turkey

Kudos to Washington's venerable Middle East Institute which now (under female leadership) seems to be shaking off the dust of the ages and is organizing numerous pretty good public events....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:38 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

June 16, 2010

The return of geography: Turkey, Syria, Saudi Arabia

I realize I probably haven't put anything on the blog yet that tells my ever-waiting readership (!) that last week I was in Syria. Well, I was. I went as...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:09 PM | Fulltext link (16 comments)

June 12, 2010

Greek-Turkish humanitarian project in Cyprus

The strategic stance of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has for some years now been one of "zero problems with our neighbors". And since those neighbors include a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:32 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

June 02, 2010

Flotilla: Crisis growing inside NATO?

The very well-informed Craig Murray has a great piece about this on his blog today. (HT: Mondoweiss.) Murray's bottom line: There are already deep misgivings, especially amongst the military, over...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:31 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

Flotilla: Names of victims starting to appear

One of the many inhumane aspects of Israel's murderous raid on the aid flotilla Monday has been its tardiness in releasing the names of the killed and wounded and its...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:01 AM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Turkey shows the way

The Turkish government has successfully persuaded Israel to immediately release all Turkish nationals illegally captured by Israel on the high seas on Monday, and has sent civilian planes and military...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 08:27 AM | Fulltext link (0 comments)

June 01, 2010

Flotilla murders: The Turkish/NATO angle

The WaPo's Glenn Kessler reported this about Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu , who's been in Washington today: With anger and sarcasm, ... Davutoglu lashed out Tuesday at Israel's attack...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 04:19 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

C. Murray: Raid not piracy but war

Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray makes a strong argument here that the Israeli commandos' assault on a Turkish-flagged civilian vessel in the high seas was an act not...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 12:07 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

May 31, 2010

Israel's flotilla violence changing everything, Part 2

A. The fact that PM Netanyahu has decided that fallout from the IDF's gratuitously violent flotilla assault requires him to cancel his planned meeting in Washington Wednesday and return to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 11:15 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

May 18, 2010

Davutoğlu replies to Hillary (and Barack)

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu today made clear his resentment about the tepid reaction most western governments had toward the deal his government and Brazil concluded with Iran yesterday on a...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:21 PM | Fulltext link (2 comments)

Obama cool toward 'mid-size states' deal

Pres. Obama's spokesperson Robert Gibbs was yesterday extremely cool toward the agreement that Turkish PM Rejep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil's Prez Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva reached with Iran concerning...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:26 AM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

May 17, 2010

Midsize, non-nuclear powers enter world stage

Treading where the U.S. and its European allies have failed to make any significant headway, the leaders of Turkey and Brazil have now engaged personally in dealing with the globally...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:50 AM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

March 05, 2010

More on Turkey: Özel, Rosenberg

Related to what I blogged here earlier about the (re-)emergence of Turkish (mainly soft) power in the Middle East in recent years, I just want to note: this blog post...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:11 PM | Fulltext link (5 comments)

February 21, 2010

Turkish IHH foundation plans new siege-busting project for Gaza

Turkey's IHH humanitarian-aid foundation has now announced a plan to help lead a 20-ship siege-busting project for Gaza, to take place most likely in April. The project is called Noah's...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 02:28 PM | Fulltext link (4 comments)

February 14, 2010

My grandfather goes looking for his own grave (and other Maltese mysteries)

Ninety-five or so years ago a teenager in New Zealand, hearing news of the-- perhaps still "heroic"-- early phases of the British involvement in the Great War, was desperate to...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 03:05 PM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

November 11, 2009

A Grave View of US-Iran Relations

In some countries, mine included, today is remembered as "Veterans' Day" or "Armistice Day." Juan Cole sensibly wrote earlier today that "The most patriotic way to honor future veterans of...
Posted by Scott Harrop at 06:06 PM | Fulltext link (22 comments)

October 12, 2009

Turkey's intriguing diplomacy

Turkey's adroit and visionary foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and the government he's a part of, have taken two intriguing moves in recent days: 1. They canceled an invitation to Israel...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 09:08 AM | Fulltext link (34 comments)

August 31, 2009

Turkish FM mediating between Iraq and Syria

As long-time JWN readers are aware, I have always been worried about the prospect that as the US military decreases its presence in Iraq, many of the country's neighbors would...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:58 AM | Fulltext link (10 comments)

July 18, 2009

IPS post on Nabucco project and the Middle East

My piece on this is here. Also archived here. This piece was a quick out-take, if you like, from some of the research I dd for my presentation at the...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 10:09 AM | Fulltext link (7 comments)

June 12, 2009

CSM piece on the AKP in Turkey

Sometimes I feel I exist in a time-warp! Today, the CSM published an opinion piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago, based on my time in Turkey. I still...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:02 PM | Fulltext link (3 comments)

June 10, 2009

My Moualem interview on ForeignPolicy.com

... is here. I will just add to everything else I've written about Syria-Israel in recent days that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was in Washington last week, where he...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:27 PM | Fulltext link (1 comments)

May 22, 2009

IPS piece on Turkey's role in region, world

... is here. Also here. We're on our way to Ankara, going via Bursa, which was the Ottomans' capital for many years before, finally, they were able to figure out...
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:05 AM | Fulltext link (35 comments)

Transit systems, Turkey

I'm writing-- and also, crucially, posting-- this while traveling on a Nilufer long-distance bus from Istanbul to Bursa. We were promised wireless on the bus; and yes, here it is....
Posted by Helena Cobban at 05:01 AM | Fulltext link (3 comments)