What is to be expected after the Erdogan-Putin summit? (by Yeghia Tashjian)

On August 5, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a four-hour meeting in Russia to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues. The Sochi summit comes after Ankara scored a diplomatic victory by helping broker a grain deal between Turkey, Ukraine

The Impact of the Crisis in Ukraine on the Regional Order in the Middle East (by Yeghia Tashjian)

Background of the Current Russian-Ukrainian Conflict On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially recognized the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, two self-proclaimed states controlled by pro-Russian groups in Donbas, Eastern Ukraine. The next day, Russia’s Federation Council unanimously

The Russian-Turkish “Co-opetition” in Eurasia and Beyond (By Yeghia Tashjian)

Introduction  “Co-opetition” was a term coined by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry Nalebuff to describe a paradoxical strategy of cooperation among competitors, enabling them to collectively achieve mutual gains. It’s a relatively new term in international relations and used occasionally in international trade.

Revolutionizing the Turkish Army under Erdogan (By Yeghia Tashjian)

Back in July, Rich Outzen published a policy paper “Deals, Drones and National Will: The New Era in Turkish Power Projection” in the Washington Institute for Near East Policy highlighting the new strategy of the Turkish Armed Forces, the development of the arms

Joe Biden’s presidency and the possible geopolitical shifts in the Middle East (By Yeghia Tashjian)

President Joe Biden has inherited a state of disorder in the Middle East from Donald Trump. Powers such as Russia and Turkey have filled the vacuum as the US has, to a certain degree, isolated itself from regional issues. Biden is expected to

Erdogan’s Enver Pasha Dream: The Revival of the “Army of Islam” (By Yeghia Tashjian)

On July 10, 1918, the Ottoman Minister of War, Enver Pasha, ordered the formation of the “Islamic Army of the Caucasus” in order to repel the Armenian forces in South Caucasus, unite all the Turkic nations in the region under the banner of

Understanding Armenia’s Syrian Gamble (By Eduard Abrahamyan)

Following bilateral closed-door talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, on September 8, Armenia’s interim Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told journalists that Russia and Armenia would soon launch a “joint humanitarian mission” in Syria (Azatutyun.am, September 8). The operation, apparently requested by

Iran: Deterring Israel by avoiding direct military confrontation (By Yeghia Tashjian)

Despite Iran’s increasing political power in the Middle East particularly after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the escalation of the war in Syria, its options, to engage in a direct confrontation with Israel, are dependent on financial and military factors.

Whither Turkey? The Old, the New and the Not-So-New in 2018 (By Joe Hammoura)

Like a typical adolescent, bent on asserting his phallic worth through projecting raw force right and left – thereby creating a constant scene – Turkey would remain interesting as a site of constant political and economic drama or tragedy, depending on who you

Turkey’s “Mercenaries”: Vengeance from a Woman’s Body in Afrin (By Joe Hammoura)

‘Every war is different. Every war is the same.’ – Anthony Swofford Since the beginning of the Olive Branch Operation in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region on January 20th, the Turkish army has launched massive air and ground force strikes on targets across the