The Levant Files

by Dr. Nikolaos Stelgias In the weeks leading up to Cyprus’s parliamentary elections, we repeatedly advanced a single, uncomfortable thesis: that 24 May could mark a watershed in the island’s political history—a moment in which established forces would haemorrhage support and a new cast of ultra-nationalist and populist actors would step into the spotlight. At first glance, Sunday night’s results appeared to render that prediction premature, perhaps even misplaced. The three traditional heavyweights of Cypriot politics largely held their ground. DISY, the conservative (or centre-right) party, finished first by a comfortable margin over AKEL—a result that, given pre-election polling placing it well below 20 percent, amounted to a quiet triumph. AKEL, for its part, marginally increased its share by roughly a percentage point. DIKO, the venerable “president-maker” of Cypriot politics, retained its voter base even as it relinquished its customary third-place position. Yet to read these res...

The interim government in Damascus is keeping an estimated 5,000 foreign fighters under arms inside Syria’s new security apparatus, a strategy that has eased the post‑Assad transition but is stirring deep unease at home and abroad. The policy, detailed in a recent commentary by the International Crisis Group, describes how Hayat Tahrir al‑Sham (HTS) and its allies integrated non‑Syrian militants into the regular army after the regime’s collapse in late 2024, banking on them as a disciplined reserve force even as many Syrians fear an entrenched jihadist influence in state institutions. In the months following the fall of Bashar al‑Assad, HTS offered foreign and Syrian factions a stark choice: fold into the new army hierarchy or face arrest, a move that brought once‑autonomous formations such as the Uighur‑dominated Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) under formal state command. While fighters now wear Syrian army uniforms and operate within numbered divisions, many units have preserved inter...

Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti’nde 24 Mayıs’ta yapılan parlamento seçimleri öncesinde, adanın siyasal tarihinde bir dönüm noktasına yaklaşılabileceğini, geleneksel partilerin ciddi oy kayıpları yaşayacağını ve sahnenin aşırı milliyetçi ve popülist aktörlere bırakılabileceğini savunuyorduk. İlk bakışta, pazar gecesi ortaya çıkan tablo bu öngörünün erken, hatta hatalı olduğu izlenimini verdi. Kıbrıs siyasetinin üç geleneksel ağır topu genel olarak konumlarını korudu; merkez sağdaki muhafazakâr DISY, AKEL’in önünde rahat bir farkla birinci parti çıkarken, AKEL oy oranını yaklaşık bir puan artırdı, Kıbrıs siyasetinin “cumhurbaşkanını belirleyen (kingmaker)” partisi olarak bilinen DIKO ise üçüncü sırayı kaybetmesine rağmen seçmen tabanını korumayı başardı. Buna rağmen, bu sonuçları geleneksel siyasî nizamın bir tür zaferi olarak görmek, görüneni özle karıştırmak anlamına geliyor. Zira en az dört nedenle, geleneksel partilerin yüzeydeki dayanıklılığı rehaveti haklı çıkarmıyor. Her şeyden önce, bugün Kıb...

Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), has been thrust into its most severe crisis in years after a court annulled its 2023 congress, removed party leader Özgür Özel and reopened the path for former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to return. The ruling triggered a wave of alarm in international media, which cast the episode not as an ordinary intra-party dispute but as a major escalation in Türkiye’s wider democratic and political crisis. The pressure intensified further when police moved on CHP headquarters in Ankara, using force and tear gas to break through barricades and clear the building amid standoffs with supporters. Foreign broadcasters and wire services described the scene as a dramatic sign that the dispute had moved beyond courtrooms and into open confrontation, underscoring the scale of the political rupture. What distinguishes the foreign response from much of the domestic framing is its sharper emphasis on democratic erosion, institutional captu...

Former Turkish lawmaker Hüseyin Aygün has alleged that ex-CHP (Republican People's Party) chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu acted under the influence of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and helped redesign the party through intelligence-led purges, in a detailed social media post reported by the daily Cumhuriyet. In his lengthy social media post, Aygün claims that Kılıçdaroğlu moved in line with intelligence guidance and that the CHP was effectively “redesigned” on this basis. He argues that the roots of today’s internal crisis lie in the 2015 and 2018 election cycles, when, according to him, critical and left-leaning figures inside the party were systematically sidelined. Aygün frames these developments as part of a broader effort he describes as the “occupation” of the CHP and the erosion of the Republic’s founding values through the actions of an “old chairman” installed as a kind of political “trustee.” Alleged Mi̇t Warning Over Syria Work One of Aygün’s central exam...

Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has been thrust into one of the most turbulent episodes in its history after a “nullity” (butlan) ruling and a police raid on its Ankara headquarters triggered a three‑day political shockwave, columnist Barış Terkoğlu writes in the daily Cumhuriyet. In his 25 May piece , Terkoğlu argues that the operation against the founding party of the republic marks a new stage in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s unconstrained rule. According to Terkoğlu, the butlan ruling on CHP’s internal processes was not an isolated judicial act but part of a broader political design to render the party ungovernable rather than simply change its leadership. Police stormed the CHP headquarters, fired gas into its corridors and in effect pushed the party into a prolonged period of internal strife between its grassroots and leadership. Terkoğlu notes that although senior CHP figures had expected a ruling, they were caught unprepared for the speed and scope o...

Pakistan’s strategic partnership with China is entering a new phase of deeper financial integration and expanded provincial-level cooperation, according to a report in Dawn. The article notes that as both countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties, Islamabad is increasingly turning to Chinese capital markets and sub‑national partnerships to secure economic stability and diversify away from traditional Western financing channels. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is currently on a visit to China that focuses heavily on trade, industrial cooperation, financial connectivity and the future direction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, the trip is expected to “strengthen and deepen political trust, strategic coordination” and consolidate the long-standing friendship between the two countries through high-level meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. A key development highlighted by Dawn is Pakistan’s recent issuance of a three...

Iran says it is not close to any agreement with Washington, while U.S. President Donald Trump insists any deal with Tehran must be “big and meaningful” or there will be no deal at all. The latest developments also show growing Israeli concern that a possible accord would ignore Iran’s missile program and regional proxy network. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said no one can claim the sides are nearing a deal, arguing that repeated shifts in U.S. positions are undermining talks. He also said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s trip to New York for a Security Council meeting was canceled because of a visa problem. Trump, posting on Truth Social, dismissed critics of a possible U.S.-Iran agreement and said any new deal would avoid repeating what he called the “disaster” of the 2015 nuclear accord. He said the previous deal, signed under Barack Obama, gave Iran a direct path toward nuclear weapons, while his administration would not accept a similar arrangement. Regional A...

With 99 per cent of ballots counted in Sunday’s House of Representatives elections in the Republic of Cyprus, the centre‑right Democratic Rally (DISY) has held on to first place with 27.2 per cent, maintaining its 17 seats despite a slight 0.8‑point fall in its share compared with 2021. Turnout rose to 66.47 per cent, up 2.5 points on the previous election, with 11,542 more people voting than in 2021. Abstention remains high at 33.6 per cent, while some 58,000 votes are effectively unrepresented in the new House, having gone to parties that failed to secure a seat. According to the final figures from the Cyprus News Agency, valid votes number 253,210 (97.8 per cent), with 4,210 invalid ballots (1.63 per cent) and 1,477 blank ballots (0.57 per cent). In total, six parties manage to enter the new 56‑member House, while EDEK, DIPA and the Greens – along with Volt and the Active Citizens – United Hunters Movement – remain outside parliament. DISY leads with 27.2 per cent and keeps its 17 s...