The Levant Files

Ανώτατο στέλεχος του κόμματος επιβεβαιώνει δημοσίως την προσπάθεια για πρόωρες εκλογές, απαιτώντας 360 βουλευτικές ψήφους για να ανοίξει ο δρόμος για μια τρίτη προεδρική θητεία Αυτό που ψιθυριζόταν για καιρό στους διαδρόμους της τουρκικής πρωτεύουσας πλέον λέγεται ανοιχτά. Ανώτατο στέλεχος του κυβερνώντος Κόμματος Δικαιοσύνης και Ανάπτυξης (AKP) και συνεργάτης του Προέδρου Ρετζέπ Ταγγίπ Ερντογάν επιβεβαίωσε δημοσίως αυτό που οι πολιτικοί αναλυτές συζητούν εδώ και μήνες: το κόμμα επιθυμεί να προκηρύξει η Βουλή πρόωρες εκλογές, ώστε ο Ερντογάν να μπορέσει να διεκδικήσει άλλη μία προεδρική θητεία. Σύμφωνα με το  YetkinReport, ο  Αχμέτ Μπιουγιούκγκιουμους, αναπληρωτής πρόεδρος του AKP και αρμόδιος για την οργάνωση του κόμματος, δήλωσε στο τηλεοπτικό κανάλι Kanal 7 αυτή την εβδομάδα ότι ο Ρετζέπ Ταγγίπ Ερντογάν πρέπει να «θέσει εκ νέου υποψηφιότητα και να νικήσει» για να συνεχίσει να υπηρετεί τη χώρα, και ότι προς τούτο η Μεγάλη Εθνοσυνέλευση πρέπει να εγκρίνει πρόταση πρόωρων εκλο...

Senior party official publicly confirms early election push, requiring 360 parliamentary votes to clear the path for a third presidential term What has long been whispered in the corridors of Turkey's capital is now being said out loud. A senior official from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has publicly confirmed what political insiders have been discussing for months: the party wants parliament to call early elections so that Erdoğan can run for another presidential term. According to the YetkinReport, Ahmet Büyükgümüş, the AKP deputy chairman responsible for party organization, told Kanal 7 television this week that Erdoğan must "run again and win" to continue serving the nation, and that to do so, the Grand National Assembly must pass an early election resolution by the constitutionally required threshold of 360 votes. "As the People's Alliance, we are working to produce this political outcome in parliament,...

  Mass disqualifications from city council elections signal no political opening despite war pressures and rising public discontent Iran's ruling establishment has moved to bar reformist politicians from participating in the country's seventh municipal council elections, intensifying political pressure on opposition figures at a moment when the Islamic Republic faces its gravest confrontation with the United States in years over its nuclear programme. According to Iran's reformist-leaning Etemad newspaper, the Guardian Council's supervisory boards have disqualified a sweeping number of candidates — not only from the reformist camp but also from moderate and critical conservative factions — ahead of the upcoming local elections. The scale of the purge has prompted comparisons with the vetting mechanisms long used to exclude candidates from parliamentary and presidential contests. Ismail Gerami Moghadam, a senior member of the National Trust Party who was himself disquali...

Iran's ongoing nuclear negotiations with the United States cannot be understood in isolation. According to two senior analysts interviewed by Shargh , a prominent reformist iranian newspaper known for its critical journalism, cultural coverage, and support for progressive policies,  the real framework shaping Tehran's choices — war or a coerced deal under the Trump administration — is the broader geopolitical competition between Washington and Beijing. Iran, they argue, is not a sovereign driver of events but a dependent variable in a much larger strategic equation. Iran as a Strategic Variable, Not an Independent Actor Esmaeil Boshri, a former researcher at Iran's Strategic Research Center, argues that Iran has never truly operated as an autonomous power in global affairs. "Even before the revolution, Iran was largely shaped by major-power dynamics," he noted. Today, he contends, Washington's pressure campaign on Tehran — encompassing nuclear, missile, and re...

Senior officials within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have offered their most detailed public account yet of the unrest that swept parts of Iran in January 2026, framing the protests as a failed foreign-engineered coup attempt involving at least ten foreign intelligence services. The claims appeared in an extended interview published by Javan, a conservative daily with close ties to the IRGC, known for its hardline security and political coverage, with Brigadier General Majid Khademi, head of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization. The interview was framed around Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's characterization of the events as "a coup that failed." According to Khademi, the plot was set in motion following Israel's defeat in what he described as a 12-day war against Iran, after which adversaries shifted their strategy from direct military confrontation to fomenting domestic instability. "Friendly intelligence services had explicitly told us that t...

In his first audio message in over two years, ISIS spokesman Abu Huzaifa al-Ansari calls for an all-out offensive against Syria's new government, claiming the country has traded Iranian occupation for American-Turkish control. The Islamic State (ISIS) has announced a dramatic escalation of its campaign against Syria's new government, with the group's spokesman releasing his first audio statement in more than two years to declare that jihadist fighters must now make overthrowing the Syrian leadership their primary objective. The message, released on Saturday, February 21, 2026, coincided with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and marked a clear strategic shift by the organisation after years of keeping a low profile in the country. Abu Huzaifa al-Ansari, who has served as the group's official spokesman since August 2023, recorded the audio statement in which he declared that ISIS members in Syria must fight “the new Syrian regime, with its secular governm...

In a landmark press conference held Sunday, the coalition announced a new political charter committing to Kurdish self-determination, full gender equality, and coordinated opposition against Tehran — amid ongoing nationwide protests and rising US-Iran tensions. Five of Iran's major Kurdish opposition parties announced the formation of a formal political coalition on Sunday, marking the most significant step toward Kurdish unity in decades and signalling a new phase of organised resistance against the Islamic Republic in Tehran. The groups held a joint press conference — photos from which circulated widely on social media — unveiling a new political charter and pledging to coordinate all political, media, and international activities under a single unified platform. The announcement comes as Iran continues to reel from the most severe wave of anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Five Parties The coalition brings together five prominent Kurdish political or...

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff says Iran has enriched uranium to 60% — far beyond civilian use — as Washington signals military options remain on the table White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff issued a stark warning on Saturday, telling Fox News that Iran could be as little as one week away from amassing enough enriched uranium for industrial-grade nuclear bomb-making material — a declaration that dramatically escalated rhetoric around ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations. Speaking on Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump," Witkoff said Tehran had enriched uranium to the 60% level — well beyond the low-level enrichment permitted for civilian nuclear energy — and warned that Iran was close to crossing a critical threshold. "They are probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material. And that's really dangerous. So, they can't have that," the envoy said. Witkoff was careful to frame his remarks around enrichment capacity rather than a ful...

İki yılı aşkın bir aradan sonra ilk kez ses kaydı yayımlayan IŞİD sözcüsü Ebu Huzeyfe el-Ensari, örgüt militanlarını Suriye'nin geçiş dönemi hükûmetine karşı tam kapsamlı saldırı çağrısında bulundu. El-Ensari, Suriye'nin İran işgalinden Amerikan-Türk işgaline geçtiğini öne sürdü. IŞİD, Suriye'nin geçiş dönemi yönetimine yönelik saldırı kampanyasını kökten tırmandıracağını duyurdu. Örgütün sözcüsü Ebu Huzeyfe el-Ensari, iki yılı aşkın aradan sonra ilk kez bir ses kaydı yayımlayarak militanları ülkenin mevcut liderliğini devirmeyi birincil hedef olarak benimsemeye çağırdı. Ramazan ayının başlangıcına denk getirilen bu açıklama, örgütün uzun süredir düşük profil sergilediği Suriye'deki stratejik konumlanmasında köklü bir değişime işaret ediyor. El-Ensari, ses kaydında IŞİD militanlarının Suriye'deki 'laik hükûmeti ve ulusal ordusuyla birlikte yeni Suriye rejimiyle' savaşması gerektiğini ve bunun öncelikli hedef haline getirilmesi çağrısında bulundu. Suriye Geçi...