The Levant Files

Nearly one in five Israelis have considered leaving the country over the past two years, according to a poll conducted by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, as emigration emerges as a potentially significant issue ahead of the upcoming election. The findings, reported by the Middle East Monitor on Monday, showed that 18 per cent of respondents had considered emigrating, while 82 per cent said they had not. The survey also indicated that emigration has become increasingly familiar within Israeli society. One-third of respondents said they knew someone who had left Israel during the past two years, compared with two-thirds who said they did not know anyone who had departed. The issue is expected to feature prominently in the election campaign, amid concerns over the country’s political direction, security situation and social pressures. Israel is scheduled to hold its next election in October. According to the poll, 12 per cent of respondents said the outcome of the election could in...

Turkey’s parliament has begun debating a framework law intended to strengthen national solidarity and social integration, marking a significant political moment in efforts to end the country’s decades-old Kurdish conflict. The 12-article bill, titled the “Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration,” was approved by the Parliamentary Justice Commission on 8 August after 18 hours of discussions. It is now being debated in the General Assembly under an accelerated legislative procedure, according to NûMedya24. The legislation has received support from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The CHP has also announced that it will vote in favour, while the İYİ Party plans to reject the proposal. The New Welfare Party has said it will abstain, citing reservations over provisions concerning possible amnesties and the restoration of political rights. MHP deputy...

ترکیه در حال گسترش سریع حضور اقتصادی و انرژی خود در عراق است و می‌کوشد از تضعیف موقعیت منطقه‌ای ایران و اختلال در صادرات نفت از مسیر تنگه هرمز بهره‌برداری کند. بر اساس گزارشی که وب‌سایت «المانیتور» در ۹ اوت منتشر کرد، آنکارا و بغداد در تلاش‌اند روابط سنتی خود را که عمدتاً بر انتقال نفت استوار بود، به همکاری گسترده‌تری در زمینه تولید انرژی، زیرساخت‌ها و اتصال منطقه‌ای تبدیل کنند. ترکیه در میدان‌های بزرگ نفتی کرکوک مستقیماً سرمایه‌گذاری کرده، ظرفیت بیشتری برای انتقال نفت خام عراق اختصاص داده و بار دیگر بر اجرای پروژه «جاده توسعه» برای اتصال خلیج فارس به اروپا تأکید کرده است. این توافق‌ها پس از نخستین سفر رسمی علی الزیدی، نخست‌وزیر عراق، به آنکارا اعلام شدند. آلپ‌ارسلان بایراکتار، وزیر انرژی ترکیه، گفت هدف از این اقدامات، رساندن روابط دوجانبه به «سطحی جدید» است و انرژی و زیرساخت‌ها در کانون این مشارکت قرار دارند. در یکی از مهم‌ترین تحولات، شرکت دولتی نفت ترکیه، «تپائو»، ۱۵ درصد از سهام شرکت «بی‌پی انرژی کرکوک» را خریداری کرد. این شرکت در کنار بی‌پی و کونوکو فیلیپس در بازسازی و توسعه میدان...

Turkey is accelerating its economic and energy expansion into Iraq, capitalising on Iran’s weakened regional position and the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz. According to an August 9 report by Al-Monitor , Ankara and Baghdad are moving beyond their traditional relationship based on oil transit, developing broader cooperation in energy production, infrastructure and regional connectivity. Turkey has acquired a direct stake in major Kirkuk oil fields, reserved additional pipeline capacity for Iraqi crude and renewed its push for the Development Road linking the Gulf with Europe. The agreements were announced following Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s first official visit to Ankara. Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the objective was to take bilateral relations “to a new level,” with energy and infrastructure forming the partnership’s core. In one of the most significant developments, Turkey’s state-owned TPAO acquired a 15% stake in BP Energy Com...

Iranian commentary views the new Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan as evidence that Middle Eastern states are finally embracing a principle Tehran has promoted for decades: regional security should be provided primarily by regional countries. Yet the same initiative could leave Iran outside the emerging architecture and limit its economic, security and diplomatic options. According to an analysis published by Ham-Mihan Online, citing Iran’s ISNA news agency, the agreement should not be understood merely as a military pact among three countries. Rather, it offers a glimpse of a multilayered regional order in which governments continue cooperating with the United States while building additional security partnerships of their own. The pact reportedly declares that an armed attack against any one of its three signatories will be regarded as an attack against all of them. It also calls for stronger defence cooperation, joint deterrence, collaboration b...

أصبحت الصور السلبية لليونان أكثر بروزاً في أجزاء من الإعلام التركي خلال الأسابيع الماضية، حيث تُصوَّر أثينا في كثير من الأحيان على أنها استفزازية، وعسكرياً هشة، ومذعورة بشدة من تزايد القوة الإقليمية لتركيا. كشف تحقيق خاص لـ The Levant Files، للفترة من 12 يوليو إلى 9 أغسطس، أن هذا التحول واضح بشكل خاص في الصحف المؤيدة للحكومة، وشبكات التلفزيون، والمنصات الإعلامية ذات التوجه الدفاعي. ورغم أن ذلك لا يمثل حملة موحدة عبر المشهد الإعلامي التركي بأكمله، فإن تكرار العناوين والمواضيع المشابهة يشير إلى تصلب واضح في السرد المحيط باليونان. أصبح هذا الاتجاه بارزاً بشكل خاص بعد 20 يوليو، عندما أشار وزير الدفاع اليوناني نيكوس ديندياس، بمناسبة الذكرى السنوية للتدخل العسكري التركي في قبرص عام 1974، إلى أن "قبرص قريبة" بالنسبة للقوات المسلحة اليونانية. وصفت قناة A Haber تصريحاته بأنها "استفزاز متعجرف"، وقالت إن ديندياس قد "تجاوز الحد". وعادت القناة إلى البيان بعد يومين، وقدمته كمثال آخر على استهداف اليونان المباشر لتركيا. الموضوع الثاني المتكرر هو أن اليونان تخشى من توسع ال...

Negative portrayals of Greece have become increasingly prominent in parts of the Turkish media over the past weeks, with Athens frequently depicted as provocative, militarily vulnerable and deeply alarmed by Turkey’s growing regional power. A special investigation of The Levant Files, for the period of July 12 and August 9, shows that the shift is particularly visible in pro-government newspapers, television networks and defence-oriented outlets. Although it does not amount to a uniform campaign across the entire Turkish media landscape, the recurrence of similar headlines and themes points to a discernible hardening of the narrative surrounding Greece. The trend became especially pronounced after July 20, when Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias marked the anniversary of Turkey’s 1974 military intervention in Cyprus by declaring that “Cyprus is close” for the Greek armed forces. A Haber described his remarks⁠ as an “arrogant provocation” and said that Dendias had “overstepped the mar...

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council sets six conditions for reopening the strait — hours after its own diplomats declared the Oman framework complete. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council declared on Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until the United States “corrects its behaviour,” and attached a six-item price list to that correction. The message, issued by council secretary Mohammad-Bagher Zolghadr and timed to Iran’s Journalist’s Day, was distributed through the government information portal and the state broadcaster, and was carried within the hour by Mehr, Tasnim, Shafaqna and Tabnak. The conditions: that Washington never threaten Iran or insult the nation’s sanctities; that it permanently end its war against Iran and Iranian allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq; that it lift the naval blockade and withdraw its naval and air forces from Iran’s periphery; that it pay in full for the damage of two wars; that it remove sanctions; and that it release...

Houthi missile and drone salvos on Marib and Hadramawt, a Yemeni army counter-operation across multiple fronts, and a maritime campaign that has emptied Bab al-Mandeb have left the UN warning of the highest escalation risk since the April 2022 truce     Yemen's internationally recognised army announced on Saturday that it had struck Houthi positions along several fronts, closing a seventy-two-hour cycle of violence that has effectively dismantled the de facto truce which has held inside the country since April 2022. The announcement, carried by the Defence Ministry and attributed to army spokesman Col. Majid al-Nuzaili, was framed as retaliation for missile and drone attacks on military camps in the governorates of Marib and Hadramawt. The army gave no operational detail and did not say when the strikes took place. It said it would meet any further targeting of its units with what it called necessary military measures, and warned that it would respond without hesitation if...