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From Poker Table to Parliament: Cyprus Bets the House on a 23‑Year‑Old Ironman Influencer

Cyprus has a new Member of Parliament, and this time it is not a grey-haired lawyer, a retired banker, or even a failed singer from a talent show. No, this time the voters of Direct Democracy have sent to the House a 23‑year‑old ex‑poker‑pro, ex‑engineering‑student, ex‑soldier, current content creator, frequent flyer and part‑time Ironman, because the island apparently decided that LinkedIn must never look this empty again. According to his official biography, the honourable gentleman grew up in Pafos with family roots in Trikala, won a coveted place at the National Technical University of Athens to study Electrical Engineering, and then bravely dropped out — presumably after realising that Ohm’s Law offers fewer sponsorship deals than Instagram stories. Where lesser mortals would have settled for a degree, Dimitris Baros opted instead for that most stable of career paths: professional poker, which he pursued from the age of 16 to 22, because nothing says “sound ...

Former Netanyahu Confidant Calls for Military Coup Against Israeli Prime Minister

In a shocking statement that has sent shockwaves through Israeli political circles, Eyal Megged—a writer and former close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—publicly called for a military coup to overthrow the Israeli government during a radio interview on Tuesday morning. Speaking on 103FM radio station during a conversation with Haaretz editor Benny Ziffer, Megged made an unprecedented declaration. He said, "I would be happy if there were a military coup against Netanyahu. We cannot continue with this madness... I would be happy if there were a military coup in Israel. I would be happy." The statement grew even more scathing when Megged added what quickly became the most quoted line from the interview. He declared, "If my cat took power instead of Bibi, it would be better for the country." A Former Friend's Breaking Point Megged, described in reports as Netanyahu's "former friend," expressed profound disillusionment with the Prime Minist...

Talks Amid Bombs: Deep Mistrust Shadows US-Iran Peace Push as Strikes Continue

Diplomatic negotiations between the United States and Iran are pressing forward, but a shadow of deep suspicion hangs over every exchange — cast by the same American and Israeli bombs that have struck Iranian soil even as envoys talk peace. Senior Iranian and US officials acknowledged on Monday that progress has been made toward ending the three-month-old war, but both sides publicly cautioned that a final agreement is not imminent. Washington frames the current phase as one of "significant progress," while Iranian negotiators insist that no deal can be finalized under what Tehran calls conditions of ongoing military threat. Strikes Undercut Diplomatic Signals The credibility of the talks has been strained by the continuation of US military operations. American forces carried out fresh "self-defense" strikes on Iranian missile launch sites and mine-laying vessels in southern Iran even as Iranian negotiators were meeting Qatar's prime minister in Doha. Iran's...

The Levant Files Surpasses 250,000 Visitors In 1.5 Years

The Levant Files has reached an important milestone, surpassing 250,000 visitors just 1.5 years after its launch. This achievement highlights the growing community that trusts and follows our independent, multilingual coverage of the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, and supports our work. Follow and support The Levant Files: Website: https://www.thelevantfiles.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61574121181915 Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thelevantfiles.bsky.social Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@thelevantfiles Substack: https://thelevantfiles.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelevantfiles/ Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/0tLisBbnXX1nfXqVDHXwbH

Don’t Be Naïve: The Crackdown on Cyprus’s Traditional Political Scene Has Only Just Begun

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...

Damascus Bets on Foreign Legions: Stability Today, Security Time‑bomb Tomorrow

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...

Yüzdeler Kimseyi Aldatmasın: Kıbrıs'ta Sandıktan, Sınıfsal Buhranın Eseri Boykot Ve Aşırı Sağ-Popülizm Harmanı Çıktı

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...

International Media is Alarmed, It Has a Reason: Turkey’s CHP Crisis Escalates Into a Democratic Shockwave

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...

Kılıçdaroğlu ‘Under Intelligence Control’ Claim Rocks Turkey

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...