The Levant Files

Posts

Turkey's Parliament Takes Up a PKK Disarmament Bill — But Not the Democracy Question

Turkey's parliament this week received the most concrete legislative step yet in Ankara's four-decade conflict with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK): a 12-article bill, formally titled the "Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social Integration," submitted Wednesday with the signatures of 360 lawmakers from six parties. Yet as the bill heads toward debate, Kurdish politicians and the PKK's own leadership say it leaves untouched the political and cultural questions that have defined — and repeatedly derailed — every previous attempt to end the conflict. The bill sets out the legal machinery for what happens after the PKK's declared dissolution: deferral of prosecutions and prison sentences for people convicted of PKK membership, for up to ten years. Judges would have discretion to postpone sentence enforcement for five years for those sentenced to 15 years or less, and for ten years for those sentenced between 15 years and life. Militants living ...

SPECIAL REPORT: Lebanon Caught Between Three Fires

Lebanon is being squeezed from three directions at once this summer. Washington and Israel are pressing Beirut toward direct negotiations and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Syria's post-Assad government, once Hezbollah's rear base, is now intercepting the group's weapons shipments at Washington's urging. And Turkey is publicly objecting to Lebanon's maritime border agreement with Cyprus — even as Ankara itself concedes it has no legal mechanism to overturn it. Together, the three fronts illustrate how little room Beirut has left to maneuver on its own terms. I. The Rome Talks: Washington and Israel Set the Clock on Hezbollah Israeli and Lebanese delegations opened a seventh round of U.S.-brokered negotiations in Rome on August 4, the latest in a series of direct talks that began after a cease-fire between Iran, the United States and Israel was declared in April. The three-day session is focused on expanding "pilot zones" in southern Lebanon — areas where Is...

Iran-US Tensions: Hormuz Deal 'Close' as New Strikes Reported

Diplomats edged toward a possible breakthrough on reopening the Strait of Hormuz even as fresh US strikes hit Iran overnight, underscoring the volatile mix of diplomacy and military action driving the six-month-old conflict. A senior Gulf official told CNN there is roughly a "50-50" chance Iran and Oman will finalize an interim arrangement on safe shipping routes through the strait by Friday. Iran's Foreign Ministry said this week that Tehran and Muscat have agreed on the geographic coordinates of a proposed corridor and are finalizing a joint statement, though a senior Iranian official cautioned that any deal would not automatically reopen the waterway to all traffic. President Trump said the strait would reopen "soon" and warned that Iran would be "hit very hard" if it did not, as US Central Command confirmed additional overnight strikes. Iran, however, denied it is negotiating directly with Washington, insisting its talks are strictly bilateral with...

Syria Puts Forces on High Alert Along Iraq Border as Iran War Spillover Fuels Fears of New Front

Damascus and Baghdad Downplay Talk of Imminent Clash, But Militia Movements, U.S.-Saudi Strikes and Regional Warnings Keep Tension High The 600-kilometer frontier separating Syria and Iraq has become one of the most closely watched fault lines in the Middle East over the past week, as Syria's transitional government placed its armed forces on heightened alert and moved reinforcements toward the border amid warnings over Iran-backed militia activity in the area. The Syrian Ministry of Defense ordered troops onto "Alert Level C" — described by regional media as the military's maximum readiness posture — on August 4, recalling personnel from leave and directing units to report immediately to their posts. Convoys from the Syrian army's 66th and 86th Divisions were reported moving toward the Iraqi border from Deir Ezzor and Raqqa provinces, according to local sources cited by South Front and Al Bawaba. Damascus has issued no public explanation for the mobilization. The...

Türk Kaynaklarına Göre Kıbrıs Harekâtının Az Kalsın Başarısız Olduğu Anlar*

1974 yazında Kıbrıs'ta yaşananlar, Yunanistan ve Kıbrıs'ta ayrıntılı biçimde belgelendi. Ancak olayın Türkiye içindeki boyutu; işgal öncesinde ve sırasında Ankara'da hâkim olan atmosfer, liderlik kademesindeki çelişkiler ve harekâtın az kalsın akamete uğradığı o kritik anlar büyük ölçüde gölgede kaldı. Bu yıl dönümünde, gazeteci Mehmet Ali Birand’ın (32. Gün arşivi) kayıtlarından ve uzun yıllar Türkiye Dışişleri Bakanlığı adına Kıbrıs meselesi ile Türk-Yunan ilişkilerini yakından takip eden diplomat Engin Solakoğlu’nun Kıbrıs Haber Ajansına (KHA) verdiği yanıtlardan yararlanarak, 1974'ü Türkiye’nin kendi gördüğü ve anlattığı şekliyle yeniden aktarmayı amaçlıyoruz. Bu aktarım doğal olarak Türk tarafının bakış açısını yansıtmakta olup, kullanılan ifadeler ya da yorumların mutlaka benimsendiği anlamına gelmiyor. Askerî Vesayetten Yeni Çıkmış Bir Ülke İşgal kararının nasıl alındığını anlayabilmek için önce Türkiye'nin o dönem içinde bulunduğu durumu kavramak gerekli. ...

Turkish Prosecutors Seek To Lift Özgür Özel’s Immunity In Bribery Investigation

Turkish prosecutors have submitted a request for the removal of opposition leader Özgür Özel’s parliamentary immunity, seeking to pursue a bribery investigation connected to the selection of a candidate for the 2024 local elections. The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on August 4 that it had completed separate investigations concerning Özel, the leader of the Yeni Party, and Malatya MP Veli Ağbaba. Prosecutors prepared parliamentary dossiers, known in Turkey as fezlekes, and sent them to the Justice Ministry as part of the procedure required to lift the two politicians’ immunity. Both men are being investigated on suspicion of “repeatedly accepting bribes,” according to the prosecutor’s statement reported by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. The submission does not mean that Özel has been convicted, indicted or formally placed on trial. As a serving member of Parliament, he is protected by legislative immunity. Prosecutors must first secure Parliament’s approval befo...

Turkey Detains Photographer over Vibrator Necklace as Morality Police Find New Emergency

Turkey’s overstretched justice system has apparently found a new threat to public order: a small portable vibrator hanging from a photographer’s neck. Photographer and model Bennu Gerede was detained in İstanbul on August 4 after displaying the device during a YouTube interview, according to the independent news outlet Bianet. Prosecutors opened an “obscenity” investigation after a clip from the programme circulated on social media—now the country’s most efficient mechanism for converting manufactured outrage into criminal proceedings. The offending object appeared during an interview on journalist Emel Özuğurlu’s YouTube channel. When Özuğurlu noticed that Gerede wore few accessories and asked about her necklace, Gerede explained that it was a portable vibrator with several settings. She also described circumstances in which it could be used, including in a toilet or while driving. The latter suggestion was perhaps unwise from a road-safety perspective, although it remains unclear whe...

Jordan Rallies Muslim States As Al-Aqsa Status Quo Nears Breaking Point

Amman warns that the gradual normalisation of Jewish prayer at Jerusalem’s most contested holy site could transform the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into a wider religious confrontation. Jordan has called an emergency meeting of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers amid mounting fears that Israel is dismantling the decades-old arrangements governing the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem. The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday in Amman, will bring together ministers from Arab states as well as Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi is expected to seek a coordinated diplomatic response to what Amman describes as an “imminent” threat to the compound and to Jordan’s custodial role there. “Jerusalem is a tinderbox,” Safadi told The Guardian , warning that interference with the site’s established arrangements could produce repercussions across the Muslim world. There is, however, an important distinction: no Israeli cabinet decision form...

TLF SPECIAL: Pezeshkian Denies Resignation as Hardliners Challenge His Wartime Authority

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that he would not resign and insisted that his government was fully aligned with the country’s armed forces. “If I resign, I will announce it officially. I will not resign, and I will stand firm,” Pezeshkian said, according to the Iranian newspaper Entekhab . “We are fully coordinated with the military forces,” he added, rejecting attempts to portray the supreme leader, the government and the military as following different policies. The statement, released in a preview of a four-part televised account of his government’s first two years, was necessary because the resignation story had become more than a passing rumour. It was being used to question whether Pezeshkian still possessed meaningful authority at the precise moment Iran is weighing further escalation against a diplomatic exit from its five-month war with the United States. Left unanswered, the allegation risked turning him into a lame-duck president in the eyes of Iran’s bu...