The Levant Files

In a hard-hitting interview with Dr. Nikolaos Stelgias, Chief Editor of The Levant Files, journalist Cem Kar laid bare the profound systemic dysfunction, institutional negligence, and absence of meritocracy surrounding the recent deadly maritime disaster off the coast of Kyrenia. Kar described the tragedy as one of the most devastating maritime incidents the Turkish Cypriot community has ever confronted. He directed sharp criticism at the institutional machinery responsible for crisis management and communication, condemning the authorities' chaotic and insensitive response toward grieving families who were left waiting for answers under the scorching sun. "We essentially operate as if institutions exist, but in reality, there is nothing," Kar stated, characterizing the administration as an elaborate facade. He stressed that the crisis goes far beyond the shortcomings of individual politicians; the deeper rot lies within a bloated, incompetent bureaucracy where political ...

Για βαθιά συστημική κρίση, κατάρρευση της αξιοκρατίας και εγκληματικές παραλείψεις που οδήγησαν στην πρόσφατη ναυτική τραγωδία ανοιχτά της Κερύνειας, έκανε λόγο ο δημοσιογράφος Τζεμ Καρ, σε συνέντευξη που παραχώρησε στον Αρχισυντάκτη της ιστοσελίδας The Levant Files, Δρ. Νικόλαο Στέλγια. Ο κ. Καρ περιέγραψε με μελανά χρώματα την κατάσταση στην τουρκοκυπριακή κοινότητα, τονίζοντας πως το πρόσφατο ναυάγιο αποτελεί τη μεγαλύτερη ναυτική τραγωδία που έχει βιώσει ο τόπος. Παράλληλα, άσκησε έντονη κριτική στους αρμόδιους μηχανισμούς για την πλήρη αποτυχία στη διαχείριση της κρίσης και στην επικοινωνία με τους συγγενείς των θυμάτων. «Στην ουσία λειτουργούμε λες και υπάρχουν θεσμοί, αλλά δεν υπάρχει τίποτα», ανέφερε χαρακτηριστικά ο δημοσιογράφος, περιγράφοντας ένα σύστημα «βιτρίνα». Όπως εξήγησε, η απουσία αξιοκρατίας δεν εντοπίζεται μόνο στο πολιτικό προσωπικό, αλλά κυρίως στη δημόσια διοίκηση και τη γραφειοκρατία, όπου οι κομματικοί διορισμοί και η λογική του πελατειακού ρουσφετιού στερούν ...

  Girne açıklarında pazar günü meydana gelen ve Kıbrıs'ın kuzeyini yasa boğan deniz otobüsü faciasının ardından, Girne'de yaşayan gazeteci Cem Kar, kazanın arkasında "ciddi ihmaller" bulunduğunu söyledi. Büyük felaketin çeşitli boyutlarını The Levant Files okuyucuları için TLF'in Genel Yayın Yönetmeni Nikolaos Stelgias'a değerlendiren Kar, tartışmanın tek tek siyasetçilerle sınırlı kalmasına karşı çıkarak asıl sorunun bürokraside biriken liyakatsizlik olduğunu savundu. Kar'ın çarpıcı açıklamalarını aşağıdaki sekmede ya da TLF'in YouTube sayfasında izleyebilirsiniz.  Kar, kurtarma çalışmalarını evinden izlediğini belirterek sistemi "herkesin bir şeyler yazdığı, artık okunamaz hâle gelmiş bir tahtaya" benzetti: "Tamamen silinip yeniden kurgulanması gerekiyor." Ona göre bir siyasetçinin her konuyu bilmesi beklenemez; ancak standartları bilen, denetleyen bir bürokratik yapı da yok. Girne faciası: "Sistem 'mış gibi' işliyor...

İbrahim Kalın, Erdoğan's longtime foreign-policy confidant and now head of MİT, held undisclosed meetings with Greek intelligence and other Athens interlocutors last week, Ta Nea reports — at a moment when marine-park decrees, the Achilles' Shield pact with Israel, and the Mecca defense agreement have pushed Greek-Turkish relations toward their tensest point in years. The head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MİT), İbrahim Kalın, travelled to Athens last week for a series of undisclosed meetings that included his Greek counterpart, according to a report published by the Greek daily Ta Nea on September 2. The visit, described by the paper as having taken place "under the radar, without any publicity," places one of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's most trusted advisers in the Greek capital at a moment when Greek-Turkish relations are under some of their heaviest strain in years. According to Ta Nea, Kalın met with the director of Greece's National Inte...

As Syrian Internal Security forces raised Islamist-associated banners and chanted the takbir while entering Hasakah, Kurdish residents are asking whether integration means partnership — or a change of occupier. Syrian government forces entering Hasakah this week were filmed chanting the takbir and carrying banners associated with Islamist factions, according to Turkish outlet T24 — footage that has unsettled Kurdish residents in a region Damascus insists it is integrating, not conquering. The images matter because of what came before them. When Interior Ministry convoys first entered Hasakah and Qamishli in February, they carried the Syrian tricolour and officials spoke of “a new chapter away from revenge and division.” This week's deployment — armoured vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, religious sloganeering — reads differently to a population that has spent a decade under secular, multi-ethnic self-rule. Command Without Consent The optics are not incidental to the substance. Behind t...

The Turkish port of Taşucu was closed because of heavy seas, and the decision to sail the Filo Jet was taken on the captain's own initiative, while the vessel was already carrying known engine and rudder faults and had taken on water on previous voyages. The details emerged on Thursday before the "district court" in Kyrenia, which extended the detention of nine suspects by a further eight days. Those held are the director of the operating company, the captain, the first officer, the chief and second engineers, and four crew members, all facing charges of causing death by negligence. Their lawyers did not object to the request by the Turkish Cypriot "police", who argued that release could interfere with the investigation. According to the evidence presented, the first officer said Taşucu had remained closed until 15:00 and that he had urged the captain not to sail. Both the captain and the first officer acknowledged in their statements that they were aware of the...

Moscow has been covertly helping Tehran develop supersonic cruise missiles capable of striking US aircraft carriers, in what analysts call one of the most significant transfers of strategic military technology between the two countries, the Financial Times reported. The multiyear effort, codenamed C430L, drew on some of Russia's most experienced missile engineers to help Iran master ramjet propulsion — technology that lets a cruise missile sustain flight at several times the speed of sound. The FT investigation, based on leaked correspondence, travel records and patent filings, found the program began in 2023 and continued through the US-Israeli war against Iran into 2026. Fabian Hinz, a senior analyst at Conflict Armament Research, called it the transfer of "highly strategically sensitive military technology" that Iran had sought for decades, adding that a program of this scale would have needed clearance from the top of the Russian government. Supersonic, low-flying cru...

On 1 March, at three minutes past midnight, an Iranian-made drone came down inside the Western Sovereign Base Area at Akrotiri. The base had radar, fighter aircraft and counter-drone systems. The drone flew too low to be seen in time. Villages were emptied that night; the evacuation order arrived the next day. Nobody has ever claimed the attack. Six months on, American aircraft are striking southern Iran, Iranian missiles are falling on Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, and four people are dead at a wedding in Kuhestak. Our new Deep Dive episode explains why the war that began on 28 February has no exit — and why it does not stay in the Gulf. The argument runs in three tiers. The great power can start a war it cannot end: decapitation produced consolidation, not collapse. The middle powers — Pakistan, Oman, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia — now sit at every table and have produced no binding decision. Several are opening new files of their own: the Aegean marine parks, a three-billion-euro Greek...

The United States is discovering, eleven months into renewed hostilities, what should have been evident before the first bomb fell in February: Iran is not Venezuela, and great-power force does not automatically translate into strategic outcome. This was Washington's foundational miscalculation — treating a state with fifty years of asymmetric-war doctrine, a dispersed command structure, and a leadership that regenerates under fire as though it were a matter of decapitation and collapse. Instead, the killing of Ali Khamenei produced consolidation, not disintegration. Mojtaba Khamenei now speaks of "unforgettable lessons" with the same defiance as his predecessor. The regime-change logic has failed on its own terms, and no amount of additional "precision" strikes changes that structural fact. Yet Tehran's position offers no comfort either. The Islamic Republic's central leverage — its capacity to threaten closure of the Strait of Hormuz — is simultaneousl...

Hostilities between the United States and Iran sharply intensified overnight into Wednesday, as Tehran launched retaliatory strikes on American-linked bases in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq following a fresh wave of US attacks that Iranian officials say killed civilians at a wedding celebration. According to Iran's Red Crescent, cited by Iranian outlets, a US missile strike sent shrapnel into a home in Kuhestak, Sirik county, Hormozgan province, where a wedding was underway. The organization said more than 50 people were injured and four killed, including a young child. Iran's semi-official IRNA and state broadcaster IRIB also reported explosions across Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Qeshm Island, Konarak and Sirik, with a fishmeal factory, a fishing pier and a maritime authority tower among the sites hit. Officials in Hormozgan said the strikes knocked out sections of the regional power grid, cutting electricity to parts of Kish Island. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)...