The Levant Files

Η αυταρχική διακυβέρνηση και η φυλάκιση πολιτικών αντιπάλων θα μπορούσαν να αποσταθεροποιήσουν το ΝΑΤΟ και την ευρύτερη περιοχή. Του Οζγκιούρ Οζέλ Καθώς οι ηγέτες του κόσμου θα συγκεντρωθούν στην Άγκυρα την επόμενη εβδομάδα για τη Σύνοδο Κορυφής του ΝΑΤΟ, ο πρόεδρος Ρετζέπ Ταγγίπ Ερντογάν θα επιχειρήσει να προβάλει μια εικόνα ισχύος. Πίσω όμως από αυτή την εικόνα κρύβεται μια βαθύτερη αδυναμία: η ολοένα εντεινόμενη υπονόμευση της δημοκρατίας στην Τουρκία. Η κυβέρνησή του έχει προχωρήσει στη σύλληψη ειρηνικών διαδηλωτών, αλλά και δικηγόρων, δημοσιογράφων και πανεπιστημιακών, ενώ παράλληλα επιχειρεί να αποκρύψει από τη διεθνή κοινότητα την πραγματική κατάσταση στη χώρα. Αυτό δεν βλάπτει μόνο την Τουρκία· συνιστά επίσης κίνδυνο για τους συμμάχους της στο ΝΑΤΟ, ιδίως στην Ευρώπη. Η στρατηγική σημασία της Τουρκίας είναι αδιαμφισβήτητη. Ελέγχει την πρόσβαση στη Μαύρη Θάλασσα, συνορεύει με τη Συρία, το Ιράκ και το Ιράν και βρίσκεται δίπλα σε εστίες συγκρούσεων που δοκιμάζουν διαρκώς την ευρωπ...

Otoriter yönetim ve siyasi rakiplerin hapsedilmesi, NATO ile bölgesel istikrarı sarsabilir Özgür Özel Dünya liderleri gelecek hafta Ankara'da düzenlenecek NATO Zirvesi için bir araya gelirken Cumhurbaşkanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan bu fırsatı güçlü bir lider görüntüsü vermek için kullanacak. Ancak bu görüntü, Türkiye'de demokrasinin giderek daha fazla baskı altına alınmasıyla ortaya çıkan derin kırılganlığı gizliyor. Hükûmet, ülkenin gerçeklerini dünyadan saklamaya çalışırken barışçıl göstericileri, avukatları, gazetecileri ve akademisyenleri gözaltına aldı. Bu durum yalnızca Türkiye için değil, başta Avrupa olmak üzere NATO müttefikleri için de ciddi bir risk oluşturuyor. Türkiye'nin stratejik önemi tartışılmaz. Karadeniz'e açılan boğazları kontrol ediyor, Suriye, Irak ve İran'la komşu ve Avrupa'nın güvenliğini doğrudan etkileyen kriz bölgelerinin tam ortasında yer alıyor. Silahlı kuvvetlerimiz NATO'nun en büyük ordularından biri, savunma sanayimiz ise Avrupa...

by Özgür Özel Authoritarian rule and imprisonment of political opponents could destabilise Nato and the region As world leaders gather in Ankara for the Nato summit next week, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will use the occasion to project strength. But that image masks a deeper vulnerability: his growing repression of Turkish democracy. His government has detained peaceful protesters — along with lawyers, journalists and academics — while trying to hide the country’s realities from the world. That is bad for Turkey. It also poses a danger to our Nato partners, especially in Europe. Turkey’s strategic importance is self-evident. It controls access to the Black Sea; borders Syria, Iraq and Iran; and sits close to conflicts that repeatedly test European security. Our armed forces are among Nato’s largest, while our defence industry is increasingly essential to Europe’s security. Yet this strategic strength masks a darker reality. Turkey’s economy is under severe strain: inflation remains...

At least three members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed this week in separate armed attacks, one near Iran's border with Iraqi Kurdistan, as authorities intensify a crackdown on Kurdish groups, according to Al-Monitor. In the western Kermanshah province, the IRGC's public relations office said armed men on motorcycles opened fire on the home of a local IRGC member in the border town of Paveh on Monday evening, killing two guards identified as Borhan Karisani and Khaled Khaledi, per Al-Monitor. Two others were wounded; the Norway-based rights group Hengaw identified them as Kamel Hajiji, reported to be in a coma, and Kamal Abdi, Al-Monitor reported. A separate attack struck Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, where gunmen fired on the car of IRGC member Amirhossein Arbabi as he left guard headquarters in Saravan, killing him and his wife, Fatemeh Bamaripour, Hengaw told Al-Monitor. State television described the victims only...

Israel's government has voted to officially recognize the Armenian genocide, a decision announced by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in a June 25 post on X and approved by the cabinet three days later. But according to Stefan Ihrig, writing in Haaretz, the timing of the move "has much more to do with regional and internal politics than moral and historical questions." The decision follows years of ambiguity. Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a terse “I just did. Here you go” when asked in a podcast interview whether Israel recognized the genocide, but no formal action followed. Sa'ar's announcement changed that, stating that recognizing "the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty." Ihrig, head of the Haifa Center for German and European Studies at the University of Haifa, does not dispute the historical fact of the genocide or Israel's duty to rec...

Add Colorado to the list of headaches piling up for Donald Trump and Israel's staunchest backers in Washington. Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist, is projected to win her Democratic primary in Colorado's 1st Congressional District, unseating Rep. Diana DeGette, who has held the seat since 1997, according to Haaretz. The result adds Kiros to a fast-growing bloc of progressive candidates — including recent winners in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas — who campaigned explicitly on overhauling U.S. support for Israel, Haaretz reported. Given the district's heavily Democratic lean, Kiros is considered a near-lock to win the November general election, which would make her the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress. Kiros's platform calls for a total arms embargo on Israel, including defensive weapons, and she has described the October 7 attacks as "the inevitable consequence of apartheid, of decades of occupation," remarks she made during a ...