Written by Mr. Vercihan Ziflioğlu* Turkey’s Syriac community, who adopted Turkish surnames, now want their original surnames back. Yet, a top court says that the laws don’t allow such a move. Members of Turkey’s Syriac Christian community are leading a legal struggle to adopt last names that reflect their identity…
Read MoreUnder the leadership of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey has pursued a policy of good relations with all its neighbours. Well, almost. It has de-mined its border with Syria, tripled trade with Iran, established diplomatic relations with Armenia and reduced its military activities in…
Read MoreDr. Yiorghos Leventis, Director of International Security Forum (ISF), represented the organization upon invitation at the XXIV Winter Course of the International School on Disarmament & Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO), Italian Pugwash Group. The course focused on the theme of Eliminating Nuclear Weapons and Safeguarding Nuclear Technologies. A group of…
Read MoreSix months have elapsed since the tabling of NATO’s new Strategic Concept, and already we see, with the Arab Spring, the limits of the Alliance’s extra-territorial crisis-management capacity. By this I don’t mean the relative inability of the “Unified Protector” mission to decide the fate of Libya. In fact, NATO’s…
Read MoreAfter the collapse of the bipolar Cold-War stalemate that had constrained and antagonised international relations for half a century, the main concern has been putting the world together again. Both the US Security Concept and the EU 1993 Security Strategy indicated “failed States” as the main threat to peace and…
Read MoreWritten by Dr Yiorghos Leventis* SPECIAL ISF ANNIVERSARY FEATURE ARTICLE The latest incident authored last Sunday (17 April 2011) in Berlin by an excessive and arrogant Ahmet Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, serves as a cool reminder of the troublemaking policies of his country. Turkey, a staunch NATO ally, sporting…
Read MoreWritten by Dr. William Mallinson Turkey seems to be the only NATO country, with the slightly coy exception of pre-election Germany, with the guts to criticise the latest ‘coalition’ bombing spree against the Moslem world, whatever its contrived diplomatic dancing with NATO, and its fear of being seen to be…
Read MoreIntroduction €€As was widely predicted, worldwide recovery is taking a slow and hesitant path with unemployment the most stubborn and painful indicator: brief discussion of the uneven experience of the emerging economies, the United States, Europe and Cyprus. €€ In parallel with strong and unprecedented Central Bank action, most countries…
Read MoreWritten by Mr. Muin Khoury Egypt, after Tunisia, has been rising from humiliation, is meanwhile reclaiming dignity and demanding respect. In his book, the ‘Geopolitics of Emotion’ – How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation and Hope Are Reshaping the World – Dominique Moisi attempts to divide the world into emotional feelings.…
Read MoreWritten by Dr Yiorghos Leventis* Writing a new analysis on the current state of affairs with regard to the never ending saga of the deep-frozen conflict in Cyprus can be an equally unrewarding task for commentators, political analysts, academics and the like. Over the decades, endless rounds of talks fail…
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