With US president-elect Joe Biden preparing to take office this month, geopolitical actors in the Middle East await his stance on the Iran nuclear deal. — Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. The year 2020 has finally come to a close. It has been a hot year in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean. Regional tensions have only been overlooked because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. This time last year, the…

As Turkey and the EU bicker over the Eastern Mediterranean, Russia is trapping the region in a triangular web between Azerbaijan, Libya and Sudan. Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. 2020 has been an extraordinary year for many reasons, but in the context of Eastern…

French President Macron’s attempt to rally the EU behind France against Turkey through his turning to European populism puts him at odds with NATO. — Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. Comments by French President Emmanual Macron early in October triggered a fierce war of words between himself and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that weeks on, still has the two leaders arguing back and forth. Macron claimed that…

President Ersin Tatar may be Turkey’s man in North Cyprus, and that’s exactly why his plan to negotiate a two-state solution is doomed to fail. — On October 18th, Turkish Cypriots elected secessionist leader Ersin Tatar as president. Tatar won the run-off ballot with just under 52 percent of the vote, defeating his leftist rival Mustafa Akinci in what was probably the most tense election in the 37-year history of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus…

The key to winning the Turkish Cypriot presidential election run-off will be to sway the 44% of eligible voters who did not vote in the first round. Korsan Cevdet writes. — By 19:00 (GMT) on Sunday, 11 October 2020, the first round of Turkish Cyprus’ presidential elections concluded with the expected results. Right-winger Ersin Tatar, of the National Union Party (UBP), was in the pole position with 32.34% of the vote, followed by incumbent leftist Mustafa Akinci (29.80%), and the centre-left…

Radio EastMed’s Editor-in-Chief Ertan Karpazli rounds up all the latest news and developments from the Eastern Mediterranean for the month of September 2020. — Scroll down to listen to Radio EastMed’s full podcast for September 2020. PODCAST: Regional war brews between Turkey and Russia While tensions simmer in Syria’s Idlib province, fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh could put Turkey and Russia on a path to war.

Cyprus may have proved its point to the EU by holding sanctions on Belarus hostage, but at the risk of leaving itself isolated within the bloc. — Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. The Republic of Cyprus may be tiny in size, but it certainly punches above its weight. The island’s internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government proved that in September by almost taking the European Union’s foreign policy hostage. The bloc needed all…

While tensions simmer in Syria’s Idlib province, fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh could put Turkey and Russia on a path to war. Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. Turkey and Russia have had a hot-cold relationship in recent decades, with a long history…

Young sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood seek more practical solutions to everyday problems like unemployment, not more outdated revolutionary rhetoric. — Scroll down to listen to the audio version of this article. September has seen the first major anti-government protests to erupt in Egypt since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was elected president in 2014, a year after he led a military coup against his presidential predecessor, the late Mohamed Morsi. Morsi, who…