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It’s been over three months now since Turkish Cypriot secessionist Ersin Tatar was elected to be the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), an internationally unrecognised state that declared its independence from the Greek Cypriot-dominated Republic of Cyprus in 1983. Tatar, who was at the time of the election serving as the country’s prime minister, heading a coalition government led by his right-wing National Union Party (UBP), was elected president on the premise that he would seek recognition for the TRNC once in office.
The…
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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 world witnessed a number of events that led many to believe the outbreak of World War III was imminent. The conflicts in Syria and Libya were two wild sparks that threatened to set the world alight. …
As Turkey and the EU bicker over the Eastern Mediterranean, Russia is trapping the region in a triangular web between Azerbaijan, Libya and Sudan.
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2020 has been an extraordinary year for many reasons, but in the context of Eastern Mediterranean geopolitics, it has been a year of great battles for power and leverage that has culminated in the emergence of a new regional status quo. We entered the year witnessing unprecedentedly bold and decisive moves by Turkey that exposed a number of underlying fault lines in the European Union…
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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 the religion of Islam is in crisis, a remark that offended Muslims around the world, including President Erdogan, who styles himself as a defender of Islamic values and causes, both in Turkey, and in the wider Muslim world. …
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 (TRNC), a breakaway state recognised only by Turkey. …
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 Republican Turkish Party’s (CTP) Tufan Erhurman (21.71%). Centre-right People’s Party leader Kudret Ozersay came in fourth with 5.74% of the vote, a significant decline from the 21.25% he garnered in 2015. Erhan Arikli of the far-right Rebirth Party (YDP) received 5.41% of the vote, whereas Serdar Denktas recorded a mere…
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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.
PODCAST: Cyprus becomes the black sheep of the EU
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.
PODCAST: The dawn of a new Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
Young sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood seek more practical solutions to…
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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 27 member states to approve economic sanctions on Belarus, but Nicosia refused to give its approval until EU leaders could promise to implement similar sanctions on Turkey if it did not withdraw its seismic vessels from a disputed maritime area claimed by Cyprus.
Nicosia’s stance irked much criticism from its…
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.
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Turkey and Russia have had a hot-cold relationship in recent decades, with a long history of war going back to the late 18th century. Destiny has seemingly put the Turkish and Russian civilisations on a collision course, with the Turks and their allies having been the main obstacle standing between the Russians and their 300-year march towards the warm waters of the Mediterranean.
In that…
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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 hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned organisation that originated in Egypt in the 1920s and has since gone global, was ousted by Sisi after just one year in power following mass demonstrations against his rule. …
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