Contemporary challenges for the European Union (by Guy Sevrin). I must say that this conference comes at a challenging moment in the history of the EU and deals with challenging issues such as the Lisbon Treaty implementation, the EU-Turkey-CY relations and Energy security … MORE

The way ahead after Turkey’s constitutional referendum (by Didem Akyel). Turkey’s staunch secularists and its main opposition parties are still reeling from the results of last month’s nationwide referendum in which 58 per cent of Turkish voters supported a constitutional reform package put forward by the religious-conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. This unprecedented … MORE

Which way is Turkey going? (by Robert Ellis). There are different views on this issue and a great deal of wishful thinking. According to the latest report from the International Crisis Group Turkey’s new engagement in the Middle East has been subject to misconceptions, but we are reassured that Turkey generally allies itself to EU member states’ foreign policy positions … MORE

U.S. Elections – 2010 (by Monroe Newman). The United States is governed through a highly complex system of elections that fills literally thousands of elective offices (some of which are unpaid) at the local, county, state and national levels. From abroad, attention tends to focus on 536 of these offices – that of president, who serves no more than two 4 year terms, 100 senators … MORE

The renewed balance of power in the Middle East (by Hamid R. Khalaj). Balance of power has a long history among Mesopotamian civilizations: a history filled with conflicts between Kings and Emperors out of fear from each other. An outstanding one would be the war between twelve Kings of Mesopotamia headed by King Hadadezer of Damascus and Arab King of Israel against expansionism … MORE

The latest episodes of the policy of denial: Religion in the service of politics (by Arda Jebejian). “If the Holocaust was a hoax, why not the Armenian catastrophe also? If Anne Frank’s diary was faked, who is to say that certain documents signed by Talaat Pasha weren’t forged as well? … The Turkish attack on truth exemplifies the new government narrative, the one in which truth is … MORE

“5+5” Summit in Malta in 2011 (by Roderick Pace). In 2011 Malta hosts the summit of “5+5” Western Mediterranean Dialogue. The Dialogue meets at Ministerial and occasionally at heads of government level. Libya is proposing a parliamentary meeting of the “5+5” and the Speaker of the Maltese House of Representatives canvassed for it at a meeting of the Parliamentary … MORE

The diplomatic battle over Kosovo: A second Cyprus on the EU doorstep? (by Predrag Vukovic). Former Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) High Representative Carl Bildt once asked if there was to be partition of BiH after the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) whether there would be anything to prevent the Albanians of Kosovo from demanding independence, triggering not only a war with … MORE