Turkey
From Hardliner to Peacemaker: Will Erdogan End Turkey's Thirty Year War With the Kurds?
ISTANBUL—Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, will undoubtedly be remembered for many things. In the ten years since his Justice and Development Party (AKP) first assumed control of the Turkish parliament, he has substantially improved the Turkish economy and established Turkey as a diplomatic leader in the Middle East; he has ushered Islam back into Turkish public life, downgraded the influence of the Turkish military, and imposed severe crackdowns on Turkish journalists. READ MORE >>
The End of the Forty-Year Peace Between Israel and Arab States
The Battle for Aleppo
In mid-September, I left the Turkish border town of Kilis, had my passport stamped at a checkpoint operated by the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and walked into Syria. From there, with the help of the FSA, I made the three-hour drive to Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, which has become a major battleground in the ongoing civil war between President Bashar Al Assad’s forces and the FSA. READ MORE >>
Turkey's Prime Minister Wants War in Syria. Turks Don't.
Fifty Octobers ago, the world faced a nuclear war that would have left this planet a very different place. The danger was every bit as it appeared. Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet leader who had secretly deployed 90 nuclear missiles in Cuba, had a back-up plan should the United States attack the weapon sites. READ MORE >>
Syria Burns on Obama's Back Burner
The Meager and Gruesome Options For Syria’s War Wounded
REYHNALI, Turkey—“We had 600 wounded men in Homs, and no doctors,” says Ahmet, a young Free Syrian Army fighter, his speech slightly muddled, the legacy of a bullet that had grazed his neck and shattered his chin. “Sometimes, because we didn’t know any other way to treat our men, we had to amputate arms and legs ourselves. Sometimes we asked a carpenter or a butcher to do so.” READ MORE >>
The Need to Lead
Strategic Vision: America and the Crisis of Global PowerBy Zbigniew Brzezinski (Basic Books, 208 pp., $26) READ MORE >>
Meet the Freedom-Fighting Smugglers on the Syrian Border
Antakya, Turkey—Mautaz and his wife heard the shelling getting closer to their village of Hazan and knew it was their time to leave. The subsequent journey did not take place alone: They joined a group of 13 Syrians, led by a smuggler. With the smuggler carrying one of their eight children ahead, Muataz and his brother cautiously followed behind, wary of landmines. Eventually they safely reached this Turkish border town. READ MORE >>
