by Robert Olson It’s not likely that substantial changes will take place in Syria in the initial months after the Trump administration takes office. However, Russia, Iran, and Turkey will gather for talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on January 23, which… Continue Reading
by Adnan Tabatabai 2016 certainly bore no good news for the Middle East. Wars are being waged with greater intensity, and the humanitarian catastrophes in Syria and Yemen are reaching unprecedented levels. Instability remains the key defining character of the… Continue Reading
by Mark N. Katz Some initially expected that the shocking assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey by an off-duty Turkish policeman would have soured Russian-Turkish relations. If anything, though, this episode appears to be drawing Moscow and Ankara even… Continue Reading
by Robert Olson and Derek Davison The U.S.-led anti-Islamic State (ISIS or IS) coalition is being challenged by a new but fairly predictable problem. Tensions between the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), along with its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union… Continue Reading
by International Crisis Group For nearly two centuries and despite their fierce geopolitical competition from the Levant to Iraq and the Caucasus, Turkey and Iran have kept the peace between themselves, compartmentalized growing energy and commercial relations and even cooperated… Continue Reading