Remember Lepanto
A great battle in a war not yet ended
Byzantine Empire
State Department Should Deliver an Honest Message about Turkey’s Religious Freedom Record
The US Department of State’s annual report on international religious freedom, released on May 12, documents the ongoing erosion of freedom of religion or belief in Turkey. The report echoes the concerns...
Op-eds
The United Nations: Erdogan’s Favorite Platform for Trolling the World
The United Nations General Assembly, which meets every September, offers authoritarian heads of state their favorite platform for trolling the world. For this year’s 75th annual session, Turkish president...
Op-eds
Turkey Uses Medieval Score-Settling To Justify Its Hagia Sophia Conversion
Europe is now home to one of the world’s strangest paradoxes. The continent’s most prominent mosque, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, has served as a church since the year 1236. Meanwhile, Ankara in July converted Europe’s...
Op-eds
The Battle of Hagia Sophia: Erdogan’s Conquest of the Turkish Republic
This will set a dangerous precedent, emboldening supremacists not only in Turkey but also in the Middle East and North Africa.
Op-eds
Erdogan’s Target in Hagia Sophia Stunt was Ataturk’s Legacy
The re-designation of this iconic building as a mosque was not just a sop to the Turkish President’s Islamist fans – but another blow at the memory of the statesman whose legacy haunts and frustrates him.
Op-eds
Turkish Government’s Hagia Sophia Rhetoric Adds Insult to Injury
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque on July 10, drawing criticism from foreign governments ranging from the United States to Russia, including a joint condemnation by...
Op-eds
Iran vs. Trump: Suleimani’s Legacy, and Khamenei’s Ambitions
The supreme leader and Trump may well end the long-running, region-defining clash. We just don't know yet quite how.
Op-eds
Dragons and snakes stalk us
We can try to kill them, attempt to keep them at bay, or let them rule the jungle
Op-eds
Turkey Must Stop Meddling in Armenian Church Affairs
The Turkish government is imposing its political preferences when it comes to selecting the leaders of the country’s minority groups—and posing a threat to religious freedom.
Op-eds
Strategic Geography of the Middle East
With the end of the Cold War the United States lost a sound understanding of the strategic geography of the Middle East. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, US strategy focused, correctly, on histori...
Op-eds
Erdoğan’s Interests Converge with Putin in Moldova’s Gagauzia
BACKGROUND: On October 17, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan touched down in Chisinau for a ...
Op-eds
The Embattled Ecumenical Patriarch Caught Between Russia and Turkey
On October 15, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) announcedits decision to break with the Ecumenical Patriar...
Op-eds
Violent Extremist vs. Holy Warrior
Is Barack Hussein Obama wrong to avoid appending “Islamic,” “Muslim,” “Islamist,” or even “jihadist” to the terrorism that has struck the West with...
Op-eds
The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Enemy
When Ottoman armies marched into Europe in the mid-14th century, Europeans started looking hopefully eastward for enemies of the Turks. Spanish and French kings sent ambassadors to Tamerl...
Op-eds
Turkey’s Double Standards On Protests
Anti-government demonstrators gathered at Istanbul’s Taksim Square on Saturday, May 31 on the first anniversary of last year’s Gezi Park protests. As expected, the government responde...
Policy Briefs
“Resistance Economy” Regains Resonance in Iran
Iran’s top clerics have recently been busy urging the embrace of something called a “resistance economy” from the pulpit. Iran’s Supreme Leader,&n...
Policy Briefs
Faith-Based Negotiations
O believers, when you encounter the unbelievers marching to battle, turn not your backs to them. Whoso turns his back that day to them, unless withdrawing to fight again...
Op-eds
Iran, the U.N.’s New Authority On Nuclear Disarmament
With Iran pushing toward nuclear breakout ability at home, while peddling what some have dubbed “charm” abroad, there were plenty of odd moments as Iran’s President Hassan Rouha...
Op-eds
The End of Syria
Last week marked the second year anniversary of the popular uprising in Syria. On its current trajectory, Syria is headed toward geographical fragmentation. As the security situation deteriorates...