Israel’s Gift
Lebanese patriots now have a chance to throw off Tehran’s yoke
Constantinople
The Azerbaijanis, Not the Azeris, Are Hosting COP29
The Republic of Azerbaijan will host the annual UN Climate Change Conference known as COP29 in November 2024. For many who will attend COP29 and follow the process, this will be their first...
Op-eds
The second war against the Jews
Iran’s rulers are globalizing it
Op-eds
Remember Lepanto
A great battle in a war not yet ended
Op-eds
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
Russia-Turkey Pincer Movement Threatens Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Survival
It is time the West offered robust support to the Istanbul-based Patriarchate – now being squeezed by Ankara and Moscow, both of which see it as a threat to their illiberal projects.
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
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
How not to end endless wars
Retreating and abandoning allies may not be the optimum strategy.
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
Is it wrong to prefer the West to the rest?
On various occasions and beginning decades before he was elected president, Ronald Reagan warned that “freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.” He understood, and h...
Op-eds
A bloody day in London town
“The Kafir’s Blood Is Halal For You, So Shed it.” That’s just one of the catchier headlines in a recent issue of ...
Op-eds
The Turkish Kristallnacht
A belated commemoration — 60 years lat...
Op-eds
Napoleon in the Middle East
The French emperor’s war against an Islamic empire is instructive
Op-eds
The Neo-Ottoman
Turkey should have been part of the solution. Instead it’s become part of the problem. The problem, of course, is the spread of jihadism throughout the Middle East, North Africa and beyond....
Op-eds
The Other Long War
The Muslim world needs democracy and economic reform — on that, almost everyone agrees. As Rami Khouri, columnist for the Daily Star of Beirut, recently...
Op-eds
The Battle of Gaza
Who won?