Georgetown University

January 8, 2025 | Sinan Ciddi |

Turkey Is Preparing to Invade Syria, Then Israel?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is making no effort to disguise his ambitions. In a bold declaration following the first meeting of Turkey’s cabinet, Erdogan made it clear that he intends to...

December 18, 2024 | Natalie Ecanow, Mariam Wahba

Haute Qatar: Sheikha Moza’s Glamour Masks Doha’s Vices

Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser is revered as a champion of education, sustainability, fashion, and art. The glamorous female face of the Qatar regime — and the mother of its current emir — presents herself as a modern face of a traditional, conservative Gulf state.  ...

November 22, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

State Department Warns Turkey Against Hosting Hamas Headquarters

U.S. discomfort over Turkish support for Hamas has reached a new threshold in the wake of reports that the Iran-backed terrorist organization is moving its headquarters from Qatar to Turkey, which is a...

November 21, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi |

Donald Trump Must Hold Turkey Accountable for Its Actions

Turkey’s authoritarian leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan was premature in his optimism at the re-election of Donald Trump. Erdogan is convinced that his existing relationship with Trump, will...

October 18, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Turkish University Celebrates Hamas, October 7

A university in Istanbul convened an international conference last week where terrorist leaders, government officials, and academics praised Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre and called for the destruction...

October 10, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Turkey Supports Russia and Hamas; The US Should Not Give It F-35 Fighter Jets

Recent discussions between Turkey and the United States indicate that the Biden administration is actively pursuing Ankara’s reinstatement in the F-35 program. It is difficult to justify why Washington would want to arm Turkey with these highly advanced fighter jets, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes fervent measures to undermine the core security interests of the United States, NATO, and our transatlantic allies.

October 9, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

U.S. Sanctions Additional Hamas Operatives With Ties to Turkey

The United States sanctioned three Turkey-based individuals and one sham charity on Monday, designating them as prominent international financial supporters of Hamas. The sanctions, imposed on the first...

October 7, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Erdogan Accuses Israel of Intending to Invade Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu government harbored ambitions that include the capture of Anatolia as part of “Greater Israel,” warning of...

September 25, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Washington Should Demand Turkey Donate its S-400 Missiles to Ukraine and the U.S.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the United States to lift a broad array of sanctions that impede the ability of the two NATO allies to hit long-term bilateral trade targets. The request...

September 25, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

The Biden Administration Should Not Sell F-35s to Turkey

The Greek daily Kathimerini on September 22 disclosed high-level negotiations between Washington and Ankara to sell U.S. F-35 joint strike fighters to Turkey. Equipping Turkey with a fifth-generation stealth...

September 24, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Why Is The U.S. So Keen To Get Turkey Back Into The F-35 Program?

Ankara has and is taking visible steps to decouple itself from upholding the values and security priorities of the NATO alliance.

September 17, 2024 | Natalie Ecanow, David Adesnik

Georgetown’s Qatari Branch to Host Former Al Jazeera Executive Who Praised October 7 Massacre

Georgetown University’s branch in Qatar has invited Wadah Khanfar, a former Al Jazeera executive who celebrated the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis, to speak at its “Reimagining Palestine” conference, which begins in Doha on September 20...

September 5, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

U.S. Marines in Turkey Assaulted by Nationalist Youth Group

Two U.S. Marines in Turkey were assaulted on Monday by more than a dozen members of the Turkish Youth Union (TYU), a secular nationalist youth group opposed to U.S. and European Union influence in the...

August 29, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Syria’s Assad Rebuffs Erdogan’s Effort to Normalize Ties

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the country’s parliament on August 25 that initiatives to revive relations with Turkey had not yielded “any results worth mentioning despite the seriousness and...

August 15, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Turkey is committed to undermining NATO

Ankara is blowing past established norms and boundaries

August 9, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Pro-Hamas Protesters in Turkey Call for Military Strikes Against Israel

Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Istanbul on August 3 to express their anger over the death of senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran on July 31. Emboldened by President...

July 30, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi, Sophia Epley

Turkey Threatens to Invade Israel

Speaking to members of his governing party on July 28, 2024, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey threatened to invade Israel. Erdogan’s inflammatory rhetoric suggests Ankara may pursue a more escalatory...

July 25, 2024 | Sophia Epley, Sinan Ciddi

The perils of a Turkish-Syrian rapprochement

Since Turkey and Syria broke off relations in 2011, Ankara has played a prominent role in fighting Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria by supplying material support to insurgent groups seeking to overthrow...

May 23, 2024 | Sinan Ciddi |

Erdogan’s Turkey: Champion of Hamas, and an adversary of the West

Press conferences convened by heads of government, are usually carefully planned and choreographed occasions. Typically, prior to taking the podium, each leader’s staff usually finesse their agreed-upon...

October 29, 2023 | Sinan Ciddi, David May

Israel’s Proportional and Humanitarian Response

Contrary to breathless media reports, Israel’s military conduct has not embraced the collective punishment of Palestinians.