Daphne McCurdy, POMED Senior Research Associate, writing at OpenDemocracy discussed the political and legal crisis confronting Turkey since its June 12 election. She examined the apparent politicization of legal decisions that have precluded Hatip Dicle, an independent backed by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) from taking his seat. McCurdy used the Dicle case to highlight tensions within Turkish society, including those between the political and armed aspects of the Kurdistan ...

The Conference for Change in Syria took place from May 31 to June 2 in Antalya, Turkey, and established a 31-member Consultative Council that will be responsible for organizing and monitoring the activities related to the conference.  The conference also issued a final resolution demanding for President Bashar al-Assad's resignation and handing leadership to the vice president.  According to the resolution, the vice president will reside over the transitional period, ...

Maria Fantappie, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, in a piece for the Los Angeles Times' Babylon & Beyond blog, writes that the wave of protests across the Arab world is also having an effect in Iraqi Kurdistan.  Although protests have erupted in the Arab areas of Iraq over a variety of issues, Fantappie states that the Kurdish protests have focused on popular youth discontent with the traditional Kurdish leadership ...

On Thursday, Turkey sent a high-level delegation of government experts to advise the Syrian regime on how to implement rapid reforms.  According to Selim Yenel, deputy undersecretary for the Americas at Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision to send the team was agreed to in advance.  Marc Champion of the Wall Street Journal, writes that the sending of the delegation is a sign of Turkey's concern that "rising violence ...

On Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented the Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s election manifesto in which he outlined the government's economic vision for Turkey's future. He also criticized the opposition party, Republican People's Party (CHP)'s economic policy and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP)'s incitement of violence against police officers in the southeast during protests over the ban of Kurdish candidates.  The CHP also released its election manifesto, ...

Last week, the Kurdish Parliament passed a  Law on Non-Governmental Organizations in the Kurdistan Region.  The law seeks to improve transparency of relations between regional authorities and civil society groups as well as simplifying the process for registering NGOs, creating conditions for NGO financial stability, removing restrictions on associational rights of foreign residents in Kurdistan,  and removing criminal penalties for violations of the NGO law.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree granting up to 150,000 Kurds living in eastern Syria citizenship.  Many Kurds are currently registered as foreigners due to previous census results.  Kurdish leader Habib Ibrahim said that the decree would not stop Kurdish Syrians from pressing for more civil rights and democratic reforms: "Our cause is democracy for the whole of Syria. Citizenship is the right of every Syrian. It is not ...

Bilal Y. Saab, writing for The National Interest, argues that a collapse of the regime would have ripple effects across the Middle East and the country's network of external relations could collapse.  He outlines two ways in which a post-Assad Syria could develop.  On the positive side, Syrian intervention in Lebanese politics could essentially be eliminated along with its support for Hezbollah.  This would significantly weaken Hezbollah he argues.  The ...

Soner Cagaptay, writing at the Wall Street Journal, cautions against calls for post-authoritarian Arab countries to follow the Turkish model.  Cagaptay argues that the Justice and Development Party, or the AKP, has slowly been "transforming Turkish society by making religion the moral compass of the country's body politic."  The problem with this shift is that "once narrowly-defined faith becomes the guiding principle in policy, fundamentalists claiming ideological purity become more ...

On Friday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted an event focused on the unrest in the Middle East and what kind of effect it will have on the political situation in Iraq entitled, “Is Iraq Next?” The event was moderated by Marwan Muasher the vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, where he oversees the Endowment’s research in Washington and Beirut. The event had three speakers:  Denise Natali, ...

On Wednesday, the United States Institute of Peace hosted a panel discussion on the future of Iraq following December elections titled “Iraq’s New Government: Now Comes the Hard Part.”  Tara Sonenshine, Executive Vice President of U.S. Institute of Peace introduced the panelists: Dr. Ali al-Dabbagh, Minister of State and Spokesperson of the Iraqi Government, Dr. Wisam Al-Ubaidi, the Al-Wifaq Al-Watani Party’s representative to the United States, Qubad Talabani, the Kurdistan ...

In a recent interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Joost Hiltermann calls the new Iraqi government "a good basis for setting out," while also expressing concern about the power-sharing agreement. Hiltermann says the newly established National Council for Strategic Policy has yet to be fully defined, and that it remains to be seen whether "Allawi feels that it satisfies his earlier demands for having a real check against ...

The Middle East Institute (MEI) held an event on Tuesday titled “The Realities of Power Sharing in the Next Iraqi Government” with Reidar Visser. The event was held to mark the release of Visser’s new book, “A Responsible End?: The United States and the Iraqi Transition, 2005-2010.” Visser was introduced by Kate Seelye, the Vice President of Programs and Communications at MEI. (To read full notes, continue below the fold or ...

Denise Natali writes at The Middle East Channel that the Kurds of Iraq face a number of challenges going forward and that compromising on their "highly-charged nationalist agenda" may be the best way to secure "long-term political and economic prosperity." Natali argues that the Kurds position has been fundamentally weakened due to their status as "a politically expedient swing vote" and the "ceremonial" nature of the presidency, which is ...

The Brookings Institution held an event on Thursday to mark the release of the analysis paper “Unfinished Business: An American Strategy for Iraq Moving Forward.” The event’s participants were all co-authors of the paper and included Kenneth M. Pollack, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, J. Scott Carpenter, the Keston Family Fellow at the Washington Institute and director of ...

At the Guardian’s Comment is Free, human rights lawyer Margaret Owen describes the trial in Turkey of 151 Kurdish politicians, lawyers, and other leaders as “a trial that would shame any democracy.” Observers have “widely condemned” the process - evidence-gathering and courtroom procedures “breach all international and European standards on human rights and fair trials,” Owen writes, and the trial is essentially political, not legal. She mentions the closure of ...

At a recent policy forum luncheon held by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, three members of the Institute gave their perspectives on the current political situation in Iraq. Ahmed Ali said that Prime Minister Maliki is "known to be close with Iraqi president and leading Kurdish figure Jalal Talabani," but that Maliki also brought Minister of Planning Ali Baban along on his recent visit to Turkey, signaling ...

Iraq's Supreme Court ordered the Iraqi parliament to convene after a seven month delay on Sunday, according to a report from the BBC. While one Iraqi constitutional lawyer called the order a "formality that would do nothing to break the political deadlock," Reidar Visser calls the move a "small triumph for Iraqi democracy." However, Visser points out that "what the main factions are currently doing, i.e. postponing the election ...