Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is regarded as the "the strongest man in Turkey" by Reuters in a recent report. This is a title that has stemmed from a variety of sources including rapid economic growth, massive job creation, and a pool of voters that essentially " him shape what kind of democracy" Turkey becomes. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) won their third election with over 50% of the ...

Randa Slim writes in Foreign Policy about the whether or not the decision by the U.S. Treasury to freeze assets of Syrian businessman Mohammad Hamsho and his business will send a "strong message" to the pro-Assad business community and potentially increase the possibilities for pressuring the Syrian regime.  According to Slim, the business community is the "key to the survival of Bashar al-Assad" therefore, sanctions against businesses will be very ...

On Friday, the Helsinki Commission held a hearing entitled “Minority at Risk: Coptic Christians in Egypt.” Christopher Smith (R-NJ) chaired the hearing, also attending were Steve Cohen (D-TN), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Frank Wolf (R-VA), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Renee Ellmers (R-NC). The witnesses were Caroline Doss, Vice President, Coptic Solidarity; Michelle Clark, Adjunct Professor, George Washington University; and Jean Maher, President, French Office, Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization. Notes on the event ...

This week, the International Republican Institute (IRI) released a public opinion poll on Tunisia and an analysis of the results.  Since former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali did not allow independent surveys, there is a lack of current information and a "high demand for current survey data to provide Tunisian civil society and government officials an important tool to understand and respond to citizen priorities." Similar to the results of a March IRI ...

A new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center shows that the United States remains unpopular in key Arab and Muslim countries, as it has remained for a decade. President Barack Obama is viewed unfavorably in all countries polled with the exception of Indonesia. The Arab Spring has correctly reflected regional enthusiasm for democracy, which is generally viewed as the best form of government. However, the poll shows that people ...

Prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh has announced that he will run for president, defying the group’s previous decision not to field a candidate.  Abouel Fotouh has said that he will run as an independent in the December election.  Disagreements between Abouel Fotouh and other Brotherhood leaders led to his exclusion from the Guidance Bureau, however he still commands a strong following from the younger Brotherhood members.  Abouel ...

On Friday, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) held their 12th Annual Conference under the theme “Tunisia’s and Egypt’s Revolutions and Transitions to Democracy.” CSID President Radwan Masmoudi opened the conference by giving special attention to discerning real and fake stability and development in Egypt and Tunisia. The first panel, chaired by George Washington University Visiting Scholar and Program Committee Chair for the event, Radwan Ziadeh, was ...

In an op-ed in Al-Ahram, Ibrahim El-Houdaiby discusses the emergence and role of the  two public spheres fostered by the Mubarak's regime: the religious and secular-liberal spheres.  He notes that these spheres, which had minimal diversity and relatively exclusive, had little influence on the regime's policies.  Rather, Mubarak chose which sphere's rhetoric to employ to justify his policies.  El-Houdaiby also discusses how these regimes changed over time and calls on members ...

As part of a Jadaliyya Roundtable, editors of the blog asked analysts Steven Heydemann, Fred Lawson, David Lesch and Patrick Seale to respond to a series of questions on the current situation in Syria.  In part two of the roundtable, contributors were asked to respond to the following question:  "What do you consider to be missing or exaggerated in the discussion/writings/policy on the Syrian uprisings?" In response, Heydemann states that the current debate in Washington ...

POMED's Senior Research Associate Daphne McCurdy was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on Bashar al-Assad's recent speech addressing protests in Syria.  McCurdy said the Assad's speech was an attempt to pacify the unrest by stoking fear of Iraq or Lebanon-style sectarian strife in the ethnically and religiously diverse nation.  She explained that there may be internal divisions within the regime on how to respond to the protests as security forces ...

On Monday, a Turkish court charged five journalists of being involved in an alleged plot to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government.  The journalists were remanded into custody and joined two additional journalists who were also charged with involvement in the same plot on Sunday.  The seven journalists' houses were raided by police a week ago. The arrests come amidst a protracted investigation by the Turkish government of the ultra-nationalist group Ergenekon, which the ...

On Sunday, hundreds of people rallied in Beirut to protest the country's complicated power-sharing confessional system which divides political power amongst the country's 18 different religious sects.  The protesters called for a civil-secular state that guarantees religious diversity and social justice.  Many, including some of the protesters at the rally, blame the current political system as the root cause of corruption and violence in Lebanon.  One counter demonstrator however questioned the abandonment ...

On Friday, the Wilson Center hosted an event, entitled, “Egypt and the Middle: A Turkish Model of Democracy,” discussing the growth of democracy in Egypt and the role other democratic models could play in the process. John Sitilides, Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the Wilson Center Southeast Europe Project moderated and introduced the speakers: Steven A. Cook, the Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at ...

In an Atlantic article titled "When Islamism is Liberal-Democratic", Max Fisher notes that the recent passing of a constitutional referendum in Turkey is being described in some quarters as a turn away from the country's secular past. He asserts that it is actually a move towards liberal democracy: "Islamic rule and liberal democracy, far from mutually exclusive in the Middle East, can go hand-in-hand." He goes on to describe Middle ...

On Monday, September 13th, POMED hosted an event entitled “Is Turkey Becoming Less Democratic?” The event was moderated by Bill Schneider, Distinguished Senior Fellow and Resident Scholar at Third Way and the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University. The discussion featured three panelists: Gonul Tol, Executive Director of the Center for Turkish Studies at the Middle East ...

Days ahead of the Turkish constitutional referendum, Steven Kinzer suggests the vote will be a critical test of both AKP's (Justice and Development Party) and the military’s power: “If the referendum passes, it will be taken as a sign that Turks are fed up with the military's involvement in politics.” Should the referendum pass on Sunday, Kinzer writes, it will likely empower AKP to draft a new constitution in the ...