In 2025, the Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought was awarded to Seyla Benhabib, a philosopher whose life’s work confronts one of the most pressing questions of our time: what social, political, and moral conditions are necessary for human beings to recognize one another as equals. 

At the panel Heinrich Böll Stiftung Istanbul Office organized on 24 November at the Orient-Institut Istanbul, the speakers were Syrian women. While they acknowledged concerns about women’s rights in a country undergoing transition, they also delivered a clear message: “We are not just victims, but political agents.”

Agroecology in Turkey is more than a set of farming techniques; it is a battleground of ideas. Competing narratives are shaping who controls food systems, how communities thrive, and what the countryside will look like tomorrow.

This analysis looks at the regional dynamics before and after the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran and analyzes the opportunities and challenges the War has presented for Türkiye. It argues that the weakening of Iran leaves Türkiye and Israel as the main rivals in the region’s strategic balance. Syria risks being the major theater where this rivalry could escalate.