Foreign & Security Policy

As the European Union moves forward with the Return Regulation, the lessons from Australia, Italy and the EU–Turkey deal are hard to ignore. Externalisation measures including offshore detention have repeatedly proven costly, legally fraught and damaging to human rights, while agreements with third countries often create dependencies and diminish the EU’s authority and influence. 

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.

While the fall of the Syrian regime on 8 December 2024 has significantly changed the political landscape, conditions in Syria are insufficient and unsafe for large-scale returns. From this perspective, Turkey’s “go-and-see” visit policy allows Syrians under temporary protection to assess the situation first-hand before deciding whether to return.

Although the EU regards China as “an economic competitor and a systemic rival”, it remains an attractive economic partner, investment source, and development model for Turkey. However, China’s distinct cultural, political, geographical and economic conditions, along with its sheer size, prevent it from being a complete model.

Migration and asylum have been at the top of the agenda in the EU for some time now. Thereby, the discussion is less about solving problems or addressing the suffering of people on the move, but more about preventing people from reaching European soil. This is neither good for the people seeking refuge in our continent, nor beneficial to the political debate on these issues.

After the European elections, the democratic and pro-European forces in the European Parliament (EP) have been weakened. They must make cooperation much more binding in order to ensure reliable majorities for an effective EU.

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Bretton Woods Conference, together with partner institutions, we propose reforms in eight critical areas of the international economic and financial architecture to reflect the changing global realities and challenges. 

China is pleased with the AKP’s recent efforts to keep the Uyghur issue low profile compared to before, it still does not see Turkey as a reliable partner.

An increasing number of states, including Turkey, are positioned “in-between” the great power rivalries. The present article focuses on the political economy of China-Turkey relations over the last decade.

Where does Turkey stand today in the "New Cold War" between China and the US?

It has been a year since the February 6th earthquakes ripped through southern Turkey and northern Syria. The 7.8 magnitude quake and several tremors directly affected more than 9.1 million people in Turkey, among them 1.7 million Syrian and numerous other refugees. The next day found the country shaken by a wave of anti-refugee policies and rhetoric never seen before. What is the situation today in Turkey, which continues to be the world’s largest refugee-hosting country?

Turkey, as a major country in the EU neighbourhood, highly relevant to EU-China green relations. Renewable energy is at the centre of how the EU-China competition-collaboration nexus unfolds in Turkey, and is directly affected by the country’s macroeconomic and political dynamics.

Just days after the devastating earthquake and as the first vehicles loaded with relief supplies set off from German airports in the region, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Foreign Office made an announcement in favour of further assistance: families with a Turkish or Syrian background would be able to take in their family members affected by the earthquake on a temporary basis.

Help knows no borders. There are many people who are willing to take in survivors of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. Medical support in the stricken areas is desperately needed. But this will require support at political level.

Adopting a feminist approach in foreign policy or peace processes is usually perceived solely as increasing the number of women participants of the process. Although equal representation is an important aspect, it is not the only one. In this article, Dr. Pınar Sayan goes through a few feminist principles that can be adopted for the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey.

On the night of 6 February 2022, two devastating earthquakes hit south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria. As of now, at least 40.000 people have died, and it is feared that the number of victims will increase drastically. We have compiled a list of organisations to which you can donate in the different affected areas.

This article, aimed at contributing to policy changes based on the new paradigm, suggests how Germany’s policy towards Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, whose political relevance has increased for Berlin due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, could become feminist.

In Iran, feminist foreign policy demands both short-term interventions to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population and a long-term approach to deal with the state’s structural violence against its own citizens.

Proposing a feminist foreign policy would raise eyebrows in Armenia, a country that has been involved in armed conflict and has conventional threats to its security and sovereignty in a complicated geopolitical environment.

This article critically discusses feminist foreign policy and applies a comprehensive understanding of it to Azerbaijan’s foreign policy and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.