By Mehmet Enes Beşer ASEAN’s 2026 report on health and wellness tourism arrived just as Türkiye was formally accorded Dialogue Partner status. The coincidence creates an easy but misleading agenda: combine Türkiye’s successful international-patient industry with Southeast Asia’s expanding medical-travel market. Ankara should resist making that the centerpiece. Türkiye will be more useful to ASEAN, and will build a more ...

Europe stays on the streets. Protests and strikes are continuing in various countries. One of them is Belgium, and an important political actor in organizing the protests against militarization is the Workers’ Party of Belgium, a force that has continued to increase both its street presence and votes during the past years. We spoke to the party’s political director, David ...

By Orçun Göktürk, from Beijing / China Germany’s two leading figures have embarked on separate visits to Asia within a matter of days. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier paid a five-day visit to China from October 27 to 31. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz undertook a five-day Asian tour from October 26 to 30, visiting Singapore, Japan and South Korea. His ...

By Mustafa Ilker Yücel Istanbul, autumn 1993. A meeting is underway. Representatives of the Abrahamic faiths have gathered: – The head of Türkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs,– The Secretary-General of the Holy See from the Vatican,– Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church in Istanbul,– The Chief Rabbi of Israel, and many others… There was also a wide delegation from Albania: ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer On 20–21 July, ASEAN’s Smart Cities Network held its ninth annual meeting. On 21 July, ASEAN granted Türkiye Dialogue Partner status. The two developments were largely treated as separate: one concerned urban policy, the other foreign policy. Ankara should connect them. Its new access to ASEAN will produce more value when Bursa, Gaziantep, Konya and İzmir ...

By Adem Kılıç, Political Scientist The conflict that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran was initially regarded as a show of force aimed at weakening Iran’s nuclear capabilities, missile infrastructure and regional military influence. However, the picture that emerged as the war progressed demonstrated that achieving military objectives alone does not necessarily amount to a strategic victory. Neither ...

The conference entitled “Change and the Way Forward: The Situation in the Middle East from the Perspective of the Four Global Initiatives,” organized by the World Civilizations Initiative Research Centre and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Ankara, addressed the crises in the region and offered possible solutions. Jiang Xuebin, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China ...

To understand Africa, one must look not at the map, but at memory. For this continent must be understood not only through its geographical boundaries, but also through the suffering, resistance, and civilisations inscribed in the shared history of humanity. Yet, when it comes to Africa, the international public often forgets its past and evaluates present-day events independently of that ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer On 21 July, ASEAN formally accorded Türkiye Dialogue Partner status. Within three days, Chinese coastguard vessels had again used water cannon against Philippine fisheries craft near Scarborough Shoal, after an earlier confrontation at Second Thomas Shoal injured a Filipino sailor. The timing was coincidental but instructive. Türkiye has gained a larger regional platform just as the ...

Last week, members of the Mecca Alliance, Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, paid a critical visit to Tehran. Another important news of the week was the Libyan Parliament’s approval of the maritime boundaries agreement signed between Türkiye and Libya. Steps toward resolving tensions between Ankara and Baku were another important development of the week. Mecca Alliance talks in Tehran Senior ...