Yazar arşivleri: Ali Tuygan

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Ali Tuygan hakkında

Ali Tuygan is a graduate of the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 1967. Between various positions in Ankara, he served at the Turkish Embassy in Brussels, NATO International Staff, Turkish Embassies in Washington and Baghdad, and the Turkish Delegation to NATO. From 1986 to 1989 he was the Principal Private Secretary to the President of the Republic. He then served as ambassador to Ottawa, Riyadh, and Athens. In 1997 he was honored with a decoration by the Italian President. Between these assignments abroad he served twice as Deputy Undersecretary for Political Affairs. In 2004 he was appointed Undersecretary where he remained until the end of 2006 before going to his last foreign assignment as Ambassador to UNESCO. He retired in 2009. In April 2013 he published a book entitled “Gönüllü Diplomat, Dışişlerinde Kırk Yıl” (“Diplomat by Choice, Forty Years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”) in which he elaborated on the diplomatic profession and the main issues on the global agenda. He has published articles in Turkish periodicals and newspapers.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Blitzkrieg

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December 9, 2024

After thirteen years of internal fighting, loss of life, and devastation, the five-decade-long Assad regime was swept away in barely two weeks. President Hafez al-Assad, the father, was the President of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He was Türkiye’s one and only regional enemy for years. For a decade, President Bashar al-Assad had the opportunity to transform Syria. Unfortunately, he was forced by the Syrian deep state to press ahead with his father’s autocratic rule, failed to moderate the regime, got Syria engulfed in the tremors of the Arab Spring, and caused much suffering. After all, democracy is not part of the Middle East’s political culture, but authoritarianism is. Nonetheless, he deserves credit for putting relations with Ankara on the right track in close cooperation with the AKP government.

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Türkiye’s Thirteen Years of Trouble in Syria

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December 4, 2024

The recent “rebel” offensive in northern Syria has brought multiple security challenges once again along our 911-kilometer border with our southern neighbor. The confusion it has caused is understandable because there are not only countries but many “rebel groups” with different interests. Relationships are intriguing and conflictual. As usual, attention is now focused on battlefield developments and the diplomatic flurry among the principal players. Nonetheless, how we got here is a lesson we, the people of Türkiye, should never forget as I have repetitiously underlined in earlier posts regarding Syria.

The following, with several minor grammatical corrections, is a blog post I published more than four years ago.

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The Race Toward January 20th

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December 2, 2024

The year 2024 was largely dominated by the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon, and in mid-summer attention started to shift toward the US presidential election.

President Biden was determined to run for a second term. A growing number of Democratic leaders urged him to leave the race.  He fought them bitterly until he finally concluded that he had no other option than quitting. But that came too late. Thus, the Democratic Party not only lost the presidential election but the Republicans won the majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Then a race started among the actors in the two conflict areas for better bargaining positions before Mr. Trump assumed office.

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The ICC Deals a Blow to Israel and the West

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November 25, 2024

This is how I started a post a year ago, two months after the Hamas onslaught of October 7:

“Jews are a gifted people. They have made great contributions to science, culture, and the arts. Israel is among the top twenty countries winning the most Nobel prizes. However, the first Nobel prizes were awarded in 1901. Israel was founded in 1948. Had Israel existed in 1901, surely it would have been among the top ten if not the top five today. Unfortunately, Jewish people have experienced endless tragedies, persecution, pogroms, displacements, and annihilation attempts prompted by racism, antisemitism, and jealousy of their achievements.

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Escalation in the War in Ukraine – Counting the Days

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November 22, 2024

On November 17, 2024, the 998th day of Russia’s invasion, Russia launched more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine. The same day,  President Biden, in a significant shift in US policy, authorized Ukraine to use ballistic missiles, or ATACMS, for strikes limited to the Kursk region of western Russia in response to North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Moscow’s war effort.

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President Trump and the Middle East

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November 13, 2024

The stunning comeback of Mr. Trump as President-elect has triggered speculation about the future of US foreign policy, particularly regarding the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The latter’s past decade might offer some clues into the future.

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The Loser of the Election is President Biden

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November 11, 2024

For months the West anxiously watched the US presidential campaign. “Anxiously” because the world is in turmoil with the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon taking their toll, and there is a lack of leadership. The quality of the campaign, particularly Mr. Trump’s language, his distortion of facts, and the worries about political violence if he were to lose was disappointing.

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Gaza’s Destruction Continues

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October 31, 2024

On October 1, Iran fired 200 missiles at Israel. There was no clarity regarding the full scope of the damage to Israeli military bases. It was generally agreed that Iran was “more successful” in evading Israel’s defenses than in April when Iran had launched a barrage of missiles and drones targeting Israel nearly two weeks after the deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Syria.

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The BRICS Summit and Türkiye

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October 28, 2024

BRICS currently comprises ten nations: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE. It represents about half of the world’s population. According to estimates, it now accounts for 37.3 % of the world’s GDP. It owns 44.35% of the world’s oil reserves.

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