Türkiye and the Levant

Turkic States Deepen Cooperation at Bishkek Meeting

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:26:57 +0000

Turkic States Deepen Cooperation at Bishkek Meeting

On Thursday (18 September) the leaders of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened in Bishkek to push forward an agenda of regional integration, digital transformation, and infrastructural development. The gathering, which included Prime Ministers and senior officials from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkey, among others, reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing transit potential, modernising transport infrastructure, and accelerating digital cooperation.

Maximiliaan va… Fri, 09/19/2025 - 14:26

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Libya government reaches preliminary accord with powerful armed group

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:35:51 +0000

Libya government reaches preliminary accord with powerful armed group

Libya’s UN-recognized government based in Tripoli has reached a preliminary accord with a powerful armed group to end months of tensions that have flared into occasional violence, a government adviser and local media said on Saturday 13 September. Negotiations between the government and the Radaa Force were facilitated by Turkiye, according to the same sources quoted by Arab News. Ziyad Deghem, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Council transitional body, said the details of the accord “will be announced to the public at a later date.” Libyan broadcaster Al-Ahrar on Saturday posted on X a video that it said showed defense ministry forces entering an airport controlled by Radaa.

Robert Micallef Tue, 09/16/2025 - 12:35

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Gaza Burning: Israel expands military operation and warns residents to leave

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:01:38 +0000

Gaza Burning: Israel expands military operation and warns residents to leave

The Israeli military began a ground offensive targeting Gaza city on Tuesday 16 September slowly squeezing in on the Palestinian territory’s largest city that has seen block after block already destroyed in the Israel-Hamas war. Residents still in the city were warned they must leave and head south. The push marks yet another escalation in a conflict that has roiled the Middle East as any potential ceasefire feels even further out of reach despite months of diplomacy. While the military wouldn’t offer a timeline for the offensive, Israeli media outlets suggested it could take months. Earlier in the day, according to Associated Press, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that “Gaza is burning” while independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council announced that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, joining a rising international chorus of such accusations.

Robert Micallef Tue, 09/16/2025 - 12:01

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Israel’s strikes in Yemen kill at least thirty-five people

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 08:22:49 +0000

Israel’s strikes in Yemen kill at least thirty-five people

On Wednesday (10 September), Israeli jets targeted Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, as well as al-Jawf province. Houthi authorities reported that there are at least 35 dead and 131 wounded, although later figures suggested 46 fatalities and 165 people injured. Strikes in Sanaa’s al-Tahrir neighbourhood damaged residential areas, a medical facility, and the national museum, while in al-Jawf, government compounds were hit. The damage to civilian infrastructure has drawn widespread condemnation, with UNESCO warning of irreparable losses to cultural heritage.

Maximiliaan va… Fri, 09/12/2025 - 10:22

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EU to push for sanctions on Israel ministers and suspend bilateral support

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 16:28:05 +0000

EU to push for sanctions on Israel ministers and suspend bilateral support

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen stated she would push to sanction "extremist" Israeli ministers and curb trade ties over Gaza, as she warned famine should not be used as a "weapon of war". Addressing the European Parliament on 10 September in the annual State of the Union, von der Leyen lamented that divisions among member states were holding back a European response but insisted the European Commission "will do all that it can on its own". "What is happening in Gaza has shaken the conscience of the world. People killed while begging for food. Mothers holding lifeless babies. These images are simply catastrophic," von der Leyen said. The German politician said the Commission would put its bilateral support to Israel on hold, stopping all payments, but without affecting work with civil society groups and Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

Robert Micallef Thu, 09/11/2025 - 18:28

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Palestinian film takes the world by storm: "The Voice of Hind Rajab" receives record 24 minute standing ovation at The Venice Film Festival

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 04:30:34 +0000

Palestinian film takes the world by storm: "The Voice of Hind Rajab" receives record 24 minute standing ovation at The Venice Film Festival

Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab made history at the Venice Film Festival, continuing the rise of Palestinian cinema on the world stage, writes William Mullally, Arts & Culture Editor of the UAE newspaper, The National. The Oscar-nominated Tunisian director's latest effort received a record-setting 24-minute standing ovation on Wednesday (3 September), before winning the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize on Saturday (8 September). The film, which The National's review said “will break you”, reconstructs the death of five-year-old Palestinian Hind Rajab, who was killed in Gaza city last January alongside four cousins, her aunt and uncle, and two paramedics who attempted to rescue her after the family's car came under fire from Israeli forces. Hind was trapped for hours in the vehicle while on the phone with the Palestinian Red Cross. When paramedics finally reached her, both she and the rescuers were dead. Reports later concluded an Israeli tank had likely fired more than 300 bullets into the vehicle. Hind's voice recording from the call is used in the film. Shooting the project over three weeks in Tunisia last November with Palestinian performers, Ben Hania first went to Hind's mother to seek permission to use the voice recording rather than dramatise it, she tells The National. “Hind’s mother told me something about the voice of her daughter: 'It should be heard, and not be forgotten,'” she recalls. While critics have questioned the ethics of using the girl’s plight for dramatic purposes, with Variety accusing Ben Hania of “tear-jerker tactics”, the filmmaker makes no apologies for using Hind’s own voice, rather than that of an actress. “The voice of this little girl can make people uncomfortable. I can totally understand it, and that’s why I’m doing this movie. I’m not doing this movie to make people comfortable because Gazans are not having a comfortable life,” she says. The movie has garnered international attention to a level that few productions reach, with major Hollywood figures getting behind the project to amplify its message. Both Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, who signed on to the film as producers after the fact to help boost its reach, along with several other major names, walked the red carpet with the filmmaking team, holding up a photo of Hind as cameras flashed. As Ben Hania said in her acceptance speech on Saturday: “We all believe in the force of cinema. It is what gathers us here tonight, and what gives us the courage to tell stories that might otherwise be buried.” The film is not the only Palestinian effort to garner international attention of late, as Israel's aggression in Gaza continues to turn the eyes of the world to Palestinian stories. this week, as 1,300 major names in the film community worldwide, including Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman and Josh O'Connor, are making permanent pledges to boycott working with Israeli film institutions that are “complicit in genocide”. Palestinian cinema has reached one major milestone after another, and as support grows, that streak should continue long into the future.

dennis2020 Wed, 09/10/2025 - 06:30

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US refusing visas to Palestinian passport holders, in unannounced policy

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 08:08:48 +0000

US refusing visas to Palestinian passport holders, in unannounced policy

The Trump administration will no longer grant visas to Palestinian passport holders wishing to visit the United States, according to a report in The New York Times citing multiple sources within the administration. While there has been no official confirmation yet, if true, this decision represents a significant extension of an earlier announcement to bar a group of Palestinians, including the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, from attending the UN General Assembly in New York.

Maximiliaan va… Mon, 09/01/2025 - 10:08

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Pope joins appeal by the Latin and Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem for Peace in Gaza

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:51:35 +0000

Pope joins appeal by the Latin and Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem for Peace in Gaza

The Latin and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs of Jerusalem released a joint appeal for peace in Gaza on Tuesday, August 26, after their visit to the territory, saying there is no reason to justify “the deliberate and forcible mass displacement of civilians.” On Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV joined his voice to theirs : “Today I renew a strong appeal both to the parties involved and to the international community, that an end be put to the conflict in the Holy Land, which has caused so much terror, destruction, and death,” said the Pope. He also called for the safe entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the protection of civilians. “I appeal for all hostages to be freed, a permanent ceasefire to be reached, the safe entry of humanitarian aid to be facilitated, and humanitarian law to be fully respected—especially the obligation to protect civilians and the prohibitions against collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,” he added. After the Israeli government announced its security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem have issued a joint statement, with the first line taken from Proverbs 12:28: “In the path of righteousness there is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”

dennis2020 Fri, 08/29/2025 - 06:51

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Opinion: The South Caucasus is no longer Russia’s backyard

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 09:53:22 +0000

Opinion: The South Caucasus is no longer Russia’s backyard

For decades, Russia has stood at the centre of the South Caucasus’ security order. No peace deal, no war settlement, no major infrastructure project could be imagined without Moscow’s involvement. Yet this year, for the first time in Azerbaijan’s modern history, that assumption has been openly challenged. A series of diplomatic clashes between Baku and Moscow, followed last week by the U.S.-mediated summit in Washington, show that Azerbaijan is willing to confront Russia more directly than ever before, and that the South Caucasus may now be shifting away from Moscow at an accelerated pace.

Maximiliaan va… Wed, 08/27/2025 - 11:53

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UN Warns ISIL/Daesh Remains a Persistent Global Threat at the Security Council Briefing

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:41:08 +0000

UN Warns ISIL/Daesh Remains a Persistent Global Threat at the Security Council Briefing

On Wednesday (20 August) the Security Council convened for a briefing on the Secretary-General’s 21st biannual strategic-level report analysing the threat posed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh). Under-Secretary-General and UN Counter-Terrorism Chief Vladimir Voronkov cautioned that ISIL/Daesh remains a resilient and evolving global threat, with its presence expanding across multiple regions.

Maximiliaan va… Fri, 08/22/2025 - 13:41

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