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HAKEM /REFEREE
Word of the Week Nov 13, 2025

HAKEM /REFEREE

In Turkish, the word hakem conjures, for the average football fan, the image of a man with a whistle — revered when he blows it in your favor, reviled when he doesn’t. Yet the word has a far deeper pedigree. Hakem comes from the Arabic ḥakam, meaning “one who judges,” sharing roots with hakim (judge or ruler) and hikmet (wisdom). The referee is, linguistically at least, meant to be a wise arbiter among impassioned players and fans — no small task given the layers of expectation and resentment attached to every call.

Nazlan Ertan
CASUS
Word of the Week Oct 31, 2025

CASUS

In Turkish, casus is the spy who slips through keyholes and whispers down telephone lines. In Ottoman Turkish, the word appears as câsûs, borrowed from Arabic, and, under Sultan Abdülhamid II’s watchful reign, it had a cousin, hafiyye, the “secret investigator” who made surveillance an imperial art.

Nazlan Ertan
IS AKP PUTTING THE LAST NAIL IN HAMAS’ COFFIN?
Deciphering Turkish Diplomacy Oct 10, 2025

IS AKP PUTTING THE LAST NAIL IN HAMAS’ COFFIN?

When the AKP came to power it had to prove to the outside world that it was not an Islamist party. The way to convince Western capitals went through luring in Israel and the Jewish lobby. By 2008, the party had consolidated power internally and received a high degree of acceptance from the Western capitals, which led to overconfidence. When the Arab Spring began, the AKP did not have to hide its true ideological leaning. Convinced that the moment for political Islam had finally come, the AKPs ruling elites did not hide their ambition to lead Muslim Brotherhood to power in Middle Eastern countries.

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SYRIAN CONUNDRUM AND KURDISH PROCESS
Guest Voices Sep 5, 2025

SYRIAN CONUNDRUM AND KURDISH PROCESS

Events in Syria have taken an unprecedented turn. Until the last few weeks, Turkey and the U.S., as well as a coalition of Western and Arab states, were advocating a centralised and unitary state under Ahmed Al Sharaa’s leadership. Now this basic tenet of international support seems to be in question after U.S. special representative for Syria Thomas Barrack backtracked from the idea.

Editorial Team
TURKEY’S SYRIA DILEMMA
Guest Voices Jul 25, 2025

TURKEY’S SYRIA DILEMMA

Turkey and the U.S. were the key backers of HTS - a former offshoot of ISIS turned Western ally - in its surprise victory over the Bashar Al-Assad regime in December. Ankara hoped this would give it a role in rebuilding Syria under the HTS and also help eliminate the PYD/YPG threat in north-eastern Syria. However, neither goal materialized. Only seven months after the power change in Damascus, it is not Turkey, but Israel, followed by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia that are now influential in Syria. Although Turkey remains dominant in the occupied northern strips of Syria, it failed to establish new bases, let alone an airbase in mid-Syria, because of Israel’s opposition.

Guest Voices
BÜYÜKELÇİ
Word of the Week Jul 25, 2025

BÜYÜKELÇİ

In Turkish, the term for ambassador has undergone a transformation as sweeping as the empire it once served. The old-fashioned word was “Sefir,” from the Arabic s‑f‑r root meaning “to bear a message,” and the highest rank was Sefir‑i Kebir—the Grand Envoy—complete with embroidered robes and horse-led fanfare. Today, the bureaucratic “Büyükelçi” literally means “great envoy,” yet, put in plain Turkish, it feels a little less illustrious.

Nazlan Ertan
U.S. TARGETS IRANIAN OIL NETWORK OPERATING VIA TURKEY, UAE AND HONG KONG
Foreign Affairs Jul 14, 2025

U.S. TARGETS IRANIAN OIL NETWORK OPERATING VIA TURKEY, UAE AND HONG KONG

The United States has imposed sanctions on 22 entities linked to a shadow banking network accused of facilitating illicit oil trade on behalf of the Iranian regime. The network operates through front companies based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong, funneling revenue to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the U.S. State Department announced on July 9.

Editorial Team
U.S. TARGETS IRANIAN OIL NETWORK OPERATING VIA TURKEY, UAE AND HONG KONG
Foreign Affairs Jul 11, 2025

U.S. TARGETS IRANIAN OIL NETWORK OPERATING VIA TURKEY, UAE AND HONG KONG

The United States has imposed sanctions on 22 entities linked to a shadow banking network accused of facilitating illicit oil trade on behalf of the Iranian regime. The network operates through front companies based in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong, funneling revenue to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the U.S. State Department announced on July 9.

Editorial Team
ÇOCUK
Word of the Week May 2, 2025

ÇOCUK

In Turkish, çocuk simply means “child” — a small, willful person who believes the world should bend to their will. But in political life, çocuk is more than a noun: it is a litmus test. Unlike evlat, the solemn, Arabic-rooted term for “offspring,” çocuk suggests an individual, complete in themselves, not just a branch on a family tree. No surprise, then, that the AKP prefers evlat — a word that keeps people firmly tethered to family, lineage, and duty.

Nazlan Ertan
SYRIA’S NEW LEADER PAYS LOW-KEY VISIT TO TURKEY
Deciphering Turkish Diplomacy Feb 7, 2025

SYRIA’S NEW LEADER PAYS LOW-KEY VISIT TO TURKEY

When Syria’s new foreign minister chose to go to Saudi Arabia and Qatar for his first international visits before coming to Turkey, the main opposition party criticized the government, asking why Asaad al-Shaibani did not choose to reciprocate the visits of the Turkish foreign minister who went to Damascus two weeks after the fall of the Assad regime. For experts, this was only natural since Syria is first and foremost an Arab country and prioritizing relations with Turkey would have caused irritation among Arab capitals. In addition, while Turkey is struggling with its own economic hardships, Syria’s new rulers need Gulf money to get the country on its feet.

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