Suchergebnisse

As Syria sinks deeper and deeper into the throes of civil war, the decade-long honeymoon between Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ye Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) and Bashar al-Assad's regime has all but ended. Fearing the possible spread of the revolt to Turkish territory, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu cold-shouldered their hitherto feted ally, openly siding with the rebels. They sheltered thousands of refugees fleeing government repression, including scores of military defectors, conferred with opposition leaders, and even threatened military intervention should the regime continue its brutal crackdown.1 In August, Erdogan warned that "we reached the end of our patience";2 three months later, he lauded the "massacred" rebels as "martyrs," prophesying that "the Syrian nation will reap the results of its glorious resistance."3 As President Assad ignores these admonitions, has Turkey reached the limits of "soft power" and will it revert to the instruments of hard power to find stability on its southern border? Adapted from the source document.

The referendum held on January 9, 2011, was a milestone for Sudan. With an overwhelming majority of 98.3 percent, southerners decided to secede from the north and to create Africa's youngest state -- the Republic of South Sudan. While this momentous development was expected to end Karthoum's decades-long struggle with the southern Sudanese rebels, it has set off a number of ticking time bombs and exacerbated existing conflicts. With the rise of new disputes and the escalation of protracted conflicts, is Bashir's Sudan on the verge of further instability? Adapted from the source document.