In a White House press briefing Thursday with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Barack Obama reiterated his calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down but offered no new details on the administration's approach to hastening ...

In April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued its annual report covering February 2012 through January 2013. From the MENA region, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia were listed as "Countries of Particular Concern" and Bahrain and Turkey were ...

Secretary of State John Kerry visited Turkey, the West Bank, and Israel this weekend. It is his third visit to the region since taking office in February. While in Istanbul, Kerry urged Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to ...

Amnesty International released a report titled "Turkey: Decriminalize Dissent." The report claims that "freedom of expression is under attack in Turkey," charging that Turkey uses prosecutions of journalists, political activists, human rights activists, and lawyers to limit freedom ...

The imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, called on Thursday for a truce in its decades-long insurgency in southeast Turkey. He also urged the group's militants to withdraw from Turkey. His statement was received with cheers at ...

In an open letter to Sec. John Kerry ahead of his first visit to the Middle East as Secretary of State, Amnesty International urges him to address the human rights violations in Turkey. The letter states that the U.S. could do ...

In a letter released today to President Obama, Foreign Policy Initiative, the Project on Middle East Democracy, Freedom House, and Reporters Without Borders expressed their concern over apparent stalled progress and regression in "crucial areas." The letter ...

Iraq closed the only checkpoint linking it with Jordan on Wednesday as Sunnis in Anbar province continued to protest against Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his government. The protests, which claim that the government is treating Sunnis unfairly, have blocked the ...

Following a stroke last week, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s questionable health led to uncertainty about Iraq’s future. Peter Galbraith addressed these concerns in an opinion piece in Foreign Policy, noting that Iraq currently lacks a successor that could wield ...

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed earlier this week, “Anyone who thinks that the armed opposition is capable of the military battle is very mistaken,’” referring to the conflict in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin on the ...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad cancelled a scheduled trip to Turkey 12/17, citing a scheduling conflict. With Turkey calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and Iran remaining a vocal ally of the Syrian regime, the cancellation comes at a time ...

To mark the 2nd anniversary of the Arab Spring, the Woodrow Wilson Center released a report, titled "Has the Arab Spring Lived up to Expectations?" The report features opinions from 39 experts from the Middle East, North Africa, ...

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the Iraqi central government and Kurdish leaders had come to a preliminary agreement regarding authority in the disputed areas of northern Iraq.  He indicated that security units will be formed from local ethnic and sectarian groups ...

According to U.S. officials, “the Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting orders from President Bashar Assad.” As of the report there was no evidence that nerve agents had been fully 

Reports indicate that that Syrian rebels captured the Marj al-Sultan air base, an installation which is roughly nine miles from Damascus. "This is a blow to the morale of the regime, because it is close to the heart ...