Latest Articles

The Frenemy

March/April 2014  •  Politico Magazine

When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited Qatar in December, he met with Qatar's emir and other senior officials and took time to tour the high-tech Combined Air Operations Center at the massive al-Udeid Air Base. It's not only the biggest U.S. airbase in the Middle East, but a very visible symbol of what Hagel touted as the close "partnership" between the United States and the tiny hereditary kingdom with big global aspirations. America may dream of abandoning the entanglements of the Middle East but, for now, as Hagel put it, these ties with America's Persian Gulf allies are "important, and probably more so than they've ever been."

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Turkey Remains on Terror Finance 'Gray List'

February 14, 2014  •  FDD Policy Brief

The Financial Action Task Force, or FATF, the international body for setting the global standards to combat terrorist financing, held its plenary session this week in Paris. In the days before the meeting, Bloomberg reported that the Turkish lira weakened and stocks dropped resulting from concern over a blacklisting, in light of recent headlines alleging corruption and illicit finance. However, FATF reported today that Turkey will not be added to the short, black list of countries requiring "counter-measures" (Iran and North Korea).

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An Edge in the Desert

February 3, 2014  •  Foreign Policy

Weapons are pouring into the Middle East at an unprecedented rate. The Pentagon recently announced that it would sell six tilt-rotor Osprey aircraft to Israel for $1.3 billion, American hardware (including Apache helicopters) is being rushed to the Iraqi government to help in its battle against al Qaeda, and Washington has also restored military aid to Egypt after a brief hiatus. But Uncle Sam isn't the only one delivering weapons to the region: Hezbollah has acquired parts of Russia's supersonic Yakhont missiles, which can strike vessels more than 75 miles off the coast of Lebanon, and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad continues to receive significant stockpiles of weapons from both Moscow and Tehran.

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Erdoğan's Trip to Tehran

January 27, 2014  •  FDD Policy Brief

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will make a two-day official visit to Tehran on January 28 to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Erdoğan is expected to sign a strategic cooperation agreement, Today's Zaman reported.

While Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was in Tehran in November 2013 and announced that Erdoğan would soon follow, the timing of the visit is somewhat awkward. It comes amidst a corruption scandal linking high-level Turkish officials and businessmen to the massive "gas-for-gold" sanctions-busting scheme that yielded neighboring Iran some $13 billion in Turkish gold between 2012 and 2013.

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Turkish Flotilla Charity Tied to Terrorism Again

January 23, 2014  •  FDD Policy Brief

Serbian news agencies reported this week that a Turkish charity, best known for organizing a 2010 flotilla to Gaza that led to conflict with Israeli commandos on the high seas, is under investigation in Bosnia-Herzegovina for exporting weapons to jihadis in Syria. Reports (see here and here) suggest that the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) may have been working with several local charities and businesses, and even the Bosnia-Herzegovina Ministry of Defense.

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Books by Jonathan Schanzer