Mustafa Kibaroglu

• Prof. Dr.
• Head of Faculty at MEF University, Istanbul

With the wrap-up of the S-400 deal with Russia in December 2017, critics argue that Turkey is caught between a rock and a hard place due to the adamant opposition of its NATO allies, the United States in particular, which has threatened Ankara with imposing severe sanctions. Would this be the correct representation of the situation at hand? Does it...

Analysts emphasize that nothing will be the same after the pandemic and refer to the “new normal” that is likely to prevail everywhere in the world. It would be a legitimate question to ask if this would provide a conducive environment for Turkey and the United States to reset their relations that have much deteriorated lately. This article will, f...

This commentary makes the case as to why the U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that have been stationed in Europe since the 1960s should be removed, and how this could be done in the most effective way under the presidency of Donald Trump. It concludes with a summary of the expected benefits of this move, and a reminder that the costs of continued mudd...

S uriye'de demokratikleşme hareketi olarak başlayan olaylar bir vekalet ve yıpratma savaşına dönüştü. Bugün çok fark-lı aktörler çok farklı grupların üzerinden hesap görüyor. Türkiye için en uzun sınırı paylaştığı komşusundaki bu yangın hayati bir güvenlik meselesi haline geldi. Savaşın içinde doğan terör grupları Suriye'nin ürettiği tehdit türleri...

Over the last two years, 99 percent of Syria’s chemical weapons stocks have been eliminated. But, the remaining 1 percent must remain to be a serious concern for the 100 percent of the world community. We’re living in a world where our greatest fears, rather than our dreams, started to come true. it is time for the members of the civilized world to...

The threat of nuclear terrorism should not be underestimated because it can have catastrophic effects if and when realised. Nor should the subject matter be politicised beyond a certain point because of its strong espousal by the United States, which has raised suspicions about whether the issue could be used as yet another instrument for asserting...

The critical decision to share the advanced missile defence capabilities of the USA, also known as the ‘Missile Shield’, was taken at the Lisbon Summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in November 2010. Turkey had concerns about the Missile Shield project, which constituted an important item on the summit agenda. Turkey's co...

In 2009, President Barack Obama announced from Prague’s Hradcany square that “the most immediate and extreme threat to global security” was nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists, and world leaders listened. A year later, 47 of these leaders responded to Obama’s call “to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years”...

US nuclear weapons have been an important part of Turkey's security strategy since their first deployment on Turkish soil in the early 1960s. Turkey's NATO membership and its close relationship with the United States have been perceived to be integral to maintaining its security. The release of the 2010 US Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), with its foc...

As the writers in this symposium illustrate, dealing with Iran's nuclear program is one of the most important foreign policy issues of the day. Years of stalled talks, diplomatic dead-ends, and sanctions have made it difficult to see exactly where progress has been made and what efforts are worth pursuing. In this Global Forum, leading foreign poli...

The logic of interest, which has gained considerable ground in foreign policy formulation in Turkey, is not rooted in Western identity, nor is it contingent upon the degree of interaction exclusively with the Western world. The entire world has equal prominence in Turkey’s foreign policy orientation. Whether the prevalence of the logic of interest...

There are a number of factors that elevate Turkey's status in the international arena and make it an important regional actor. As a longstanding member of the western world, a candidate country to the European Union, a staunch ally of the United States, and a frontline state in the fight against terrorism, Turkey plays a key, yet often overlooked,...

Turkey and the United States for a long time treated each other as "staunch allies" during the Cold War period. The end of the East-West confrontation, however, heralded the beginning of a new era in Turkish-American relations due to the changing priorities of the long-time allies, which manifested themselves in their policies toward Iraq following...

Turkey's heavy involvement in Middle Eastern politics following the end of the Cold War eroded its Western image in the eyes of most Europeans and strengthened the hands of those who have traditionally argued against Turkey's EU membership by referring to the unbridgeable inherent differences between the parties in terms of cultural, historical, re...

Iran's nuclear program has become a highly controversial issue in international politics since the August 2002 unveiling of the secretly built uranium enrichment facility in Natanz and the heavy-water production plant in Arak. American officials and experts assert that Iran has secret plans to use its nuclear capabilities to develop nuclear weapons...

Contrary to what many believe, both inside and outside the country, Turkey’s march towards membership in the European Union (EU) may cause serious deficiencies in its security As a country which has traditionally taken a hard-line stance on security and defence matters, Turkey now seems to be adopting the ‘soft-security’ approach of the EU.1 Turkey...

The attitude of Turkish officials toward the US nuclear weapons deployed in Turkey for over four decades has been static. Officials have understandable arguments, based on their threat analysis, as to why these weapons should be retained in Turkey. However, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the international security environment has undergone radic...

Turkey and Israel enjoyed an almost perfect relationship throughout the 1990s that amazed their friends, yet bothered their rivals. The US war in Iraq revealed, however, that the two longstanding allies did indeed have contradictory objectives and concerns with respect to the future restructuring of Iraq. While Turkey fears the emergence of an inde...

For an assessment of the possible roles NATO may have in the future, and their possi-ble implications for international security, it would be useful to look back in order to make a meaningful assessment of where NATO was before the second Gulf War, and where it is heading toward in its aftermath. It would not be inaccurate to argue that NATO came a...

Turkey wants an American president who appreciates its strategic importance and recognizes its sovereign rights.

There were good reasons why the United States was unable to persuade Turkey to host U.S. troops headed for Iraq.

There are historical, political, economic and military dimensions of Turkey's longstanding interest in the developments taking place in Iraq. Close historical and cultural ties with the Turkomans, or Iraqi Turks, living mostly in northern Iraq; claims of Kurdish groups for independence; rich oil and gas reserves in the Mousul and Kirkuk districts;...