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Russian Policy Toward the Middle East Under Yeltsin and Putin

September 2, 2001 | Dr. Robert O. Freedman

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main successor state, Russia, emerged in a greatly weakened geopolitical position. Complicating Russia's problems was a politically weak and often physically sick President Boris Yeltsin. Concerned about its "soft underbelly" in Transcaucasia and Central Asia, regions that were threatened by radical Islam, Moscow focused its Middle East efforts on Turkey and Iran, both of which had a considerable amount of influence in the two regions.

Defining Limits on Religious Expression in Public Institutions: The Turkish Dilemma

October 30, 1999 | Dr. George E. Gruen

More than seven decades have passed since Mustafa Kemal abolished the Caliphate, disestablished Islam, banned the fez, strongly discouraged the veil, advocated European attire, introduced Western legal codes, changed the Turkish script from Arabic to a modified Latin alphabet, and proclaimed "laicism" (secularism) as one of the cardinal principles of the modern Turkish Republic.

Turkey Between Secularism and Islamism

February 16, 1997 | Dr. Jacob M. Landau

When Mustafa Kamal (Ataturk) founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923 (he was its president until his death fifteen years later), he set as his main objective the modernization of the new republic. His preferred means was speedy, intensive secularization and, indeed, every one of his reforms was tied up with disestablishing other Islamic institutions from their hold on Turkey's politics, economics, society, and cultural life.

Turkey Between Secularism and Islamism

February 16, 1997 | Dr. Jacob M. Landau

Turkish-Israeli Relations: Crisis or Continued Cooperation?

July 15, 1996 | Dr. George E. Gruen

Turkey, Israel and the Peace Process

February 1, 1993 | Dr. George E. Gruen