On Tuesday, July 20, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at the 47th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of the island of Cyprus. Therein, he emphasized that any future peace talks depends on a two-state solution declaring that “(w)e are right and we will defend our right to the end” (Aljazzera, 2021). Nicosia insists on its sovereignty over the whole …

The 2020 US-brokered deal known as the Abraham Accords, marked an agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)[1] which included the diplomatic normalisation of relations as well as economic and trade relations between both states (Larsen, 2021). The deal allowed for the mutual opening of embassies, direct flights between the UAE and Israel and other bilateral deals. In …

After eight years of complex negotiations, in November 2020, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed what constitutes the world’s most important trade agreement: the Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership (the RCEP), which includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the ten ASEAN economies (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). The RCEP covers …

In January of this year, the three foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkey and Azerbaijan issued a joint declaration in Islamabad with a comprehensive agenda for deepened future cooperation. The main message was to combat together ‘Islamophobia’, discrimination and persecution of Muslim minorities worldwide in regional and international formats. Also, the ministers agreed to exchange information, research, expertise and best practices, …

The Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) is a non-standard monetary policy measure in line with the other non-standard measures such as the APP, adopted in 2015. The APP includes the Public Sector Purchase Program (PSPP) for the purchase of bonds issued by euro area Member States, recognized agencies, international organizations and supranational institutions located in the eurozone. Compliance of the …

In order to appreciate the tensions in the seas encircling China’s east coast and the fundamental importance of Taiwan it is imperative to understand the geographical conditions and the resulting geopolitical consequences. The South China Sea stretches over an area of more than 3.6 million km2 with a mean depth of 1,212 m. The Chinese southern provinces of Guangxi and …

The Snap parliamentary election that was held in Moldova on July 11, 2021 has caught the worldwide attention as in Moldova’s recent history a Pro-western party leaded by President Maia Sandu gained the victory in the election (Politico 2021, “Moldova on pro-EU course after elections”). The election process itself was positively assessed by the joint observation mission from the OSCE …

The Twin Towers attacks on the United States made Afghanistan an important foreign policy concern of the US and started a military campaign against the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban government. During the period of about more than eighteen years, the US has lost 2,400 military personnel in Afghanistan as of April 30, 2020. The US has also spent $137 billion …

China’s campaign to incorporate Taiwan under its leadership has been a focus of tensions in the region for decades. Japan has been drawn into this wider conflict, as it is a littoral state of the East China Sea which borders Taiwan and China. Not only out of a historical rivalry between Beijing and Tokyo, the economic rise of the People’s …

The United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) are quickly reaching a crossroads on how to collectively support multilateral peace operations on this immense continent plagued on all sides by bloody conflicts of unprecedented violence. Rising levels of political violence across Africa are joined fragile peace agreements, a precarious macroeconomic environment, and a growing reliance on counter-terrorism efforts. Unless rectified, …