Word: syria
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...Turkey, but Turkish Kurds have watched with fascination the developments in neighboring Iraq over the past few years. Iraqi Kurds have built up a largely self-governing region with its own parliament and flag. For the first time in history, the Kurds - an ancient people spread out across Iran, Syria, Turkey and Iraq - have what looks like a state. "The emergence of Kurdistan has fostered a sense of self-confidence here," says Sezgin Tanrikulu, a prominent lawyer in Diyarbakir. "Not because people want independence. Or to live there. But it shows that there is indeed a distinct Kurdish culture...
...Syria's President Visits Israel DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) Fresh on the heels of a regional summit in Doha, where President Bashar al-Assad reaffirmed his support for resistance against Israel while expressing reservations about the Arab Peace Initiative, the Syrian president dropped a bombshell by embarking on an epoch-making visit to Tel Aviv Wednesday morning. "Nobody saw this coming," said Mark Burnes, a State Department analyst who monitors Syrian affairs. "We knew that they were close to a deal, but the Israelis didn't tell us how close."... Official sources say that earlier that same morning, [Israeli Prime Minister...
...power," Gelb says. Indeed, Obama's approach to Iran comes straight out of Gelb's chapter on "stage-setting" - preparing the field for successful diplomacy. Obama has worked the Iran account obliquely - beginning negotiations that might make the Russians a less willing enabler of Iran's nuclear program, approaching Syria in a way that might entice that country away from so close an alliance with Iran. He also made a direct approach to the Iranian people, taping a New Year's holiday message of peace to the "Islamic Republic" - calling Iran by its formal name was a crucial signal that...
...handouts. It is also, as Hooper points out, "in the heart of the Arabic-speaking world" - literally and symbolically. It has direct links with the Middle East's most problematic places: the West Bank (more than half of Jordan's population is of Palestinian origin), Israel, Iraq and Syria. It has also struggled with terrorism; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, founder of al-Qaeda in Iraq, was Jordanian...
...some suspicion because of Ankara's strident secularism; Turkey was seen as a country ashamed of its religion. But with an Islamist party now in power, that perception is changing. Turkey has also emerged as a player in Middle Eastern affairs - brokering, for instance, a dialogue between Israel and Syria...