It has become a cliché to describe relations between Turkiye and Iran as a “manageable competition”and “reluctant cooperation.” In many ways, Ankara’s relations with Tehran resemble its relations with Moscow, and Syria best displays the complicated nature of ties between all three.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich included a phrase in a scholarly article she wrote in 1976 that gained widespread popularity and became one of feminism’s most popular slogans: “Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

In contemporary diplomacy, reconciliation is a complex process with several variables, possibilities and limitations. Since the end of 2020, there have been intense reconciliation processes between states in the Middle East, many of which have been on hostile terms for almost a decade.

Netflix is currently streaming “The Swimmers,” a movie that dramatizes the true story of sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini. It depicts their journey as refugees from Syria to Germany via Turkiye and Greece in 2015.

Syria appears to be on its way to resuming its former regional role, with Turkiye and other countries showing signs of re-engagement with Damascus after more than a decade of hostility.

When the Italian referee Daniele Orsato blew his whistle to start the match between the host country Qatar and Ecuador at Al-Bayt Stadium last Sunday evening, the FIFA World Cup for 2022 officially kicked off. After that whistle, Qatar was a different place than I had seen it a day before.

In the past few months, several developments have taken place between Turkiye and Southeast Asian nations that are worth exploring, especially at a time when regional and global powers are seeking to enhance their relations with countries in that part of the world.