Sun 02 August 2020: The Hagia Sofia Grand Mosque was opened for public worship last Friday for the first time in 86 years following a top court’s ruling that the historic building, originally a church, had been converted into a museum illegally by the founder of modern Turkey’s secular state. I had expected a favourable result before the landmark […]
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Fri 31 July 2020: Increasing surveillance on Muslims will only serve to further estrange Muslims from the government and the state institutions in Austria The integration minister of the Austrian government has set up a unique new center to document what it calls “political Islam”. But the attempt to “fight the dangerous ideology of political […]
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Thu 30 July 2020: None have right to dictate to us whom we talk or meet, says Bangladesh’s foreign minister DHAKA, Bangladesh/KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Recent contacts between Pakistani and Bangladeshi leaders have provided a rare glimpse of a possible, if not yet probable, detente after years of strained ties between the two countries, according […]
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Tue 28 July 2020: Faced with a domestic catastrophe in the form of a deadly coronavirus pandemic, and a foreign policy crisis in the form of 24 dead Indian soldiers killed earlier this month by Chinese forces in the Ladakh region, the Narendra Modi Hindu-led nationalist government has never felt more humiliated and defeated during its six-year hold […]
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Sun 26 July 2020: Regional powers on their respective turfs, the increasing bellicosity between Addis Ababa and Cairo has been affecting both countries adversely in multiple ways. They should be encouraged to carry on the African Union’s (AU) proceeding course and a tremendous deal is achievable by pushing the UN, the World Bank and US […]
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Fri 24 July 2020: Apparently Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is “very distressed” by the decision to revert the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia into a mosque; it has been a museum since 1934. He made his views known in the latest edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Quite why he and a […]
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Sun 19 July 2020: Iran is seeking to penetrate the Syrian cultural sphere, appealing to the dispossessed poor in areas of key strategic importance. Through a smattering of small-scale building projects, educational programs, Persian language-teaching, gifts and aid provision, the Islamic Republic aims to forge a sectarian Shiite identity among younger Syrians – in the hope of gaining […]
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Tue 14 July 2020: More than annual commemoration, Srebrenica genocide deserves reminder of dangers of ultra-nationalist extremism and bigotry It has been 25 years since the Srebrenica genocide, a major human tragedy, in which Bosnian Serb forces systematically murdered over eight thousand young and adult Muslim men because of their faith. The Srebrenica genocide, which […]
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Sun 05 July 2020: Following back-to-back successes by Government of National Accord, all sides seem to reorder positions ISTANBUL (AA) – Following back-to-back successes of the Government of National Accord, Libya’s UN-recognized legitimate administration, all sides seem to have reordered their positions. The safety of the capital Tripoli is no longer debated and the threats […]
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Fri 03 July 2020: Egypt’s military coup has lessons for all democracy advocates, including West’s hypocrisy, need to protect democratic values ANKARA (AA) – Today, July 3, 2020, marks the anniversary of the military coup carried out in Egypt seven years ago. The years that passed since have taught us a great deal. It goes […]
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