Turkish Prime Minister to Step Down after Fight with Erdogan

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will step down at an upcoming conference of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) due to growing tensions with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Davutoglu’s decision comes after a meeting with Erdogan last night at the presidential palace. He will formally withdraw from the leadership of the AKP at a special convention set to be held on May 22, clearing the way for Erdogan to appoint his successor and consolidate his own power.

Davutoglu, who was Erdogan’s foreign minister before rising to prime minister in 2014, has been widely perceived as a reformer eager to work with the West on a range of issues. He was critical to recent negotiations with Europe to stem the influx of refugees entering Europe in exchange for financing and renewed consideration for Turkey’s entry into the European Union. Experts have expressed concern about his departure from the government, which strengthens the position of Erdogan, whose authoritarian impulses have limited political expression and hindered international cooperation in recent months.

Temporary Truce Enters Effect in Aleppo

A two-day ceasefire took effect in Aleppo early this morning in accord with an agreement reached under pressure from the United States and Russia. The Assad regime has agreed to abide by the truce but, in a telegram to Russia thanking President Vladimir Putin for his military support, said that it will not accept less than “attaining final victory” and “crushing the aggression” in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria. Residents of Aleppo reported scattered violations but said that the ceasefire has reduced the level of violence enough for shops to open and people to leave their homes. Violence continues elsewhere in the country, and a pair of bombings in Mukharam al-Fawkani, near Homs, killed at least six people.

Headlines

• Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sacked Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ridha, the military commander responsible for the security of Baghdad’s Green Zone, in response to protests last weekend that breached the fortified government district.

• Neil Prakash, who also went by Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, an Australian man who joined the Islamic State and was a notorious recruiter for the organization, was reportedly killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq.

• Iranian officials have threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz and questioned the U.S. stationing of the 5th Fleet in Bahrain in response to actions by U.S. lawmakers that include discouraging Boeing from doing business with Iran, freeing frozen assets for legal settlements, and referring to the “Persian Gulf” as the “Arabian Gulf” in recent legislation, among other issues.

• The Israeli military discovered a tunnel that extends from Southern Gaza into Israel; there have been exchanges of mortar and tank fire in the area and last night Israeli warplanes conducted airstrikes targeting nine Hamas targets in the strip.

• One in three citizens in Middle Eastern and North African countries had to pay bribes for government services within the last year, according to a new report on corruption from Transparency International.

Arguments and Analysis

“Talking to the Islamic State: Co-opting Jihadists into a Political Process” (Ben Jonsson and Andrew Hill, War on the Rocks)

“Providing entry points into the political process for Islamic State factions need not put them on immediate, equal footing with Syrian opposition groups in negotiating Syria’s political transition. But offering jihadist militants a voice in Syria’s future has the potential to fragment the Islamic State. The Syria peace talks should outline criteria through which Islamic State militants can choose to be a part of Syria’s future, including accepting the political process and joining the ceasefire. Militants join the Islamic State for a variety of reasons; their reasons for leaving may vary, too. To cast all Islamic State fighters as millenarian zealots ignores a crucial part of their story: The Islamic State arose amidst civil war, and its emergence is not only an expression of a grand plan for regional conquest, but also of more basic desires for work, and for the preservation of self, identity, and community. This does not excuse the Islamic State’s methods, but it does suggest that appealing to elements of the organization that have legitimate political demands can speed the group’s collapse, particularly as it comes under increasing military pressure.”

“Climate Change in the Middle East: Rethinking Environmental Cooperation” (Gerald Stang, Middle East Institute)

“After 50 years of rapid population growth, industrialization, and irrigated farming expansion, the MENA region is pressing against the limits of available water, air, land, and biodiversity resources. Water scarcity is at the top of the worry list, as an arid climate, overdrawn aquifers, and poor water management threaten water shortages across the region. Continuing increases in demand and the worsening impacts of climate change will sharpen this threat. Air pollution has become the number one health threat in a region with increasingly dense and polluted cities. Land degradation, desertification, urban sprawl, and worries about dependency on food imports have reshaped land use as more marginal lands are brought under irrigation, further exacerbating the water challenge. The biodiversity problem plays out most notably in marine areas where overfishing and pollution from land are ruining fish stocks and threatening ecosystems.”

-J. Dana Stuster

ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images