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Mehmet Alaca

Mehmet Alaca is an academic researcher focusing on Iraq, regional Kurdish politics, and Shia militias in the Middle East. He is currently an Ankara-based diplomatic correspondent and a non-resident fellow at Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM). Mehmet holds an MA from the Department of Politics and International Relations of the Middle East at Exeter University in the United Kingdom. Twitter: @mehmtalaca

OPINION

Sadr’s eternal dilemma: Politician or cleric?

by Mehmet Alaca
22 September 2022

The ongoing power struggle between rival Shia factions turned into bloody street violence in Iraq. The deadly violence began in Baghdad’s streets right after the announcement of mercurial Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s withdrawal from politics on  August 29. The announcement came shortly after Qom-based Grand Ayatollah Kazem Husseini al-Haeri announced his resignation as a marja taqlid, a top ecclesiastical authority and source of emulation in the Shia community. As a spiritual leader of the

OPINION

Al-Sadr’s “street politics” paralyze the Iraqi political landscape

Within 72 hours, loyalists of firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr pulled down the walls of the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to Iraq’s government buildings and foreign embassies, twice. Moreover, they stormed into the Iraqi parliament to thwart the selection of Mohammed Shia al-Sudani for prime minister by the Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF), a group of Shiite Iran-backed parties headed by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The threat of escalation

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by Mehmet Alaca
31 July 2022
OPINION

How far does the bitter row between Turkey and Iran reach?

The long-lived tacit row between Turkey and Iran has come

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by Mehmet Alaca
23 May 2022
OPINION

Iran’s ballistic missile attack: Why is Erbil targeted?

In order to listen to the article, click on the

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by Mehmet Alaca
14 March 2022
OPINION

Sadr’s eternal dilemma: Politician or cleric?

by Mehmet Alaca
22 September 2022

The ongoing power struggle between rival Shia factions turned into bloody street violence in Iraq. The deadly violence began in Baghdad’s streets right after the announcement of mercurial Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s

More
OPINION

Al-Sadr’s “street politics” paralyze the Iraqi political landscape

by Mehmet Alaca
31 July 2022

Within 72 hours, loyalists of firebrand Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr pulled down the walls of the heavily fortified Green Zone, home to Iraq’s government buildings and foreign embassies, twice. Moreover, they stormed

More
OPINION

How far does the bitter row between Turkey and Iran reach?

by Mehmet Alaca
23 May 2022

The long-lived tacit row between Turkey and Iran has come to the fore again with a new occasion. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated in a special session in parliament on May

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OPINION

Iran’s ballistic missile attack: Why is Erbil targeted?

by Mehmet Alaca
14 March 2022

In order to listen to the article, click on the audio clip below:   A dozen ballistic missiles fired from outside Iraq hit a neighborhood near the US consulate complex in Erbil,

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OPINION

Row over next Iraqi President: How to untie the knot?

by Mehmet Alaca
17 February 2022

Although more than four months have passed since the general elections in Iraq, the Prime Minister still has not been elected. Ahead of government formation, a president needs to be elected. Iraq’s

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OPINION

Does Iran give Iraqi PM Al-Kadhimi the green light for a second term?

by Mehmet Alaca
19 November 2021

After the Iran-backed Fatah Alliance lost power to a great extent in Iraq’s October 10th elections, a militia was killed on November 5, during the days-long protests of the pro-Iranian militia groups

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OPINION

How Iraq’s election shifted the power balance?

by Mehmet Alaca
14 October 2021

The casting of nine million votes out of 26 million in the Iraqi snap election, held on October 10, 2021, recorded the lowest turnout of 41 percent since the invasion. The early

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OPINION

Main objectives in Iraq’s Gulf opening

by Mehmet Alaca
22 June 2021

Since taking office in May 2020, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who has been trying to consolidate his relations with the United States (US), European states, Iran, and Turkey, as well as

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Opinion

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    Reading the Maritime Deal and the Position of Hezbollah: A Step Towards the “Partial Normalization”?
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    Iran’s Drones in the Russo-Ukrainian war
  • Author: Ismail Sari
    By Ismail Sari
    The death of Mahsa Amini: The women’s issue in Iran
  • Author: Selcuk Bacalan
    By Selcuk Bacalan
    The recent events in Baghdad and their reflections on the Turkmens
  • Author: Mehmet Alaca
    By Mehmet Alaca
    Sadr’s eternal dilemma: Politician or cleric?

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