Middle East Today: Perspectives from the Region
On Wednesday, February 19, AUWCL’s International and Comparative Legal Studies program hosted a panel on the ongoing political and social crisis in the Middle East region. The panel was composed of three AUWCL’s 2019-2020 Humphrey Fellows and Deyaa Alrwishdi, Director of AUWCL Syrian Initiative to Combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, who are activists and practitioners that have lived through the Arab Spring with years of experience working in the region. Moderated by Professor Padideh Ala’i, the panel offered a unique insight into the region through the lens of international relations, domestic politics, and international humanitarian law.
The discussions centered on the Arab Spring revolts of 2011, and its current impact on the Syrian civil war and expectations for the Middle East region. The first speaker, Ms. Asma Bangash, Former Legal Advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Pakistan, explained the effect of the Arab Spring on Syria, from the onset of the protests to where Syria currently stands today. She believed the war in Syria has turned into a proxy war between the United States and Russia, and a peaceful solution must be found to solve the humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Syria over the past 9 years of civil war. She offered the audience with her final thoughts on the Syrian war, “You can never stop violence with violence. Eventually, everyone must come to the table for negotiations.”
The second speaker, Mr. Ahmed Tony, Public Prosecutor at the Human Rights Division at the Egyptian Prosecutor General’s office, discussed human rights and social justice in Egypt. Egypt has succeeded in toppling authoritarian dictators, introducing democracy into the country, and implementing progressive economic changes. Mr. Tony observed, however, that social justice is still neglected, and that culture may often interfere with human rights protection. For example, his past work as a prosecutor for victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), which is still prevalent in 84% of married women in Egypt, exposed the slowdown of progress by cultural norms. While illegal, the societal standard remains that this practice preserves modesty and follows religious beliefs. Mr. Tony believed we need a new approach to social justice: “We must change minds, not change governments, in order to establish core rights.”
Mr. Deyaa Alrwishdi, Director of the Syrian Initiative, provided a critical view on the current situation in Syria and the fundamental beliefs on what we believe to be basic human rights and values. He argued that the Middle East region is consistently destabilized because the region is still dealing with the consequences of globalization. He called the Middle East agreement created by the Trump Administration a “cultural colonization of Western values,” and explained his belief that the Middle East should be allowed to dictate their own government processes, which the region was doing for centuries before colonization.
Last, Mr. Onder Yalcin, Director of the Migration Office in Gaziantep, Turkey, gave the audience a summary of Turkish foreign policy in the last five years. Beginning with explaining the AK Parti’s stronghold on Turkish politics for the last two decades, Mr. Yalcin explained that the current Turkish foreign policy fundamentally changed after the July 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. Turkey strongly believes the Western world, including the United States, the European Union, and NATO, did not have an adequate response of solidarity to the coup attempt in Turkey. Since the coup attempt, Turkish foreign policy has relied less on the United States and Europe, and has turned more towards Russia. This is evident in its purchase of S-400s from Russia, and Russian support for Ankara as it launched its military intervention in Syria against the Kurds. Mr. Yalcin argued that Turkey, while a strong NATO ally, is not afraid to look away from the West when it feels it is not being adequately treated.