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      David Lepeska

      David Lepeska

      Contributor
      Location
      David Lepeska is a global affairs contributor for The National. An award-winning journalist who previously served as a foreign correspondent for the paper, he has contributed to The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic and other outlets, written a memoir about his time in Kashmir, and worked at the UN and the World Bank. Today he is Publisher/Editor at online travel magazine Escape Artist
      Follow on XLinkedIn

      Articles

      People gather to celebrate the opposition takeover of Damascus, following the Friday prayers, at Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria earlier this month. EPA
      CommentIn 2025, the world should prepare to enter uncharted territory

      So much has been upended in 2024 that it is difficult to forecast how the new year will be

      CommentDecember 31, 2024
      Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally near the White House in Washington earlier this year. AFP
      CommentAs an American, the tragedy of Gaza is not lost on me

      As this conflict began, I found myself taking a position that some would describe as neutral, and others might call wishy-washy

      OpinionOctober 30, 2024
      A man in Tucson, Arizona carries an AI-generated image of Donald Trump carrying cats away from Haitian immigrants, a reference to falsehoods spread about Springfield, Ohio. AFP
      'Freedom' and the West's toxic migration debates

      Empty rhetoric from politicians undermines rights as well as solutions

      CommentSeptember 25, 2024
      Turkish soldiers walk in a column in Cyprus on September 18, 1974. Cyprus marks a half-century of division this summer. AFP
      How Turkey’s defence industry has gone from strength to strength

      Nato’s second-largest military now has the domestic backing to stand tall

      CommentJuly 19, 2024
      A year after taking office, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan seems to have shed his usual reserve for a bolder stance. Reuters
      We may be witnessing the emergence of Hakan Fidan’s Turkey

      Ankara's top diplomat is leaving his stamp on the world stage. Could he lead the country one day?

      CommentJuly 09, 2024
      A woman takes a selfie with popular YouTuber and TikToker Fidias Panayiotou in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Tuesday. AP
      Cyprus’s YouTube prankster could change EU politics

      Europeans tired of career politicians have elected several new faces, like Fidias Panayiotou, to Parliament

      CommentJune 18, 2024
      A Ukrainian soldier on duty in the Donetsk region. Kyiv has lowered the draft age, launched a recruitment campaign and passed a mobilisation law. EPA
      Ukraine works to alter the maths in the ‘numbers game’ with Russia

      Zelenskyy's mobilisation drive has been a partial success, even though, for many, it may have gone too far

      CommentJune 11, 2024
      People gather with the Kurdish flag during a Syrian Kurdish celebration marking Nowruz in the town of Qahtaniyah. AFP
      Does Syrian Kurdish democracy pose a threat to Turkey?

      Ankara sees upcoming elections as solidifying a state, which, in its view, would pose a clear threat

      CommentJune 04, 2024
      Marion Marechal, leader of the French far-right party Reconquete, during a tribute ceremony to Joan of Arc in Domremy-la-Pucelle this month. AFP
      Will Muslim-led parties succeed in pushing back against Europe’s far right?

      For now the continent is sure to embrace a fortress mentality, but the pendulum will swing back at some point

      CommentMay 28, 2024
      Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after a joint news conference in Ankara, Turkey. AP
      Could Turkey’s conservative turn roil the suddenly calm Aegean?

      Ankara and Athens have found a way to compartmentalise their chequered relationship, if this week’s summit is any indication

      CommentMay 15, 2024
      Demonstrators gather at Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul last week during a protest march in solidarity with Palestinians. Reuters
      Pariah or pioneer? Turkey has taken a bold stand against Israel’s war in Gaza

      The invasion of Rafah could see other countries follow Ankara's lead

      CommentMay 07, 2024
      Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a rally in solidarity with Gazans in Istanbul last October. Reuters
      With Middle East mediation, Turkey may have a chance to make history

      Getting there might require strategic brilliance and dogged commitment to solving one of the world’s knottiest conundrums

      CommentApril 23, 2024
      Israeli forces approach one of six ships bound for Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010. Reuters
      Turkey to the rescue, or is the new Gaza flotilla a provocation?

      Rather than saving Palestinian lives, the maritime aid convoy could be set for another confrontation at sea with Israeli forces

      CommentApril 15, 2024
      A woman walks in front of a local election campaign poster of incumbent mayor of Istanbul and Istanbul mayoral candidate Ekrem Imamoglu of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), in Istanbul, Turkey, 23 March 2024. The local elections in Turkey are scheduled for 31 March 2024. EPA / ERDEM SAHIN
      Camera10
      Has a new political era dawned in Turkey?

      It is possible. But even as Erdogan's AKP has lost local elections, it's never lost a nationwide vote

      CommentApril 01, 2024
      Imamoglu will compete against AKP candidate Murat Kurum in the March 31 municipal election. Reuters
      The rise and possible fall of Istanbul's superstar Mayor Imamoglu

      March's municipal elections may well determine the future of one of Turkey's most promising opposition politicians

      CommentMarch 19, 2024
      More Articles

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