Both Imamoglu and Erdogan were born and raised in humble, conservative families. Aside from these shared roots and a love of football, the two have relatively little in common.

The campaign aims to establish Turkey as a leader of the Muslim world in competition with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, to a lesser degree, Morocco. As part of the campaign, Turkey has positioned itself as a cheerleader for Muslim causes such as Jerusalem and the Rohingya at a moment that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Muslim nations are taking a step back.

In the run-up to the elections, the economy became the electorate’s most pressing issue. It speaks volumes that the economy beat out of the top spot the government’s woeful human rights record, Erdogan’s clam-tight grip on power, the country’s involvement in the war in Syria and Ankara’s struggling geopolitical stance.

The UAVs do pose a problem for the PKK, however, since they can strike as soon as they detect a camp or group of fighters. Before the use of UAVs, fighters could go into hiding because it would take some time before an F16 could make it to the mountains from the airbase in Diyarbakir.

The historical acceptance of homosexuality within Ottoman society in turn fuelled a European fetishism of Ottoman eroticism, inevitably Orientalizing the apparent perversity of Turkish society. Victorian audiences were publicly scandalized by, but loved to read, exaggerated tales of Ottoman harems and sexual promiscuity (like John Benjamin Brookes’ The Lustful Turk).

This is particularly scary for Europeans states since they may not have enough evidence to incriminate every single returnee. To avoid the risk, countries are opting to strip their nationals of their citizenship, sparking uproar and debate among rights activists and policymakers.

Despite the display of unity, neither side could agree on a final summit statement. EU and Arab League foreign ministers also failed to agree on a text after Hungary objected to a section on migration. Nevertheless, the summit was deemed a success for simply bringing so many heads of state together in one place.

Both Russia and Turkey share an interest in testing and flaunting their homemade arsenals in Syria. Although there is no concrete evidence that Russia and Turkey worked together to prolong the fighting, both have made wide use of the conflict to show off their respective weaponry to prospective international clients.

It was believed in the past that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was governed and influenced by regional and international forces. This is partially true. The Palestinian reconciliation is no longer an internal affair. Those who believe that it is are unaware of how much influence regional and international powers have exerted in Palestinian affairs for a decade.

More aggressive to US enemies, arguably more erratic with US allies and with the financial benefit to the US at the centre of his foreign policy, Trump’s involvement in the Middle East has not been a stabilizing factor in one of the most turbulent periods of the region’s recent history. With at least two years left in the White House, it is too early to say what his lasting legacy in the Middle East will be, but the signs do not point to a positive one.