When it comes to capturing the world agenda, London never disappoints. After a few weeks absence, I am now backing in my home town again and London is where the most interesting debates about the crisis in the Middle East are taking place.<\/p>\n
While the region\u2019s attention is centred on Kobane, there is a growing concern about the worsening situation in other parts of the world where the threat of radical Islamism is every bit as real as in Syria. Apart from Iraq\u2019s Anbar province, where ISIS forces are on the march advancing on Baghdad\u2019s international airport, Libya seems to be \u00a0on the verge of a civil war. \u00a0Three years after the UK and France led intervention in the country, \u00a0an alliance of Islamist militia groups have already forced \u00a0Libya\u2019s \u00a0newly elected Parliament \u00a0and its legitimate government \u00a0to flee the capital Tripoli. The strongest of these militias is Ansar-al Sharia, a group affiliated with ISIS.<\/p>\n
While the international coalition tries to shape up its coordinated response to the Islamist threat, the radical (not all of them Sunni) groups everywhere seem to have developed a common goal of grabbing territory. In addition to Iraq and Syria, radical Islamists already control large areas of territory in Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. \u00a0Seizing control of the predominantly tribal and conservative areas, radical movements such as ISIS are spreading their influence and ideology faster than their opponents are analysing them.<\/p>\n
With the global nature of the threat in mind, various seminars, meetings and discussions that I have taken part this week in London have all been focusing on Syria and Iraq. \u00a0There seems to be a near-consensus that violent Islamist movements will not be defeated by military means alone. \u00a0A long-term multinational political and security strategy in the region is urgently needed to be agreed upon and implemented.\u00a0 There seems to be a similar consensus emerging on the subject of where Turkey fits into this wider picture.<\/p>\n
The recent comments in the British media about Turkey have been strongly critical. The day after Turkey carried out air strikes against the PKK militants in the mountainous province of Hakkari, The Times newspaper referred to Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an increasingly erratic president and described Turkey\u2019s reluctance to help Kurds a \u201ccallous indifference\u201d.<\/p>\n