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NL Turkey's 'secular decline'
Photo: Statue of Atatürk looks down on a meeting of Erdogan - Wikimedia Commons Last week marked Turkey's 100th birthday. On 29 October 1923, national hero Mustafa Kemal Atatürk founded the Republic of Turkey, a secular state built on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. However, the celebrations have been scaled down, leaving many [...]
Does EU enlargement mean a new wave of brain drain?
Photo: Wikimedia Commons With the prospect of several eastern and south-eastern European countries joining the European Union, the question arises as to what this means for internal migration within the EU. The idea is that joining the EU would boost national economies by making them part of the single market. [...]
'Public speaking and negotiations' training in Armenia
A training for young people on 'public speaking' and 'negotiations' took place on Saturday 21 October in Yeghegnazdor, Armenia. This training is part of a series of five trainings in different Armenian provinces, organised by the SD Platform Armenia with the support of FMS. Engaging a new and [...]
Solidarity with Ukraine remains essential
Photo: Destroyed city centre of Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 2022 - Pavel Dorogoj Today, the Max van der Stoel Foundation, in cooperation with Libereco and PvdA International, is organising a political café on the theme 'Solidarity with Ukraine', for which you can register here. During the event, the situation Ukraine will be discussed in two panels. In [...]
New naval base in Abkhazia next step Russian irredentism
Photo: Postage stamp of Abkhazia from 2008 - Wikimedia Commons You would think Russia would have its hands full with its all-out war in Ukraine that has been going on for more than a year and a half now. However, Ukraine is not currently the only victim of Russian expansionism. Recently, the breakaway region of Abkhazia, internationally recognised as part of [...]
Netherlands and Canada start case against Syria at ICJ, implications for Syria on world stage?
Photo: International Court of Justice in The Hague - UN Photo/Andrea Brizzi At the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday 10 October, the trial of the Netherlands and Canada against the Syrian regime began, Syria omitted. The aim of the trial is for the court to rule that Syria has violated the international covenant [...]
'Political campaign development' training in Montenegro
From 22 to 24 September and from 6 to 8 October, FMS, in cooperation with SDP Montenegro, organised two three-day trainings on "political campaign development". The trainings were aimed at members and supporters of the Social Democratic Party. The party is in dire straits and managed to win zero seats in the last parliamentary elections. SDP [...]
Watch back now: Q&A on Polish Elections
Aleksandra Iwanowska was a guest at the FMS for a Q&A on next Sunday's Polish elections. Aleksandra is international secretary of the Polish social democratic youth party Federacji Młodych Socjaldemokratów. Which parties are running in the elections and what are their plans for Poland? Will the elections affect Poland's relationship with [...]
"We cannot compromise on Slovak foreign policy" - post-election interview with Peter Kmec (Hlas)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons Early general elections were held in Slovakia on 30 September. The populist pro-Russian Smer-SD party led by former prime minister Robert Fico won with 24% of the votes. The international community watched the elections with fear as Fico took a pro-Russian stance and promised to stop supporting Ukraine [...]
Come too! Political Café: Solidarity with Ukraine
Register here: https://forms.gle/zDAJonTXkdhSF5F76 Just under three hours' flight from the Netherlands, a particularly brutal war - the Russian invasion of Ukraine - is still raging, but after a year and a half of war, support for the Ukrainian struggle is still widely felt in the Netherlands. From several countries in the west, the pressure for support for [...]
