Syria, Turkey and Mort Abramowitz

Dear Colleagues,

When I lived in London, Mort Abramowitz would kindly look me up when coming through. Mort would occasionally mention something about being in town for music. We’d meet over a meal and dig quickly into the state of the world.

I was tickled by these get-togethers. Mort was a dean of American foreign policy. He had been a distinguished senior American diplomat. He was a writer of influence, a former president of the Carnegie Endowment, and founder of the International Crisis Group.

One day a fog lifted. As we sat down to breakfast at his London hotel, Mort told me he was in for another premiere by his brother-in-law. Who was that? Philip Glass came the nonchalant reply. What I had been missing. Good Lord.

Philip Glass is arguably the most influential American composer of the past half a century. He’s produced a body of work that includes opera, theatre, a dozen symphonies, concertos, quartets. I don’t know whether there’s a prize of note that Glass has not been awarded.

Morton Isaac Abramowitz was born on January 20, 1933, in Lakewood Township, New Jersey. That was ten days before Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany.

Mort died on November 29 at his home in Washington, DC. His wife Sheppie — the older sister of Philip Glass — had spent a career advocating on behalf of refugees until her death in April last spring. Sheppie and Mort’s son Mike Abramowitz visited MBN headquarters this fall. He’s a former Freedom House president and currently serves as director of Voice of America.

Mike’s father Mort started his career with postings in Taiwan and Thailand. As U.S. Ambassador in Ankara, Mort Abramowitz was dedicated to human rights and a democratic, western-oriented Turkey. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey will now endeavor to play a significant role in shaping the future of the next Syria.

Syria

There was celebration over the collapse of a monstrous dictatorship on Sunday. It was stunning news. Since 2011, half a million Syrians have died, including an estimated 200,000 civilians. Millions have fled their homes. Thousands of political prisoners have been released.

Iran and Russia backed the blood-soaked rule of the Assad regime. It seems that the weakened positions of both countries created an opportunity for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (H.T.S.) and other groups.

It’s not clear what effect Bashar al-Assad’s demise will have on Ankara’s aims to reverse refugee flows and defeat Kurdish forces in Syria’s north. It remains unclear what government structure will emerge in the coming weeks. Islamist opposition forces backed by Turkey say they will respect minority rights. Kurds, Christians, and Alawites have reason to be skeptical.

We continue to cover the transition. Heybar Othman and Aymah K. Khrushi report for us from Syria under difficult conditions. There are still roughly twenty armed groups across Syria with an opposition that includes more than a dozen factions, both Islamist and nationalist. Yesterday, the U.S. conducted airstrikes against dozens of ISIS targets.

Zia Odeh reports for us from Turkey. We’re eager to dig deeper into the Turkish role. Russia, where Assad arrived to receive political asylum on Saturday, remains on our screen.

We’re tracking developments inside Iran where, amid growing defiance, authorities are now imposing increasingly severe penalties on women who violate dress codes. The regime may turn out to be stretched thin, abroad and at home.

MBN Comment and Context

We’ll keep drawing on top talent to help our audiences better understand issues they care deeply about. Other report on what’s happened. We strive to explain what it means.

Francis Fukuyama joined our Springfield colleague Areig Elhag for a wide-ranging interview. Frank spoke to the situation in our region — and to the broader, deepening global struggle between liberal democracy and authoritarianism. Frank was my partner in starting American Purpose, now merged with a group and publication called Persuasion. There’s an ongoing war of ideas that’s highly relevant to our journalistic work. I had a good conversation on Friday with Ibrahim Essa, star Egyptian journalist and host of our hit show Debatable. Ibrahim was in Dubai for tapings.

We’re pushing to expand our networks and develop our journalistic muscle. Colleague Faris Almaari attended last week a conference of the London-based Institute for International Strategic Studies (IISS) in Bahrain. I spoke to IISS director Bastian Giegerich on the eve of the Bahrain summit. We’re exploring ways to cooperate.

Matt Kaminski of Politico is just back from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. I’ll send you notes this week from a conversation I’ve had with Matt, delving into his impressions and opportunities for MBN. I’ve asked our board chair Ryan Crocker for a read out when he’s back from the Doha Forum.

Philip Glass and Music for a Free World

Philip Glass was born in Baltimore. He studied in Paris with the legendary French teacher of composition, Nadia Boulanger. Here’s  his etude no. 16.

Glass has been a life-long advocate social responsibility, tolerance, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly.  Satyagraha (sanskrit for “insistence on truth”) is a 1979 opera by Glass loosely based on the life of Mahatma Ghandi.

Mort Abramowitz was an American masterpiece. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Lithuania.  As U.S. Ambassador to Turkey in 1991, Mort played a key role in establishing a safe haven to protect Kurds from mass killing.

Throughout the 1990s, Mort advocated for NATO intervention to save Slavic Muslim populations in the Balkans that were falling prey to Slobodan Milosevic’s brutal campaign to create a Greater Serbia. I had the honor of traveling with him to Bosnia and Kosovo.

For Mort, the strategic and humanitarian were two sides of the same coin. That’s complicated. It’s a contradiction America at its best always leans into.

My best, Jeff