Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Aslı Bâli

Aslı Bâli is the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

The MERIP Podcast

The MERIP Podcast Episode 22: Aslı Bâli and Darryl Li

Today's episode of the MERIP Podcast features an interview with two contributors to the spring issue of Middle East Report, “Campus Politics—Palestine and the New University Order.” Since the beginning of world-wide campus protests in the wake of October 7, 2023, there has been a tremendous upswell

James Ryan, Aslı Bâli, Darryl Li • 2 min read

Fighting the Campus Crackdown — Ramya Krishnan, a lawyer with the Knight First Amendment Institute, speaks to reporters outside the federal courthouse in Boston after the first day of a trial in a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration by the American Association of University Professors and MESA, July 7, 2025. Nate Raymond/Reuters

issue 318

Fighting the Campus Crackdown

Why the Middle East Studies Association Took the Trump Administration to Court

Aslı Bâli • 12 min read

Generational Dislocation and Academic Solidarity—Aslı Bâli on MESA’s Global Academy — Academics lay down their gowns during a protest against the dismissal of colleagues from universities following a post-coup emergency decree, in the Cebeci campus of Ankara University in Ankara, Turkey, 2017. Umit Bektas/Reuters

MER Article

Generational Dislocation and Academic Solidarity—Aslı Bâli on MESA’s Global Academy

The last ten years have seen a precipitous decline in conditions for academics across the Middle East. With campuses under literal fire in some places and extraordinary repression and authoritarian crackdowns in others, research, writing and teaching have become nearly impossible in many places.

Aslı Bâli, Arang Keshavarzian • 13 min read

MER Article

Turkey’s Constitutional Coup

Turkey has undergone a dizzying array of crises over the last five years. Beginning with the repressive crackdown against the Gezi Protests during the summer of 2013, the country has gone from being cited as a model Muslim democracy to taking pride of place on the growing worldwide list of democrati

Aslı Bâli • 19 min read

Current Analysis

Iran and the IAEA at Parchin

Few foreign policy issues garner as much interest in the American press as the Iranian nuclear program [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero121612]. As illustrated by last week’s Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for President Obama’s nominee as secretary of defense, former Republican S

Aslı Bâli • 5 min read

Current Analysis

International Law and the Iran Impasse

On any given day, provided her paper of choice still features international coverage, the average American newspaper reader can expect to be treated to one or two articles on attempts to halt advances in Iran’s nuclear program. These articles might cover efforts to levy fresh sanctions against the I

Aslı Bâli • 10 min read

Current Analysis

To Save Syria, Work with Russia and Iran

As the violence intensifies in Syria, external powers, including the United States, are embracing increasingly belligerent positions. Indeed, in recent days the United States and Turkey have announced plans to study a no-fly zone after calls by many American commentators for a more direct military r

Aziz Rana, Aslı Bâli • 3 min read

Current Analysis

"Iran Will Require Assurances"

Hossein Mousavian has served as visiting research scholar at Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security from 2009 to the present. Prior to this position, he held numerous positions in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including director-general of its West Europe department

Aslı Bâli • 30 min read

Current Analysis

To Stop the Killing, Deal with Asad

In the wake of the recent Friends of Syria conference, the United States and Middle Eastern powers that include Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are stepping up aid to armed resistance groups in Syria. Under American leadership, the conference pledged $100 million to provide salary payments to rebel f

Aziz Rana, Aslı Bâli • 3 min read

Current Analysis

The Fake Moderation of America's Moderate Middle East Allies

As the Mubarak regime turns to violence in a vain attempt to repress the peaceful protests that have swept Egypt’s streets for over ten days, the risks associated with current US strategy for Egypt and the wider region continue to grow. In its response to the events, the Obama administration has sub

Aziz Rana, Aslı Bâli • 6 min read

Current Analysis

Unpacking Turkey's "Court-Packing" Referendum

The news reports and commentary on Turkey in the middle months of 2010 have sounded alarmist themes. Analysts have warned that Turkish foreign policy is undergoing a reorientation away from the West, ominously foreshadowed by deteriorating relations with Israel. Commentators worry about creeping Isl

Aslı Bâli • 27 min read

MER Article

How Lebanon Has Weathered the Storm

One would imagine that, of all the countries in the Middle East, Lebanon would be among the hardest hit by the global financial crisis. Famous for its weak central state and ferociously capitalist private sector, Lebanon has the closest thing to a free market in the region. It has a dollar-based eco

Nisreen Salti, Aslı Bâli • 9 min read