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State of Turkey

Military - Defection, siege of Izmir (4.3 million) - So far, military casualties are estimated at 1800, confirmed civilian casualties stands at 12 Political - No acting central government at this time. Turkey has fragmented into four distinct factions. - CHP    - Controls Istanbul with ~80% support    - Has troops: 80,000; these are mostly located in Istanbul    - Led by Kılıçdaroğlu - AKP    - Controls central chunk of country including Ankara    - Most likely has most popular support, but unknown    - Has troops: Gendarmerie (150,000); 30,000 military forces    - Led by Yildirim (Oktay died suddenly, said to be from natural causes, but unconfirmed) - Kurds    - 240,000 troops, increasing as    - Declared as an independent state    - Led by Karayılan of the Kurdish Worker’s Party    - Likely has plenty of money due to siphoning off energy flow from oil pipelines    - Primarily seeks to be a successful independent nation - Military Defection    - Led by Güler, for
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Military in Open Rebellion

Rejecting the legitimacy of acting President Fuat Oktay's claim to power, General  Yaşar Güler has lead the military in an open coup in the southwestern regions of Turkey this morning. Currently, it is believed his faction has taken control of Konya, Antalya, and is in siege with the AKP forces for control of Izmir. While it is unknown how many troops have defected with Guler, early estimates place 65% (estimated at around 400,000 active troops) of the Turkish armed forces  have aligned with him. No members of the Gendarmerie have defected. It is believed 80,000 troops are opposed to Guler's rebellion and have voiced support of the CHP. The 150,000 service members  of the Gendarmerie and an estimated 30,000 members of the military remain loyal to the AKP leadership. Soon after the news of this Guler's rebellion, acting President Oktay was reported to have died from unconfirmed natural causes. His passing was unexpected but there is no evidence of foul play at this t
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Crisis: Iraqi Reconstruction

In the Topic Synopsis, you should have seen how the USSR approached reconstruction. Here, we will briefly examine Iraq to see a more current example of the reconstruction of a nation. I find this topic extremely relevant given the implementation of actual United Nations solutions. To provide some extremely limited context, Iraq is actively handling reconstruction following the Iraq War (2003-2011). Domestic and international efforts have been conducted to try and help reduce the problem, but there is still a ways to go. Reconstruction in Iraq is slow. Years have passed and developments have been made, but not nearly enough has been done to repair all of the damage done during the war. Namely, more than half of the planned rebuilding of homes in the Nineveh governate and Mosul has yet to begin ("UN-Habitat Promoted Urban Recovery and Resilience in Bartella/Nineveh Plain through Rehabilitation of 100 Significantly Damaged House [EN/ER]"). Iraq has been receiving a signif
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Crisis: Zaatari Camp

* This article is a simulation crisis, not a real world event * Amman — In the past week, the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan has devolved into chaos. On Friday (Feb. 1), a massive fire broke out in the camp, resulting in the death of 103 refugees, including 26 children, and wounding many more. Exacerbated by a recent drought in the region, the fire raged for 8 hours before it was extinguished. Although the source of the fire is unknown, it damaged a significant portion of the infrastructure in the camp. The camp has its own fire prevention tools and fire fighters, but they were ill-equipped to deal with the crisis, resulting in the prolonged blaze. Zaatari, one of the largest refugee camps in the region is primarily inhabited by refugees fleeing from the Syrian Civil War and Iraqi Civil War. It houses roughly 75,000 refugees. Although there is basic infrastructure in the camp, it is intended for short-term inhabitation and has already been stretched to its limits. The
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Crisis Advice

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Crisis committees can be a bit overwhelming. The format of committee is different, you're representing a specific character instead of a nation, and the flow of debate is much more rapid and demands more from you than a standard committee. To help you come into conference feeling prepared for crisis, I've compiled some tips that I've learned through my own experience with crisis committees.  First thing is to know your role. Knowing your character, your relationships, your beliefs, and your history can only aid you in committee. Furthermore, this knowledge will allow you to maximize your portfolio powers when needed and help you in making decisions that are logical for your given character. During conference, keep in mind the quality of the directives you make. Well thought-out directives are likely to be more effective in getting you what you want and will help keep the return time on directives relatively quick. Sending in lots of directives will not make you
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Preparation Expectations

Given the unique challenges presented by the Ad Hoc Committee, we expect delegates to be more prepared than they would be for a standard crisis committee. One expectation is that delegates will follow this blog, especially as the date of the conference approaches. Delegates will be responsible for knowing any and all information disseminated through this blog. This includes the typical expectations of a standard crisis committee: being well reviewed on crisis procedure, being familiar with how crises work, practicing public speaking skills, having researched the character biography thoroughly, understanding the powers of the character, etc. But the delegates no longer know what topic they will be expected to deal with in committee. This means they have to be prepared for any topic. One step to this is having read and understood the background guide. Just memorizing/quoting the guide will not do much good here since its composed of examples; the delegates will need to understand
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Ad Hoc Explainer

Hi, delegates! As a part of Ad Hoc, you will be faced with a set of unique circumstances relative to other committees. Ad Hoc was built on the premise of challenging experienced delegates and providing them with an environment to strengthen their MUN skills. Ad Hoc's topic will remain undisclosed until conference begins and you will instead be advised to prepare for whatever may be thrown at you. The committee will operate in a state of constant crisis and you will be expected to adapt to these ever-changing situations. Procedurally, committee will be in perpetually moderated caucus with a set speaking time and will be largely following crisis procedure. (For more information about this, see the crisis procedure section of  https://learnbmun.squarespace.com/alternative-procedures/ .) Although our committee is different from other crisis committees, much of our procedure will be the same. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
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