Journalist-Writer
We are heading towards one of the most unfair and unequal elections in our history on March 31st. Despite its being a local elections, its results will have profound effects on Turkish poltical landscape, especially in Istanbul. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems to have mobilized the entire state machinery to prevent the re-election of Istanbul’s
Since the bloody attack on the concert hall in Moscow, I have been speaking with sources from the intelligence, security, and diplomatic circles. The point they all converge on is that the March 22 attack of the ISIS Khorasan province branch, (ISIS-K) which killed 139 people in Moscow, differs from known ISIS actions in terms
Russian authorities announced that as of the evening of March 25th, the number of casualties from the attack on a concert hall in Moscow on the evening of March 22 had reached 139, with nearly 140 injured. Three days after the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that “radical Islamists” carried out the attack, which
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan complained on March 24 that the participation to his “Great İstanbul Again” rally ahead of the March 31 local elections was less than the half of what he had expected. In fact, he should be grateful that hundreds and thousand of his supporters were there despite the disappointment of the ongoing
Last weekend, Murat Karayılan, one of the leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), announced that he would deliver “good news” soon, which drew attention to what he would reveal. On one hand, Newroz was approaching, and Kurdish-issue focused People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) had organized rallies spreading throughout the week, while on
Ever since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched the election campaign with the motto “reconquering Istanbul,” it has been clear that the real competition in the upcoming March 31 local elections will be for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Now, with almost a week left until the election, this race is neck and neck. It is
Top-level Turkish security delegation’s visit to Baghdad on March 14 should be considered as a significant step towards a comprehensive Türkiye Iraq agreement ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s expected visit to Iraq in April after 12 years. The rapprochement and establishment of strategic political and economic relations between Türkiye and Iraq appear to
On March 11th, Monday, the Turkish Lira hit a record low against the US dollar; at one point, 1 dollar surpassed 32 lira. Similarly, the British Pound exceeded 41 lira, and the Euro went over 35 lira, prompting a statement from the Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek. There was no apparent reason for
The time has come to ask whether President Tayyip Erdoğan is pursuing a “lifelong” rule. No, not only because of his statement during the peak of the ruling Justice and Develpment Party’s (AKP) election campaign, saying, “This is my last election.” This wasn’t the first time Erdoğan had uttered “This election is my last,” subtly
Turkish Foreign Minsiter Hakan Fidan had a meeting with his US counterpart Antony Blinken in Washington on March 8. “There is an opportunity to continue our path by opening a new page with a positive agenda,” he said in a press conference following the meeting and other discussions and contacts. Türkiye-US relations were a “historic”