Journalist-Writer
A few hours after the end of the March 24 Extraordinary NATO summit of world leaders to stop Russia its invasion of Ukraine, I was at a Presidential Symphony Orchestra’s Concert Hall in Ankara for a charity concert. Well known pianist Alexander Romanovsky, who is Russian from his father’s side and Ukrainian from his mother’s
On March 22, two “breaking” news were published on Turkey’s news outlets indicating how heated the domestic politics and diplomatic policy actions of Ankara amid Ukraine-Russia crisis. The first was from Moscow. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that if President Vladimir Putin sees an “existential threat” to Russia, the president may resort to “use nuclear
For some reason, the news that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s luxury yacht “My Solaris” had anchored in Bodrum on March 21 did not cause great surprise in Turkey. It was rumored that Abramovich, who has Russian, Lithuanian and Israeli passports, whose assets in England were frozen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been shuttling between
The first government official to utter that the Third World War had actually begun was Ukrainian Presidential Spokesman Mihaylo Podolyak. “You sit in cafes in Brussels, Amsterdam, watch Netflix and think that the war will not touch you,” Podolyak was reproaching on March 4, on the 9th day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A few
The facilitating policy adopted by Turkey in the Ukraine Crisis may also make the approval of the F-16 modernization demanded from the USA easier. Ankara’s diplomacy to ensure a ceasefire in Ukraine and start the political solution process as soon as possible soon begin to yield results, which may result in mending ties the West
“Do you want to protect your seat by naturalizing asylum seekers and enabling them to vote?” This grave accusation was uttered by main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu; its subject was President Tayyip Erdoğan. The CHP leader also called for a referendum to ask the public about making refugees citizens and allowing
As Turkey gained diplomatic momentum from Russia’s war on Ukraine, President Tayyip Erdoğan is fully aware of his political and economic priorities. He can take two basic steps to leverage Turkey’s diplomatic prominence to its economic advantage and even translate it into votes in upcoming elections. For instance, he may allow the CBRT committee to
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Ankara for his first visit to Turkey as the chancellor on March 14. He and President Tayyip Erdoğan discussed complex relations between the two countries, but the real issue was the Ukraine crisis. The day before that, on March 13, Erdoğan met with Greek Prime Minister Kriyakos Mitsotakis in
US President Joe Biden and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan talked for 45 minutes on the phone on March 10. A few hours before, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had brought together the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, Sergey Lavrov and Dimitro Kuleba, in Turkey’s resort city Antalya in Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF). Biden’s schedule to
