August 18, 2025, may go down in history as a dark day for European diplomacy. Three days after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, U.S. President Donald Trump, outmaneuvering European leaders, summoned them to his doorstep, saying, “Come, let me explain.” Putin had not wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the
The three-hour meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 at the Elmendorf–Richardson Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, bore some resemblance to the Yalta Conference of 1945, which marked the end of World War II. Eighty years ago, the United States, the Soviet Union (USSR), and the United
The US-brokered peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia, signed at the White House under President Donald Trump’s mediation, is being celebrated as a landmark in conflict resolution. However, beyond ending decades of hostility, it has created a rare geopolitical opportunity for Türkiye to advance its regional strategy and reshape the South Caucasus’ security and connectivity
The agreement reached on August 8 in Washington by Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan, facilitated by US President Donald Trump, has the potential to reshape not only the Caucasus but also the political and economic balances in Central Asia and the Middle East. Notably, the mutual pledge of non-aggression and the
The Turkish opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel can mobilize people to fill squares in his protest rallies in the hottest summer in recent years, in the heat of July and August; there’s more than one reason for it. Let’s be clear: if crowds in Anatolian cities, in cities where President Tayyip Erdoğan’s
The 27th in the series of Symi democracy conferences organized by former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou was held on the Greek island of Skiathos between 13-17 July. The symposium with the theme “Is there hope for democracy”, to which I was invited due to our presentation of the Better Judiciary Association’s “Turkish Judicial Reform
On July 22, The New York Times published an article titled, “No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza.” Its author, Bret Stephens, is known as one of the newspaper’s “conservative” columnists. On the same day in Gaza On the day the article was published, 80 more people were killed in Israel’s Gaza operation. Of
The Ukraine-Russia ceasefire and Iran-Europe nuclear talks are being hosted by Türkiye this week in Istanbul, with a two-day interval between them. The Ukrainian and Russian delegations will hold their third round of talks this year on Wednesday, July 23, in İstanbul. The discussions will focus on ceasefire conditions, but the likelihood of reaching an
Turks, who have turned their faces towards the West for decades, have been facing visa restrictions for nearly fifty years. Almost everyone has a positive or negative visa story to tell. As the difficulties reached their peak, the European Union took a step forward. The EU’s decision last week to adopt a more positive approach
In Turkish politics, the threat of imprisonment has reached CHP leader Özgür Özel. Presidential decrees have been sent to the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) to lift the parliamentary immunity of Özel and CHP İzmir MP Tuncay Özkan for trial. The reason is their accusation of the Court of Appeals members of staging a “coup