Turkish Domestic Politics: Analysis and forecast on all relevant developments and insight about Turkish politics with its repercussions in its neighboring countries
As the Turkish government discusses reforms to tidy up the current mess but avoiding any political losses, what top officials say reminds of a “good cop, bad cop” analogy, rather than being contradicting statements. For example, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s statement that reforms will contribute to the positive atmosphere with the European Union is beyond
Joe Biden took office as the 46th president of the United States, at a ceremony a few hours after Donald Trump left the White House without attending the handover ceremony. Biden was calm and gave a calm speech, unlike the supporters of Trump who raided the Congress. Perhaps his sharpest expression was that he considered
The real tremors and transformation pain of the People’s Alliance intensify on the ideological ground, the identity problem. Both Justice and Development Party (AKP) leader President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his election partner Develt Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), do not miss a chance to highlight that their People’s Alliance is
Ankara signals revision in foreign policy. This is evident not only from President Tayyip Erdoğan’s address to the ambassadors of the EU members in Ankara on Jan. 12, but also the messages he sends to the United States. Most recently, we could see it in Defense Minister Hulusi Akar’s remarks that Turkey “wants to return
The oldest democracy in the world has just survived an existential crisis. Did the most experienced democracy in the world lack the institutional reflexes needed to protect itself? Is it possible that certain negative externalities from the American Civil War and its racist past still resonated? Or should we assume the problems were caused by
Analyzing the figures to take part in the upcoming Joe Biden administration is highly important for Turkey since the U.S. issue is the most problematic field for its foreign policy today.The leading problem in that field is the S-400 crisis, the U.S. has imposes sanctions on Turkey because it bought the Russian air defense system.
There has of late been a recourse to a soft discourse by the high-level Turkish officials toward the West and the Western institutions in comparison to the past rhetoric. It would be useful to cast light on the background of this softer tone. Undergirding that soft language, the most important one is the fragility of the
Will President Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s Jan. 12 meeting with European Ambassadors to Ankara turn into a milestone in EU-Turkey relations? Or will the remarks at that meeting be in vain as the previous ones? Both the course of the developments in Ankara and the talks I had with some of the
Turkey-U.S. Business Council (TAİK) Board of Directors hosted U.S. Ambassador to Ankara, David Satterfield, on Jan. 8 in Istanbul. The purpose of the meeting was to convey the demands of the Turkish companies that do business with the U.S. to Washington via the Embassy before Joe Biden takes over the presidency. The leading demands included
In Article 6 of the New Restrictions and Measures Circular (“Circular”) of the Interior Ministry dated Nov. 30 , 2020, which came to the agenda with the announcements reminded that New Year’s parties will not be allowed and that a party will be intervened, events that will cause gathering at homes are not allowed (for