Turkish Domestic Politics: Analysis and forecast on all relevant developments and insight about Turkish politics with its repercussions in its neighboring countries
President Tayyip Erdogan’s targeting of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has reached an alarming level. Erdoğan’s efforts to expel Kılıçdaroğlu, his leading political rival, out of politics should not reach a level that would endanger his security. And I’m not just talking about his silence to insults and threats of criminal
The NATO foreign ministers meeting on Dec. 1 and 2 presented initial signals that the stance of U.S. president-elect Joe Biden’s administration to Turkey will be tougher than outgoing Donald Trump. And it is understood that the impact of an approaching big storm in U.S.-Turkey ties will not be limited and it will also affect
Just one day ahead of the crucial Dec. 1-2 meeting of the foreign ministers of the NATO countries, Turkey announced that the Oruç Reis seismic research ship, whose presence in the eastern Mediterranean has turned into a crisis, has left the debated field. The Energy Ministry said the Oruç Reis ship returned to Turkey’s Mediterranean
While politics in America is witnessing the rise of the far-right, few in Turkey are paying attention. Turkish policymakers and the public are focused on the election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States and its potential externalities on American foreign policy. In the meantime, in the United States, the rise
President Tayyip Erdoğan reproaches the party members at his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) provincial congresses, asking “Where is that old storm of applause?” as he says every once in a while that “We see our self as part of Europe” and these are for a reason. Because the 10-day “Storm December” is coming.
Ne derseniz deyin, Cumhurbaşkanı Tayyip Erdoğan’ın siyasetteki en büyük meziyetinin bir beka ustası olmak olduğu açık. En zor durumlardan dahi o an kimi, neyi feda etmesi gerekiyorsa edip ayakta kalmayı bildi. Çünkü siyasette tek hedefi var ve o hedeften sapmadıkça diğer her şey teferruat geliyor. O hedef ne pahasına olursa olsun koltuğunu korumak, iktidarı bırakmamaktır.
It is not only Turkey where the rule of law is under debate. Something quite extraordinary happened during the last budgetary negotiations among the 27 EU countries. Last amendments were being brought on the details of the budget at the COREPER meeting, when both Hungarian and Polish Ambassadors vetoed the whole process, creating a major
When I was listening to President Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech on reforms on Nov. 17, I remembered a saying attributed to Nevzat Tandoğan, the Ankara governor during the single-party system in Turkey in 1941: ‘If nationalism is needed, we will take it on. If communism is necessary, we will introduce it.” The issue was not the
Crime gang leader Alaattin Çakıcı has threatened main opposition Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, triggering reactions from the party. “Watch your step,” Çakıcı said on his Twitter account on Nov. 17, addressing Kılıçdaroğlu, who had criticized the government for allowing the release of “mafia leaders and drug traffickers.” The main opposition leader was questioning
President Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that he will start a new wave of reforms in “law, economy and democracy.” There was no election, the administration did not change, but why is it necessary for a “new reform wave”? The answer lies heavily in the course of the economy. Opposition leaders claim it is a maneuver.