No need for a suit and a tie for gender equality
I was curious while watching the speech by President Ursula von der Leyen at the European Parliament Plenary. She would talk about the conclusions of the meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during their visit to Turkey. I had no doubt that we would listen to the criticism of a woman, who was the main
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EU-Turkey: Lack of vision, inconsistency, double standards
The protocol accident European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen experienced and the statements released afterwards once again revealed the mood that prevailed in EU-Turkey relations. Instead of working to realize the enormous potential of unity and cooperation between these two parties, to strengthen the liberal democracy front in the world by becoming one of
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Sofagate orientalism: put all the blame on Turkey
For the past decade whenever I heard a Western friend expressing sadness on Turkey’s slide to autocracy and wishing me “good luck,” my response was usually, “Good luck to you too. Things do not look good either in your part of the world.”This was not an irritation against something touching on a nationalist nerve. It
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Ineffective Turkish opposition: reality or urban legend?
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu appeared last week on Global TV, with host Buket Aydın, who had ironically laughed during an interview on Kanal D, another private broadcaster, in 2019 when the main opposition leader claimed that his party would win the mayor seats in major big cities. The CHP actually won the
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EU can’t tame Turkey’s policy by ignoring democratic deficit
France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy has partially blocked Turkey’s accession negotiations in mid-2000’s arguing Turkey had no place within the European Union (EU). In a recent televised interview on March 24, Sarkozy said he objected to Turkey’s membership, as the country with a more than 80 million population would have divided Europe from within. “Who
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Erdoğan: Main opposition is behind the admirals’ statement
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has slammed 104 retired admirals’ a joint statement against a recent debate on Turkey’s retreat from the Montreux Convention that regulates sovereignty rights of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, saying that some of the signatories are members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). “You will see it soon on
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Turkey rolls into yet another coup debate out of the blue
A joint statement of 126 retired ambassadors, a previously published text that opposed the possibility of annulment of the 1936 Montreux Convention on the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, popped up in Turkey’s agenda. Then came the joint declaration of 103 retired admirals. The government did not respond strongly to the statement of the retired ambassadors.
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Pandemic hits Erdoğan’s Turkey again but not only that
Unfortunately, it’s not only the COVID19 pandemic that hit Turkey with its third wave as President Tayyip Erdoğan admitted in his March 29 statement. According to Erdoğan’s statement, now 58 out of 81 Turkish provinces where 80 percent of the population live are at the “very high risk” level. Despite telling people to obey the
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Pros and cons of EU’s ‘conditional’ statement on Turkey
An official statement after the European Union leaders’ summit on March 25 used an optimistic but conditional language over Turkey, with the Turkish foreign ministry responding to it in a similarly welcoming and still cautious manner. However, the EU statement is also interpreted as a text that actually confirms the continuation of the distance between
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AKP Congress: the mountain gave birth to a mouse
Expectations have been raised for weeks, even months, about Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress on March 24th. President and Party leader Tayyip Erdoğan would declare a manifest in the Congress. That would be a strategy for Turkey covering the year 2053; a roadmap for a new Turkey.It was the talk in Ankara
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