Three fault lines of the AKP ground

Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, the former Family Minister of the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) government, is upset. Because she finds the timing of the recent debate on the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe initiative to prevent violence against women, rather “noteworthy” under a “historic atmosphere where the chains of Hagia Sophia are broken

What is not told us in foreign policy

The government is holding the Turkish public opinion with agendas like reopening Hagia Sophia as a mosque, the debate about the Istanbul Convention against violence against women, internet bans. But this does not mean that nothing is happening in foreign policy; the usual subject to distract attention from difficulties in the economy. On the contrary,

Sword displayed at Hagia Sophia opening. Against whom?

According to President Tayyip Erdoğan’s statement, 350,000 people attended the Friday prayer at the Hagia Sophia’s reopening as a mosque on July 24. He was the one reading the Fatiha surah, the opening verses of Muslims’ holy book Quran to the attendees. He said that “a nation’s decades-long longing has subsided”. He also granted due

Turkey’s social media tribunals

Every day thousands of social media tribunals are established on Turkish social media outlets. Millions of people are looking for justice on social media courtrooms.  There are many reasons for this. First of all, if a hashtag becomes a trending topic and manages to stay there for a long time, it influences public opinion. Hashtags,

When Erdoğan doesn’t get his applause

July 21, 2020. Women were facing police brutality on the streets while protesting the murder of the university student Pınar Gültekin, as a recent chain of violence against women. Meanwhile, President Erdoğan was speaking at the assessment meeting of the first two years of the Presidential System of Government at his Presidential Complex at Beştepe,

Misogyny now at European Union (EU) borders

May 9 was Europe Day. And the European Union (EU) celebrated it in what must be the most scattered, shaken circumstances since its foundation. With the formalization of Brexit, the Union had begun 2020 with heavy blows both politically and economically. The EU had frozen all political dialogue with Turkey due to the military operations

Another Kavala Ruling: Getting Stuck in a Stream While Aiming to Cross the Sea

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has again found Türkiye in the wrong in Osman Kavala’s second application alleging violations of his rights. In its ruling announced at the hearing on 25 August, the Court found that Türkiye had violated six articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR),

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“NATO’s Outreach to the Middle East via Turkey and Trump’s Two Key Meetings”

The Western defense alliance NATO wants its members to increase military spending at the July 7-8 Ankara Summit. But this is not simply about persuading European allies to dig deeper into their pockets if they fear Russia. The “NATO 3.0” doctrine, which will dominate the agenda as 32 leaders gather in Ankara under the hosting

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The Meeting at the British Embassy and NATO’s Ankara Summit

There was an interesting meeting at the British Embassy in Ankara on the evening of May 12. In a rather unusual arrangement, the invitation-only gathering — organized with the support of the French and German embassies as well — focused on the NATO leaders’ summit to be held in Ankara on July 7–8. Under the

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What Does Türkiye’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missile-ICBM-Announcement Mean?

At the SAHA defense exhibition, which opened in İstanbul on May 5, the biggest surprise was the announcement that Türkiye had reached the manufacturing stage of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). A mock-up of the “Yıldırımhan” missile — said to be capable of delivering a 3-ton warhead over a distance of 6,000 kilometers — was

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