When President Tayyip Erdoğan began reciting the opening verses of Surah Al-Fath in Arabic during his Justice and Development Party (AKP) parliamentary group meeting on December 25, amid chants of “Conqueror of Syria,” I wrote in my notebook “We’re going into Syria.” However, launching an operation against the PKK/YPG in Syria is one thing; conquest
Turkish National Intelligence Organization’s (MİT) Legal Counsel Fuat Midas explains the concept of “Influence Espionage” through examples, without naming specific countries: “Consider a scenario where someone plans to assassinate a foreign national in a third country. They’re trafficking explosives and materials through our country from another country in the East. They intend to use our
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz unveiled the Medium Term Program (MTP), outlining Ankara’s economic roadmap for the next three years. The MTP marks a crucial juncture for both the country’s economic recovery efforts and the political future of both President Tayyip Erdoğan and Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. While numerous questions arise, the
Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli’s recent visit to the Police Special Operations Department (PÖH) on July 15 was an evidence that the Turkish government has not learned anything from the July 15 2016 coup attempt. The reason lies behind a scene where Süleyman Karadeniz, Head of the Police Special Operations, welcomed Bahçeli at
I read on the Hürriyet newspaper’s website that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is working on a new communication strategy. To be honest, when I heard the term “communication strategy,” I briefly wondered if President Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP officials had finally decided to change their view of the media. Would the
Devlet means state in Turkish and “Devlet (State) will come to the head of the state!” was one of the most striking slogans of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) before Devlet Bahçeli moved from the opposition ranks to the AKP government ranks via the People’s Alliance, supporting President Tayyip Erdoğan. It’s no longer used, but
You might wonder about the connection between the “agent of influence” clause, said to be included in the 9th Judicial Package that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has not yet officially submitted to the TBMM Committee, and the allegations that asylum seekers, whom the UK will send to Rwanda, will be transferred to
Following the March 31 local election defeat, President Tayyip Erdoğan made two strategic political decisions. The first was to continue with the Medium-Term Program under the responsibility of Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, hoping to overcome the economic crisis. The second was to spread out the internal review process of the election defeat within
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with his ruling partner Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader, Devlet Bahçeli, at the Presidential Complex on May 10, marking a significant encounter amidst ongoing political dialogues against the backdrop of calls for political ‘normalization’. The 1-hour meeting between Erdoğan and Bahçeli followed their last rendezvous on April 29. The last
President Tayyip Erdoğan is using the constitutional amendment as a smokescreen to obscure and distract attention from the major problems ahead. On the night of April 28, days before Erdoğan’s meeting with CHP leader Özgür Özel, Chief Legal Advisor Mehmet Uçum published the text “What could be the main principles of the new constitution”, which