Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said that the recent decision of several western countries to close their consulates as a precaution against a possible terror attack, aims at “starting a new psychological warfare in Türkiye,” adding that “it is an international operation against Türkiye.” “The ambassadors who wanted to carry out a legal operation against
I asked Portuguese Foreign Minister João Gomez Cravinho, whom I met with a small group of journalists after his visit to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu in Ankara, how would Portugal react if Türkiye approved only Finland’s NATO application and not Sweden’s, even though they applied together? The question is meaningful because decisions in NATO
It would have escaped my attention if I had not followed the Twitter accounts of two terrorism experts. One from Türkiye, Nihat Ali Özcan of the think tank TEPAV, and the other from the US, Bruce Hoffman from Georgetown University. Both drew attention to the fact that The Washington Post, in the caption of the
Türkiye condemned Sweden over the burning of a copy of the Quran, the holy Book of Muslims in front of the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on January 21, further straining ties between the two countries as Sweden seeks Turkish approval to be a member of the defense alliance NATO. A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said
Greece is adopting a hostile attitude against Türkiye and “it is time for NATO to put a stop to this spoilt behavior” Turkish Minister of National Defence Hulusi Akar said, at the 2022 evaluation press briefing at the Ministry’s headquarters in Ankara on December 24. In the meeting, the Turkish Minister made it clear that
Finland seems to have already been convinced to do whatever Türkiye wants for granting NATO membership; from the extradition of outlawed PKK members to arms industry support. The question is whether Sweden’s new Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, will be able to convince President Tayyip Erdogan to let them join NATO. After meeting with NATO Secretary
After Russia’s war in Ukraine, Sweden and Finland wanted to join NATO. But since in the Western military alliance the decisions are taken unanimously, the approval awaits Türkiye’s consent, which depends on Ankara’s demands for a joint struggle against terrorism. In the last week, attempts to persuade Türkiye have increased visibly. The new Swedish Prime
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a “partial mobilization” on September 21. Putin’s declaration of Russia’s first mobilization declaration since the Second World War, including the Soviet Union era, included a threat. His telling that he would respond to the attacks on Russian soil with “all his means” meant that he could also resort to nuclear
Above, the photograph shows President Tayyip Erdoğan speaking while the leaders attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Sept. 15 are listening to him. Only Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not seen in this photo. Perhaps they joined the group later. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin