The photos taken during Erdoğan’s meeting with Putin at the Shanghai Summit reveal a lot about Turkey-Russia relations and, beyond that, East-West relations. (Photos: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) I obtained the photos from the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram page. They are from the meeting between President Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on
August 18, 2025, may go down in history as a dark day for European diplomacy. Three days after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15, U.S. President Donald Trump, outmaneuvering European leaders, summoned them to his doorstep, saying, “Come, let me explain.” Putin had not wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the
The three-hour meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 at the Elmendorf–Richardson Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, bore some resemblance to the Yalta Conference of 1945, which marked the end of World War II. Eighty years ago, the United States, the Soviet Union (USSR), and the United
Donald Trump’s warm and friendly phone call with Vladimir Putin and his subsequent approach to determining Ukraine’s fate resembles a real estate mogul deciding which bankrupt casino to offload next. One can almost hear him thinking, “Why pay for something when you can just give it away?” Trump and his loyal Secretary of Defense, Pete
Last week there were news reports about a possible meeting between President Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana, where Erdoğan was present as a dialogue partner. His meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was of particular importance but Erdoğan met with leaders of a number of
February 9 might mark a beginning of a new era in relations with the U.S. and Türkiye, depending on the news about the F-16 sales expected from Congress. It would be prudent to be cautious, but the US State Department’s statement on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expected visit to Türkiye can be considered one of
Let’s be clear. It was already clear from Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s contacts with Ukraine and Russia that President Tayyip Erdoğan would not be able to convince his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to return to the grain deal at the Sochi meeting on September 4. Diplomatic sources considered it a miracle if the issue was
Turkish Foreign Ministry on September 1 announced that Minister Hakan Fidan will pay a visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran on September 3 upon the invitation of Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran. “During the visits Minister Fidan will hold high-level meetings in Tehran. The visit will render the opportunity to
Following a two-day contraversy over his health condition after falling ill during a live television broadcast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared on a video conference for the inauguration ceremony of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant on April 27, resolving the rumours that he was gravely ill or even hospitalised. Russian President Vladimir Putin was