About ten years ago, caricatures of “Sultan Erdoğan” were popular in the Western European press. President Tayyip Erdoğan, who was trying to pull the Turkish Republic into the orbit of Russia and Iran with a neo-Ottoman and political Islamist policy, was seen as the antithesis of the West. The antipathy was so strong that, during
A debate over Rare Earth Elements (REEs) continues between Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and the main opposition CHP leader Özgür Özel. The issue entered the domestic political agenda of Türkiye following Erdoğan’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on September 25, 2025. Özel accuses Erdoğan of “selling off” rich Turkish REE
My generation learned about energy geopolitics through oil. We witnessed oil wars, embargoes, tanker crises, the political power of OPEC, and how the United States reshaped the world through energy. Then came natural gas. It was called a “transition fuel,” but it quickly turned into a new tool of strategic dependency. Today, however, we stand