Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has launched a cabinet reshuffle in the wake of the March 31 elections, prompted by the resignations of Environment and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. Prof. Dr. Kemal Memişoğlu, currently serving as Istanbul Provincial Health Director, was appointed as the new Health Minister. Murat Kurum,
A long, hot summer is ahead of Türkiye. I’m not just talking about the rising temperatures, and the even more severe ones predicted for later this summer due to climate change. We are also going to face a very heated agenda both domestically and globally. Hot debates: Constitutional Court decisions The recent delayed decisions of
I have no intention of targeting Mehmet Şimşek, the Minister of Treasury and Finance. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members are already doing that enough. Despite the defeat in the March 31 elections, they act as if President Tayyip Erdoğan wasn’t the sole decision-maker and they had done everything right, still claiming, “If we
The Central Bank of Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) which sold foreign currency from its reserves to prevent the US dollar from appreciating further against the Turkish lira (TL) before the March 31 elections, is now buying US dollars from the market to prevent the TL from appreciating too much against the dollar. According to Central
The most important outcome expected from the May 13 visit of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to Ankara as the guest of President Tayyip Erdoğan will be to avoid any unpleasantness. Yes, a series of protocols and agreements are on the table to fulfill the “Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good Neighborliness” signed by
Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-chair of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and a prominent Kurdish political figure, continues to command significant respect among Kurds, according to the latest findings from Rawest Research. The study titled “Kurdish Issue, Kurdish Politics, and Demirtaş,” sheds light on the prevailing sentiments among Kurds following the March 31 local
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has announced that Türkiye will join in a case brought by the Republic of South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. At a joint press conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Ankara on May 1, Fidan stated
Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar told the Financial Times on April 28 that negotiations were continuing with the US energy giant Exxon Mobil for 2.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) worth 1.1 billion dollars. The Minister was talking about Türkiye’s need to diversify its resources to avoid being dependent on “a single supplier”;
The March 31 local elections in Türkiye marked the most severe defeat for the incumbent AKP in its 20-year reign. This voter backlash was a belated response to a decade of policy missteps that severely disrupted economic stability, especially after September 2021. In the run-up to the general elections in May 2023, the government opened
Public pressure has compelled President Tayyip Erdoğan’s cabinet to take action on another front. The Ministry of Trade announced on April 9 that it would impose trade restrictions on Israel covering 54 product categories. The trade embargo, to be enforced by Ministry of Trade Ömer Bolat, will take effect from April 9 and will remain