Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to inaugurate Ankara's newly overhauled Etimesgut airfield on June 15, just weeks before the NATO Leaders Summit. But whether Air Force One can use it — particularly for takeoff — may depend on which way US President Donald Trump is headed.
Allegations of ill-treatment, strip searches and prosecutorial threats dominated this week's hearings at the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial, as defendants described abusive detention conditions and coerced statements.
A critical milestone has been reached in the modernization project for F-16s with the completion of acceptance tests for mission planning software.
Turkey's first full-scale aircraft carrier, which is currently in the preliminary design stage, will have a capacity for 52 aircraft.
Tom Barrack, now appointed as special envoy to Iraq in addition to his ambassadorial role in Turkey and special envoy role in Syria, described Iraq, Syria, and Turkey as 'the strategic fulcrum upon which any enduring Middle East stability must pivot,' calling for a single, consistent point of American contact across the three nations.
Since the court voided the CHP's 2023 party congress, the main opposition has been unable to untangle the knot — and each new court decision pulls it tighter. The question is whether the party can hold an extraordinary congress to break the deadlock. But the forces shaping what comes next run deeper: when and how the CHP headquarters under Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, 77, will move to press disciplinary charges, expelling some figures; whether the parliamentary immunity of ousted chair Özgür Özel, 51, and his allies — implicated by recent testimonies from Antalya and Uşak — will be lifted; and when a new party will be established.
Reha Muhtar, who died June 3 at the age of 66, was a television phenomenon of the 1990s — he swept through that decade like a force of nature.
According to some, NATO has to become more European in order to remain more Transatlantic. The “Europeanization” of NATO will certainly be the key focus of the Ankara summit in July.
One of the most concrete steps yet in the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia—launched in 2021—has been taken with a move toward direct trade between the two countries. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is heading into a June 7 election widely seen as a vote of confidence on his parallel agendas of steering the country toward the West while pursuing peace with Azerbaijan and normalization with Turkey. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli announced on X on May 13 that bureaucratic preparations for the launch of direct trade between Turkey and Armenia had been completed as of May 11.
Three retired Turkish diplomats have publicly voiced their support for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan ahead of the country's parliamentary elections scheduled for early June, following a joint visit to Yerevan.
MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli’s call to grant the PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan a title involving the word “peace” drew support from the DEM Party and sharp criticism from the right-wing opposition, as all eyes turned to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said the government will soon announce an official National Critical Raw Materials strategy, with the Beylikova rare earth elements project to serve as its main pillar.