Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
NATO announced that its assets shot down two ballistic missiles aimed at Turkey in a week, but Iran denied that they had targeted Turkey. Since the Defense Ministry and NATO did not provide information on which region of Iran the ballistic missiles were launched from, the route taken by the missiles and their target became a matter of debate.
Jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has for the first time objected to the possibility of another person becoming the opposition’s presidential candidate.
Parliament will take up legislation in response to the PKK’s decision to dissolve and lay down its arms agenda after the Ramadan holiday. PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan has called for the adoption of “peace laws” as a condition for transition. While the DEM Party insists that the legal framework should be adopted before the end of March, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pointed to April, saying he expects the PKK to take more concrete steps.
Jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu has for the first time objected to the possibility of another person becoming the opposition’s presidential candidate.
The government decided not to increase the holiday bonus paid to retirees, despite rising inflation and growing public expectations. Instead, officials began studying alternative support models aimed at low-income pensioners.
The U.S. and Israel have started a war against Iran, although Trump does not want to call it as such. I saw no way out of the impasse between the two parties, although the Iranian side was optimistic after the third round of nuclear talks.
Birthday diplomacy continued between Turkey and Greece as Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis congratulated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on turning 72.
The armed unmanned naval vehicle Sancar, jointly developed by Havelsan and Yonca Shipyard, was commissioned into the Navy at a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Feb. 24.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan opted not to attend the inaugural meeting of the U.S.-led Board of Peace in Washington — much like he previously declined to travel to Davos for the initiative’s launch — signaling a calibrated diplomatic balancing act. While Erdoğan is among the few leaders known to have a personal rapport with U.S. President Donald Trump, he refrained from participating in both events hosted by Trump. Instead, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan represented Turkey on both occasions.
While the future of the NATO alliance is being debated due to the policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, the alliance is conducting its largest military exercise of the year in Germany, with the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) participating with more than 2,000 soldiers.
The CHP was shaken by the resignation of Ankara’s Keçiören Mayor Mesut Özarslan, but the political momentum shifted after the AKP did not move forward with his expected transfer, leaving him politically isolated. CHP Chair Özgür Özel challenged President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to publicly pin an AKP badge on Özarslan amid speculation he would join the ruling party.
President of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) Şekip Avdagiç has triggered a wave of criticism after suggesting the government should introduce policies to limit Turkish citizens’ spending on vacations abroad.