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ALEPPO SEES DANGEROUS MILITARY ESCALATION AMID STALLED DAMASCUS-SDF TALKS
Foreign Affairs Jan 8, 2026

ALEPPO SEES DANGEROUS MILITARY ESCALATION AMID STALLED DAMASCUS-SDF TALKS

A dangerous escalation has erupted between Damascus forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in two strategically important neighborhoods of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo. As clashes intensified, evacuation notices, issued Dec. 8. by Syria’s central government in the two key districts, have raised the possibility of a military operation. Simultaneously, the Defense Ministry said that Turkey would support an expected Syrian army operation in Aleppo “if requested.”

Editorial Team
GOVERNMENT SEEKS UNION APPROVAL ON MINIMUM WAGE
Economy and Finance Dec 19, 2025

GOVERNMENT SEEKS UNION APPROVAL ON MINIMUM WAGE

Although unions have refused to participate in the ongoing Minimum Wage Determination Commission meetings, the government is seeking their approval on the 2026 minimum wage — a move seen as an attempt to legitimize a process from which labor groups protest for being excluded.

Editorial Team
S-400 DECISION LOOMS IN U.S.-TURKEY DEFENSE RESET
Security and Defense Dec 12, 2025

S-400 DECISION LOOMS IN U.S.-TURKEY DEFENSE RESET

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said that the United States is close to lifting restrictions imposed on Turkey since 2017 after Turkey purchased S-400 systems from Russia. However, the conditions under which the sanctions will be lifted remain unclear.

Editorial Team
ÖZEL STEPS UP STREET RESISTANCE CALLS
Inside Turkey Dec 12, 2025

ÖZEL STEPS UP STREET RESISTANCE CALLS

CHP Chair Özgür Özel escalated his rhetoric, urging people to take to the streets in response to what he described as a diminishing role for Parliament. Addressing crowds at public rallies and budget debates in Parliament, Özel emphasized the historic weight of legislative authority. “The right to control the budget is humanity’s greatest democratic achievement. Parliament is not born of the budget — the budget is born of Parliament,” he said.

Editorial Team
TURKEY IN A POST-WESTERN WORLD: STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES AND SYSTEMIC RISKS
Guest Voices Dec 11, 2025

TURKEY IN A POST-WESTERN WORLD: STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES AND SYSTEMIC RISKS

The newly released U.S. Strategic Security paper signals the most significant shift in American grand strategy since the end of the Second World War. Its defining features are the explicit identification of China as a peer competitor, the reaffirmation of Russia as a principal adversary, and—perhaps most striking—the retreat from the ideological mission that once sustained “the West” as a political and civilizational project.

Guest Voices
RÜZGAR/WIND
Word of the Week Dec 11, 2025

RÜZGAR/WIND

In Turkish, rüzgâr begins as a simple meteorological fact: the wind that sweeps across the Bosphorus, bends Aegean olive trees and makes wildfires spread uncontrollably. Etymologically, it probably blows in from Persian, once meaning “time, fate, weather,” before narrowing into “wind.” But its real life is in metaphor: the wind that shifts fortune, tests patience, topples governments. In a language where song lyricists routinely confide in the breeze, it was only a matter of time before politicians started doing the same.

Nazlan Ertan
MINIMUM WAGE PANEL FACES STRUCTURAL CHANGE AS RAISE SCENARIOS EMERGE
Economy and Finance Dec 5, 2025

MINIMUM WAGE PANEL FACES STRUCTURAL CHANGE AS RAISE SCENARIOS EMERGE

Turkey’s Minimum Wage Determination Commission is preparing for its first major structural overhaul in 50 years after unions said the current system blocks fair representation. The Labor Ministry has proposed an “interim formula” that would cut the government’s seats from five to one, reducing the 15-member body to 11 while keeping five worker and five employer representatives.

Editorial Team
TANKERS ATTACKED IN BLACK SEA AFTER U.S. WARNING, DESPITE TURKEY’S CONCERNS
Foreign Affairs Dec 5, 2025

TANKERS ATTACKED IN BLACK SEA AFTER U.S. WARNING, DESPITE TURKEY’S CONCERNS

Ukrainian naval drones struck two ships alleged to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Black Sea off the Turkish coast, increasing tension in the shared sea even as the combatants pursue renewed peace talks. The Sea Baby drones hit the oil tankers MT Kairos and MT Virat on Nov. 28. Russia has used hundreds of tankers known as the “shadow fleet” to evade Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine, delivering millions of barrels of oil to buyers in breach of those restrictions.

Editorial Team