Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The secularism-versus-religion debate continues in full force, with the ruling alliance fueling tensions after a father who objected to the use of a religious hymn as a school bell at his child’s school in Kocaeli’s Derince district was detained.
The main opposition, the CHP, has had a tough year of operations targeting its municipalities and lawsuits against its party congress. According to party officials, the appointment of Akın Gürlek — who oversaw the municipal investigations — as justice minister signals that the road to elections may become even more challenging.
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.
The Air Force, which has been unable to procure new fighter jets for over 20 years because of foreign policy obstacles, lost another fighter jet on Feb. 25, reducing the number of F-16s in its inventory to 233. Thus, the number of fighter jets in active service fell from approximately 450 to 252 over the same period.
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.
Turkey has once again been drawn into a debate over secularism after Education Minister Yusuf Tekin issued a circular instructing schools to organize Ramadan-themed activities, including the preparation of a “Ramadan checklist” for students.
A sweeping reshuffle in Turkey’s judiciary and security bureaucracy accelerated following the appointment of Akın Gürlek as justice minister.
Soon after Akın Gürlek began serving as justice minister, the gloves were taken off in politics with the CHP. One of the newly-promoted prosecutor's first acts was to restrict imprisoned Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s access to his lawyers.
The “process report” that charts the roadmap for Parliament toward solving the Kurdish question has been finalized. The document did not push the limits of the AKP and MHP too far; it received a cautious “hopeful” endorsement from the CHP on the grounds that accepted democratic demands “must not remain mere words on paper”; the DEM Party deemed it “better than nothing” despite its shortcomings; and the Yeni Yol group welcomed with a familiar “not enough, but yes.”
Diplomacy loves spectacle because spectacle is easy to schedule, easy to photograph, and very easy to mistake for substance. Add social media and you get the Olympics of visibility: who attended, who hosted, who was seated where, who spoke, and, in the end, who ate what.
Seeking to capitalize on the rift in the NATO alliance between the U.S. and the EU, Ankara is seeking common ground with Europe through cooperation on military issues and the defense industry.
British energy giant BP became the third high-profile petroleum partner of state-run Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) in the past month, highlighting Ankara’s efforts to increase upstream production while diversifying its alliances.