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NEW TURKISH CYPRIOT PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST RUSHED PEACE TALKS
Foreign Affairs Dec 10, 2025

NEW TURKISH CYPRIOT PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST RUSHED PEACE TALKS

Tufan Erhürman, the newly elected president of Northern Cyprus, voiced guarded expectations ahead of his first trilateral meeting on Dec. 11 with Greek Cypriot figure Nikos Christodoulides and UN envoy María Ángela Holguín. Speaking to Turkish journalists, Erhürman said that shifting regional dynamics and a long record of unsuccessful rounds make a rapid return to substantive talks unrealistic — particularly without agreed-upon parameters.

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
MERCİMEK/LENTILS
Word of the Week Dec 4, 2025

MERCİMEK/LENTILS

In Turkish culture, mercimek turns up everywhere: in the copper pot of the humblest esnaf lokantası cafe and the gleaming bowl of a New-Nordic fusion spot; in the taxi driver’s midnight soup as a welcome alternative to pungent tripe soup, and the dietician’s protein plan. If quinoa is aspirational and bulgur nostalgic, mercimek is foundational: a pulse that has nourished this land since it was the Fertile Crescent.

Nazlan Ertan
SOMEONE CALLED FURKAN
Portrait of the Week Dec 4, 2025

SOMEONE CALLED FURKAN

Furkan Karabay, 29, is a journalist and has been detained three times in the past two years. On the 201st day of his latest imprisonment, he was sentenced but released. He refused to present a defense, tearing up the indictment in the courtroom.

Anonymous
RULING AKP OPENS DOOR TO SCRAPPING TRUSTEE SYSTEM IN KURDISH PEACE TALKS
Inside Turkey Dec 4, 2025

RULING AKP OPENS DOOR TO SCRAPPING TRUSTEE SYSTEM IN KURDISH PEACE TALKS

A key lawmaker, Mustafa Şen, from Turkey's ruling AKP suggested that the government should discontinue the practice of appointing state trustees to replace elected mayors. 'The terrorist organization has concluded its activity. Therefore, if a trustee was appointed to a municipality for that reason, we believe the practice should now be ended,' Şen stated.

Editorial Team
TURKEY’S 2026 BUDGET MISSES £5.4B EUROFIGHTER COST
Security and Defense Dec 2, 2025

TURKEY’S 2026 BUDGET MISSES £5.4B EUROFIGHTER COST

Under the agreement signed between Turkey and the U.K., the £5.4 billion payment to the Eurofighter consortium for 20 Typhoon fighter jets was not included in either the Defense Ministry’s budget or the Defense Industry Presidency's (SSB) budget. The Defense Industry Support Fund (SSDF) can be used as a source of funding for this project, but the cost of the Typhoons is approximately double the annual amount transferred to the fund from taxes collected by the state.

Editorial Team
FETİ YILDIZ AND MHP’S NEW TONE
Portrait of the Week Nov 28, 2025

FETİ YILDIZ AND MHP’S NEW TONE

Feti Yıldız is not a “latecomer” but a nationalist raised in the movement — a core MHP figure. With the Kurdish peace process, he became the party’s most visible face after Devlet Bahçeli. At 71, he carries the aura of a character who stepped out of the classic Yeşilçam cinema of the 1970s, and onto the political stage — as if he came from there, yet without acting. He simply is who he is. Of course, he is not the lead role; that belongs to Bahçeli. But even if Yıldız looks like a character actor, his strength lies in being exactly what he appears to be. He is not one of those shapeshifting politicians. He steers clear of the MHP’s trademark overblown patriotic rhetoric. He avoids slogans. He usually answers journalists’ questions by staying within the framework of his profession — the law.

Anonymous
RAKI AND DIPLOMACY OF WHO “WE” ARE
Guest Voices Nov 28, 2025

RAKI AND DIPLOMACY OF WHO “WE” ARE

When basketball player Alperen Şengün told an international audience that “rakı is our national drink,” he walked straight into a long domestic war over who is allowed to say “we” in Turkey. The outrage from certain commentators, demanding that the 23-year-old Houston Rockets center be punished for “promoting alcohol,” was predictable, not because of rakı itself, but because symbolic ownership of the drink has become a proxy for symbolic ownership of the nation.

Editorial Team