CRASHES IN TURKISH ARMY CONTINUE: FIRST CHINOOK JOINS THE LIST
A series of aircraft crashes related to the Turkish Armed Forces over the past six months has sparked debate over whether there was external interference.
Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
A series of aircraft crashes related to the Turkish Armed Forces over the past six months has sparked debate over whether there was external interference.
Sigara (and its unruly cousin, cigara) comes to Turkish via Italian — a linguistic clue that matches the prevailing historical account: tobacco reached the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century through Genoese trade routes, though some credit goes to the British. Origins aside, the word now points to a habit so entrenched it once traveled abroad as cliché: “smoke like a Turk.”
As Hüsamettin Cindoruk and Yalçın Küçük passed away within days of each other, this is an attempt to sketch their portraits in a single piece. They were close in age. While they may have moved in different political lanes, they still shared firsthand experience of more than sixty years of this country’s political life.
“The opposition called for a quorum check, and when the required majority was not met, parliament was adjourned.” In recent months, this recurring news in parliament is not merely a simple quorum crisis. Behind it lie both structural problems inherent in the presidential system and the power struggle between the government and the opposition, spilling into parliamentary proceedings.
The CEO of Turkey’s largest private lender, İşbank, called for an immediate departure from the government’s economic program, saying that global conditions have made the fight against inflation impossible.
Two Turkish courts have handed down prison sentences to four journalists who were facing the same accusation of 'spreading information misleading to the public,' under Article 217/A of the penal code.
Each time political appointments in diplomacy are criticised in Turkey, the same defence appears with the reliability of a reflex: “Other countries do it too”. Perhaps they do. But mediocrity does not become wisdom once imported.
Concerned by the risk of being excluded from trade with Europe, the AKP government is planning to amend the public procurement law.
Amid uncertainty surrounding ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran, Ankara has accelerated its steps to rebuild regional security.
The reopening of a six-year-old cold case involving a missing university student has reignited the main opposition’s anger towards Justice Minister Akın Gürlek, as the recent reports show then–Tunceli governor Tuncay Sonel played a critical role in covering up the case of the missing young woman Gülistan Doku.
Turkey will assume command of NATO's Allied Reaction Force starting in 2028, and the TAF plans to increase the number of its commando brigades from 25 to 40 within the next three years.
Hungary’s parliamentary elections on April 12 — described as the toughest test of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year rule — will be closely watched not only in Europe but also in Turkey by both the AKP and the opposition.