ANKARA, LONDON CUT RED TAPE ON CARS AND CHEMICALS
A bill aimed at removing technical trade barriers in the automotive and chemical sectors between Turkey and the United Kingdom has been submitted to the Turkish parliament for approval.
Analysis
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A bill aimed at removing technical trade barriers in the automotive and chemical sectors between Turkey and the United Kingdom has been submitted to the Turkish parliament for approval.
Unwilling to risk the Republicans losing their representative power, Ankara has accelerated its efforts to push the US to lift its arms embargo.
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will have several bilateral meetings in the margins of the NATO summit; yet all of them will be very short. His longest meeting will be with Antonio Costa and Ursula Von Der Leyen,” a Turkish diplomat told a European expert at a side event that took place in Ankara.
The government has started to admit that it is seeking a way to rid itself of the S-400 missiles it bought from Russia.
Paying an official visit to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of the NATO Summit and signaling movement on the F-35 and the Kaan's F110 engines, US President Donald Trump also touched on two subjects that sent a chill through Ankara: the release of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, and Turkey's stance in the US-Israeli war against Iran. Meant as praise, both stories cut deeper than they flattered.
Turkey's political agenda is expected to pivot sharply from diplomacy to domestic maneuvering as post-NATO scenarios dominate the discussion from July 9 onward. The conclusion of the NATO Ankara Summit, widely seen as an international success for Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally, has triggered intense political speculation amid increasing pressure on dissidents.
The word of the week is şatafat, and Ankara supplied the visual aid. At the NATO summit, Turkey received its guests with the full vocabulary of Erdoğan-era grandeur: mehter music, ceremonial guards, a turquoise carpet that seemed designed less for walking than for being recorded, and the Erdoğan couple standing before the vast Presidential Complex, its doors polished to a shine usually reserved for furniture showrooms. There was also the choreography.
Companies showcased $70 billion in products to state leaders at the defense industry forum that took place alongside the NATO Summit in Ankara.
Trump made ambiguous statements regarding the US delivery of F-35s to Turkey. Ankara, meanwhile, continues to seek a solution to the S-400 issue.
In the latest hearing of the Istanbul Municipality corruption trial on July 7, jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was not brought to the courtroom, and detentions of dissident journalists continued in Istanbul while the capital Ankara began hosting the NATO Summit.
US President Donald Trump will arrive in Ankara at around 2 p.m. on July 7. Although more than a thousand people will accompany him, his wife Melania will be absent, Turkey in Depth has learned.
In the CHP, rapidly heading toward a split after the absolute nullity ruling, one of the key questions people are looking to answer is what stance Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş will take.