Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
“Israel can claim it is a democracy … but in this region, whether you like it or not, what has worked best is a benevolent monarchy,” said Tom Barrack, speaking at the Doha Forum in the first week of December.
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.
The political parties represented in the parliamentary commission — tasked with supervising the Terror-Free Turkey initiative — have started submitting their reports to the speaker of Parliament. But both the governing bloc and the opposition appear far from agreeing on a common “solution law.”
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.
Sözcü TV, which began broadcasting on March 1, 2023, has undergone a major management overhaul that resulted in a wave of layoffs and raised questions about a broader editorial shift at one of Turkey’s key opposition channels.
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.
While Turkey and Iran were on opposite sides during the Syrian civil war, Israel's hostility to the new regime in Damascus appears to be pushing Ankara and Tehran closer as both define Israel as a threat to Syria’s stability.
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.
A red-haired prosecutor’s dismissal months after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu’s March arrest was the headline of pro-government Sabah daily on Dec. 1, while her testimony and the fact that she was removed from office nine months after his detention have prompted questions.
Images of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani accompanied by uniformed peshmerga fighters wearing red berets and carrying assault rifles weapons in Şırnak sparked outrage — particularly from MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli — and drove the Interior Ministry to investigate itself.
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.
The collapse of the half-century-long Assad dynasty following the flight of Bashar Assad to Russia on Dec. 8, 2024 overjoyed pro-government circles here. Some even started to mention Aleppo as Turkey’s 82nd province, while the shares of cement and construction companies surged on the stock exchange.