FIDAN DISCUSSES ERDOĞAN'S DAMASCUS VISIT
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan completed a two-day visit to Syria, where he discussed preparations for a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Damascus.
Analysis
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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan completed a two-day visit to Syria, where he discussed preparations for a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Damascus.
The government revealed its new Medium-Term Program (OVP) covering 2027–2029, outlining macroeconomic targets that analysts view as unusually realistic while hinting at election preparations for 2027.
Engineers at Turkey's first nuclear power plant have finished a critical test as part of preparations for the launch planned by the end of 2026, the Energy Ministry said. Technicians successfully loaded 163 simulated fuel assemblies into the reactor pressure vessel of the first unit at the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. The operation is a major milestone in the launch of the country’s first nuclear power facility.
One of the most concrete steps yet in the normalization process between Turkey and Armenia—launched in 2021—has been taken with a move toward direct trade between the two countries. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is heading into a June 7 election widely seen as a vote of confidence on his parallel agendas of steering the country toward the West while pursuing peace with Azerbaijan and normalization with Turkey. Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli announced on X on May 13 that bureaucratic preparations for the launch of direct trade between Turkey and Armenia had been completed as of May 11.
With uncertainty surrounding whether US President Donald Trump will attend the alliance summit in Ankara, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in the capital to discuss preparations.
Preparations for the COP31 climate summit, set to be held in Antalya on Nov. 9-20, are fueling controversy over costs, procurement methods and forced land seizures.
Despite weeks of public speculation, four senior diplomats based in Ankara tell Turkey in Depth that the question of US President Donald Trump's non-attendance of the NATO summit is off the table and preparations are well underway.
As the first hearing in the main “corruption and bribery” case against Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and his colleagues approaches — along with the anniversary of his detention — CHP Chair Özgür Özel said there are preparations to delay the proceedings by another three months.
As the countdown continues for the NATO Summit to be hosted by Ankara on July 7-8, 2026, preparations are accelerating in the capital. Activity focuses on sites along the approximately 17.5-km route from the Presidential Palace, where the leaders' summit will take place, to the military airfield in Etimesgut.