EARLY INVESTORS PREPARE TO EXIT TOGG
Conglomerates Vestel Elektronik and Anadolu Group are in advanced negotiations to sell their stakes in Turkey’s first domestic electric vehicle manufacturer TOGG.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
TRADE MINISTER LOBBIES IN BRUSSELS TO SECURE 'MADE IN EU' STATUS FOR AUTO SECTOR
Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat led a high-stakes diplomatic mission in Brussels on July 16-17 to secure Turkey's inclusion in the European Union’s upcoming 'Made in Europe' framework.
KAZAKH BILLIONAIRE SECURES REGULATORY APPROVAL TO BUY TURKISH BANK
International financial giant Freedom Holding Corp., founded by Kazakh billionaire Timur Turlov, has completed the regulatory approvals to acquire a majority stake in Turkish Bank A.Ş.
JUSTICE MINISTER BETS ON COLD CASES TO REBUILD TRUST IN JUSTICE
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek has staked his reputation on a sweeping review of Turkey's unsolved murders — a calculated move that appears designed as much to rehabilitate the judiciary's battered image as to deliver justice.
HIGH-STAKES DIPLOMACY: ERDOĞAN’S WHITE HOUSE VISIT AND ITS STRATEGIC COSTS
There is a way of establishing a working relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. First you have to make sure you see him as a smart, respectable world leader. That’s the easy part. Then you have to lure him with trade deals, making sure he is the winning side. Therefore, it comes as no surprise when Turkey unilaterally dropped its retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products on Sept. 22, a few days before the scheduled meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House. Buzzwords are important for Trump, and tariff is one of them. The tariffs, which covered products including passenger cars, fruit, rice, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, solid fuels, and chemical products, were introduced in 2018 in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports enacted during Trump's first term in office.
ERDOĞAN’S RESPONSIBILITY AT THIS HISTORIC MOMENT
After the deplorable treatment of Zelenskyy at the hands of Trump and Vance in the Oval Office, there is no question that the world, especially Europe, is at a critical threshold. If a brave new Europe is to emerge out of this crisis, every stakeholder must play their part. How President Erdoğan assumes his responsibilities will be of crucial importance for Turkey. By Hakan Okçal
CARREFOURSA SOLD TO A101, LIFESTYLE DEBATE IGNITED
Sabancı Holding and Carrefour Nederland BV sold their majority stake in CarrefourSA to Yeni Mağazacılık A.Ş., the parent company of the discount giant A101, reigniting debate over alcohol sales and lifestyles.
NO SPECTACLE FOR RAMAZAN: A SURVIVAL GUIDE FROM EXCESSIVE CALORIES
Diplomacy loves spectacle because spectacle is easy to schedule, easy to photograph, and very easy to mistake for substance. Add social media and you get the Olympics of visibility: who attended, who hosted, who was seated where, who spoke, and, in the end, who ate what.
TURKEY’S STAKES IN THE IRANIAN CRISIS
The Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 gave Netanyahu a golden opportunity to eliminate Israel’s adversaries in the region.
AĞIR ABİ
In Turkish, ağır abi, literally “heavy-weight bro”—is not your run-of-the-mill elder sibling. He is a stoic, charismatic figure who commands respect with the mere arch of an eyebrow. He doesn’t talk much; he doesn’t need to. His presence alone does the heavy lifting. And if anyone currently embodies the essence of an ağır abi, it’s Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s inscrutable foreign minister. Fidan, poker-faced and perpetually unruffled, has become the leading man in Turkey’s diplomatic theater, even overshadowing the usual stars, such as President Erdoğan and the minister of defense. He seized center stage after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, stepping up to the podium in Doha with all the composure of a man placing bets in a high-stakes poker game. His words called for an inclusive transition in Syria: “The new administration must be established in an orderly manner. There must never be a desire for revenge. It is time to unite and reconstruct the country.”