Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
The first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister yields deals on defense, energy and air transport as Ottawa seeks to reduce its reliance on the US and makes a sharp U-turn toward finding alternative partners.
Binali Yıldırım. The last prime minister before the country shifted to the Turkish-model presidential system. Last seen in New York, at the UN General Assembly as President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the chamber.
Former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım won a defamation lawsuit against his predecessor Ahmet Davutoğlu, pro-government columnist Abdülkadir Selvi revealed.
Binali Yıldırım, Turkey's last prime minister who has long been sidelined by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has also entered the agenda alongside the Gökçek case.
For the first time in Turkish history, a former prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, was summoned for criticizing the president and then he invited President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to his son’s wedding ceremony.
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation into former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, 67, for allegedly insulting the president in a video recorded five years ago but circulated recently on social media.
Turkish authorities have closed a brief investigation into British economist Timothy Ash over comments likening President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A reference to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks was enough to increase the tension between the AKP and DEM soon after the two’s cooperation on the framework law.
On Friday — a day of particular symbolic weight for the Islamic world — President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif put their signatures to a trilateral defense agreement in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.
A live signing ceremony crowning Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi's visit to Ankara was disrupted when a Development Road agreement went unsigned, prompting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to intervene on camera and Al Zaidi to confront his own transport minister.
Questions about the future of Turkey-Armenia normalization have grown after Turkish Foreign Ministry removed key wording from its statement on Armenian elections, putting pressure on Armenia rather than also pushing Azerbaijan and it took President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan four days to congratulate the Armenian prime minister on his election win.
As Armenia heads toward the pivotal June 7 elections — widely seen as critical for the continuity of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s peace agenda — Turkey has accelerated the normalization process, while Russia has intensified pressure on Yerevan through sanctions.