Analysis
Smart, independent reporting on Turkey's politics, economy and foreign affairs.
Eight ministers will take up four regional files at their first joint meeting. Their host, Turkey, plans to raise nearly every other problem on the international agenda, all in a single day.
OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu is testing the waters with the Security Council's permanent members for the post of UN secretary-general, although the regional rotation favors a candidate from the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC).
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Sheibani held separate talks in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Chief İbrahim Kalın, focusing heavily on regional security and the integration of Kurdish armed groups into Damascus’ central authority.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has fueled hope for progress in the Kurdish process but his stance doesn’t amount to real movement, according to the DEM Party. Soon after dismissing claims of a deadlock in the "Terror-Free Turkey" process as "noise" at the April 23 reception, Erdoğan reiterated that the process is advancing as intended and urged all actors to act responsibly during a turbulent regional period.
As the war between the US-Israel and Iran disrupts global energy routes, Turkey is trying to transform the regional crisis into an opportunity to offer security of supplies.
This week, Yerevan is not a distant capital at the edge of Europe’s map. Armenia has hosted the European Political Community summit at a moment when its political direction, its European ties and the regional peace process are all under scrutiny at once.
Amid uncertainty surrounding ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran, Ankara has accelerated its steps to rebuild regional security.
The MHP, a key partner of the ruling alliance under the leadership of the AKP, has seen a new wave of internal restructuring as the party leadership dissolved multiple regional organizations following the high-profile departure of Deputy Chair İzzet Ulvi Yönter.
Turkey is watching the protests in Iran with growing concern, warning that U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of intervention could trigger dangerous regional consequences as Ankara pushes de-escalation through diplomacy with Gulf countries.
What happens if Donald Trump were to send Delta Force to “get” Greenland? Would it be the end of NATO, as Denmark’s prime minister suggested? While the validity of NATO’s Article 5 is questioned, allies feel they can no longer rely on U.S. nuclear protection. In times of great power competition mid-size regional powers tend to forge alliances to consolidate their security.
Tufan Erhürman, the newly elected president of Northern Cyprus, voiced guarded expectations ahead of his first trilateral meeting on Dec. 11 with Greek Cypriot figure Nikos Christodoulides and UN envoy María Ángela Holguín. Speaking to Turkish journalists, Erhürman said that shifting regional dynamics and a long record of unsuccessful rounds make a rapid return to substantive talks unrealistic — particularly without agreed-upon parameters.
Turkish democracy is the casualty of Europe’s rediscovery of Turkey’s strategic value. To better understand the context of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to Ankara next week, one has to go back to the end of the Cold War. Whereas European countries have benefited from the peace dividend, the contrary happened for Turkey in the aftermath of the fall of the Iron Curtain. After enjoying the relative stability of the bipolar order of the Cold War era, Turkey found itself in the midst of several conflict zones. While most European countries downsized their defense budgets, Turkey had no such luxury. The fight against separatist terrorism, the turbulence created by the Gulf War, and regional conflicts like the ones in the Caucasus dictated the maintenance of a big and well-equipped army.