Tag: Turkey

Europe/Turkey – EU engagement gives Turkey a free pass on human rights violations (The Strategist)

William Gourlay It’s said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. In diplomacy, it would seem that it’s seating arrangements that can be tricky. At a...

Ukraine/Turkey – Ukraine-Turkey cooperation has its limits (Al Jazeera)

Dimitar Bechev Turkey cannot extend the same support to Ukraine it has given to Azerbaijan. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/4/18/ukraine-turkey-cooperation-has-its-benefits-but-also-limits

Turkey/USA – Turkey’s US envoy ‘not naive’ to differences, sees room for cooperation with Washington (Al-Monitor)

In an interview with Al-Monitor's Andrew Parasiliti, Hasan Murat Mercan talked the S-400s, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and what a US recognition of...

Turkey/Africa – Turkey’s Africa Policy: Success Story or Inflated Narrative? (Arab Gulf State Institute in Wasginton)

Yusuf Kenan Küçük Facing domestic and external pressure on multiple fronts, Turkey is in desperate need of success stories, especially in the foreign policy domain. https://agsiw.org/turkeys-africa-policy-success-story-or-inflated-narrative/

The Rise and Rise of Turkish Drone Technology (BESA Center)

Burak Bekdil Everything’s coming up roses for Turkey’s thriving drone industry, but a cash-strapped economy and technological challenges may slow further progress. https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/the-rise-and-rise-of-turkish-drone-technology/

Syria/Russia/Turkey – Russia and Syrian Arab Army Targeting Turkish-Backed Opposition’s Energy Infrastructure (The Jamestown Foundation)

Can Kasapoglu The local Russian Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil—VKS) contingent and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) have shifted their operational focus to targeting energy...

Revisiting and going beyond the EU-Turkey migration agreement of 2016 (Brookings)

Kemal Kirişci Kemal Kirişci argues that the time is right to revisit the EU-Turkey Framework, and in particular, to adapt the Facility for Refugees in Turkey...

(Turkey) Turkey’s Canal Istanbul dispute explained (Al Jazeera)

Umut Uras Controversy in Turkey over mega waterway project and key international treaty leads to arrest of retired admirals. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/5/turkey-what-you-need-to-know-on-canal-istanbul-montreux-dispute

(Turkey) Turkey arrests 10 retired admirals over government criticism (Al Jazeera)

Open letter is harshly condemned by the president’s office, which says the move is ‘reminiscent of coup times’. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/5/turkey-issues-arrest-warrants-over-retired-admirals-open-letter

(Turkey) Turkey condemns warning by retired admirals over Bosphorus treaty (Al Jazeera)

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin says declaration by the former naval officers was ‘reminiscent of coup times’. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/4/turkey-condemns-warning-by-retired-admirals-over-bosphorus-treaty

(Turkey) Quo Vadis Turkish Politics? (BESA Center)

Begum Burak Turkey has never had a fully liberal democratic regime. The country, which suffered the authoritarianism of the Kemalist regime’s top-down attempts to modernize,...

(Greece/Turkey) Greece accuses Turkey of trying to provoke it with migrant boats (Al Jazeera)

Turkish deputy interior minister Ismail Catakli rejects claims, accusing Greece of pushing back 231 migrants in seven incidents. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/3/greece-accuses-turkey-of-trying-to-provoke-it-with-migrant-boats

(Central Asia/Turkey/Russia/China) Moscow and Beijing Seek to Counter Growing Turkish Influence in Central Asia (The Jamestown Foundation)

Paul Goble Geopolitical competition over Central Asia is intensifying, with the two most prominent longstanding rivals, Russia and China, now confronted by the rising power...

(Turkey) On Turkish Clubhouse, a brief experiment in a more open web (Brookings)

Merve Tahiroglu When students at Istanbul’s Boğaziçi University, Turkey’s top academic institution, gathered in January to protest President Recep Tayyip’s Erdoğan’s eleventh-hour appointment by fiat of a...

(Turkey) Turkey detains 26 suspects over defense industry espionage charges (Defense News)

Burak Ege Bekdil Turkey’s security and intelligence forces detained 26 people in a March 30 joint operation, charging the suspects with defense industry espionage and...

(Turkey) Thousands protest Turkey’s exit from domestic violence treaty (Al Jazeera)

Protesters take to the streets for second consecutive weekend to demand Turkey reverse decision to withdraw from 2011 Istanbul Convention. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/27/thousands-protest-turkey-exit-domestic-violence-treaty