Turkey

Turkey Scrambles to Salvage Its Influence in a Post-U.S. Afghanistan

Like other foreign powers, Turkey was caught off-guard by the speed of the Taliban’s recent blitz across the country, which has greatly complicated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans. While most NATO countries were happy to wash their hands of the conflict after a grueling 20-year counterinsurgency and nation-building effort, …

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An Isolated Erdogan Learns the Cost of Hubris in Idlib

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Russia on Thursday, seeking to persuade President Vladimir Putin to help stem disaster in Syria’s Idlib province. Turkish forces are locked in fierce combat there with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army in what has become the last bastion of the armed rebels fighting …

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Erdogan’s Africa Diplomacy Puts Turkey’s Ambitions to the Test

Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan touched down in Luanda, Angola, for the first leg of a four-day, three-nation diplomatic tour of Africa. After meeting with Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the Turkish leader continued on to West Africa, where he met with his Togolese counterpart, Faure Gnassingbe, before concluding …

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Turkey’s Former Economy Czar Looks to Unseat Erdogan and the AKP

In a major political shake-up in Turkey, Ali Babacan, a former economy minister and once-close confidante of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently ended months of speculation and formally launched a new political party to challenge his old boss. Babacan, who resigned last July from Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or …

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Erdogan’s Weaponization of Religion Is Losing Its Edge

For more than three months, Turkey has been rocked by rolling protests centered in Istanbul. Following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s controversial appointment of businessman Melih Bulu as the new rector of Bogazici University in January, students and professors began holding rallies to denounce the pick. They see Bulu as an …

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Was Erdoğan wirklich fürchtet

Mit aller Macht stemmt sich der türkische Staatschef gegen die Inflation. Nur leider mit den völlig falschen Mitteln. Die Teuerungsrate kostete schon einmal eine Regierung das Amt. Eine Regierung, die 36 Prozent Inflation in ihrer Jahresbilanz stehen hat, sollte sich fragen, was sie falsch macht. Denn sonst, und das ist …

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Erdogan’s End Game

Will He Undermine Turkish Democracy to Stay in Power? Over the past few months, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has looked increasingly desperate. He has stepped up his repression of critics and political opponents, including, most recently, Metin Gurcan, a founding member of the opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), …

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Turkish inflation hits highest level under Erdogan’s rule

Turkey’s consumer inflation is bound to increase further in the coming months after reaching 36% in 2021, with even bigger numbers recorded in the producer sector. Turkey’s consumer inflation surged by a staggering 13.6 percent in December, bringing the 2021 annual rate to 36 percent — the highest under the …

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Turkey urges Russia to moderate demands on NATO over Ukraine

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is offering to mediate the crisis, but its not clear Turkey has enough leverage to do so effectively. Turkey’s top diplomat publicly urged Russia’s government to drop what he called Moscow’s “one-sided” demands regarding NATO and Ukraine. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia should take a …

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Turkey nabs 9 Daesh suspects in counterterrorism raids

Turkish police detained at least nine foreign nationals over their links to the Daesh terrorist group in Istanbul, security sources said Saturday. Anti-terror police squads launched an operation to nab the suspects, believed to be a part of groups planning attacks on behalf of Daesh, said the sources, who requested …

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