Turkey

Erdogan’s Qatar visit failed to produce agreements that could help the ailing Turkish economy, but he wants to maintain Turkey’s partnership with Qatar, including military ties, while making efforts to reconcile with Gulf rivals. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has paid a visit to Qatar – a country he sees …

High-level diplomacy has intensified among competing Middle East regional powers, a flurry of bilateral talks that increasingly suggests what a “Plan B” would look like if, as seems likely, the U.S. and Iran fail to revive the deal that briefly constrained Tehran’s nuclear program. The pace of contacts and meetings …

The Sinjar Resistance Units is a member of the Popular Mobilization Units, making it officially part of the Iraqi security forces. Turkey killed a Yazidi commander in Iraq today. Marwan Badal, who commands the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), was killed in a Turkish airstrike in Sinjar in western Iraq. The …

Lawyers have accused Turkish authorities of unjustly detaining people for alleged Revolutionary Peoples’ Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) links. Turkish police conducted raids targeting a far-left armed group today. Police detained 25 individuals for alleged ties to the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) in Istanbul, Ankara and other parts of the country. …

Moscow is likely to welcome a Turkish mediation effort if it serves to restrain Ukraine from a military adventure. Turkey has offered to mediate in the Ukraine crisis as tensions between NATO and Russia escalate, with fears that Russia might be gearing up to invade eastern Ukraine. The proposal from …

Turkey is reportedly seeking to increase the foreign currency reserves possessed by its central bank, in a currency swap agreement with the United Arab Emirates that could amount to at least $5 billion. According to the London-based news outlet Middle East Eye, which cited an anonymous senior Turkish official, Ankara …

Increase of unqualified personnel and self-serving political appointees has harmed Ankara’s ability to conduct international affairs, experts say. Once considered the cream of the bureaucracy, Turkey’s foreign ministry is in decline as it becomes marginalized in policy-making and turns into an outlet for government loyalists waiting to be rewarded. This …

In the occupied al-Bab countryside, social media users reported the defection of the so-called commander of the al-Sukkaria village’s forces from the pro-Turkish Hamza Division militia. The commander was accompanied by other gunmen and some cars and their arrival in areas of army control. According to reports, gunmen from the …

Recep Tayyip Erdogan interferes in Turkey’s monetary policy – with serious consequences for the country’s currency. The Turkish currency is still in free fall. On Wednesday, the lira slid three percent to a new record low. In turn, the dollar’s exchange rate rose to as high as 13.49 liras – …

In reality, the Grey Wolves movement very much does exist. It has a long history of bloodbaths across Turkey and is now a growing movement across Europe as well as the South Caucasus. This ideology [Turanism, or the Greater Turkish homeland] believes in the superiority of a supposed Turkish race …