Fighters for favors: Turkish Parliament approves Sweden NATO bid
After months of stonewalling, the Turkish Parliament finally approved a directive issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for Sweden’s NATO bid on Tuesday, January 23rd, leaving Hungary as the last holdout. Just a day after the resolution, President Joe Biden issued a letter to Congress, announcing his intention to initiate the sale of F-16 […]
‘Lost diamonds’: Rare Russian books stolen from European libraries
A spate of thefts of rare Russian classics worth millions of euros from libraries across Eastern Europe has left a trail that points all the way to auctions in Russia.
Korean space race? North and South chase spy satellites
North Korea claimed Wednesday to have successfully put its first military surveillance satellite into orbit, with the South also preparing to send up its first spy satellite later this month. The two launch attempts, set to come in such quick succession, appear to be the beginnings of a space race on the Korean peninsula
ELIMED webinar series (7): Nuclear energy and proliferation in Turkey’s Asian politics
The last one of seven-episode ELIMED webinar series, which is a media and information project presented by Center for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) and supported by Mercator Foundation and German Federal Foreign Ministry, was aired on 8 November at Medyascope’s YouTube channel. Nuclear energy has increasingly featured as one of the solutions for the worsening […]
This Week in Turkey (276): BTK-gate 2.0: They are watching | Füsun Nebil
Tonight: We’ll be doing our part 2 on BTK’s mass surveillance scandal and investigative journalist and tech expert Füsun Nebil will be joining us in the studio. The government says economic confidence numbers are the lowest in a year this month, Turkey continues to do it’s very best to launch another military offensive into Syria, […]
In tourism capital Antalya, feared economic effects of Russia-Ukraine conflict: “Our losses will be 40%”
reporting by Ufuk Çeri translated by Leo Kendrick Antalya, a major city on Turkey’s southern coast and one of the country’s primary tourism hubs, has begun to feel outsized effects of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The city has long been a popular destination for Ukrainian and Russian vacationers. Of the nine million tourists Antalya hosted in 2021, […]
LGBTI+s arriving in Turkey from Russia: “Support Ukraine, but don’t hate all Russians”
by Edanur Tanış translated by Leo Kendric As Russia’s attack on Ukraine enters its second month, citizens in both countries are feeling the economic and political pressures caused by the war. Among these citizens is a sizable number of LGBT+ individuals also feeling the effects of the conflict. Since the beginning of the war last […]
As tensions rise in Ukraine, Turkey attempts delicate role of mediator
by Leo Kendrick As tensions have risen on the Russia-Ukraine border in recent weeks over fears of an imminent invasion by Moscow, Turkey’s role in a potential crisis has come into focus of late amidst a recent visit to Kiev by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the […]
2021’s unresolved foreign policy challenges continue to dog Ankara heading into 2022
by Leo Kendrick 2021 saw an active year of Turkish foreign policy, defined by events such as withdrawal from Afghanistan, a diplomatic thaw with the United Arab Emirates, talks with Egypt, a visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to New York, a much discussed meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a major diplomatic crisis with the West, a face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden in Italy, and infringement proceedings at […]
This Week in Turkey (236): Dr. Emre Erşen on Turkey-Russia-US Relations
President Erdoğan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on wednesday where the two heads of state had a closed-door meeting in Sochi, Russia. Our guest tonight is co-author of the book ‘’Turkey Between the United States and Russia’’ Doctor of Political Sciences Emre Erşen. Continuing on with domestic politics, election season is fast approaching. The People’s Democratic Party […]
Erdoğan-Putin meeting, short on Syria details, emphasizes trade and strength of Turkey-Russia ties
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin yesterday in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders in over a year and a half. Expectations leading up to the summit had anticipated the situation in northwestern Syria to take center stage in the two leaders’ discussion. […]
This Week in Turkey (207): with Dimitar Bechev on Turkey-Russia relations
This Week in Turkey‘s guest was Dimitar Bechev. Mr. Bechev is a fellow at the Atlantic Council Europe Center and the Institute for Human Sciences Vienna, as well as a visiting researcher at Oxford University. Dr. Bechev has written extensively on the EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and […]
