Turkey

On July 10th, 2023, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country would support Sweden’s accession bid to NATO on the condition that EU accession talks are unfrozen. Within 24 hours however, Erdogan apparently signed off on a new deal that would drop Turkey’s veto over Sweden and allow …

Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Jeddah on Monday on the first leg of a three-state Gulf tour with business and investment at the top of the agenda. The Turkish president is leading a massive delegation of government ministers and officials, and about 200 business leaders, investors and company owners. He …

Despite Turkiye’s professed support for Iraq’s sovereignty, its actions, including nine years of illegal oil imports from Kurdistan, reveal quite the opposite, with the repercussions now affecting global oil supply. In a joint press conference held in 2019 at Turkiye’s Presidential Complex in Ankara, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his …

At the NATO Summit that was held last week in Vilnius, the capital of the Baltic state of Lithuania, the agenda was dominated by the Ukraine war and Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan surprised NATO by announcing before his departure for Vilnius that he …

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s leaders gathered this week for a major summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Of course, the main focus was on Ukraine, and a new NATO-Ukraine Council was established to help boost cooperation. The alliance also agreed that Ukraine will someday join the club. To the disappointment of …

The wait is (nearly) over. After more than a year of ups and downs since Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has agreed to back Stockholm’s bid to become the Alliance’s thirty-second member. The announcement came on the eve of the NATO Summit …

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talks about an “evil West” but wants to become part of it — perhaps to “improve” it? Erdoğan needs money. He needs it now, and preferably from Western markets instead of one-off cash injections from Russia and friendly Gulf states. Erdoğan aims to… [k]eep within …

Ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Gulf tour which will include Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, Ankara is working to maximize economic cooperation with regional states in a bid to ease its foreign currency crunch. Speaking ahead of his Gulf tour on that starts on Monday, Turkish President …

The Turkish leader is navigating Ankara’s relationships in ways that he believes best benefit Turkey’s interests and above all his own political survival. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “U-turn” on Sweden’s accession to NATO during the alliance summit in Vilnius has prompted a flurry of Western commentary on how Turkey …

The comments clearly signal that the drama over Sweden’s accession is not over, and Turkey’s push to overcome Congressional sanctions and acquire F-16 fighter jets remains the main sticking point. As NATO leaders continue to applaud Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his last minute U-turn greenlighting Sweden’s NATO membership …