Turkey

Can elections remove an autocrat like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power? If you pose this question to Turkey watchers in Western capitals to get their take on the country’s upcoming election, you will get a resounding “no” from a significant number of them. Some will say Erdogan is …

It is a cliché for politicians to claim that an upcoming election is the most critical vote in the history of the country. In Turkey’s case, however, the presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 are indeed the most consequential ever. The prospects for Turkey’s democratic future are at stake. …

The new sanctions target members of US-designated terrorist groups Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. The US Treasury Department coordinated with the government of Turkey to impose sanctions Tuesday on two men accused of serving as financial facilitators for terrorist groups in Syria’s opposition-controlled northwest. The Treasury action targets …

The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) on Thursday announced that it eliminated a “high-ranking” member of the PKK/KCK terrorist group in a pinpoint operation in the northern Iraqi region of Gara. Ahmet Gümüş, codenamed “Cudi Engizek,” had been the so-called training officer of the KCK/PKK terrorists since 2022, the agency said, …

Hundreds protest against Arab rapprochement with Syria’s al-Assad Hundreds of people have taken to the streets of several cities in northwestern Syria to protest against warming ties between some Arab countries and President Bashar al-Assad. The biggest demonstration took place on Sunday in Idlib, a stronghold of forces opposed to …

Ankara says that the quadripartite meeting planned in Moscow on Tuesday, is part of the efforts to normalize relations with the regime, Asharq Al-Awsat says. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar surprised many by announcing a quadripartite meeting of defense ministers and intelligence chiefs from Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Syria in …

Terror group has ‘extensive work in Sweden to raise money and finance terrorist activities aimed at Türkiye,’ admits Foreign Minister Billstrom STOCKHOLM The Swedish foreign minister has admitted that the PKK terrorist organization’s extensive activities in his country are the reason Türkiye is preventing Sweden from joining NATO, an intergovernmental …

Rasim Akyol, a fugitive member of the PKK terrorist group, was brought to Türkiye after being captured by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in an unspecified country, security sources told media outlets Friday. Photos shared by security sources show Akyol at an undisclosed location between two Turkish flags. Akyol was …

At least 126 politicians, journalists, lawyers and artists have been detained in an operation that observers call an intimidation tactic before the May 14 elections. More than 120 people were detained across Turkey on Tuesday in an alleged counter-terrorism operation that targeted mainly Kurdish politicians, journalists, lawyers and artists less …

For the first time in twenty years, a change of leadership in Turkey is possible. The EU must be prepared for the foreign policy shift an opposition victory would bring. Whether in the first round on May 14 or the second on May 28, Turkey’s presidential election will ultimately be …