Turkey

US and European acquiescence in Turkey’s long-standing refusal to honour Kurdish ethnic, cultural, and political rights has come home to roost with Turkish opposition to Finnish and Swedish NATO membership. The opposition has sparked debates about Turkey’s controversial place in the North Atlantic defense alliance. Turkey’s detractors point to its …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due to visit Turkey June 8 as Ankara looks for a Russian or US nod to press ahead with a new military intervention against Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria. Though Lavrov’s talks in Ankara are expected to focus on the Ukraine war and its …

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson should dismiss Defence Minister Peter Hullqvist, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the newspaper Expressen reported on Saturday. Erdogan’s demand is based on a speech Hulqvist gave at a party 10 years ago where he celebrated the Kurdistan Workers’ People, PKK, and its imprisoned leader …

Turkey’s move to pressure Sweden and Finland into extraditing alleged “terrorists” they harbour is a method Ankara used for several years against countries in the Western Balkans, including EU candidate countries, under the idle gaze of Brussels. While Turkey wields investment and aid as a sword of Damocles over the …

Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amirabdollahian will pay a visit to Turkey on Monday, June 6. The upcoming trip will mark the top Iranian diplomat’s first visit to neighboring Turkey after taking office in August 2021. Istanbul is also going to host a trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of …

As diplomatic moves continue to shape the future of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea and Russia’s Sea of Azov ports as a result of Moscow’s aggression, the outcome of attempts to “rewire” worldwide grain transport logistics is complicating the international geoeconomic environment by inducing food security problems. The conflict …

There are growing claims and indications that refugees illegally crossing the Iranian-Turkish border, the route of an exodus from Afghanistan to the West, are forced to smuggle drugs by their traffickers. The paths of refugees and drug traffickers have crossed at the porous Iranian-Turkish border, the route of tens of …

Turkey’s foreign minister says he will gather with his Egyptian and Israeli counterparts, possibly with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar accompanying him to Israel. Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he would get together with his Egyptian and Israeli counterparts soon, in line with Turkey’s regional diplomacy efforts. “There are …

The decision by Tel Aviv University to establish academic bridges with three Turkish institutions reflects Jerusalem’s growing interest in Ankara’s policy of rapprochement. Tel Aviv University announced April 26 a new academic collaboration with three Turkish institutions: Koc, Ozyegin and Sabanci. “The purpose of the initiative is to promote academic …

Turkey has promised to root out “terrorists” from Northeast Syria, as part of its military operation in the Northeast, despite U.S. pressure. Has the Turkish operation in Northeast Syria begun? Recent declarations by the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who promised to eradicate “terrorism from the Tal Rifaat and Manbij” …