Turkey is now using the distraction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a cover to increase its likelihood of officially annexing Cyprus’s north. It is not just part of the island country of Cyprus that is being occupied and demeaned. What is being occupied, colonized, and culturally destroyed is a …
Read More »Turkish Weapons Company Donates 3 Armed Drones to Ukraine
A Turkish weapons manufacturing company announced that it will donate three new armed drones to Ukraine after a Ukrainian politician raised about $20 million in a crowdfunding campaign to buy the unmanned aerial vehicles.
Read More »Ankara forces companies to sell hard currency as circle tightens
The Turkish government’s latest loan restriction may help the embattled lira recover to some extent, but not without the risk of damaging side effects. Desperate against galloping inflation but bent on keeping interest rates low, Turkey’s government has turned to interventionist measures akin to capital controls to bolster the embattled …
Read More »Turkey lifts objection to Sweden, Finland joining NATO at last minute
Following the signing of a memorandum between Turkey, Sweden, and Finland, Erdogan lifted his veto against the Nordic expansion of NATO hours before the Madrid summit started. After a day of phone diplomacy, conflicting statements, and last-minute political posturing, Turkey has given the nod to NATO hopefuls Sweden and Finland …
Read More »Libya’s Expanding Proxy War May Be the Ultimate Test of NATO’s Resilience
With Egypt reportedly on the brink of invading neighboring Libya, and troops from Chad said to be on their way north to join Gen. Khalifa Haftar in his fight to topple the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, what was already a complicated proxy war could soon become Africa’s first full-on …
Read More »An Isolated Erdogan Learns the Cost of Hubris in Idlib
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Russia on Thursday, seeking to persuade President Vladimir Putin to help stem disaster in Syria’s Idlib province. Turkish forces are locked in fierce combat there with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army in what has become the last bastion of the armed rebels fighting …
Read More »Erdogan’s Weaponization of Religion Is Losing Its Edge
For more than three months, Turkey has been rocked by rolling protests centered in Istanbul. Following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s controversial appointment of businessman Melih Bulu as the new rector of Bogazici University in January, students and professors began holding rallies to denounce the pick. They see Bulu as an …
Read More »Turkey’s wartime bridge to the West is collapsing
Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine has forced countries around the world to reexamine their geopolitical choices. Turkey, a strategic partner to both of the states at war, has been affected more than most nations. Caught in a lose-lose situation where taking any side in the conflict would lead …
Read More »What is Turkey’s end game?
NATO leaders will convene in a historic meeting in Madrid next week amid three lingering questions: Will Finland and Sweden get official invitations from the Transatlantic alliance? Will US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meet on the sidelines of the summit? And what is Ankara’s …
Read More »NATO blinks as Turkey maintains threats to block Sweden, Finland from alliance
Turkey’s strategy in blocking Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO memberships could soon start to pay off. Ankara’s threats to block Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO memberships may yield some modest dividends, with the security alliance weighing whether to devote its last session during a summit in Madrid next week to “challenges” to …
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