April, 2021

• 21 April

  US can build military facilities in Norway under new defense cooperation pact

  

  The U.S. and Norway signed a revised defense cooperation agreement Friday that will allow the Americans to build facilities at three airfields and one naval base in the country. The agreement comes amid continuing concerns of Russian military activities along NATO’s borders, including in the Arctic region. Facilities will be …

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• 21 April

  Afghanistan withdrawal plan could involve small troop surge

  

  The Pentagon is pulling out its old Afghanistan drawdown plans and reworking them for a Sept. 11 deadline, per President Joe Biden’s announcement of the end of Operation Resolute Support on Wednesday. The 2,500 troops deployed to that country may see some back-up arriving to help with removing equipment, shutting …

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• 21 April

  Turkey ‘neutralizes’ 9 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq

  

  Air operation carried out in Metina region, says National Defense Ministry Turkish security forces “neutralized” nine PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said on Monday. The terrorists were neutralized in an air operation in the Metina region, the ministry said on Twitter, also sharing footage of the …

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• 21 April

  Europe Is Losing Patience With Erdogan’s Islamist Rhetoric

  

  As a terrorist attack was unfolding late Monday night in Vienna, where four people were killed and 22 others injured in a shooting rampage on crowded bars, speculation about the culprit, unsurprisingly, was rife on social media. Many of those offering theories were quick to accuse Turkish President Recep Tayyip …

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• 21 April

  Turkey’s Former Economy Czar Looks to Unseat Erdogan and the AKP

  

  In a major political shake-up in Turkey, Ali Babacan, a former economy minister and once-close confidante of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, recently ended months of speculation and formally launched a new political party to challenge his old boss. Babacan, who resigned last July from Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, or …

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• 21 April

  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 …

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• 21 April

  After the U.S., Turkey Should Be Next to Leave Syria

  

  With the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic crash dominating the headlines, the civil war in Syria has faded into media obscurity. But there is more bad news there that warrants the world’s attention. Turkey is engaged in a military campaign in Syria’s northwestern ldlib province that risks a conflict …

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• 21 April

  Escalating to Deescalate? Why Turkey Is Targeting Syria’s Army

  

  For the first time in Syria’s nine-year war, the Turkish military this week launched direct attacks on the Syrian army. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he ordered howitzers and F-16 fighter jets to hit President Bashar al-Assad’s forces near the Turkish border in response to the killing of …

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• 21 April

  Turkey and Egypt Open the Door to a Diplomatic Thaw

  

  In mid-March, Turkey and Egypt confirmed they’d had their first diplomatic contact since breaking off relations in 2013. Though the talks were described by Egyptian sources as preliminary, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying, “Contacts at the diplomatic level have started.” The thaw comes after a decade …

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• 21 April

  How Many Bridges Can Turkey’s Erdogan Burn?

  Since his sweeping overhaul of Turkey’s political system in 2017, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cemented his near-total control over the country. Despite the worst electoral setback of Erdogan’s career in the Istanbul mayoral election in June 2019, as well as a tailspinning economy exacerbated by the fallout from the …

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