Hot Pursuit: Recent Episodes
Ahval
After a series of surprises, crisis and turns of Turkey, Sweden and Finland are formally invited to NATO as members. Marc Pierini, a former ambassador of the EU in Ankara and currently a senior researcher with Carnegie Europe, shares his broad analysis of the various aspects of the dramatic process.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s distancing of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is becoming more tangible and a crisis within NATO, created by Turkey’s objections to the membership of Sweden and Finland, begs the question of whether years of appeasement of Erdoğan by the West has reached a dead end, said Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Program Director at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED).
It is very difficult to see an endgame for Turkish foreign policy, because for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, there is no endgame, said Hamit Bozarslan, Director of the Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan, and Central Asian Studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, France.
Turkey, under Erdoğan's leadership, escalates series of challenges and crisis within NATO, in the neighbourhood and region. Pushing Sweden and Finland into a corner, Erdoğan ups the ante also with the United States and seems all set for a large-scale incursion into Syrian and Iraqi soil. What's at stake? Has Erdoğan passed the Rubicon? How can NATO react? Will the region's Kurds once more end up as losers of the grand power game? Ahval’s Editor in Chief Yavuz Baydar talked to a top expert, Prof Bozarslan on the issue, for Hot Pursuit podcast series on Wednesday.
President Erdoğan's announcement of an imminent incursion onto northern Syria has complicated his spat with NATO. What will Sweden and Finland do, to meet Turkey's conditions to lift its veto on NATO membership? What is the prime reason for Sweden to keep its relations with the Syrian Kurdish YPG forces? At the end of the day, will the USA be able to cut Gordion's Knot? Jan Hallenberg, a top Swedish expert on NATO and a senior researcher with the Insititute of International Relations (UI) explains the context to Yavuz Baydar, Editor of Ahval News.
Turkey’s decades old neo-Ottomanist ideology has been transformed and strengthened under the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said Cengiz Çandar, a senior Turkish columnist and Middle East expert.
In a discussion with Ahval editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar for the Hot Pursuit podcast, Çandar spoke about his latest book “Turkey’s Neo-Ottomanist Moment - A Eurasianist Odyssey”.
Turkey’s crisis of democracy may not end with the departure of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as there is ample reason to question whether fair elections would occur in a post-Erdoğan Turkey, said Steven Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relation.
Turkey may struggle to emerge as a healthy democracy due to the transformation of the country’s institutions under two decades of Erdoğan’s rule, Cook told Ahval editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar in the media outlet’s Hot Pursuit podcast series.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sees it as a success to secure a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he may well be walking into a trap, Aykan Erdemir, senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD) in Washington D.C., told Ahval’s editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar for the Hot Pursuit podcast series.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s latest decisions on jailed politician Selahattin Demirtaş and jailed human rights defender and businessperson Osman Kavala, show that Turkish judiciary is not independent, Yavuz Aydın, a judge and a former judicial councillor with Turkey's European Union delegation, said.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rulings, has pronounced its decisions concerning Demirtaş and Kavala on Friday, who have not been released despite ECtHR judgements.
The Committee of Ministers has extended time given to the Turkish government about the imprisoned former leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtaş until September 30. It has also decided to wait for Osman Kavala’s release before imposing sanctions on Turkey.
Aydın discussed CoE’s decisions with Yavuz Baydar, Ahval's editor-in-chief, in the Hot Pursuit podcast.
Turkey is never going to have a great relationship with the United States as long as Erdogan continues to behave in autocratic ways, Nicholas Danforth, a non-resident senior research fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, ELIAMEP told Ahval paper’s editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar in Ahval’s Hot Pursuit YouTube interview series on Tuesday. Baydar has interviewed Nicholas Danforth about the bilateral meeting on Monday between President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following a meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels.
Even if Turkey manages to come up with a solution to the S400 issue or the eastern Mediterranean issue during the NATO meeting on June 14 between U.S President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, there is not going to be a new page within the U.S. Turkish relationship without real democracy and reforms, Merve Tahiroglu, the Turkey Program Coordinator at the Project on Middle East Democracy, told Ahval’s editor-in-chief in Ahval on Saturday. Tahiroglu said that Ankara really wants an image out of this meeting on Monday of positive U.S-Turkish relations.
Turkey's strongman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will try to use some "magic" to reset the relationship with U.S. President Joe Biden at their upcoming meeting in June. His “magic,” however, is unlikely to work at this time, Dr. Aykan Erdemir, senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD) in Washington D.C., told Hot Pursuit.
Erdemir said that the meeting between the leaders offers little chance to fix the structural problems in the relationship between the two countries.
Both countries have a number of serious issues to resolve. While the U.S. administration asks Turkey to remove the Russian-made S-400 air defence missile system from Turkish soil, Ankara wants Washington to stop Syrian Kurds who seem to be a threat to Turkey’s own national security.
The Biden administration will ask the Erdoğan government to improve on its human rights records and democratic standards while the Erdoğan government asks the U.S. government to lift sanctions on some of the weapons systems.
What is more, the bilateral meeting will be held under the shadow of the Belarus crisis, Erdemir added.
Diplomats have told Reuters, Ankara pushed for the scrapping of any mention of support for sanctions on Belarus and calls for the release of other political prisoners in Belarus after last week’s forced landing of a passenger plane and the subsequent arrest of a dissident journalist by Belarus.
There is one topic that has a chance for both leaders to make some progress and for Erdoğan to gain ground, and that is Afghanistan, Erdemir added.
Biden will withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan over the coming months, U.S. officials said previously, completing the military exit by the Sept. 11, 2021. Taliban attacks had drawn the United States into the region and its longest war. Turkey has presented itself as a key partner in Afghanistan and was set to host the peace talks between the Taliban and the U.S. government. However, the talk plans have collapsed.
Erdemir said that beyond some potential agreement with regards to Afghanistan, there appears to be no easy way to salvage the relationship.
The accusations levelled by the exiled mafia boss Sedat Peker regarding the Turkish deep state activities, political assassination of a Cypriot journalist and many other shocking revelations paint a very complicated picture for Turkey regarding its ruling coalition.
The series of video revelations by Peker indicate that the Turkish state apparatus has been overtaken by several crime rings and mafia bosses at the same time, Ahval editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar said in his Hot Pursuit podcast on Thursday.
More than 100 million people, in Turkey and abroad, have locked eyes on the seven hour-long videos Peker released throughout May to understand both the current clash between the mob boss and Turkish interior minister Süleyman Soylu, and some of the past mysterious events Peker appears to be spilling beans on.
Baydar said that Soylu had been instrumental in recent years in a plot to rise within the party with the help of “certain people tied to the underground world” including ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Tolga Ağar, whose father Mehmet Ağar served as both the chief of police and interior minister in previous governments.
Peker promised to set off further waves of political tsunami in a series of tweets on Wedneesday. The mobster’s allegations and threats seem to have rattled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his government, as Peker starts to show signs that he could change direction and target the president directly.
'Mob boss Peker's videos show us the second side of the cartel state of Turkey' - Prof Hamit Bozarslan
In the latest crackdown on Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP, Turkish authorities on Wednesday stripped Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu, a prominent HDP legislator and human rights advocate, of his parliamentary seat.
Meanwhile, a prosecutor filed a case with Turkey’s highest court, seeking the HDP’s disbandment. The HDP has come under intensified pressure recently, with the far-right nationalist allies of President Erdogan’s party calling for it to be banned. The moves against Gergerlioglu and the HDP come weeks after Erdogan pledged a series of human rights reforms.
Merve Tahiroglu, the Turkey Program Coordinator at the Project on Middle East Democracy, joins The Greek Current with a breaking analysis.
*This podcast was presented by Kathimerini and was published with the permission of the creator.
Turkey's European Union membership candidacy trajectory is unsustainable and the country sees the steady demise of freedom and human rights, said former two term deputy of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Haluk Ozdalga during a podcast with Ahval.
Turkey considers the United States not simply a rival but a declining rival which has abandoned foreign intervention in the Middle East since the Obama Administration leading to political vacuum, Howard Eissenstat, an Associate Professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University, said in an AHVAL podcast with Ahval’s editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar.
Eissenstat said that Turkey and the US will continue to cooperate despite growing tensions between the two countries. However, Turkey sees itself as an ascending power and it considers the US a declining hegemon. ‘‘Turkey considers the US not simply a rival but a declining rival which has abandoned foreign intervention policy in the Middle East since the Obama Administration leading to a political vacuum’’, said Eissenstat.
‘‘It is utterly unsurprising that Turkey, which has long believed that it had a natural role of leadership in the region, would try to step into that gap‘‘.
Duel in the East Mediterranean: Who will win, Erdoğan or Sisi? - Nicholas Danforth / ELIAMEP
'Biden will have big challenges with Turkey, but the ball is fully in Erdoğan's court' - Max Hoffman / CAP
'2020 was the year Erdoğan's Cartel State has run out of its options' - Prof Hamit Bozarslan
How Erdoğan became the hostage of the mafia-backed 'cartel state' he constructed? - Prof Hamit Bozarslan
Turkey can expect significant changes in its relations with the United States under a Joe Biden presidency, Steven Cook, senior fellow for the Middle East and North Africa at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Ahval in a podcast.
If elected, Biden would emphasis rule of law with significant possible implications for Turkey, Cook said.
'Erdoğan is the one who won the elections, loser is Northern Cyprus' - Hasan Kahvecioğlu, Cengiz Aktar
What does the widening of atrocities in Karabakh region mean? How should one read into the spillover of clashes into Armenia and Azerbaijan? What is Turkey’s strategy in its direct involvement on Azeri side? How does one explain the indecision of Russia to intervene in the conflict, as it passes its eighth day? Is the Turkish engagement the beginning of a Cold War between Ankara and Moscow?
Tom de Waal, a top expert on the Caucasus and the author of the book ‘Black Garden”, discusses the Armenian-Azeri war and its possible impact, with Yavuz Baydar, Editor of Ahval.
There is no reason for Armenia to kickstart another bout of conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, Thomas de Waal, British journalist and expert on the Caucasus, told Ahval in an exclusive interview.
Sunday morning saw a sudden escalation in the conflict, with what Karabakh officials called a “wholescale attack” by the Azerbaijani armed forces, which Azerbaijan maintains was provoked by Armenian military activity.
“Basically, Armenians won the war of the 1990s, they have all the territory they want,” de Waal said. “Their incentive is to normalize the status quo.”
“For various reasons, Azerbaijan calculates that military action will win it something,” he added.
'Turkish foreign policy is a hostage of Erdoğan's personal interests' - Merve Tahiroğlu / POMED
Turkey's self-isolating moves in the region elicits a containment policy, Erdemir says.
Ahval Editor Yavuz Baydar speaks to Merve Tahiroğlu, Turkey Director with POMED in Washington, on Erdoğan Government's hidden motives that drive its foreign policy
Senior Research Fellow for African Security at the Royal United Services Institute Dr. Andrew Yaw Tchie discussed the military coup in Mali with Ahval editor Ali Aslangül.
The dissatisfaction of military officers, the political impasse emerging from the country's jihadist threat, and the partially contested elections of March 2020 triggered the process leading to the coup, Tchie said.
The resurfacing of a video of U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, in which he heavily criticises Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has very peculiar timing, said Aykan Erdemir, a former deputy in the Turkish parliament and senior director of the Turkey programme at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said.
On Friday’s inauguration of Hagia Sophia as a Muslim house of worship, Turkey’s strongman communicated to both his domestic audience in Turkey and an international crowd that he was effectively positioning himself as sort of a caliph of the Islamic world, Tahiroğlu, Turkey program coordinator at the Project on Middle East Democracy, told Ahval’s Yavuz Baydar in the Hot Pursuit podcast.
Four years on, there are as many question marks on the attempted coup in July 2016 as before. But its consequences are clear enough to analyze the nature of the ground-breaking ecent that changed Turkey - possibly forever. Are Gulenists solley to blame, or was it a hybrid coup? Why do we know so little on what took place that night and the day after? Why was the parliamentary commission report not made public? Why is it fair to talk about two consecutive putsches? Where did the opposition started to fail in the aftermath of it? Aykan Erdemir, a former CHP deputy and currently a Senior Director of Turkey Program with the Foundation of Defence of Democracies, discusses the issue with Yavuz Baydar, the Editor in Chief of Ahval.
Four years after the 2016's coup attempt, there are still a lot of controversy and lack of clarity over the basic elements of what happened July 15 night, said Ryan Gingeras, a professor at the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert on Turkish, Balkan and Middle East history in a podcast with Ahval's editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar and Ahval's English Editor Ilhan Tanir.
Several Turkish government-linked columnists and talking heads said this week that Turkey's top court has already approved the re-conversion of the Hagia Sophia from museum to a mosque. These insider accounts have not been confirmed by an official decision yet.
Turkey’s top administrative court, the Council of State, said it will make its ruling by or before mid-July, which also coincides with the fourth anniversary of the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
There is practically no opposition in Turkey to plans to re-convert the Hagia Sophia, one of the most important monuments of the Orthodox Christian church constructed in the 6th century during the Byzantine empire, into a mosque. Even the secular main opposition Republican People’s Party, (CHP) and a majority of Turks are either supportive of or indifferent to the idea.
CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was even cited as saying there was no court ruling necessary for the conversion, that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could just issue a decree and be done with it.
The presidential palace-linked columnists' and talking heads' predictions on the conversion might well be to test the waters before the final decision, Ahval's editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar said on the Hot Pursuit podcast.
Baydar expects that the top court will move the ball to Erdoğan's court, one way or another.
What exactly Erdoğan expects to gain from the decision at this time is unknown. There appears to be no election planned in the next year or two. However, it could be a distraction from the fact that the Turkish economy has been in a dire situation due to the pandemic. Foreign tourism, the lifeline of the Turkish economy, is practically non-existent due to the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to haunt both Turkey and the world. Even though Turkey's official figures on pandemic infections and deaths are relatively good, the country’s non-transparent reports on the pandemic has undermined Turkey's credibility. There also remain some 20,000 active cases throughout the country, with most focused in Istanbul.
The European Union, Russia, and most if not all Gulf states have restricted travel to Turkey until the end of the summer. There are not many optimistic scenarios in the near- or mid-term for Turkish economy to bounce back. If anything, the economic situation gets more dire every day. Therefore, it remains to be seen what such a historic decision - which cannot be seen as cultural war against a certain segment of society - could bring for Erdoğan.
It is also too early to see how the re-conversion decision will resonate among the Turkish public, as the majority of the country continues to struggle economically.
Baydar said in the podcast that the decision to convert the Hagia Sophia would deal another blow to the secular foundations of the country.
Christian groups across the world and many Western countries, as well as the Russian government, have reacted negatively to the potential conversion. Russia feels especially sensitive to the decision due to its Orthodox population.
The second big item on the agenda in Turkey this week was a set of amendments to a law which is clearly aimed at weakening powerful and often critical bar associations across the country by permitting the establishment of multiple lawyer associations in a given province. With these proposed amendments, the government expects to prop up new bar associations and likely pit them against each other, as well as supporting allied lawyer groups against independent ones.
The Turkish judiciary, for all intents and purposes, has long been considered to be under the influence of Erdoğan, but the lawyers’ organisations have been able to maintain autonomy and critical stances so far. These amendments might cripple them as well.
Baydar called the government’s move an extension of the "divide and rule" strategy which it has been pursued in many other areas for years. Baydar also noted that lawyers' marches and protests since the matter was brought forth had not been supported by many segments of society, and they had been left alone for the most part.
“Two opposition parties are whining loudly but not doing a lot,” said Baydar. “Instead, CHP said it would take the law to the Supreme Court. The same court has yet to rule over the amnesty bill which the CHP had appealed two months ago.”
Baydar lamented that the CHP and the centre-right opposition Good (İYİ) Party had been lacking innovative ways to counter-attack in their tactics against the government.
Opposition parties are hoping to win in the next election, but that election may never come for them, Baydar saidI, as it is also possible that the government would bring forth new conditions and make it impossible for dissidents to run in elections, much like in Central Asia and Iran.
There has been talk about an alliance for democracy which would unite the CHP, İYİP, and conservative and liberal AKP breakaway parties, as well as the pro-Kurdish left-wing opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). However, discussions among these opposition parties have not led anywhere so far. “Their understanding of alliance is only for the ballot box, but not for a wider and current understanding of the democratic spirit and principles," Baydar said.
Turkey's military operations across Libya, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan are not financially, militarily and diplomatically sustainable, Ahval columnist and political scientist Cengiz Aktar, told in alongside Ahval editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar and Ahval English's İlhan Tanır during a podcast on Monday.
What does a regime change in Turkey signify for the world? Has the Turkish opposition lost its momentum to challenge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for good or are there further opportunities? Is the intervention in Libya the last straw that may spell the end of Erdoğan’s regime? Why do Erdoğan and Devlet Bahçeli continue gaining momentum in further tightening their grip over the country? What does U.S. President Donald Trump have to gain from his special relationship with his Turkish counterpart?
Ahval's guests are Steven Cook and Henri J. Barkey on Hot Pursuit. They comment on the escalating tension between Turkey and Egypt over the power struggle in Libya.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s military actions and drilling operations in the East Mediterranean challenge the status quo and appear to be setting in motion new dynamics in the region.
Neighbour Greece is on high alert, raising its level of military preparedness. At the same time, there is a growing disarray within the European Union and NATO as to how to respond to what many Erdoğan critics see as his unlawful expansionism.
The key global player, the United States, is also preoccupied domestically, with widening political differences between President Donald Trump and traditional American state institutions, and the upcoming presidential election. Ahval Editor Yavuz Baydar discusses the current East Med crisis and future prospects with two prominent Greek colleagues, Pavlos Tsimas of Skai TV and Yannis Koutsomitis of Kappa News, along with Cengiz Aktar, a professor and political commentator for Ahval News.
The priority of the Turkish government is to keep turning the wheels of the economy rather than taking necessary and urgent steps to tackle the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, said Ahval's editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar during Ahval's Hot Pursuit podcast programme.
In what seems like an unexpected move, Nurcan Baysal, columnist with Ahval and a human rights activist, was called by the police in Diyarbakır to come to the headquarters in the city to be face accusations on 'inciting hatred' and 'threatening the public order' due to his two Ahval artticles and some tweets she posted in solidarity with her jailed colleagues. But, due to the absence of the prosecutor because of the Corona outbreak, she was demanded to be present again on March 31, the day after, to respond accusations. Detention pending, Baysal gave the following comment to Ahval Editor, Yavuz Baydar.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan failed to reach an agreement with European Union officials on the future of refugees living in Turkey as thousands of them attempting to reach Europe.
Erdoğan held talks with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on migration and the crisis in Syria on Monday.
"Neither side seemed happy with the result of a near two-hour meeting in Brussels, with Erdoğan leaving without speaking to the media, and senior EU officials warning there was a lot still to discuss, as they demanded Turkey continue implement their 2016 migrant deal," Bloomberg reported.
Turkey signed a deal with Europe in 2016, agreeing to step up efforts to halt the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees passing through the country and into Europe, mainly via Greece and Bulgaria, in return for EU funds. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the EU of not keeping its side of the bargain, which included the transfer to Turkey of 6 billion euros.
“It remains valid, and we need to implement missing elements,” von der Leyen said.
“We have indicated to President Erdoğan that we are willing to move forward as long as it is reciprocal.”
Yavuz Baydar, Editor of Ahval News, discusses the content and outcome of Brussels meeting with Yannis Koutsomitis, Editor of Kappa News, based in Athens, Greece.
Rather than a blocking disagreement, both sides chose to postpone the process until the EU top meeting on March 26-27, Koutsomitis says. ''The crucial part is, given the financial pressures due to Corona virus outbreak and general budget restraints, the EU can not offer a funding to Erdoğan Gov't more than 500 million euros.''
All eyes locked on Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's meeting on March 5, Timur Göksel, senior editor-at-large at Ahval and former spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, told Ahval’s Hot Pursuit podcast programme.
The objective of the United States in Syria’s last rebel-held province of Idlib will cause a split between Turkey and Russia, Timur Göksel, former spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, told Ahval’s Hot Pursuit podcast programme.
The Berlin summit on Libya and its final declaration will have little impact in changing the status quo in Libya, vis-à-vis the positions of Russia, Turkey and the warring sides, Turkey’s former ambassador to the United States Faruk Loğoğlu said.
Seth J. Frantzman, Middle East analyst of Jerusalem Post, said in an article last week that Turkey’s government had been thriving on a constant stream of threats and crises.
Frantzman, who is also the author of the book “After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East (Gefen Publishing, 2019)”, discussed with Ahval how this tactic served Turkey’s leadership as a ticket to success both at home and abroad.
Turkey and Libya signed a maritime boundaries accord two weeks ago that sees the two countries as maritime neighbours, divides the eastern Mediterranean into two and ignores the territorial waters of some Greek islands.
Yannis Koutsomitis, the managing editor of Greek Kappa News, and Cengiz Aktar, a political scientist and a contributor to Ahval, discussed how this accord would affect the future of the region.
The two experts talked about the possible reactions of the two country’s governments, the response of the international community, the effect of the escalating tensions on Cyprus and the role of the media in both countries play.
Political scientist Cengiz Aktar discusses today’s call by Turkey’s mainly-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party’s (HDP) for snap elections and the political landscape around the Kurdish issue.
Marco Ansaldo, the senior correspondent for the Italian daily La Repubblica, discussed the situation in northern Syria after Turkey’s Oct, 9 military offensive, the conditions of civilians on both sides of the border and the risks the region may face in the upcoming period.
The real damage has already been done by Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defence systems and loss of F-35 fighter jets, Turkey expert Henri Barkey told Ahval's 'Hot Pursuit' on Thursday.
Barkey, the adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses his latest Foreign Policy article, ''Putin Plays Erdogan Like a Fiddle,'' with Ahval's Yavuz Baydar and Ilhan Tanır.
Prof Barkey: ''CAATSA sanctions on Turkey are much less important than its loss of lucrative F-35 programme''
Prof. Barkey: “CAATSA sanctions minor compared to Turkey’s loss of F-35 programme”
Putin the clear winner of Erdogan-Trump-Putin relationship triangle
Turkey took a big risk by purchasing S-400s, losing billions in income due to expulsion from F-35 production chain
Erdoğan deploying anti-U.S. rhetoric because Washington lets him get away with it without much cost
There has always been anti-Americanism in Turkey, but never a Turkish government that took the lead calling the U.S. an enemy state
Even during U.S. sanctioning of Turkey in the 1970s, Turkish leaders never called the U.S. an enemy state
Turkey's former FM Yakış on Pentagon suspending Turkey from F-35 program: US seeks less harsh way to urge Turkey away from activating S-400's
Why the Gezi park trial is crucial from the perspective of Turkey's relations with the West? - Howard Eissenstat, associate professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University and a non-resident senior fellow at the Project on Middle East Democracy.
Senior fellow for Middle East and Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Steven A. Cook discusses the delivery of S-400s with Hot Pursuit. Cook is an expert on Arab and Turkish politics as well as U.S.-Middle East policy. Cook is the author of False Dawn: Protest, Democracy, and Violence in the New Middle East; The Struggle for Egypt: From Nasser to Tahrir Square.
Elections in Greece are over, bringing to power a centre-right government under Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of New Democracy Party. The day after the elections Mitsotakis named his cabinet, appointing Nikos Dendias (59), a former lawyer, and minister. Dendias is seen as a a 'very experienced politician' who will face 'very difficult times' for Greece's foreign policy amid tensions with Turkey over drilling off Cyprus. Ahval Editor Yavuz Baydar discusses the possible impact of the election results on the tense Greek-Turkish relations with Yannis Koutsomitis, Managing Editor with Kappa News, columnist with Fileleftheros daily
Associate Professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University Howard Eissenstat spoke with Ahval editor-in-chief Yavuz Baydar on the possible outcomes of Istanbul’s mayoral election rerun on Sunday.
Eissenstat, a nonresident senior fellow at Project on Middle East Democracy known for his prolific writing on Turkey, discussed the possible impact of the Öcalan letter and the stakes of the Istanbul elections.
Upcoming municipal elections in Istanbul has brougt Turkey to another existential watershed. The result will have implications on foreign policy choices and the economy. Prof Madra, with Drew University in New York, argues that the change, while inevitable, will not come easy. The critical factor is the planned purchase of Russian S-400 missiles, and its impact on Turkey's eventual talks with the IMF will be negative, because of the influence of the USA, Madra says.
Germany's leading politican Cem Özdemir commented on the European Parliament elections in Hot Pursuit Podcast program:
Turkey's Constitutional Court rejected Osman Kavala's individual application, found that his right to liberty and security has not been violated. Kavala was arrested on October 18, 2017 and has been imprisoned since, for nearly 600 days. The decision was reached by majority of votes (10-5).
''Shocking'' says Milena Büyüm, Campaigner for Turkey with Amnesty International.