The day before he officially recognised the Armenian genocide, which is commemorated on 24 April, US President Joe Biden called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to notify him. That was the first official phone call he made to his Turkish (...)
Policy U-turns are among the fortes of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP); and the AKP government has exhibited them, once again, in Afghanistan. Only a week ago, no one would have questioned its resolve to (...)
The Turkish government's condemnation of a spate of attacks on "our brothers and sons", the Syrian refugees in Turkey, and its vow to hand down the harshest penalties against "the thugs and inciters" to violence have elicited diverse reactions. Some (...)
Some weeks ago, after over a decade of arctic temperatures between Ankara and Tel Aviv, the former began to grope for ways to sidle up to the latter. This was prompted at least in part by the fact that Israel was developing much closer relations (...)
During the Diplomacy Forum held in the Turkish Mediterranean coastal town of Antalya last month, Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar expressed his government's appreciation for Turkey's offer to assume responsibility for securing Kabul (...)
Even in the corridors of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), one can hear grumbles echoing what the country's opposition parties are saying out loud: that Turkey's foreign policy is confused and contradictory.
If there is one (...)
When US President Joe Biden made his first phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since taking office, it was not to discuss how to patch up relations. It was essentially a courtesy call to notify Erdogan that Biden planned officially (...)
Europe has seen a chorus of condemnation for Turkey's behaviour in the Eastern Mediterranean, Libya and Syria. The sole discordant note comes from the Ukraine whose Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, has praised Ankara for the actions it has taken as a (...)
Ankara quickly drew the curtain on the "case of the missing chair," the incident that left Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, standing while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President of the EU Council Charles Michel (...)
On the fringe of a two-day NATO meeting in Brussels (23-24 March), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu whether Turkey was going to give up the Russian made S-400 air defence system. Cavusoglu (...)
Just as expected, the Geneva talks on a new Syrian constitution collapsed in late January. Since then, hopes for a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis have receded into the far distance. As the tragedy enters its 12th year, however, foreign (...)
Weeks ago, the state-run Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on pins and needles as he awaited his first phone call from President Biden. The irony was lost on no one that the same applied to Recep (...)
In his first press conference since taking his post in Ankara over a year and a half ago, US Ambassador David Satterfield dismissed Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu's “unfounded” allegations that the US had masterminded the July 2016 coup (...)
Like a poorly scripted, never-ending melodrama, “The Turkey-Europe Story” – directed by and starring President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – jerks from one emotional extreme to the next, often more than once in a single episode. It has become so (...)
Since storming off stage during a live debate on the Israeli military operation in Gaza aired during the Davos Conference in 2009, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has acquired a reputation for anti-Israeli rhetoric. Following the Mavi Marmara (...)
For Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), 2020 opened with denial. The country of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had some magic immunity to the Covid-19 pandemic. By mid-March, when it was no longer possible to cover up Covid-related (...)
Dark clouds are billowing over Ankara, the seat of an Islamist ruler set on ending the century long life of the secularist Ataturk republic. They are blowing from the direction of Brussels, seat of NATO and capital of the European Union which is (...)
At last, after six weeks of fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan have set aside their arms and begun to implement a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement. Ankara, unable to have a say in that, has been equally frustrated in its (...)
Frustration is the byword for the Turkish regime these days. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to play defiant and boast achievements and victories at home and abroad. But the punches have kept coming from afar for the past few weeks and have (...)
If Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not exactly light the fuse that reignited hostilities between Azerbaijan and Armenia, he is less than keen to see the flames doused in the war that is now over a month old. He has committed hardware, (...)
Azerbaijan and Armenia declared a truce Saturday, no thanks to Turkey which has been giving Baku all-out political and military support. The ceasefire agreement which was soon violated, was temporary and was for humanitarian reasons.
In fact, (...)
“Mr Macron, you're going to have problems with me personally,” warned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan two weeks ago after the French president advised European leaders to be “clear and firm, not with Turkey as a nation and people, but with (...)
Six years ago the Turkish lira was worth more than six Egyptian pounds. The exchange rate was undoubtedly a factor in attracting a large number of Turkish tourists to Egypt despite the sparks flying back and forth between Cairo and Ankara. Today, (...)
Much to the dismay and fury of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the circle is closing in. No one is heeding his warnings against all who act on instructions from “certain groups” amid his announcements of more naval drills with live (...)
On Sunday, 30 August, Turkey commemorated the Turkish victory in Dumlupinar, the last battle in the Greco-Turkish war of 1919-1922. This year, Ankara took advantage of the occasion to air a particularly militaristic video prepared by the Defence (...)