Monthly Archives: August 2014

While academic-turned-diplomat Ahmet Davutoğlu, the foreign minister of Turkey since 2009, was nominated to become the leader of the ruling party and the prime minister on Thursday, his signature foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors” — that has been … Continue reading →

The moment Turkey decided to be a “regime changer” in Syria, it not only meant abandoning its soft-power-based “zero problems with neighbors” policy, but also marked a turning point for bringing the troubles onto itself. Yesterday’s headlines in the Taraf … Continue reading →

The puzzle called the Kurdish peace process becomes more perplexing as the days go by. The complexity of the issue has much to do with the region’s rapid developments, but the real unknown variable is President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself. … Continue reading →

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is preparing to assume the office of president on Aug. 28 following his election to the state’s top post on Aug. 10, has left a legacy on journalism which is filled with confrontation and … Continue reading →

In the 48th Munich Security Conference, in early February 2012, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu managed to draw some applause as well as raising some eyebrows when he welcomed Syria’s entire population — if the conditions made it necessary — to … Continue reading →

The international rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday that Turkey has seen a very real erosion of human rights and the rule of law over the past two years as President-elect and incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip … Continue reading →

Istanbul’s third airport, currently under construction and set to open in 2017, will be named after President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ‘RTE Airport’, according to a report in the Taraf daily on Wednesday. According to the report, the name of the … Continue reading →

An article adopted by Parliament in the recent omnibus law significantly undermines civil servants’ job security by changing laws regarding the implementation of court orders concerning job protections. According to the law, even if a civil servant should obtain a … Continue reading →

Controversy is growing over the legitimacy of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s position as prime minister and leader of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) because the Constitution requires that he resign from the post and sever his ties … Continue reading →

Let us emphasize the key point: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has many reasons not to be very happy or relieved with the 51.8 percent of the vote which brought him to the presidency.  Up until the very last minute, most pollsters … Continue reading →