Monthly Archives: August 2015

“Almost everything that [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan cares about is at stake — the executive presidency he desires, the future of the AKP [Justice and Development Party] and his legacy of peace. It is unclear how Erdoğan resolves the crosscutting political … Continue reading →

The deadly cycle that Turkey has been pushed into is raising domestic tension, with accelerating pace, to the point of being unbearable. While the prospects of political openings in terms of coalitions are being sacrificed for what is seen as … Continue reading →

After two-and-a-half months of Turkey running on empty and failing to form a coalition, the country is now set on the worst possible path to a new election, wasting a valuable year. It is the self-destructive result of harsh, illegitimate … Continue reading →

In an article titled “Regional powers are making a mess of the Middle East” (Al Jazeera America, Aug. 10), Rami Khouri, a renowned analyst (and a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School), argued: “We have entered a wild new era … Continue reading →

Washington Post report questions the prospects of a ‘safe zone’ inside Syria, in a story filed from Antep, Turkey: U.S. and Turkish officials last month announced a landmark deal to fight the Islamic State, the militant group that has seized … Continue reading →

What Washington has called a “game changer” — the agreement to use İncirlik Air Base and bases in the provinces of Batman and Diyarbakır to battle the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria — has so … Continue reading →

This is an important article that sheds light on where we are today in Turkey and the region. By Nick Danforth, Foreign Policy. Ninety-five years ago today, European diplomats gathered at a porcelain factory in the Paris suburb of Sèvres and … Continue reading →

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s desperate struggle to cling to power, and to open further the paths to autocratic rule, has so far had several effects. His cunning maneuvering after the June 7 elections did break apart the opposition camp, made … Continue reading →

Is the agreement between Ankara and Washington just a smokescreen for the campaign against the most efficient adversary in the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)? Given the mood in the Turkish capital, the messages … Continue reading →