On September 16 a directive by the Turkish Ministry of Finance to try to tighten Turkish anti-money-laundering legislation was published in the country’s Official Gazette. “The Directive on the Harmonization Program Regarding Responsibilities Related to the Prevention of the Laundering of Criminal Proceeds and the... MORE

Turkey’s latest attempt to acquire nuclear power resulted in humiliating failure on September 24, when only one consortium submitted a bid to build the country’s first nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, near the eastern Mediterranean port of Mersin. In the six months following the announcement... MORE

As American, European, and Asian governments and markets nervously contemplate the economic chaos of the past month, Turkey is quietly pressing forward with plans to increase its presence in the world's most distressed continent—Africa. On September 22 while attending the 63rd session of the UN... MORE

Despite calls for a delay, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is pushing ahead to award the tender for building the country’s first nuclear power plant. On September 24 the state-owned Turkish Electricity Trading and Contracting, Inc., (TETAS) will open the bids for building... MORE

On September 18 the Turkish security forces detained 19 more people as part of the continuing judicial investigations into a shadowy ultranationalist group known to the Turkish media as Ergenekon (see Terrorism Focus, January 29). The Ergenekon investigation was launched following the discovery of a... MORE

On September 16 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan harshly criticized the EU for the slow pace of Turkey’s accession negotiations. Speaking at an iftar—the meal at sunset at which Muslims break their daytime fast during the month of Ramadan—held for foreign ambassadors in Ankara,... MORE

The Turkish military is as committed as ever to defending the principle of secularism enshrined in the country’s constitution but will resist attempts to be dragged into party politics, General Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), told journalists in Ankara... MORE

The reverberations from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers investment bank after its shares dropped more than 80 percent before the September 15 opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange have thrown Wall Street into a volatile situation with worldwide echoes, and the fiscal uncertainties... MORE

On September 16 the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) presented its final defense in the case filed for its closure at the Turkish Constitutional Court. Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya first applied to the court for the DTP’s closure on November 16, 2007, arguing that it... MORE

A recent public opinion poll conducted by the Sonar Research company suggests that the slowdown in the Turkish economy is eroding the popularity of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Sonar Research interviewed 2,927 people in 22 of Turkey’s 81 provinces over the period... MORE