Since the beginning of May, the Turkish military has stopped enrolling conscripts as reserve officers in its commando brigades. This is the initial stage of a process that is expected to culminate in the creation of the country’s first fully professional army units (Vatan, Milliyet,... MORE

On May 2 the Turkish daily Milliyet reported that Turkey had offered to provide training to the Iraqi army as part of an attempt to strengthen the central government in Baghdad and prevent the breakup of the country (Milliyet, May 2). In recent years, Turkey’s... MORE

On April 30, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) presented its preliminary defense to the country’s Constitutional Court in the case filed for its closure by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya on March 14 on charges of becoming a center for anti-secular activities (see EDM,... MORE

While American and European airspace is crisscrossed with commercial aircraft, Eurasia's airspace is increasingly resounding to the roar of military aircraft. Last week the Commonwealth of Independent States held its “Ariel” exercises stretching from the Polish border to the Pacific, while in Afghanistan International Security... MORE

Turkey has played down hopes that it would soon be able to broker a peace agreement between Syria and Israel. “We are still at the very beginning of the process,” said Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan on April 28. “Talks will continue to take place... MORE

On April 26 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had yet to formulate a strategy to counter the application for the party’s closure, which was filed by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya with the Constitutional Court on... MORE

On 24 April the Turkish National Security Council (NSC) implicitly confirmed recent indications of a shift in Turkish policy towards the Kurds of northern Iraq, in which confrontation and isolation will be replaced by engagement and dialogue. Since it relaunched its insurgency in June 2004,... MORE

On April 22, it was announced that two Turkish state-owned banks had stepped in to provide $750 million in loans to Calik Holding, which is owned by a close friend of Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan, in order to enable it to purchase the second largest... MORE

Until a decade ago, Turkey’s interest in the Western hemisphere was focused almost exclusively on its relationship with the United States. Over the past 10 years, however, Ankara has grown increasingly interested in Central and Latin America, even though its trade with the region is... MORE

On April 17 the organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) held its 18th meeting of members’ foreign ministers in Kiev, Ukraine. The only countries to send their foreign ministers to the meeting, however, were Turkey and Ukraine. All of the other BSEC 10... MORE