While the spotlight has recently focused on Turkey’s army and air force as a result of their recent operations against militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Turkish navy has been quietly conducting exercises with allies from distant corners of the... MORE

Recent reports quoting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as announcing $12 billion in new investments in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey have been greeted with considerable skepticism inside the country. Erdogan is currently provisionally scheduled to visit southeastern Turkey on April 6. On... MORE

Perhaps the most significant, if overlooked, component of the recent Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq was the common goal of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) high command and Ankara to explain their concerns, motivations, and intentions to the international community. Given the limited objectives... MORE

The recent arrest in Istanbul of three members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C) on suspicion of plotting to assassinate Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attack U.S. companies suggests that, though weakened, Turkey’s most dangerous militant Marxist organization still retains the will... MORE

During his recent two-day recent visit to Ankara, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, pleased his hosts by condemning the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and inviting Turkish businesses to bid for Iraqi infrastructure projects. But he also defied Turkey’s reluctance to acknowledge the Kurdish... MORE

Recent statements by U.S. military officials have revived Turkish suspicions about Washington’s true intentions toward the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a nearly 24 year-old insurgency for greater rights for Turkey’s Kurdish minority. Although the PKK is included on both the State... MORE

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is due to arrive in Ankara tomorrow (March 7) for a three-day visit, with energy cooperation and the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq expected to top the agenda. However, Turkey has refused to classify the trip... MORE

Since March 2003 U.S.-Turkish relations have been strained over Iraq. Now Washington has an additional cause for disquiet, as Turkish-Iranian economic relations go from strength to strength, further weakening Washington’s 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. Bilateral Turkish-Iranian trade exceeded $8 billion in 2007, up 19.5% over... MORE

Israel’s recent military incursion into Gaza has further strained its already troubled relationship with Turkey and highlighted the two countries’ divergent attitudes toward Hamas. For many Turks, the contrast between the muted U.S. reaction to the Israeli raid and its insistence on a rapid curtailment... MORE

After only eight days, Turkey abruptly ended its military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan on Friday February 29. The withdrawal of Turkish troops caught many observers, as well as the Turkish public, by surprise. Only one day earlier, Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit refused... MORE