Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) literally rolled out the red carpet for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on January 21, as he began a three-day official visit to Turkey. Despite being a pariah to most of the international community as the result of... MORE

On January 18, the Turkish Council of State, known as the Danistay, issued a written statement warning the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) not to push ahead with its plans to lift the ban that currently prevents women who wear headscarves from attending university.... MORE

Two statements by Turkish state officials have once again highlighted the paradoxes of the Turkish interpretation of secularism. On January 15, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reignited the long smoldering debate over women who cover their heads being prevented from attending university by declaring that... MORE

Visiting Madrid on January 14, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Ankara would proceed with fresh gas deals with neighboring Iran, although Tehran had once again halted gas exports to Ankara earlier this month. However, Turkish energy analysts told Jamestown that Turkey has... MORE

An off-the-cuff response by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a question by a journalist has unexpectedly reignited the long-running debate in Turkey over the Islamic headscarf by triggering a furious reaction from Turkish secularists. The headscarf has long been one of the main... MORE

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is scheduled to pay an official visit to Turkey. The upcoming visit has renewed suspicions that the foreign policy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is partly driven by ideological considerations, particularly feelings of Muslim solidarity. Since the... MORE

In a sign of their continuing suspicions of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), representatives of Turkey’s Alevi religious minority spurned what the government claimed was an olive branch by boycotting a banquet organized for them in Ankara on January 11. No reliable statistics... MORE

The infamous Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which outlaws “humiliating Turkishness,” has been the focal point of criticism that the country lacks decent legislation allowing free speech. Knowing that, Turkey’s pro-EU government is working to amend that article, but in a way that... MORE

The January 4 bomb attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey has increased the pressure on the members of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) to distance themselves from the PKK’s violent campaign. But they... MORE

The Turkish media have hailed the five-day visit of President Abdullah Gul to the United States as consolidating a new era in ties between the two countries. But some commentators remain uncertain about how long-lived the new rapprochement is likely to be. Reports of Gul’s... MORE