Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS) meets today (November 29), with the proposed formation of a specialized anti-terrorism force expected to be high on its agenda. YAS traditionally meets twice a year to discuss issues related to personnel, training, and future plans for the armed forces:... MORE

As Turkey continues to mull limited air strikes and commando raids against the camps of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Turkish authorities appear to be stepping up their efforts to weaken the PKK by exacerbating divisions inside the organization. In late October... MORE

On November 25, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will make public the details of a new Turkish constitution on December 15 (Hurriyet, Milliyet, Sabah, Vatan, Radikal, November 26). Erdogan’s statement came on the last day... MORE

Buoyed by its increasing engagement with Central Asia and the Arab world, Turkish officials have begun to discuss institutionalizing what they regard as Turkey’s growing regional influence. When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Turkish Republic in 1923, he explicitly set Europe as the new state’s... MORE

Reports in the Turkish press that the state-owned carrier Turkish Airlines (THY) had co-sponsored a conference in Istanbul on October 21-23, organized by the followers of exiled Islamist preacher Fettullah Gulen, have highlighted the increasingly close ties between the once-persecuted movement and Turkey’s ruling Justice... MORE

Since late October, when the Turkish government first threatened to launch a military operation against camps belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, rarely a day has passed without the Turkish media reporting military movements close to the Turkish-Iraqi border in apparent... MORE

Leading members of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have condemned attempts by the country's judiciary to close down the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP). On November 16 Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya formally applied to the Turkish Constitutional Court for the closure of the... MORE

Amid fading hopes of EU membership, there are increasing signs that the Turkish authorities are tightening restrictions on freedom of speech. A new set of regulations for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) published in the Turkish Official Gazette on November 1, 2007, makes it compulsory for... MORE

Monday, November 18, leaders from Greece, Turkey, the United States, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Italy will officially launch a new Turkey-Greece pipeline project along the Maritza River. The 300-kilometer-long natural gas pipeline will carry Azerbaijani gas to Europe, bypassing Russia. According to Turkish Energy Ministry officials,... MORE

On November 5 the newly elected president of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, paid a three-day visit to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It was his first visit to a foreign country as president, and the choice of Baku for such a symbolic trip is likely an... MORE