Latest Articles about Turkey

TURKISH OFFICIALS CALL FOR TURKIC COMMONWEALTH

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

AKP FORMING CLOSER LINKS WITH THE GULEN MOVEMENT

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

AKP UNDER PRESSURE TO STAGE MILITARY OPERATION INTO IRAQ

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

AKP CONDEMNS JUDICIAL ATTEMPTS TO CLOSE KURDISH PARTY

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

EUROPE TO START BUYING AZERI GAS VIA TURKEY BYPASSING RUSSIA

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

PERES VISIT HIGHLIGHTS POLICY DIFFERENCES OVER IRAN AND HAMAS

Turkish hopes that the official visit to Ankara by Israeli President Shimon Peres would strengthen Ankara’s recently strained relationship with Israel received a setback, following a very public disagreement over the two countries’ attitudes toward Iran and Hamas. The 1996 agreements between Turkey and Israel... MORE

TURKEY TARGETS ACTIVE ROLE IN MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

Turkey has stepped up its efforts to become involved in the Middle East peace process by brokering a meeting in Ankara between Israeli President Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) ahead of the Israeli-Palestinian summit in Annapolis, Maryland, later... MORE

PRO-KURDISH PARTY CALLS FOR KURDISH AUTONOMY IN TURKEY

The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) held a leadership conference on November 8, during which Nurettin Demirtas was elected the new party leader. Demirtas is thought to be less moderate than outgoing party leader Ahmet Türk. Türk surprised everyone in July when, upon entering the... MORE