Gareth Jenkins
Gareth Jenkins is a writer and journalist resident in Istanbul, where he has been based for the last 20 years.
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Articles by Gareth Jenkins
TURKEY’S SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT PROMISES CHALLENGES AS WELL AS KUDOS
On October 17, Turkey was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2009-2010, securing 151 votes in the first round of voting. Turkey finished comfortably ahead...
POLLS SUGGEST WAVERING POPULAR SUPPORT FOR THE AKP
Recent opinion polls suggest that a string of corruption scandals and the slowdown in the pace of economic growth in Turkey are eroding popular support for the ruling Justice and...
TURKEY’S OVERHAULS ITS COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY
On October 14 the Turkish authorities announced that the Turkish Interior Ministry would be restructured to improve coordination of Turkey’s counter-terrorism efforts (Radikal, Milliyet, Vatan, NTV, October 15). The announcement...
TURKEY BITES THE BULLET
On October 10 the Turkish government announced that it was preparing to initiate a long-term dialogue with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in an attempt to increase pressure on the...
TURKEY PRESSING AHEAD WITH SECOND NUCLEAR TENDER
On October 9 Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler predicted that the evaluation of the winning bid in Turkey’s first nuclear power plant tender at Akkuyu on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast would...
PKK ATTACK IN DIYARBAKIR DEEPENS PUBLIC DOUBTS ABOUT TURKEY’S COUNTERTERRORISM STRATEGY
At around 5:30 P.M. on October 8, six people were killed and 21 wounded when militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ambushed a bus carrying police personnel in the...
PKK ATTACK FUELS FEARS OF A RETURN TO THE PAST
In the early hours of October 7, Turkish warplanes struck at suspected positions of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq for the third day in row as Turkey...
TURKEY SEARCHES FOR A PLAN B AFTER PKK ATTACK
The large death toll in the recent attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on a Turkish military outpost close to the border with Iraq has dealt a major psychological...
The Impact of the Ergenekon Investigation on Turkish Counterterrorism Operations
The judicial investigation into a shadowy ultranationalist group known to the Turkish media as Ergenekon has become increasingly characterized by a mixture of incompetence, paranoia, politicization and willful disinformation. Supporters...
TURKISH AUTHORITIES STEP UP CENSORSHIP OF INTERNET WEBSITES
In the early hours of October 4, 2005, Turkey officially began accession negotiations with the EU. Over the previous four years, in order to secure a date for the opening...
TURKISH AND KURDISH YOUTHS CLASH IN WESTERN TURKEY
On September 30 simmering ethnic tensions between Turks and Kurds in the town of Altinova in the western province of Balikesir erupted into violence as stores, automobiles, homes, and workplaces...
RELIGIOUS HOLIDAY SHIELDS TURKISH MARKETS AGAINST GLOBAL TURMOIL
In a country in which the prevailing, and often paradoxical, interpretation of secularism frequently causes political and economic instability (see EDM, July 31), it is ironic that one of the...
TURKEY’S FIRST MILGEM WARSHIP LAUNCHED IN ISTANBUL
On September 27 the Turkish navy launched the corvette TCG Heybeliada, the first modern warship to be designed, built, and equipped primarily from local resources. The TCG Heybeliada is the...
TURKEY SEEKS TO TIGHTEN LEGISLATION AGAINST MONEY LAUNDERING
On September 16 a directive by the Turkish Ministry of Finance to try to tighten Turkish anti-money-laundering legislation was published in the country’s Official Gazette. “The Directive on the Harmonization...
MORE SPEED, LESS HASTE RESULTS IN TURKISH NUCLEAR TENDER FIASCO
Turkey’s latest attempt to acquire nuclear power resulted in humiliating failure on September 24, when only one consortium submitted a bid to build the country’s first nuclear power plant at...
AKP PUSHES AHEAD WITH NUCLEAR POWER TENDER
Despite calls for a delay, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is pushing ahead to award the tender for building the country’s first nuclear power plant. On September 24...
FACT, FANTASY, AND FARCE AS MORE ARE DETAINED IN ERGENEKON PROBE
On September 18 the Turkish security forces detained 19 more people as part of the continuing judicial investigations into a shadowy ultranationalist group known to the Turkish media as Ergenekon...
ERDOGAN LAMBASTS EU OVER SLOW PACE OF TURKISH ACCESSION
On September 16 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan harshly criticized the EU for the slow pace of Turkey’s accession negotiations. Speaking at an iftar—the meal at sunset at which...
TGS STILL THE ULTIMATE GUARDIAN OF SECULARISM IN TURKEY, BASBUG INSISTS
The Turkish military is as committed as ever to defending the principle of secularism enshrined in the country’s constitution but will resist attempts to be dragged into party politics, General...
DTP PRESENTS FINAL DEFENSE IN CLOSURE CASE
On September 16 the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) presented its final defense in the case filed for its closure at the Turkish Constitutional Court. Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya first...
POLL SUGGESTS ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN IS ERODING AKP’S POPULARITY
A recent public opinion poll conducted by the Sonar Research company suggests that the slowdown in the Turkish economy is eroding the popularity of the ruling Justice and Development Party...
ALL THE PRIME MINISTER’S MEN?
Over the last week, the domestic political agenda in Turkey has been dominated by an unprecedented war of words between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Dogan Group, the...
ONGOING TRADE CRISIS DEMONSTRATES TURKEY’S LACK OF LEVERAGE AGAINST RUSSIA
On September 8, Kursad Tuzmen, the Turkish Minister of State for Foreign Trade, said that the delays being faced by Turkish exports trying to enter Russia had so far cost...
BASBUG MAKES HIS MARK
On September 4-5 General Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), conducted a two day visit to the predominantly Kurdish southeast of the country, inspecting military...
Murky Past of Turkey’s Gendarmerie Intelligence Emerges in Ergenekon Investigation
In late August, the Turkish media reported that retired Colonel Arif Dogan had confessed to being the founder of the intelligence wing of the Turkish Gendarmerie, known in Turkish as...
GUL ACCEPTS INVITATION TO ARMENIA
On September 3 Turkish President Abdullah Gul announced that he had accepted an invitation from Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian to attend the soccer match between the two countries in the...
DEVILS AND DETAILS: AHMADINEJAD VISITS TURKEY
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Turkey on August 14 in the latest in a series of high level contacts between the two countries against a backdrop of growing international...
MOUNTING PKK DEATH TOLL INCREASES PRESSURE ON THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT
On August 11 nine Turkish soldiers were killed when the truck in which they were traveling was struck by a mine laid by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Kemah...
TURKEY CAUGHT IN A DILEMMA OVER SOUTH OSSETIA
The outbreak of fighting between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia has demonstrated the cost of Ankara’s often confused attempt at achieving a balance between becoming a regional player in...
EXPLOSION RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SECURITY OF THE BTC PIPELINE
On August 5 there was an explosion and subsequent fire on a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline running through eastern Turkey, resulting in the flow of oil through...
Istanbul Bombings Suggest PKK Insurgency May Be Entering a More Ruthless Phase
The July bombings in Istanbul have raised concerns that the 24 year-old insurgency of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) may be entering a new, more ruthless phase. At around 9:45...
BASBUG APPOINTED CHIEF OF THE TGS
On August 4 Turkish President Abdullah Gul formally approved the appointment of Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug as the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS) to replace the...
ISLAMISTS AND SECULARISTS VYING FOR TURKEY’S PAST AS WELL AS ITS FUTURE
On July 31 Turkish President Abdullah Gul formally ratified the appointment of Professor Ali Birinci (born in 1947) as head of the state-run Turkish Historical Association (TTK) to replace the...
VERDICT IN CLOSURE CASE TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON AKP TO IMPLEMENT EU REFORMS
On July 31, one day after Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly ruled to allow the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to remain open (see EDM, July 31), the country’s parliament finally...
RELIEF BUT NO VICTORY FOR AKP IN CLOSURE CASE
On July 30, Turkey’s Constitutional Court narrowly voted to allow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to remain open in the case filed for its closure by Public Prosecutor...
ERGENEKON INDICTMENT DASHES HOPES OF FINAL RECKONING WITH TURKEY’S “DEEP STATE”
On July 25, the 13th Serious Crimes Court in Istanbul formally accepted the indictment in the 13-month investigation into the shadowy ultranationalist group known to the Turkish media as Ergenekon...
ISTANBUL BOMBINGS RAISE FEARS OF NEW WAVE OF TERRORIST ATTACKS
On the evening of July 27, two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were detonated in Menderes Caddesi, a street in the Istanbul working class neighborhood of Gungoren. By midday local time...
PKK Kidnappings an Isolated Initiative or a New European Strategy?
The seizure in eastern Turkey on July 8 of three German mountaineers by a unit of the People’s Defense Force (HPG), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK),...
TURKEY AND ARMENIA: FROM SECRET TALKS TO “SOCCER DIPLOMACY”?
On July 24, the presidents of Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan formally inaugurated the Turkish section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad, which will eventually provide the first ever rail link between the...
THE AKP AND THE TURKISH MILITARY BOTH PREPARE FOR NEW ERAS
On July 22, the Turkish Constitutional Court announced that it would meet on July 28 to begin considering its final verdict in the closure case against the ruling Justice and...
A HAWK AND A DOVE SHARE THE DTP LEADERSHIP
On July 20, the embattled pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) elected Ahmet Turk (born 1944) and Emine Ayna (born 1968) as its co-chairs during a party congress in Ankara. As...
TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER HOSTS HEADS OF MISSION CONFERENCE IN ANKARA
From July 15 to 18 more than 200 Turkish diplomats, including 103 of the country’s ambassadors and heads of missions serving in different countries around the world, met in Ankara...
ERDOGAN PAYS FIRST OFFICIAL VISIT TO IRAQ
On July 10 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Baghdad in the first official visit to Iraq by a Turkish head of government since 1990 and only the...
INITIAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS HOMEGROWN ORIGIN FOR ATTACK ON U.S. CONSULATE
The initial evidence suggests that the deadly assault on the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul on July 9 was the work of a small group of homegrown Islamist extremists, who...
TURKEY PUSHES FOR D-8 LEADING ROLE
On July 6 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan announced that Istanbul had been chosen as the site for the permanent secretariat of the Developing Eight (D-8) organization. Speaking after the...
PRO-AKP MEDIA STEPS UP DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN OVER ERGENEKON
In the wake of the detentions on July 1 of outspoken opponents of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on suspicion of links to a shadowy ultranationalist organization known...
BASBUG ISSUES CALL FOR CALM AMID DEEPENING POLITICAL CRISIS
On July 2 General Ilker Basbug, the commander of the Turkish Land Forces, issued a public statement calling for calm in the wake of the unprecedented wave of detentions of...
TURKISH POLICE DETAIN SENIOR RETIRED GENERALS
Early on the morning of July 1, the Turkish police detained 24 hard-line secularists during a series of raids in Ankara and Istanbul. Those taken into custody included retired General...
POLL SUGGESTS WEAKENED BUT STABLE SUPPORT FOR AKP
Despite increasing doubts about its longevity, popular support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) remains firm, according to a recent opinion poll by the A & G research...
GOING FOR A SONG: TURKISH COURT ACQUITS CHILDREN OF TERRORIST PROPAGANDA
On June 19 a court in the city of Diyarbakir in the predominantly Kurdish southeast of Turkey acquitted three young boys of charges of terrorist propaganda after a choir of...
GROWING INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN TURKEY
On June 18 and 19 Turkish lawyers, academics and Internet professionals met in the mountain resort of Abant in the Bolu mountains of northwest Turkey to discuss the increasing censorship...
SYRIA PROPOSES NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH TURKEY
On June 13, during a visit to Istanbul for the Third Turkish-Arab Economic Forum, Syrian Oil Minister Sufiyan al-AW announced that Syria and Turkey were preparing to create a joint...
TURKEY’S LAST TABOO
On June 12 the public prosecutor in the Istanbul neighborhood of Beyoglu initiated a criminal investigation of two young women wearing head scarves who had told the host of a...
TURKEY BEGINNING TO PAY THE PRICE FOR POOR PLANNING, POPULISM IN ENERGY
On June 11 the Turkish Privatization Administration (PA), which handles sales under the country’s privatization program, announced that it had received just five bids each for the electricity distribution grids...
Turkish Generals Admit Military and Intelligence Coordination with Iran
On June 6, General Ilker Basbug, the commander of the Turkish Land Forces, confirmed that Turkey and Iran were sharing intelligence and coordinating military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party...
TURKEY’S AKP FINALLY BEGINS TO PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has finally begun to prepare for what now appears to be its almost inevitable closure by the country’s Constitutional Court, according to reports...
COURT POSTPONES SEMDINLI HEARING ONCE AGAIN
On June 6 the military court in the southeastern city of Van once again postponed a scheduled hearing in a case brought against three members of the security forces who...
TURKISH MILITARY RALLIES BEHIND JUDICIARY IN HEADSCARF CASE
The Turkish military has been quick to endorse the June 5 ruling of the country’s Constitutional Court annulling the attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to create...
TURKISH PUBLIC PROSECUTOR CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ALLEGED COUP PLOT
Public Prosecutor Suleyman Aydin has called for an investigation into allegations of a 2004 plot to topple Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), according to a report in the...
WILL AEGEAN DISPUTES CONTINUE TO BLOCK TURKISH-GREEK RECONCILIATION?
On May 31 the Turkish General Staff (TGS) posted a statement on its website claiming that a boat belonging to the Greek coastguard had violated Turkish territorial waters close to...
TURKEY’S PUBLIC PROSECUTOR LAMBASTS EU, U.S. OVER AKP CLOSURE CASE
On May 30 Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya presented his response to the initial defense of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against the application for the party’s closure which...
BABACAN DISMISSES CLAIMS THAT TURKEY OFFERED SYRIA WATER FOR PEACE WITH ISRAEL
On May 29 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan publicly denied newspaper reports that Ankara had offered water to Syria in return for engaging in indirect peace negotiations with Israel (CNNTurk,...
Turkey Launches Economic Offensive against PKK Recruitment
On May 27, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced over $15.5 billion in additional state funding to complete the Southeast Anatolian Project (GAP), a huge irrigation and hydroelectric scheme...
TURKEY PREPARES TO PAY THE PRICE FOR DROUGHT, POOR PLANNING AND ECONOMIC POPULISM
Turkey is likely to face power cuts again this summer as a combination of drought, poor planning and economic populism result in electricity production failing to keep pace with demand....
HEROIN TRADE BEING USED TO FINANCE THE PKK, A TURKISH REPORT CLAIMS
Turkey remains a major transit route for heroin trafficking with a substantial proportion of the revenue being used to finance radical organizations, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according...
NATIONAL PRIDE HAMPERS TURKISH BORDER SECURITY
National pride remains an obstacle to improved security at Turkey’s notoriously porous borders, according to a recent report by the Turkish Dogan News Agency (DHA). On May 21 DHA reported...
GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY FACE OFF AS TURKEY PREPARES FOR THE POST-AKP ERA
On May 21 Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeal, the Yargitay, issued an official statement bluntly accusing the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of conducting a systematic campaign to undermine...
ALLEGED SURVEILLANCE OF SENIOR JUDGES RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT POLITICIZATION OF TURKISH POLICE
On May 16 the Ankara Public Prosecutor initiated an investigation into claims by Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey Osman Paksut, that he had been the subject of...
FIGHTING THEM ON THE BEACHES: TURKISH SECULARISTS AND ISLAMISTS PREPARE FOR THE VACATION SEASON
The month of May traditionally marks the beginning of the tourism season in Turkey. Despite rising prices and the domestic turmoil triggered by the closure case against the ruling Justice...
RISING UNEMPLOYMENT RINGING SOCIAL ALARM BELLS IN TURKEY
The latest employment figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat) have reinforced concerns about the possible social impact of the slowdown in the Turkish economy. At end-February, the official...
AKP STRENGTHENS ITS HOLD ON THE TURKISH MEDIA
The May 12 sale of KanalTurk, the most fiercely antigovernment national television channel in Turkey, to an associate of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has consolidated a growing shift...
DTP FORMS NEW PARTY IN PREPARATION FOR LIKELY CLOSURE
The pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) has formed a new political party in preparation for its likely closure by the Turkish Constitutional Court later this year. On May 9, 42...
TURKS BECOMING MORE PESSIMISTIC AND INTROSPECTIVE
Turks are becoming increasingly pessimistic and introspective according to a recent survey by the A & G research company, which was published in Milliyet (May 9-10). The survey, which was...
TURKEY BRACES FOR THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF AN ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN
In a recent interview in the Financial Times United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Kemal Dervis warned that Turkey was one of the countries likely to suffer the most from...
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS INCREASINGLY RESTRICTED IN TURKEY
After several years in which restrictions on freedom in Turkey had begun to ease, journalists, academics and researchers are once again coming under increasing pressure, according to the latest report...
TURKEY TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD A PROFESSIONAL ARMY
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...
TURKISH MEDIA REPORTS THAT ANKARA HAS OFFERED TO TRAIN THE IRAQI ARMY
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...
Susurluk and the Legacy of Turkey’s Dirty War
On April 23 the Turkish Council of State ordered former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar to stand trial for allegedly “forming a criminal organization” in the dirty war against the Kurdistan...
AKP PRESENTS DEFENSE AS POLL SUGGESTS POPULAR SUPPORT WAVERING
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...
IS TURKEY PLAYING A REGIONAL ROLE AT LAST?
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,”...
A DAZED AND CONFUSED AKP STRUGGLES TO STAVE OFF CLOSURE
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...
TURKEY LOOKS TO ENGAGEMENT RATHER THAN CONFRONTATION WITH IRAQI KURDS
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...
TURKISH BANKS MAKE HUGE LOANS TO FRIEND OF ERDOGAN
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...
IS THE END OF THE BSEC IN SIGHT?
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...
FORMER CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PRESIDENT, TURKISH MILITARY DENY COUP THREAT
On April 18 Tulay Tugcu, the former head of Turkey’s Constitutional Court, issued a statement refuting allegations that the Turkish military had pressured the court by threatening to stage a...
TURKISH RELATIONS IMPROVE WITH IRAN BUT ARE SHAKY WITH IRAQ
On April 17 Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to increase cooperation on security issues. The agreement came during the 12th meeting of the Turkey-Iran High Security...
Capabilities and Restraints in Turkey’s Counter-Terrorism Policy
Turkey has long faced a broad range of domestic terrorist threats, ranging from left-wing and Kurdish radicals to violent indigenous Islamist groups and Turkish militants affiliated with or sympathetic to...
TURKS RECEIVE A GEOGRAPHY LESSON AS AKP SCRAMBLES FOR SUPPORT IN THE UN
Turks have recently been receiving an unexpected geography lesson as the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has stepped up its campaign to secure a seat on the UN Security...
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS REVEAL CONFUSION AND DISSENT IN AKP
On April 14 Turkish Speaker of Parliament Koksal Toptan formally forwarded a draft amendment to Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code to the Parliamentary Justice Committee. This notorious article...
TURKEY AND IRAN EXPECTED TO BOOST SECURITY COOPERATION
Turkey and Iran will look to boost security cooperation during the 12th meeting of the Turkey-Iran High Security Commission in Ankara on April 14-18. The agenda is expected to be...
PARTY CALLS FOR A COMMITTEE ON SOUTHEAST TURKEY
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) members of Turkey’s Parliamentary Human Rights Committee have called for the establishment of a subcommittee to study the relationship between unemployment, poverty and radicalism in...
POLL SUGGESTS AKP CLOSURE CASE HAS BOOSTED PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR EU MEMBERSHIP
A recent opinion poll suggests that the closure case brought by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has boosted Turkish public support for EU...
THE AKP SCRABBLES FOR AN ANTI-CLOSURE STRATEGY
On April 7 the National Executive Committee of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) held a six-hour meeting to discuss the party’s response to the closure case filed with...
BUYUKANIT WARNS AGAINST ISLAMISM AND KURDISH SEPARATISM, ATTACKS EU OVER POLICIES ON ESDP AND PKK
General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), has publicly warned that Turkey remains under threat from Islamism and Kurdish separatism, while attacking the EU over the...
HOPES FADE FOR TURKISH WATER AS A STRATEGIC ASSET
A recent report in the business daily Referans suggests that Turkey’s hopes of using its water resources as a strategic asset to strengthen its ties with the Middle East countries...
Under Pressure – The PKK Launches 2008 Campaign
On April 2, the Turkish General Staff (TGS) issued a statement claiming to have killed 16 militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) for the loss of three Turkish soldiers...
BROWBEATEN INTO LIBERALISM? AKP DISCUSSES REFORM PACKAGE
With less than a month to go before it is due to present its initial defense before the Constitutional Court in the case for its closure filed with by Public...
TURKEY’S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AGREES TO HEAR AKP CLOSURE CASE
On March 31, Turkey’s Constitutional Court agreed to hear the case filed by Public Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In the...
TURKISH CHIEF OF STAFF RULES OUT TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM CYPRUS
On March 29 Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit dismissed suggestions that the recent agreement to resume negotiations to reunify Cyprus would lead to the withdrawal of the estimated...
POLARIZATION DEEPENING AHEAD OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S PRELIMINARY DECISION IN AKP CLOSURE CASE
The deepening political and social polarization triggered by the attempts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to change the Turkish constitution to lift the headscarf ban in universities...
KURDISH DEMONSTRATORS CLASH WITH TURKISH SECURITY FORCES DURING NEWROZ
Over a period of four days from March 21-24, two people were killed and several hundred injured in clashes with Turkish security forces, as hundreds of thousands of Kurds took...
Unwelcome Guests: The Turkish Military Bases in Northern Iraq
Following the Turkish military’s raid on northern Iraq in late February, the little-known and poorly understood presence of Turkish military bases in Kurdish Iraq has become a major issue in...
CYPRUS: TOWARD REUNIFICATION OR A MORE CORDIAL SEPARATION?
On March 21, the leaders of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots agreed to restart comprehensive negotiations to reunify the divided island and, in a symbolic gesture, to reopen the Ledra...
LAWS AND LOOPHOLES: AKP EXAMINES ITS LEGAL OPTIONS TO STAVE OFF CLOSURE
The application to the Constitutional Court for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has had party officials poring over the statute books to see whether they...
TURKISH SECURITY OFFICIALS ADMIT COVER-UP IN DINK MURDER CASE
On March 20, two members of the Turkish Gendarmerie admitted receiving detailed intelligence regarding a plot to assassinate Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and then, after Dink’s murder, trying to cover...
AKP FACING THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS OF ITS FAILURE TO CREATE JOBS
The latest employment figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) suggest that, despite six years of robust macro-economic growth, Turkey is failing to create enough jobs for its growing...
TURKEY HEADING FOR PERIOD OF SUSTAINED POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY
The application by Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, the public prosecutor at the High Court of Appeals (Yargitay), to the Turkish Constitutional Court for the closure of the ruling Justice and Development Party...
NEW YORK TIMES TOUTS OLD KURDISH INVESTMENT PLAN AS NEW INITIATIVE
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...
TURKISH POLICE FOIL ALLEGED DHKP-C ATTACK ON ERDOGAN, U.S. COMPANIES
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....
TALABANI CONDEMNS PKK, CALLS ON TURKEY TO ENGAGE WITH KRG
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...
A Military Analysis of Turkey’s Incursion into Northern Iraq
The recently concluded eight-day Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq marks the beginning of a new phase in Turkey’s nearly 24 year-old struggle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Despite...
U.S. MILITARY STATEMENTS REVIVE TURKISH SUSPICIONS ABOUT WASHINGTON’S TRUE INTENTIONS TOWARD THE PKK
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...
TURKEY PREPARES TO WELCOME TALABANI FOR “WORKING VISIT”
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...
GAZA RAID FURTHER STRAINS ISRAELI-TURKISH TIES
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...
TURKEY DIVIDING AGAINST ITSELF, BUT STILL STANDING FIRM ON NORTHERN IRAQ
Almost exactly 150 years ago, in June 1858, Abraham Lincoln famously declared that a house divided against itself could not stand. Yet in recent days, despite deepening internal divisions over...
SOCIAL POLARIZATION DEEPENING IN TURKEY
As supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) stage sporadic protests in western Turkey against the ongoing Turkish military operations in northern Iraq, the government’s hurried attempt to lift the...
TURKISH GROUND OFFENSIVE SET TO DEEPEN RIFT WITH IRAQI KURDS
Yesterday, February 21, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) stepped up the psychological pressure on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by staging a cross-border land operation into northern Iraq. Initial unconfirmed...
TURKISH MILITARY SET TO WARN AKP OVER HEADSCARF
The Turkish military is expected to use the opportunity provided by the National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Thursday, February 21, to issue a strongly worded warning to the Justice...
POLICY AND PERSONALITY: A RIFT OPENS IN TURCO-GERMAN TIES
The recent angry exchanges between the Turkish and German governments over the integration of Turks living in Germany have highlighted the increasing vulnerability of Turkish policy to the personality of...
ISRAEL’S BARAK IN ANKARA TO TRY TO BOOST DEFENSE TIES
On February 12, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived in Ankara for a two-day visit to try to boost defense ties between the two countries, with the proposed sale of...
KURDISH PARTY PRESENTS DEFENSE, WARNS OF CIVIL WAR
On February 11, the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DPT) presented its initial defense in the case brought before the Turkish Constitutional Court calling for its closure. In its concluding arguments,...
TURKEY’S CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
On February 9, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), supported by the opposition ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP), amended the Turkish constitution in an attempt to create the legal...
POLL SUGGESTS MILITARY STILL THE MOST TRUSTED INSTITUTION IN TURKEY
Despite its failed attempt last year to prevent Abdullah Gul from being appointed president, the Turkish military remains the most trusted institution in the country, according to the latest Eurobarometer...
THE TURKISH MILITARY AND THE MHP: THE END OF A PLATONIC LOVE AFFAIR?
An angry confrontation outside the headquarters of the ultranationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) appears to have signaled the end of one of the longest platonic love affairs in Turkish politics....
DTP LAUNCHES PROTEST CAMPAIGN AGAINST TURKISH RAIDS ON PKK CAMPS
On February 5 the pro-Kurdish Democratic Party (DTP) launched a campaign of mass public protests in an attempt to stop Turkish military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) both...
TURKISH FM REINFORCES DOUBTS ABOUT AKP’S UNDERSTANDING OF EU ACCESSION PROCESS
A recent statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has once again raised doubts about the government’s understanding of the requirements of Turkey’s EU accession process. On February 2, with...
TAYYIP ERDOGAN: ONE MAN PARTY IN A ONE PARTY STATE?
In recent weeks, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been heavily criticized for focusing almost exclusively on trying to lift the ban preventing women wearing headscarves from attending...
Mass Arrests Expose Operations of Turkey’s “Deep State”
The detention in Istanbul last week of alleged members of a shadowy Turkish ultranationalist group has revived charges that elements within the Turkish security apparatus have long tried to destabilize...
TURKEY STILL HANGING ON THE MILITARY’S WORDS AND SILENCES
Even if it doesn’t overshadow Turkey to the extent that it did a decade ago, on January 30 the Turkish military demonstrated that it still has the ability to bring...
AKP PRIORITIZING HEADSCARF OVER EU
Hopes that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would attempt to revive Turkey’s stalled bid for EU membership appear set to be the first victim of the party’s efforts...
KURDISH MPs CALL FOR FREEDOM FOR THEIR BELIEFS
As Turkey’s ruling moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) continues to try to find a way to lift the ban that currently prevents women wearing headscarves from attending university,...
Back with a Vengeance: Turkish Hezbollah
In a recent report submitted to the country’s National Security Council (NSC), Turkish police warned that the most powerful militant Islamist group in recent Turkish history has now recovered from...
AKP’S ISLAMISM ONE OF VALUES AND IDENTITY RATHER THAN SHARI’A
For long-term observers of Turkey, one of the country’s enduring fascinations is its turbulent mix of contrasts, paradoxes, and contradictions, Nowhere is this more true than in its attitudes toward...
SPELLING SEPARATISM WITH A “W”: TURKEY STILL STRUGGLING WITH FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
On the evening of January 23, a court in Ankara decided to reverse a previous ruling and allow the population of Turkey to visit YouTube. For the previous four days...
BLOOD, OIL, AND HEADSCARVES: AL-BASHIR VISITS ANKARA
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...
TURKISH MILITARY KEEPS ITS POWDER DRY AS HEADSCARF DEBATE CONTINUES TO RAGE
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...
STATEMENTS BY STATE OFFICIALS HIGHLIGHT THE PARADOXES OF TURKISH SECULARISM
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...
ERDOGAN INADVERTENTLY REIGNITES HEADSCARF DEBATE
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...
SUDANESE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT RENEWS SUSPICIONS ABOUT IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSION TO TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY
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...
TURKISH ALEVIS SPURN OVERTURES FROM AKP
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...
Turkey’s Other War on Terrorism
On December 31, 2007, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted the claims of unnamed Israeli security officials that intelligence reports suggested al-Qaeda cells had infiltrated into Turkey in preparation for...
DIYARBAKIR BOMBING INCREASES PRESSURE ON THE DTP
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...
Diyarbakr Bombing Marks New Stage in PKK Campaign
The January 4 detonation of a large, vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) in the city of Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey appears to mark a new phase in the 23 year-old...
TURKISH MEDIA HAIL GUL’S VISIT AS CONSOLIDATING NEW ERA IN U.S.-TURKISH TIES BUT UNCERTAINTY REMAINS ABOUT ITS LONGEVITY
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...
AKP HEDGES ON KEY EU REFORM AS PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR ACCESSION CONTINUES TO FALL
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has announced plans to amend the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, that provides for custodial sentences for anyone who...
AKP PREPARES TO ANNOUNCE NEW CONSTITUTION
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is finally expected to announce details of a new Turkish constitution later this month. A provisional draft has been submitted to Prime Minister...
TURKEY TRUMPETS ATTACK ON PKK, TURNS TO “ENEMY WITHIN”
As the Turkish media continues to bask in the military strike against bases in northern Iraq belonging to the illegal Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Turkish authorities have stepped up...
TURKEY SPEAKS VOLUMES WITH A MUTED RESPONSE TO EU SNUB
Turkey’s muted response to the EU’s refusal to include an explicit reference to the country’s accession in its recent statement on enlargement is yet another indication of the waning enthusiasm...
REACTIONS TO CHIEF OF STAFF’S COMMENTS UNDERSCORE RIFT BETWEEN TURKISH MILITARY AND NATIONALIST MHP
Recent remarks by General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had become both politicized and legalized have triggered a furious...
ILLEGAL MIGRATION STRAINING TURKEY’S TIES WITH GREECE, EU
The December 10 sinking of an overcrowded boat carrying illegal migrants from Turkey to Greece has highlighted Turkey’s increasing importance as a transit point for illegal migrants seeking to gain...
TURKISH MILITARY ADMITS LOSING PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR, TARGETS KURDISH MPs
General Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), yesterday (December 11) admitted that Turkey was losing the psychological war against Kurdish separatism. Buyukanit was speaking at a...
EDUCATION APPOINTMENT REINFORCES TURKISH SECULARIST FEARS, SIGNALS TENSIONS AHEAD
Turkish President Abdullah Gul’s choice of a conservative as the new head of the Higher Education Council (YOK), which oversees university education in Turkey, has reinforced Turkish secularist fears and...
The Turkish Generals’ Talk: The Strategic Insights of Turkey’s Struggle with the PKK
In November, Turkish journalist Fikret Bila published a book entitled Komutanlar Cephesi (“The Commanders’ Front”) based on interviews with eight retired Turkish military commanders (Detay Yayıncılık, 2007). Prior to its...
NIE REPORT EASES PRESSURE ON TURKEY OVER TIES WITH IRAN
The recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) report suggesting that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 has eased the pressure on Turkey over its growing economic ties with...
Turkey’s Islamic Raiders of the Greater East Seeking Ties with al-Qaeda?
On November 20, police in the Turkish city of Izmir arrested six suspected members of the Islamic Raiders of the Greater East – Front (IBDA-C). The detainees are alleged to...
TURKEY AND GREECE: STILL SUSPICIONS BEHIND THE SMILES
Yesterday (December 6) Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan concluded a two-day visit to Greece in a sign of a continuing rapprochement between the two neighbors. However, although the recent improvement...
TURKEY TRYING TO GO LOCAL IN DEFENSE PROCUREMENT
Turkey has stepped up its efforts to secure as much as possible of its defense procurement requirements from local manufacturers. Turkey has long regarded the development of an indigenous defense...
COURT EVIDENCE RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT INVOLVEMENT OF TURKISH OFFICIALS IN KILLING OF CHRISTIANS
Evidence presented to the court during the trial of five youths accused of killing three Christians in the southeastern town of Malatya earlier this year have raised questions about the...
AKP TARGETING THE KURDISH VOTE
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will target Kurdish voters in the run-up to the March 2009 local elections, AKP Deputy Chairman Hayati Yazici has announced. Yazici said that...
POOR, LESS EDUCATED TURKISH WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO COVER THEIR HEADS
The proportion of Turkish women who cover their heads has risen by more than five percentage points over the last four years, according to a survey by the Konda research...
TURKISH SUPREME MILITARY COUNCIL EXPECTED TO DISCUSS FORMING SPECIALIZED ANTI-TERRORISM FORCE
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...
AS IT CONTINUES TO MULL LIMITED MILITARY ACTION, TURKEY STEPS UP EFFORTS TO DIVIDE PKK
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...
AKP ATTEMPTS TO RECAPTURE MOMENTUM BY SETTING DATE FOR NEW DRAFT CONSTITUTION
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
NEW TURKISH INTERNET REGULATIONS SIGNAL FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH
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...
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...
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...
FORMER TURKISH COMMANDERS DISCUSS COSTS AND BENEFITS OF CROSS-BORDER OPERATION AGAINST PKK
As Turkey continues to mull its options against elements of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq, the center-right daily Milliyet has been running a series of interviews...
MAJORITY OF TURKISH MEDIA CLAIMS BUSH GAVE TURKEY GREEN LIGHT FOR MILITARY OPERATION
The majority of the Turkish media believe that U.S. President George W. Bush effectively gave Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a green light for a military operation against elements...
EU REPORT TO PRESS TURKEY ON MINORITY RIGHTS
The European Commission’s annual Progress Report on Turkey’s candidacy for EU membership, which will be published tomorrow, November 6, will press Ankara to grant greater rights to the country’s ethnic...
THREAT OF MILITARY ACTION IN IRAQ STRAINING TURKEY’S TIES WITH ITS MUSLIM ALLIES
There are increasing signs that Turkey’s threat to stage a military incursion into northern Iraq against camps of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is straining the country’s ties with its...
ANKARA MOVES TO BECOME LESS DEPENDENT ON ENERGY IMPORTS
Amid the continuing tensions over a possible Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is pushing ahead with its plans to establish a nuclear...
DTP CALLS FOR AUTONOMY AMID CONTINUING TENSIONS FOLLOWING RECENT PKK ATTACKS
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has delivered his strongest warning yet to the United States and the Iraqi Kurds ahead of his scheduled meeting with President George W. Bush...
TURKISH AUTHORITIES BEGIN TO APPLY ECONOMIC PRESSURE AGAINST IRAQI KURDS
Turkish media reports from the country’s border with Iraq suggest that the Turkish authorities have begun to apply economic pressure against the Iraqi Kurds ahead of possible full-scale sanctions. On...
ETHNIC TENSIONS IN TURKEY CONTINUING TO ESCALATE
Over a week after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed 12 Turkish soldiers when they overran a military outpost in Daglaci, close to Turkey’s border with Iraq, (see EDM, October...
CLASHES WITH PKK CONTINUE AS TURKEY PREPARES ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAQI KURDS
As Turkey presses ahead with the military buildup on its border with Iraq, the Turkish media are continuing to report clashes between the security forces and militants of the Kurdistan...
PKK Changes Battlefield Tactics to Force Turkey into Negotiations
Recent attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) suggest that the organization is adopting new battlefield tactics in order to increase the psychological pressure on Turkey in the hope of...
AKP GOVERNMENT CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE ON RESPONSE TO PKK ATTACK
Hundreds of thousands of Turks took to the streets in towns and cities across the country yesterday (October 23) to protest the killing of 12 soldiers in an attack by...
PRESSURE ON AKP MOUNTS AMID FEARS OF ETHNIC VIOLENCE
The public pressure on Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to launch a cross-border military strike into northern Iraq has continued to mount. Further public protests have erupted following...
PKK TRYING TO DRAW TURKISH MILITARY INTO NORTHERN IRAQ
The latest attack by militants of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) seems to be an attempt to provoke Turkey into trying to stage a cross-border military strike into northern Iraq...
TURKISH CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM TO GO AHEAD DESPITE CONFUSION
Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Board (YSK), yesterday (October 17) voted to go ahead with the planned constitutional referendum on October 21, amid continuing confusion about its legal validity. The constitutional amendments...
ASSAD VISIT SIGNALS DEEPENING RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND SYRIA
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Turkey yesterday (October 16) at the beginning of a four-day visit, in another sign of a deepening rapprochement between the two countries less than...
Turkey Weighs Military Options Against PKK Camps in Iraq
Following the decision by Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to create the legal framework for an armed incursion into northern Iraq, the Turkish military has begun to weigh...
POSSIBLE TURKISH MILITARY STRIKE INCREASES PRESSURE ON DTP
Less than three months after 20 pro-Kurdish MPs entered the Turkish parliament in the July 22 general election, hopes that their presence in the assembly would create a platform for...
STUNG BY ARMENIAN RESOLUTION, TURKEY MULLS OPTIONS
Stung by the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s October 10 approval of a resolution characterizing the massacres and deportations of Armenians by the Ottoman authorities during World War I as a...
PKK Expanding Urban Bombing Campaign in Western Turkey
A recent series of explosions suggest that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) may be stepping up its urban bombing campaign in western Turkey. On October 2, two Improvised Explosive Devices...
ECHR RULING HIGHLIGHTS DISCRIMINATION SUFFERED BY TURKEY’S ALEVI MINORITY
The October 9 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), stating that compulsory religious instruction in Turkey violates the rights of religious minorities, has highlighted the discrimination suffered...
PKK INTENSIFIES PRESSURE AS TURKEY PONDERS CROSS-BORDER OPERATION
As the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) prepares to present a motion to parliament authorizing the deployment of Turkish troops in a cross-border military operation against Kurdistan Workers’ Party...
TURKEY PREPARES FOR CROSS-BORDER MILITARY OPERATION
Over the next few days the Turkish parliament is expected to approval a motion authorizing a cross-border military operation into northern Iraq to strike at camps belonging to the Kurdistan...
TURKEY DETERMINED TO PRESS AHEAD WITH IRANIAN GAS DEAL
The Turkish Energy Ministry has repeated Turkey’s determination to press ahead with a new natural gas agreement with Iran, despite objections from the United States. On October 3, Turkish Energy...
AKP FACING A CONSTITUTIONAL TRAP OF ITS OWN MAKING
An attempt by Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to circumvent the country’s secularist establishment’s opposition to Abdullah Gul becoming president looks set to return to haunt it later...
POLL SUGGESTS LEVELS OF PIETY UNCHANGED, HEADSCARF STILL INDICATOR OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS IN TURKEY
A recent opinion poll suggests that levels of piety in Turkey have remained virtually unchanged since the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in November...
BUYUKANIT WARNS AKP ON CONSTITUTION, DTP ON PKK
On October 1, Turkish Chief of Staff General Yasar Buyukanit publicly warned the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) against weakening secularism in the new Turkish constitution, which is expected...
MASSACRE IN SOUTHEAST TURKEY REVIVES OLD MEMORIES
On September 29, 12 male villagers were massacred close to the village of Besagac, near Turkey’s border with Iran, by what is believed to have been a unit of the...
TURKISH OFFICIALS ACCUSE BARZANI OF PREVENTING “HOT PURSUIT” BEING INCLUDED IN ANTI-PKK AGREEMENT
Turkish officials have accused Massoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, of excluding the right of hot pursuit from a list of measures to be...
EXPECTATIONS LOW FOR AL-BULANI VISIT TO ANKARA TO DISCUSS MEASURES AGAINST THE PKK
Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bulani arrived in Ankara on September 25 for two days of talks with Turkish officials in an attempt to resolve long-standing differences over the continued presence...
TURKISH MILITARY WARNS AKP ON SECULARISM, U.S. ON IRAQ
Turkish Land Forces Commander General Ilker Basbug has issued a stern warning to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) not to attempt to change the current interpretation of secularism...
VISITS BY TOP U.S. OFFICIALS FAIL TO HEAL STRAINS IN TURKISH-U.S. TIES
Two visits by leading U.S. officials to Turkey in less than a week have failed to heal the strains in relations between Ankara and Washington, particularly over Turkey’s increasingly close...
GROWING RUSSO-TURKISH ECONOMIC TIES OVERSHADOW POLITICAL DIFFERENCES
Despite continuing political differences, Russia is rapidly becoming one of Turkey’s most important trading partners. According to figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), during the first six months...
TURKISH GOVERNMENT AND SECULAR ESTABLISHMENT FACE OFF OVER HEADSCARF BAN
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reacted angrily to criticism from the country’s secular establishment regarding a proposal in the draft new constitution to lift the current ban on...
TURKISH MILITARY LAUNCHES MAJOR ANTI-PKK OPERATION
Around 10,000 members of the Turkish security forces have been deployed in a major military operation against units of the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in eastern...
TURKISH POLICE NO NEARER TO SOLVING ATTEMPTED ANKARA BOMBING
One week after foiling a massive bomb attack in the center of Ankara, the Turkish police appear no closer to identifying either the perpetrators or the bomb’s intended target. On...
ERDOGAN TO RULE ON FINAL DRAFT OF TURKEY’S NEW CONSTITUTION
Members of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) have completed a three-day retreat to discuss a draft of the country’s new constitution, but they have left the decision on...
POLITICAL TENSIONS HIT TURKISH ECONOMIC TIES WITH NORTHERN IRAQ
Turkish companies active in northern Iraq say that political tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdish authorities have severely damaged their ability to do business in the region. Many are...
NEW DRAFT TURKISH CONSTITUTION FORESEES EASING RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC IDENTITY
A draft of the planned new Turkish constitution has been leaked to the media, and it suggests that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is planning to ease restrictions on...
TURKISH POLICE FOIL MASSIVE BOMB ATTACK IN ANKARA
The discovery of a vehicle packed with explosives in the center of Ankara has once again raised questions about Turkey’s vulnerability to a mass-casualty terrorist attack. On the morning of...
TURKEY LINES UP ALONGSIDE SYRIA TO CONDEMN ISRAELI INCURSIONS
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s blunt condemnation of an alleged violation of the Turkey’s airspace by Israeli warplanes has dealt another blow to already deteriorating relations between the two countries....
EU, BUSINESS GROUPS PRESS AKP GOVERNMENT TO RESTART REFORM PROCESS
The European Commission has issued what is expected to be the first in a series of warnings to Turkey’s moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) to restart the stalled...
THE END OF “TAK”?
For the first time in four years, the summer is drawing to a close without a major attack by Kurdish militants on the Turkish tourism industry. Since the Kurdistan Workers’...
COLLAPSE OF CYPRUS TALKS DELIVERS ANOTHER BLOW TO TURKEY’S EU AMBITIONS
The collapse of the latest attempt to restart the stalled Cyprus peace negotiations has come as a further blow to Turkey’s hopes of reviving its bid for full EU membership....
TURKISH STATE STEPS UP PRESSURE ON KURDISH POLITICIANS
Hopes that the presence of the Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Turkey’s new parliament would facilitate dialogue and the formulation of a solution to Turkey’s long-running Kurdish problem appear...
TURKISH MILITARY BRACES FOR NEW BATTLE OVER CONSTITUTION
Following its failure to prevent the election of Abdullah Gul as Turkey’s president, the Turkish military is now regrouping and preparing for the next battle in what is likely to...
PRESIDENT SEZER SNUBS ERDOGAN IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE WAR OF ATTRITION BETWEEN THE AKP AND TURKEY’S SECULAR ESTABLISHMENT
On August 16, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer publicly humiliated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the first move in what is likely to be a long war of attrition...
AKP OPTS FOR CONFRONTATION, NAMES GUL AS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
On August 13, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) opted for confrontation rather than conciliation by announcing that Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will be its candidate in Turkey’s forthcoming...
TURKEY REFUSES TO BACK DOWN ON IRAN ENERGY DEAL
The Turkish government has reiterated its determination to press ahead with massive investment in the Iranian energy sector, despite U.S. opposition. On August 12 Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler announced...
AK PARTY APPOINTS MODERATE AS SPEAKER AS TENSIONS INSIDE PARTY MOUNT OVER PRESIDENCY
Following the election of a known moderate to the post of Turkish parliamentary speaker, attention has now switched to the forthcoming vote for the presidency, amid signs of an intensifying...
TURKISH MEDIA TARGET BARZANI AFTER AL-MALIKI FAILS TO AGREE TO CONCRETE MEASURES AGAINST PKK
The Turkish media have targeted Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani following the failure of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Kamel al-Maliki to agree to take concrete measures against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party...
TURKEY’S KURDS OPT FOR ISLAM OVER THE PKK
The results of the Turkish general election of July 22 suggest that Turkey’s Kurdish minority is looking increasingly to Islam rather than the secular nationalism of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party...
TURKISH MILITARY EXPELS OFFICERS FOR ALLEGED ISLAMIC ACTIVITY
On August 4, the Turkish military officially announced the expulsion of ten serving officers for alleged Islamic fundamentalist activities. The announcement came one day after the end of a three-day...
TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TRIGGERS POWER STRUGGLE WITHIN AK PARTY
Debates over its candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections appear to have triggered a power struggle within Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Under Turkish law, the president...
MILITARY LEADERS, ERDOGAN MEET TO DISCUSS PROMOTIONS AS TENSIONS MOUNT OVER PRESIDENCY
The three-day annual meeting of Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS) opened in Ankara today (August 1). It marked the first time that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the high...
POORER, LESS EDUCATED VOTERS PREFER TURKEY’S AK PARTY
A close look at voting patterns in the July 22 Turkish general election suggests that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has broadened its electoral base while retaining...
PKK INSURGENCY GROWS AS AK PARTY RENEWS DEBATE ON CROSS-BORDER OPERATIONS
Fresh from its landslide victory in the Turkish elections of July 22, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has once again begun to increase pressure on the United States to...
DTP ELECTION SUCCESS SET TO CHALLENGE BOTH TURKISH STATE AND PARTY ITSELF
The election to the Turkish parliament of 24 members of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) looks set to challenge both the Turkish state’s commitment to freedom of expression and the...
TURKISH CHIEF OF STAFF FACING DILEMMA OVER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
On July 26 the Turkish press quoted Devlet Bahceli, leader of the ultranationalist National Action Party (MHP), as stating that the party would not boycott the parliamentary vote to elect...
AKP SENDS MIXED SIGNALS OVER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Today, July 25, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul today refused to confirm that he would withdraw as a candidate for the country’s presidency when parliament meets in early August 2007...
PROSPECTS OF IMMINENT CIVIL-MILITARY CONFRONTATION RECEDE IN WAKE OF TURKISH ELECTIONS
Fears of another confrontation between the ruling AK Party and Turkey’s powerful military over the appointment of the country’s next president have receded in the wake of yesterday’s general election....