Latest Articles about Turkey
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 (see Terrorism Focus, January 29). The Ergenekon investigation was launched following the discovery of a... MORE
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 Muslims break their daytime fast during the month of Ramadan—held for foreign ambassadors in Ankara,... MORE
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 Ilker Basbug, the new chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), told journalists in Ankara... MORE
WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY
The reverberations from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers investment bank after its shares dropped more than 80 percent before the September 15 opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange have thrown Wall Street into a volatile situation with worldwide echoes, and the fiscal uncertainties... MORE
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 applied to the court for the DTP’s closure on November 16, 2007, arguing that it... MORE
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 (AKP). Sonar Research interviewed 2,927 people in 22 of Turkey’s 81 provinces over the period... MORE
TURKEY LAUNCHES KARABAKH PEACE INITIATIVE
On September 10 Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan announced that he expected to meet with his Azeri and Armenian counterparts in New York later this month on the fringes of the annual UN General Assembly meetings to discuss a solution to the problem of Karabakh... MORE
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 largest media organization in the country. The confrontation has swept both the repercussions of President... MORE
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 the country $500 million. The crisis began in mid-August when trucks and ships carrying Turkish... MORE
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 units, meeting with selected NGOs in Diyarbakir, and mingling with the local people on the... MORE