On Turkish expansion in Africa Part One: Driving Motives of Turkish Policy in Africa
At the beginning of the 21st century, faced with serious delays in joining the EU, Turkey’s military and political leadership began to realise the need to fundamentally rethink its foreign policy priorities. It was within this paradigm that it began to view the African continent as a region where it could expand its presence and influence and find new partners to pursue an ambitious, independent foreign policy “without looking to the West”…
Erdoğan's visit to the U.S. has been postponed until July
Ankara wants to outline the contours of a new relationship with Washington, while the White House is looking for an opportunity to engage with a recalcitrant Erdoğan and strengthen its regional and global influence in today’s era of growing great power competition…
Turkey Expands Energy Security Diversification
The security of the state includes many components with energy security playing a special role. The degree of development and security of the energy sector determines to a large extent the economic, social and defense aspects of the state. The availability of a country’s own natural energy resources (in particular, oil and gas) and technologies (green energy production, nuclear energy, processing plants) naturally creates both competitive advantages and a sufficient level of energy security and independence…
Turkey Continues ‘Maneuvering Diplomacy’
It is no secret that since the times of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish diplomacy, especially after the onset of the decline of the Sublime Porte at the beginning of the 19th century, commenced adapting to the international conjuncture and ‘maneuvering’ between different centers of power (in particular, between Britain, France, Germany and Russia). This tendency, on the one hand, was determined by the weakening of Turkish…
Turkey resumes peacekeeping efforts on Ukraine
Turkish President Recep Erdoğan is expected to pay an official visit to the United States in early May this year, with a full agenda of talks with President Joseph Biden. One of the key issues on the Turkish-American agenda will be the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and options of settlement. What can the summit in Washington shed light on? It is well known that Turkey at first officially took the position of a peacemaker in the situation in Ukraine…
Erdoğan talks about a new order in Transcaucasia
On his return from Iraq, on the eve of the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan announced the establishment of a “new order” in Transcaucasia. The essence of his thesis seems to be addressed to Armenia, which, as Nöbetci Gazete notes, is being advised by the Turkish leader to discard unfounded memories and act on the basis of the realities of the present…
The Imminent Turkish-American Summit and Russia
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to pay an official visit to the United States on May 9 to meet with his American counterpart, according to officials. It should be noted that this visit will be Erdoğan’s first visit to the United States during the years of Joe Biden’s presidency. The very fact of the visit and talks between the leader of an important regional country, as Turkey is, and the head of the collective West, the US President, is of particular interest in world diplomacy. Given the uneasy relations between Turkey and the United States during Erdoğan’s rule…
Domestic political transformations in Turkey
Although in its domestic political development Turkey has not yet reached the standards of European democracy, it has made significant progress in terms of the political competition between the leading parties, respect for voters’ civil rights and the transparency of elections. The municipal elections held on March 31, 2024, which resulted in a landslide victory, albeit with a narrow margin, for candidates from the main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), can be cited as a good example of how far Turkish democracy has developed…
Turkey and the "3+3" Format Prospects
Turkey demonstrating an active foreign policy aimed at raising its status from a regional state to a major power and leader of the Turkic world. Its diplomacy synthesizes several complementary doctrines: “neo-Ottomanism,” “neopanturanism,” “Turkish Eurasianism,” and “Turkish axis.” Ankara realizes that NATO membership guarantees its strategic safety against external threats from key anti-Western countries. At the same time, the Turkish political elite realizes that the West is particularly reluctant to see Turkey as a member of the European Union and will stretch the time of European integration. Ankara prefers, forcedly or by choice…
Can Biden reset US ties with Turkey?
US President Joe Biden is all set to host Turkey’s Erdoğan in the White House on the 9th of May. This visit is being seen by many as Biden’s attempt to woo an estranged NATO ally at a time when a) the US “war effort” against Russia in Ukraine has persistently failed to achieve desired results, i.e., a military defeat of Russia, and when Turkey is one leading country in the Middle East that has…
What is the Reason for Turkey’s Introduction of a Visa Regime with Tajikistan?
Tajikistan is the only post-Soviet Central Asian republic that does not belong to the Turkic world. Tajikistan’s neighbors are Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The population of the republic is more than 10 million people (mainly Tajiks belonging to the Iranian peoples). At the same time, Tajiks are the second most numerous ethnicity in neighboring Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. “The mountains of Tajikistan are home to the entire Mendeleev table.”…
Turkey Imposes Sanctions against Israel
Turkey remains determined to defend its position on the fate of Palestine and the cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. To Israel, however, the “loud rhetoric” of Recip Erdoğan is not a particular inconvenience. Tel Aviv’s verbal accusations of genocide of the Palestinian people and war crimes in Gaza, the first session of the International Court of Justice against the Jewish state, and the demand to give the Turks an international mandate over an independent Palestine are not helping Ankara at all. What else can Erdoğan do but announce a package of sanctions on Israel? In early April, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that…