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Erdogan

Turkey: Hagia Sophia’s first Muslim Friday prayers draw thousands

Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has opened for Muslim Friday prayers for the first time since the museum was changed back to a mosque. High profile guests joined the crowds of worshippers at the ancient site. Thousands of worshippers flocked to Turkey’s…

The Unnoticed Demise of Democracy

By Roberto Savio* Politicians are so busy fighting for their jobs, they hardly seem to notice that they risk going out of business. Democracy is on the wane, yet the problem is nowhere in Parliaments. Common to all is a…

EU lawmakers urge suspension of Turkey membership talks

A broad majority of EU lawmakers have called for ceasing membership talks with Turkey due to its post-coup purges and President Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian actions. But EU’s top diplomat has warned against it. The European Parliament debated Turkey’s EU membership…

Independent perspectives on Turkey

  Independent perspectives on Turkey By TFF Associates  Turkey is a NATO member, the second largest militarily. It hosts 50 nuclear weapons at a base about hundred kilometres from the Syrian border – ISIS territory. Each of these has a capacity…

Turkey: people power, the media and a change in tone

Like most viewers, I watching the events in Turkey unfold on television from Friday July 15 and the snatches of scenes not really telling the full story but giving an idea of what was taking place, especially with the word…

Vote in local elections reveals a polarised Turkey

There is no doubt that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has come out stronger from the local elections on Sunday. Similarly there is no doubt that the Kurdish regions confirm they are going their own way, which is not…

Few Silver Linings in Egypt for the United States…or China

Recent events in Egypt provide significant food for thought for China policy idealists and realists. The liberal West’s chosen panacea for China—millions of young people taking to the streets and voicing democratic slogans—produced an embarrassing military coup and an appalling…

Erdogan pushes the people to where and what?

The news coming out from Istanbul via news services such as Al Jazeera show a lot of violent action from the side of the police and their allied security forces. Update – from Ankara. Listening to the speeches of the…