Recent economic fluctuations that led to an unprecedented depreciation of the Turkish Lira triggered once again calls for early elections by the opposition parties. The leaders of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and İYİ (Good) Party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and Meral Akşener, respectively, came together last week and issued a joint call for snap elections. They cited enormously growing economic problems as the reason to go to the polls.
It has become clear that both France and Greece see the former’s EU term presidency in the first half of 2022 as an opportunity to advance their adversarial policies against Turkey especially in the context of the eastern Mediterranean conflict.
Among the many current issues and problems that overwhelm the country’s agenda, it was a remarkable development that the 50 percent plus one vote election threshold for electing the president has become debatable in Turkish politics once again.
The second in-person meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and United States President Joe Biden that took place on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rome on Oct.31 helped the two allies to review the state of bilateral ties and ways to move forward despite long-standing differences.
Launched in 1998, Turkey’s more than two-decade-long Africa opening has observed important turning points. Turkey’s bonds with the continent have strengthened after it became an observing member of the African Union in 2005 and a strategic partner of it in 2008. In 2013, an important step was taken to further improve relations with the continent by the launching of the Africa Partnership Policy.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Lisbon over the past weekend witnessed important presentations and discussions about how the nearly 20-year engagement of the alliance in Afghanistan ended in a major collective failure.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s farewell visit to Turkey on Oct. 16 and the messages she conveyed during a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have led to new observations and questions on the future of the Turkey-European Union relationship.
The Taliban have taken the control of entire Afghanistan on Aug. 15 and the past two months have proven that the new rulers of the war-torn must do more to get the recognition they are seeking.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s chief foreign policy adviser and spokesman, İbrahim Kalın, conveyed some very important messages to the United States through an interview published by daily Milliyet on Oct. 12. What augments the value of these messages is the fact that they came three weeks before Erdoğan and U.S. President Joe Biden meet in Rome on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
