Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials take immense pleasure to criticize Turkish foreign policy that has been followed by governments preceding their ascent to power in 2002. Although it was usually right-wing political parties that have largely been in the government following the first multi-party elections in 1946, the AKP blames the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for what they label a “passive” foreign policy stance.
The legendary French singer Charles Aznavour died at the age of 94, leaving behind millions of fans that spanned the world.
No doubt President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s state visit to Germany was one of the most difficult diplomatic trips the two sides’ officials have seen recently as it must have been challenging to agree on its various details.
“The Netherlands is going to pay for this,” roared Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 2017. He was reacting to the Dutch government’s refusal to let Turkish ministers campaign in Rotterdam ahead of the April referendum.
In the 1930s, Jewish scientists forced to abandon their universities by the Nazi regime were welcome in Turkey. Invited by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to help build a modern university system, few in Turkey and Germany today know about the legacy they left on Turkish academic life.
While a military offensive towards Idlib by regime forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad seems to have been averted for some time, the fact remains that thousands of terrorists remain trapped on the Turkish-Syrian border.
The Turkish leadership’s extremely vocal and harsh criticism of the West makes Turkey appear in the eyes of an international observer as a highly anti-Western country. While some of the policies of the U.S. and the European Union are to be blamed for the rise of anti-Westernize in Turkey, there was always a lack of trust toward the West ingrained in Turkish psyche.
There is a Turkish saying that goes: “You are the only one who understood me, but then you misunderstood me.”
For some, green is the color of Islam, while for others, it represents nature. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) has a contradictory relationship with the different concepts the color represents. While it is at peace with the former, the same cannot be said for the latter.
