The new European Commission has been branded by its new president Ursula Von Der Leyen as “geopolitical.”
In the 1990s the term European Union “troika” was used to represent the three member governments that were the current, past and future-term presidents of the European Council, which is the real decision-making body as it is composed of member states.
“I understand your desire for disruptive politics,” Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel said, talking about the French president’s recent outburst on NATO. “But I’m tired of picking up the pieces. Over and over, I have to glue together the cups you have broken so that we can then sit down and have a cup of tea together,” she continued, according to a New York Times article dated Nov.23.
There is yet another tension between Turkey and its Western allies. According to Reuters, Turkey is refusing to back a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland until the alliance offers Ankara more political support for its fight against the YPG, which Turkey says is the Syrian wing of the illegal PKK.
The Istanbul Convention, a landmark agreement to combat violence against women, is under the target of conservatives in Turkey as well as in some parts of Europe.
Coming from an underprivileged background and having witnessed and probably lived firsthand the hardships ordinary citizens have faced in poorly equipped hospitals and schools, President Erdoğan who headed the government from 2002 as prime minister gave special emphasis to health care, easy access to housing credits and improvement of infrastructure in poorer urban districts. Schools were renovated, and books were distributed for free in schools.
Currently, more than 800 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every day around the globe. Each day, an of average 33,000 girls are forced into marriage at an early age. Over 214 million women want to avoid pregnancy, but they do not have access to modern contraception. Every year, 4 million girls could have their genitals mutilated.
“In my years as an activist, I came across young girls from Nepal who would not go to school for three days every month,” said Kazuko Fukida of Japan, speaking as part of a panel - one of several at the International Conference on Population and Development taking place since Tuesday, Nov. 12, in Kenya’s capital.
Turkey’s foreign policy is constantly being analyzed from the perspective of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s domestic political agenda. A foreign policy move coming from Turkey is immediately followed by a cost-benefit analysis for the country’s leader. There is no doubt that foreign policy issues have become increasingly intertwined with the domestic agenda during the rule of Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
