The deadly raids on the Iranian Parliament and the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini in Tehran on June 7, which claimed 12 lives, are grave contributions to the escalation of tension in the Middle East amid the Qatar crisis.
Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweet on June 6, in which he took credit for the Saudi-Egyptian move on Qatar for himself, it can be said that the options before Emir of Qatar Thamim al-Thani are more limited than the day before.
Diplomatic action against Qatar by Saudi Arabia did not come as a total surprise, following a number of indications over the last few months. But the June 5 move was beyond expectations: Firstly it was not only from Saudi Arabia, but it also looks to be aiming for the economic as well as diplomatic isolation of the Gulf country.
The Orhan Kemal Novel Award has been one of the most – perhaps the most – prestigious literary awards in Turkey since it was established by the family of the social-realist novelist after his passing in 1970.
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) may cooperate in the next parliamentary elections, a key political figure who asked not to be named has told the Hürriyet Daily News.
In a last-minute effort on May 31, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu urged the U.S. administration to “row back” from its mistake in Syria and stop arming the militia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) for the operation to take the town of Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), since the YPG is the Syria extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting Turkey and is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. as well.
Gen. Hulusi Akar, the chief of the Turkish General Staff, finally sent written answers on May 29 to the parliamentary inquiry commission regarding their questions about the foiled military coup on July 15, 2016.
In his first move for the new administrative structure in Turkey following the April 16 referendum to consolidate all executive power in presidential hands and allowing the president to lead a political party, President Tayyip Erdoğan made his move and changed some top positions in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) on May 29.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, who passed away on May 26, 2017 at the age of 89, was one of the U.S.’s most highly praised foreign and security policy gurus of the past half-century
