Weaker than expected support from within the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for the executive presidency system in the April 16 referendum is turning the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Parti) eyes back to Kurdish votes, recent developments in the campaign suggest.
When the insignia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a red star on a yellow triangle – a version of the symbol of many left-wing militant organizations around the world – first appeared as badges on the arms of the U.S. Special Forces in Syria in May 2016, the Turkish government was furious about it.
In his first public speech, as reported on March 22, new German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier directly criticized Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, asking him to stop “jeopardizing everything” that he has built “with others” so far.
The United States banned laptops, tablets, cameras and similar electronic devices aboard planes from 10 cities in eight countries on March 20.
As the spring equinox starts with March 21, which is celebrated as the ancient new year under the name of Nevruz or Newroz in many eastern cultures, preparations are about to be completed for a major offensive on the Syrian city of Raqqa, which has been under occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since January 2014.
In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Bruno Kahl, the chief of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, said on March 18 that the Turkish government had “failed to convince” them that the U.S.-based Islamist cleric Fethullah Gülen was behind the coup attempt of July 15, 2016
Turkey failed to convince the United States and Russia to allow it to assume active participation in retaking the Syria town of Raqqa from the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), or DAESH, on the condition of stopping collaboration with the People’s Protection Units (YPG), an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), diplomatic sources in Ankara have told the Hürriyet Daily News
Why can’t populist politicians do without enemies? Because they get better results with enemies.
A Turkish proverb say, it’s better having an intelligent enemy than a stupid friend.
