Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) and Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), declared in a joint press conference on Dec. 1 that they had agreed on the draft of a constitutional change to shift Turkey’s parliamentarian system to an executive presidential one.
There are still things that all concerned parties can do to save relations between Turkey and the EU, which currently seem to be on a crash course heading to the wall.
The problematic relationship between Turkey and the European Union is heading toward a strategic impasse
President Tayyip Erdoğan is still in a fury because of the European Parliament vote to stop negotiations with Turkey.
When Deniz Baykal, the former chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), heard that Ahmet Türk, the co-mayor of the Syria border city of Mardin, had been taken into police custody on Nov. 21, he immediately decided to go to Mardin to talk to Türk in solidarity.
The news about the European Parliament’s vote asking the European Commission to suspend membership talks between the EU and Turkey came on Nov. 24, minutes after the Turkish Central Bank decided to raise interest rates by 0.25 percent.
What has been happening in Ankara since Friday, Nov. 18 is unprecedented in the 14-year rule of the Justice and Development Party (AK Parti)
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan was among the first leaders to congratulate Donald Trump on the day he was elected as the 45th president of the United States on Nov. 8
A midnight draft by six ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) MPs upended Turkey’s already hectic political agenda after Nov. 18
