MURAT YETKİN

Kurdish autonomy, Turkish reaction and political balances MURAT YETKİN

Kurdish autonomy, Turkish reaction and political balances

Turkish President Erdoğan slammed the Kurdish problem-focused HDP before departing to Riyadh on Dec. 29 for supporting autonomy rights at a time when a number of towns and neighborhoods in Turkey’s dominantly Kurdish-populated east and southeast have been under curfew for almost a month amid ongoing clashes between the country’s security forces and the outlawed PKK

December 29 2015
A Kurdish state out of the anti-ISIL fight MURAT YETKİN

A Kurdish state out of the anti-ISIL fight?

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had an unscheduled meeting in the late afternoon of Dec. 27 in Istanbul before Erdoğan left for Saudi Arabia

December 27 2015
Fighting terrorism and alienating people MURAT YETKİN

Fighting terrorism and alienating people

Recent reports from Ankara indicated that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government has started to develop concerns regarding the sustainability of its security policy against the “ditches and barricades” campaign of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)

December 25 2015
Another probe against the press MURAT YETKİN

Another probe against the press

Another court case has been opened by an Istanbul court against Sedat Ergin, Hürriyet’s editor-in-chief, and Ekrem Dumanlı, Zaman’s former editor-in-chief, accusing them of insulting the president in two separate stories on their newspapers’ websites, while two other journalist, Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief and Ankara office chief respectively, are to complete their first month behind bars tomorrow, Dec. 26

December 24 2015
Situation worsening in Turkey’s Kurdish problem MURAT YETKİN

Situation worsening in Turkey’s Kurdish problem

“Does the state have to fight against terrorism?” asked Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the social democratic Republican People’s Party (CHP) while addressing his parliamentary group on Dec. 22

December 22 2015
Time for a reset in Turkish foreign policy MURAT YETKİN

Time for a reset in Turkish foreign policy

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Dec. 19 that the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the Bashiqa training camp near Mosul would “continue”

December 20 2015
No good news yet for Turkey MURAT YETKİN

No good news yet for Turkey

From Moscow, the news for Turkey was not good. Russian President Vladimir Putin chided Turkey and President Tayyip Erdoğan in particular during a Dec. 17 press conference because of the Russian jet downed by a Turkish jet as it crossed to Turkey from Syrian airspace

December 17 2015
5 years, 5 months, 5 weeks and 5 days in Turkey MURAT YETKİN

5 years, 5 months, 5 weeks and 5 days in Turkey

Five years ago, in 2010, Turkey started to experience some issues with its “zero problems with neighbors” policy - specifically the flotilla problem when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish citizens aboard the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship the Mavi Marmara

December 16 2015
‘Sunni front’ against terror is a bad idea MURAT YETKİN

‘Sunni front’ against terror is a bad idea

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has praised a new “Saudi-led Islamic anti-terrorism alliance” as being “in line with U.S. calls for a greater Sunni role” in the fight against ISIL

December 15 2015