It’s not without reason that Turkey has taken the lead in showing solidarity with the New Zealand government and its people and in strongly denouncing the brutal, inhuman assault by a fascist gunman that left 50 Muslims dead behind.
Turkey’s municipal election slated for March 31 is seen as the final leg of a five-year long election campaign before a four-year pause to twin polls in 2023 to select the president and the 600-seat parliament.
This week will feature important meetings and developments in regards to already problematic Turkey-European Union relations.
A new episode has begun in regards to a long-term disagreement between Turkey and the United States over the former’s decision to purchase Russia’s S-400 air defense systems, as Washington has stepped up pressure on the Turkish government by threatening it with sanctions.
In an interview with Anadolu Agency on March 8, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was very open in reiterating a firm Turkish position with regard to setting up a security zone inside Syria as proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in late December.
In today’s Turkey, it’s very rare that lawmakers from different political camps see issues eye to eye due to rooted polarization. But, still, it sometimes occurs, as was recently observed in regards to a bureaucratic decision that denied the accreditations of several German journalists in Turkey.
Amid sound and fury over the upcoming municipal elections slated for March 31, the Ankara politics is now shaking with growing rumors about the preparatory works for a new political party.
This column has already described the upcoming mayoral elections on March 31 as a sort of general polls in which two big alliances are in competition rather than local politicians. This description has been made on three parameters.
There is no doubt that there is an ongoing complication in Turkey’s relationships with its longstanding allies at the NATO over a number of different reasons. Its decision to purchase Russia’s sophisticated S-400 anti-ballistic missile systems and different positions between Turkey and some prominent allied countries on Syria as well as in the east Mediterranean Sea over hydro-carbon reserves are just a few of these issues.
