“All politics is local” is a common phrase in the United States which was coined by a former speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill. It suggests that the primary task of a politician is to address the issues of his or her constituency, to understand and to deal with their problems, and to use his or her resources to this end.
One of the most important developments of the last week was the signing of the Tre ty of Aachen between Germany and France, on the 56th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty that had paved the way for the reconciliation of the two big European powers in the aftermath of the devastating World War II.
One of the most important outcomes of a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week was the latter’s mention of a 1998-dated bilateral anti-terror deal between Ankara and Damascus.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit today to Moscow comes at a very crucial milestone with regard to Syria.
South Carolina’s Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s visit to Ankara in a critical moment of developments in Syria was very significant for multiple reasons.
“Never a dull moment” is perhaps the most frequently – and fairly – used phrase by foreign diplomats in Turkey. There has never been a single moment since 2013 that left diplomats, journalists and analysts idle, both over the intensified Syria agenda and the constantly election-driven tense and polarized internal political landscape.
Donald Trump is the third United States president with whom Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been working since he came to power in late 2002. He worked with George W. Bush between 2002 and 2008 and then with Barack Obama until late 2016.
The last decade and a half under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have surely singled out the defense industry as the most steadfastly growing sector in Turkey despite cyclical economic ups and downs. This is no coincidence but a reflection of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s foreign and security policy understanding.
2019 will be an important year for the European Union which will have to deal with Brexit, European Parliament elections in May, a trade row with the United States, and the next long-term EU budget amid other complicated social and economic problems within the bloc and foreign policy issues beyond its borders.
