The Turkish nation is set to mark the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and a group of patriotic officers following the three-year Independence War against occupying powers.
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany will come together in a first-of-its-kind summit in Istanbul to extensively discuss the state of affairs in Syria and projections for a future political settlement.
Although all eyes were on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who spoke at his Justice and Development Party (AKP) group in parliament on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Oct 23, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli managed to steal the attention on the president and once again successfully diverted the focus in domestic politics.
The period after the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections has witnessed a chain of very important developments in the fields of economy and foreign policy, which have heavily dominated Turkey’s political agenda.
The leaders of Turkey, Russia, France and Germany will come together in a first-of-its kind summit in Istanbul on Oct. 27 in a bid to discuss all the dimensions of the ongoing Syrian civil war. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a four-way format that has never been done before.
United States Pastor Andrew Brunson was released and sent back home late Oct. 12 after a local court issued the lightest possible sentence on him although he had been sentenced to 35 years in prison for supporting multiple terror organizations and espionage.
All eyes will be on Idlib this week, as a deal brokered between Turkey and Russia last month, which stipulates the withdrawal of all jihadist terror groups from a demilitarized zone within the Syrian province, needs to be concluded today. The first phase of the deal has been successfully accomplished on Oct. 10 as the opposition groups removed their heavy arms from the zone. That prompted positive remarks from both the Turkish and Russian governments on the implementation of the deal, although the Syrian government has insisted on the temporariness of the agreement.
Although it’s been 10 days, the mystery over the disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi is far from being resolved. The only known fact is that he was seen entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 but never seen leaving it. Scores of scenarios on what might have happened to him have been widely covered by both the Turkish and international media, while the international community has strongly accused Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance.
Turkey’s new presidential system, inaugurated on July 9, marked its third month yesterday. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan concluded the making of the new system with the appointments of 76 officials to nine councils that are tasked to contribute to the government’s policy making on various issues.
