It was not so long ago that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg described Turkey’s decision to purchase the sophisticated Russian S-400 anti-ballistic missile systems as a difficult issue.
Among the most significant recent domestic political developments in Turkey is the formal declaration of the “People’s Alliance” by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The two parties have stressed that this alliance will not be limited to the 2019 parliamentary and presidential elections. An AKP spokesman said it will continue after the 2019 elections, up to and beyond the 2024 elections.
Turkey will this month witness a hectic diplomatic traffic,
There is no question that the best option for the Greek Cypriot administration is to form a joint commission with the Turkish Cypriots to manage ongoing hydrocarbon activities off the island, on the grounds that all future produce will belong to both communities.
The last few months of 2017 seemed to enhance the prospects of a coming peace in Syria. Turkey, Russia and Iran announced a three-way agreement to establish de-escalation zones in four different zones inside Syria, with calls for a national dialogue congress to be convened to discuss a peaceful settlement to the civil war.
A draft law overhauling Turkey’s Election Law and Political Parties Law was submitted to parliament this week by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
It was very unfortunate that the visits of United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Council of Europe Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland to the Turkish capital took place on the same days last week.
An intense, week-long series of diplomatic exchanges between Turkey and the United States has yielded a fresh mechanism tasked to resolving outstanding issues in the bilateral relationship.
Needless to say, this week is set to witness some very important meetings between Turkey and the United States. The defense ministers of the two countries, Nurettin Canikli and James Mattis, will meet in Brussels on the margins of a NATO summit a day before U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is due in Ankara for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
