From an optimistic perspective, it could be argued that there are hopeful indicators that the civil war in Syria will soon end, thanks to the ongoing Geneva and Astana processes.
The executive committee of the Undersecreteriat for Defense Industries has agreed to give a green light on 22 different procurement projects, worth a total of $5 billion, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Nov. 3.
It all happened within the space of two weeks. First the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) lost control of oil-rich provinces of Kirkuk and Mosul. Then it froze the post-referendum process.
Meral Akşener’s long-awaited political party was born on Oct. 25 with the name “Good Party” (İyi Parti).
No-one was surprised when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan launched a substantial in-house re-structuring in the Justice and Development Party (AKP), after he resumed chairmanship of the party in late May 2017 following the referendum on constitutional amendments in April.
The Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence bid through last month’s referendum already seems a distant memory for the various different Iraqi Kurdish groups, particularly after Iraqi troops retook control of Kirkuk and Mosul - as well as the surrounding regions - from the Peshmerga.
European Union leaders will come together at a summit on Oct. 19 and 20, following the completion of key elections in Germany and Austria, in order to discuss the future of Ankara-Brussels relations among many other issues.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on Oct. 13 announced that its troops had entered northern Syria and had started to establish monitoring spots in Idlib province as part of the three-way Astana Agreement between Turkey, Russia and Iran.
The United States’ decision to suspend non-immigrant visa services at its embassy in Ankara and consulates elsewhere in Turkey, followed by Turkey’s immediate response by suspending visa services to U.S. citizens, amounts to a new low point in bilateral relations.
