An overall assessment on the current state of Turkish foreign policy would highlight three main challenges in front of Turkey’s security, economic and political interests. All three have, at one point, been linked to each other.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will hold its annual camp this weekend in Afyonkarahisar, a Central Anatolian town, during which it will review policies on key domestic and foreign issues, as well as the performance of the party’s central and local organizations.
It has been nearly six months since Turkey voted to switch to an executive presidential system in a referendum, launching the transition to a new governance model that will allow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to consolidate power even further.
It has been nearly 14 months since Turkey imposed a state of emergency after the bloody coup attempt of July 2016, in a bid to fight against the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ).
Immediately after his return from the United States, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a key security meeting and then chaired the cabinet in order to announce Turkey’s counter-measures against the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) bid to vote for independence on Sept. 25.
Unsurprisingly, the 2017-18 academic year began full of unresolved problems in the Turkish education system, stemming from both structural deficiencies and politically driven curriculum controversies.
If President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan could nearly secure the approval of the constitutional amendments, which adopted an executive presidential system with excessive powers through the controversial referendum in mid-April, it was because of the support and unprecedented alliance of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
If there is no last-minute backtrack, the Iraqi Kurds will vote in a referendum on independence in two weeks. It is a move that will drastically shake all regional balances in the already unstable Middle East.
An Istanbul prosecutor has launched an investigation against Sezgin Tanrıkulu, a prominent lawmaker from the ranks of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), over his claims that civilians had been killed by armed drones as part of the anti-terror fight in Turkey’s southeastern region.
