Turkey

( Middle East Monitor ) – There is “no difference” between what Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is doing in the months-long attacks on Gaza and what Nazi leader Adolf Hitler did decades ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today. At a science awards ceremony in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: “How do you [Netanyahu] […]

Egypt

Not “Surrounded by Enemies:” Regional Powers Egypt and Turkey retain Ties with Israel during Gaza Conflict despite Critical Rhetoric

Mohamed Jegham

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – A recent conversation in Israel was reported by The Forward: “‘We are surrounded by our enemies,’ muttered a Jewish history teacher to his student Moshe Klein.” Maybe decades ago this statement had some truth to it, but it is outdated and irrelevant in today’s geopolitical climate. Israel is […]

Featured

Taliban in Tel Aviv: Israel Joins Middle East in Clashing over Gender Segregation, Women’s rights in Public Sphere

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Haaretz reports that at public prayers for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv on Sunday evening, Ultra-Orthodox activists attempted to put up banners as separators to allow for the segregation of male and female worshipers. This action was seen as a provocation by liberal […]

Authoritarianism

How Turkey’s Opposition Elite enabled Erdoğan and Misled Voters

Global Voices

Written bySinan Ciddi ( Globalvoices.org ) – The sources of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s power are vast. In his over twenty years of rule, he has consolidated power to build himself a loyal bureaucratic system (including the military and law enforcement), a compliant mainstream media landscape, and a government system that positions his dictates […]

Kurds

Amid growing Tension between Russia, Iran and the US, Syria’s Kurds have been Sidelined

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – In north-east Syria, the 12-year conflict is far from over. Russian fighter jets buzz US surveillance drones, threatening to bring them down. Iranian-backed militias occasionally fire rockets at US positions. The Assad regime maintains that it will “regain every inch” of Syria, ending Kurdish autonomy in the […]

Authoritarianism

What Happened To Democracy in Turkey?

Waging Nonviolence

Umut Özkırımlı ( Waging Nonviolence ) – Despite initial skepticism regarding the results of the November 2002 general elections — which saw the decimation of the incumbent coalition and veteran politicians by the newcomer Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — Western pundits soon hailed Turkey as […]

Climate Crisis

Climate Crisis: Though Turkey’s Forests are at Risk from Wildfires, the Country is still Wedded to Dirty Coal

Arzu Geybullayeva

In Turkey, when forests are not on fire, they are being destroyed by greedy men in suits Protests to save Akbelen forest continue despite the violence Written byArzu Geybullayeva ( Globalvoices.org) – Since 2019, the local residents of İkizköy village in Turkey’s southwestern province of Muğla have been trying to prevent deforestation in […]

European Union

Turkey has a long Road ahead with renewed European Union Bid

Arzu Geybullayeva

Written byArzu Geybullayeva ( Globalvoices.org) – On July 20, European Union foreign ministers met to discuss Ankara’s renewed accession demands and agreed to re-engage with Turkey. In the European Commission report on enlargement for 2022, they noted the EU’s concerns over the country’s “continued deterioration of democracy, the rule of law, fundamental rights and the independence […]