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Turkey trots toward Islamism

The Turkish regime is gradually suppressing freedom as its society moves steadily toward a more hardline Islamic identity… Continue reading

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Turkey’s Leadership Ambitions in NATO Weakened by Petty Politics

NATO’s May 20-21 heads-of-state summit in Chicago reminded everyone how Turkey is making important contributions to NATO in many key areas… Continue reading

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Reverting to His Roots

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Turkey’ ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is reverting to its Islamist roots… Continue reading

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Greatest Church Soon To Be Mega Mosque?

Ostensibly dealing with a building, a recent report demonstrates how Turkey’s populace is reverting to its Islamic heritage… Continue reading

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This Week, Turkey Went a Long Way Toward Becoming an Islamic Republic

Hardly surprising, deeply upsetting, and geostrategically catastrophic, it’s official. Turkey has now passed over towards being an Islamist state… Continue reading

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Is the AKP Creating the Conditions for a Counter-Force to Emerge?

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party is demonstrating an unwillingness to leave any room in society to those who are not its supporters… Continue reading

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Football and Fethullah: The Gülen Movement’s New Goals?

On May 12, 2012, Istanbul rivals Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray played out a goalless draw in the final match of the Turkish 2011-2102 soccer season, handing the national championship to Galatasaray… Continue reading

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Turkey-Iraq Relations: From Bad to Worse

Relations between the governments of Iraq and Turkey continue to deteriorate… Continue reading

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Turkey’s Middle East Policy of Seeking To Gobble, Gobble Up the Middle East Makes Enemies of Everyone

Countries may vary, but civilization is one, and for a nation to progress, it must take part in this one civilization… Continue reading

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Not a “Slip of the Tongue”: Only “One Religion” Is Recognized as the Basis of the Turkish State

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently expressed allegiance to “one nation, one flag, one religion, one state”… Continue reading

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Values and Identity: The Resurgence of the Kurdish Hizbullah

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the center of Diyarbakır for a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth. The event was organized by a coalition of NGOs affiliated with the radical Sunni Islamist organization known in Turkey as Hizbullah… Continue reading

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Will Erdogan be Elected President in 2012, Two Years Earlier than Anticipated?

Turkey may be headed toward an unexpected presidential election in August 2012, as the Constitutional Court is set to rule on the constitutionality of a temporary law… Continue reading

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Explaining Turkey’s Nuclear Policies

Despite its challenging neighborhood, Turkey has an exemplary nuclear nonproliferation record… Continue reading

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The General who Staged the 1980 Coup is Put on Trial, But His Legacy Reigns Supreme

The trial of the two surviving members of the junta that seized power on September 12, 1980, in a coup that altered Turkey’s course, is an historic event, but… Continue reading

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Remolding Compulsory Education, the AKP Erases a Secularist Legacy – and Seeks to Check the Gülen Brotherhood

The passage of the bill that remolds compulsory education in Turkey erases the legacy of the secularist military intervention fifteen years ago… Continue reading

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The Iraqi Model: As Good As It Gets

Iraq is in a mess. Violence continues. Factionalism leads to endless bickering. Corruption is at high levels. Christians live in fear or flee altogether. Islamism is constantly creeping forward… Continue reading

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Reinventing a Broken Wheel: The AKP’s ‘New’ Kurdish Strategy

On 21 March 2012, Turkish government officials began briefing trusted journalists on what they described as the new strategy of the ruling AKP for solving the country’s long-running Kurdish problem… Continue reading

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Iran Nuclear Talks: What were the six points Obama sent Khamenei through Erdogan?

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan visited Tehran and personally handed Obama’s six-point message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: Turkish-Syrian Relations Go Downhill

As Syria sinks deeper and deeper into the throes of civil war, the decade-long honeymoon between Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party and Bashar al-Assad’s regime has all but ended… Continue reading

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The Syrian Uprising: Syria’s Struggling Civil Society

Authoritarian regimes have traditionally been disinclined to accept any political or social opposition and have been hostile to the development of an independent civil society that could form a counterweight to state power… Continue reading

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China-Turkey Summit: Economic Enticements Overshadow Differences

The decision of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to visit Turkey along with Ireland and the United States during his ten-day world tour before becoming president in about a year underscores the importance Turkey holds for China’s leaders… Continue reading

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No Escape from Authoritarianism? Turkey Suffers from the Lack of a Constituency for Liberal Change

Turkey’s old habits of state authoritarianism persist under the rule of the AKP… Continue reading

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Obama Hearts Turkish Leader Erdogan As He Oppresses His Own People and Stabs America in the Back

President Barack Obama is continuing his love affair with Turkish Islamist leader Recep Erdogan… Continue reading

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The Snake that Doesn’t Touch Me: Turkey’s Special Authority Courts

In response to increasing international concern about controversial cases such as Ergenekon, Sledgehammer and KCK, the AKP has repeatedly insisted that the judicial system is independent and that there is nothing that it can do… Continue reading

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The Big Split: The Differences that led Erdoğan and the Gülenists to Part Ways

A power struggle between the AKP and the Gülen movement is unraveling… Continue reading