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It is becoming harder and harder to ascertain who exactly are Turkey’s long-term allies. On July 26, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened that Turkey would simply look elsewhere for fighter jets if frozen out of the US F-35 program, of which it has been an integral part. It came with...
While the opposition hails the beginning of the end for Turkey’s ruling party, local election setbacks might actually be a blessing in disguise. Just when you thought the ship was steadying, last weekend brought another tumultuous moment in Turkish politics. Local and mayoral elections that...
While the AKP's electoral base has been loyal to the party this time, there is no certainty this will happen again in the future. The results of the Turkish local elections appear to be quite clear as of now — at least when it comes to the actual numbers emerging from the polling stations....
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to Dr. Anna Hayes, senior lecturer of political science at James Cook University in North Queensland, Australia. Uighurs are a Turkic people native to Central and East Asia and one of the 55 ethnic minorities officially recognized by the...
US involvement in Syria — hesitant, misguided, quixotic — has been benighted from the beginning. Donald Trump wants to pull US troops out of Syria as quickly as possible. Well, it’s Friday, so that’s what the president wants now. Tomorrow, who knows, maybe he’ll insist that Syria pay...
Reliably narrow definitions of national self-interest continue to drive Turkey and the US further apart. There’s one thing Turkey and the US can definitely agree on these days: Unreliability is now the bedrock of their relationship. It’s perhaps not surprising when the two powers are led by...
After the G-20 summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman can return home secure in the knowledge that his and his country’s standing in the world remain largely unaffected. All eyes were on Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, at last week’s G-20 Summit in...
The Khashoggi affair played right into Turkey’s hands in the wider struggle for control of the Middle East. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is once again back, center stage. The question this time is what he is doing there. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has all the...
The American pastor detained for two years in Turkey was as much a symbol as he was a defendant. This was always how it was going to end. US Pastor Andrew Brunson is released, despite being sentenced to a three-year jail term in Turkey, based on time served in detention. He flies home to Andrews...
The international community must side with Turkey in the face of a probable full-scale assault on Idlib in an attempt to prevent a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis. The Astana process, which aimed at formalizing security arrangements and de-escalating tension between Turkey, Russia and Iran,...
With strongman politics on the rise around the world, democracies like India should be worried. Political “strongmen” are leaders who rule by force and with a sense of entitlement under the garb of democracy. The facade of democratic structures and institutions used by them distinguishes...
