Aylık arşivler: Mart 2025

Türkiye at an Inflection Point (2)

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March 31, 2025

Türkiye’s governing AKP came to power in November 2002. Twenty-three years later, it is still in power. Children who started elementary school in 2002 are now thirty.

In its early years, the AKP appeared to have a democratic agenda. It engaged in economic reform.

At the Brussels summit on December 17, 2004, EU leaders agreed to start accession negotiations with Ankara. These negotiations were kicked off in Luxembourg on October 3, 2005. AKP’s popular support surged. However, while many were happy with the AKP’s performance, some reserved judgment and waited for what could be “in-store”.

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Times of Trouble

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March 23, 2025

When addressing international questions in my posts, I generally conclude by saying, “As for Türkiye,” and share a few observations on my country’s current challenges. Today, I would reverse the order and briefly start with Türkiye because we are going through tragic times, to say the least.

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Syria Facing Huge Challenges

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March 13, 2025

A brief look at the past:

In 2009, the communique issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to a “strategic partnership”, then a fashionable label for Türkiye’s external relationships. It mentioned common threats and challenges confronting the two countries. A year later, Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu, in remarks to the press with his Syrian counterpart in Latakia, underlined that the exemplary relationship between Syria and Türkiye was serving as a model for regional partnerships and that the two countries were aiming at total economic integration with neighbors.

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Ukraine Peace: A Challenge for Transatlantic Relations

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March 10, 2025

On February 19, 2021, President Biden addressed the Virtual Munich Security Conference. He declared, “America is back.”

Last week, President Trump delivered his State of the Union address before Congress. He started his remarks with the following:

“I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back. Our pride is back. Our confidence is back…”

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Realignment in the West?

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March 3, 2025

For centuries Europe remained the world’s main battleground. The casualties of the two world wars within four decades dwarfed the losses and devastation of past conflicts.  And as the Second World War ended, the Iron Curtain descended across Europe.

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