Etiket arşivi: Erdoğan

Türkiye and the Gaza War

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November 1, 2023

The October 7 Hamas assault was a shock for the Israelis. It should not have been. As I mentioned in an earlier post, some foresaw that trouble was in the making. The following is from an International Crisis Group statement of March 21, 2023, titled “Persistent Violence in Israel-Palestine Could Escalate Further”:

“Tensions have been rising for the past few months, fueled by a combination of factors. Among them are deadly Israeli military raids in Palestinian population centers in the West Bank; killings of Israelis by individual Palestinians; mob rampages by Israeli settlers; incendiary statements by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government and the Knesset; a restless and militarily potent Hamas in the Gaza Strip; and a Palestinian Authority (PA) that has, in many Palestinians’ eyes, lost legitimacy as its security apparatus starts to break down.”

Okumaya devam et →

Turkey-US Relations: The Downturn Continues

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December 15, 2019

On October 29, Turkish National Day, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to formally recognize the “Armenian genocide”. The Senate voted unanimously on Thursday for the same resolution. Lawmakers in the Senate and the House are busy working on more measures targeting Turkey. Okumaya devam et →

NATO at Seventy

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Co-authored with Yusuf Buluç (*)

December 5, 2019

Literature on “The Art of Human Survival” will have you believe that to have reached the age of seventy must be a testimony for having mustered this art. But for a military alliance to have functioned, changed, adapted and enlarged for seventy years would mean significantly more than mere survival, but an unequivocal success. While ripe and mature age seventy for a human being deserves celebration albeit with an eye on life expectancy averages, for a military alliance such celebration would call for unreserved pride and a solemn commitment to cohesion, collective re-dedication to allied goals. But those were not the type of public announcements or more discreet messages that were coming from the London Summit to celebrate NATO’s 70th anniversary. Okumaya devam et →

The Quadrilateral İstanbul Summit on Syria

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October 29, 2018

At the end of September 2018, the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and the United States came together in New York and issued a statement. After repeating for the umpteenth time that there is no military solution to the conflict, they called on the UN and Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura to convene, as quickly as possible, a credible, inclusive constitutional committee that will begin drafting a new Syrian constitution.  They also urged him to report back to the Security Council no later than October 31.

While Mr. de Mistura has said he is not going to lay down the charge until the last hour of the last day of his mandate, this gives him just another month since his resignation will take effect at the end of November.

On 27 October, Presidents Erdoğan, Putin, Macron and Chancellor Merkel met in İstanbul for the Quadrilateral Summit on Syria. Interestingly, the four leaders came together in this format for the first time and concluded their meeting with a joint statement expressing a commitment to working together. Whether such meetings would continue either at heads of State or ministerial level remains to be seen. Okumaya devam et →

“Time heals what reason cannot.” SENECA

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October 26, 2018

The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states the following on bilateral political relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia:

“Turkey has deep-rooted historical and cultural ties with Saudi Arabia and enjoys excellent relations in all fields based on friendship, fraternity, mutual respect and common interests. Being two important countries of our region and the Islamic world, Turkey and Saudi Arabia closely cooperate towards preserving regional peace and stability. Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia share the political will to further deepen their relations in all fields…”

The reality is different.

U.S. State Department fact sheet on Saudi Arabia also mentions a long-standing bilateral relationship highlighting common interests. It says:

“… Saudi Arabia’s unique role in the Arab and Islamic worlds, its possession of the world’s largest reserves of oil, and its strategic location all play a role in the long-standing bilateral relationship between the Kingdom and the United States… Saudi Arabia plays an important leadership role in working toward a peaceful and prosperous future for the region and is a strong partner in security and counterterrorism efforts, providing military, diplomatic, and financial cooperation…”

Again, the reality is different as the increasing souring of relations showed towards the end of President Obama’s second term as a result of Riyadh’s failure to convince the Obama administration that it was effectively combating extremism and the war in Yemen. President Trump’s Washington is now struggling to determine how it should handle the current crisis so that its “not so steady to start with” relationship with the Kingdom is kept on track. Okumaya devam et →

Türkiye-ABD İlişkilerinde “Reset” Arayışı Sürüyor

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(Bu yazı, dostum ve meslektaşım Emekli Büyükelçi Yusuf Buluç’la birlikte kaleme alınmıştır.)

1 Mart 2014

Dışişleri Bakanı Ahmet Davutoğlu’nun 18 Kasım 2013 tarihinde Vaşington’da Dışişleri Bakanı John Kerry ile gerçekleştirdiği görüşme, daha sonraki basın toplantısının da ortaya koyduğu üzere, ilişkilerde “reset” arayışı içerisinde olduğumuzu göstermekteydi(*).

İki Bakan, Suriye’nin Dostları grubunun 12 Ocak 2014’de Paris’de düzenlenen toplantısı vesilesiyle tekrar ikili bir görüşme gerçekleştirdiler. Daha sonra da bir basın toplantısı düzenlediler. Tutanağı ABD Dışişleri tarafından yayınlanan basın toplantısının başında Kerry sözü Davutoğlu’na bırakmış. Dışişleri Bakanımız da, daha önce yaptığı üzere, Türkiye-ABD işbirliğinin stratejik bir önem taşıdığını, bunun on yıllardır, asırlardır böyle olduğunu, günümüzde Türkiye-ABD işbirliğinin ve değişik sorunlara ilişkin stratejik danışmaların daha da önem kazandığını söylemiş. Daha sonra Suriye, Irak ve Kıbrıs meselelerine kısaca değinerek ABD’nin Türkiye için stratejik bir müttefik olduğunu, danışmalarımızın bölgesel ve küresel barış açısından önem taşıdığını tekrarlamış. Okumaya devam et →