EU-DIGEST: Turkey

Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts

9/28/23

Turkey: Erdogan's iron grip pn Turkey ?

Ask a Turk when it was great in Turkey. They won't be able to answer .

Erdogan just expedited the collapse . He just short-sold USD overnight and caused millions of Turks to loose money .

However I think this will end up being good for the country . Turks did not ever fight for their civil rights. I hope that once AKP is gone they will have the following otherwise the cycle will continue.

separation of powers and independent judicial system
independent central bank
hiring/developing talents in government/universities regardless their political affiliation
freedom of speech
improvement in ease of doing business
Better government investment strategies with faster/higher ROI . Turkey built airports no one lands , bridges that utilized at a fraction of the forecasted volume.

Update : What I wrote above is the common denominator in any developed country. It's not rocket science .

5/29/23

EU - Turkey relugee subsidy deal: This 9 year subsidy deal for Turkey to assist Syrian refugees entering Turkey also gave Turkey's President Erdogan the ability to win the recent election, by giving some 2.5 million refugeea Turkish nationality and voting rights.

It has been 12 years since the conflict in Syria began to displace Syrians from their homes into neighboring countries. Since then, their numbers in Turkey have reached 3.7 million. In the absence of any traditional durable solutions — in the form of voluntary return, resettlement, or local integration — the presence of Syrian refugees in Turkey has bec protracted, with no end in sighr

This enduring reality” calls for rethinking theagreement between the European Union (EU) and Turkey that was adopted seven years ago this week. Leaders should explore ways of moving it forward, focusing on development in addition to humanitarian assistance. One way to do this is to adopt policy ideas from the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) to improve the prospects of formal employment for refugees and members of their host communities.

5/26/23

Turkey Election Runoff: Erdogan could loose, but will he play dirty again ?

On May 28, Turkey heads to a runoff presidential election pitting incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan against his main rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu. Erdogan, who defied poll predictions in the first round, looks favorite to win.

Erdogan’s supporters are relying on fake news to get votes.

The tone of the ongoing campaigns in Turkey is heating up ahead of the upcoming runoff vote between incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

While the government camp seems to be using all means necessary to defame the opposition and portray its presidential candidate as a traitor, Kilicdaroglu too is going on the offensive.

5/7/23

Turkey elections : more than just a change of Government

On May 14, Turkey will elect a new parliament and a new president. And after 20 years in power, the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is not the clear favorite. The polls also show his electoral alliance trailing behind that of the opposition.

What is Turkey's political system?

According to its constitution, the Turkish Republic was established in 1923 as a parliamentary democracy. Erdogan, however, was keen to change this — and in 2017, his governing AKP party amended the constitution with the support of its ultra-nationalist partner, the MHP.

They introduced an executive presidential system with the 2018 elections. Since then, the president has not only the country's head of state, he also heads the government. The office of prime minister has been abolished.

The president is directly elected by the people for a five-year term, and under the new system he has wide-ranging powers. He appoints and dismisses ministers and high-ranking civil servants at his own discretion, and he also heads the cabinet.

The head of state also has the power to issue presidential decrees and to fill many posts in the judiciary, as well as in specific departments such as finance or education. The most important offices of the secret service and the powerful religious authority Diyanet also report directly to the president.

4/26/23

Turkey: can Erdogan pull it off one more time ?

A talented orator and wily politician credited with lifting millions of Turks into the middle class, Recep Tayyip Erdogan transformed the country as only Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, accomplished before him. The 69-year-old Turkish president is now running for a third term. But the upcoming presidential election in May is no cakewalk for the seasoned politician with polls suggesting he could be defeated by opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

A profound economic crisis coupled with skyrocketing inflation, deep political tensions and mounting anger over his handling of the February 6 earthquakes, which killed more than 50,000 people, could cost Erdogan his place in the Ak Saray presidential palace. Turkish political scientist and publisher Ahmet Insel spoke to FRANCE 24 about Erdogan’s political legacy and the stakes in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

Read the complete report in https://www.france24.com/en/vod/latest-news

3/31/23

Finland joins NATO: Turkey final NATO member to approve Finland's membership in NATO

Turkish lawmakers have unanimously backed the Nordic country's accession to the military alliance, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended months of negotiations and blessed Finland's candidacy.

Turkey's parliament ratified Finland's application to join NATO on Thursday. In doing so, it became the final of 30 NATO member states to support Finland's accession, clearing the last major hurdle for the country to join the military alliance.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blessed Finland's candidacy earlier this month after months of negotiations.

3/29/23

Turkey: Erdogans reelection as President of Turkey not certain

If civil servants in Ankara are an accurate barometer of shifting fronts in Turkey’s national politics, then the country’s longest serving leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, really could be in trouble in May’s election.

The main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), says bureaucrats are already sending in their resumes in preparation for a new order, sensing that this could be the end of Erdoğan’s more-than-two-decade dominance over the state.

That would be a relief to many in the West, who are increasingly frustrated by the Islamist populist’s confrontational statesmanship in a strategic heavyweight of 85 million people. In the past months alone, Turkey has quietly provided Russia with clandestine trade routes to beat sanctions, imposed a veto on Sweden’s entry into NATO and engaged Greece in high-risk brinkmanship with fighter jets over the Aegean.

Read more at: https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-2023-election-erdogan-close-call-republican-peoples-party-turkey-sweden-akp-chp-kilicdaroglu-fahrettin-altun/

3/22/23

Sweden: The Swedish parliament like the Finland Goverbnemt voted to join NATO

Lawmakers in Sweden voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Nordic nation joining NATO, signing off on the country's membership along with the required legislation.

The 349-seat Riksdagen, or parliament, authorised Sweden’s accession to NATO on a 269-37 vote, with 43 absent. It was the last required domestic hurdle to the country becoming part of the 30-member Western military alliance.

3/7/23

Turkey: A balancing act between Ukraine, Russia and the West, can Turkey keep it up ?

Turkey has been walking a tightrope between Ukraine and Russia, trying not to harm the relations it has with both countries.

So how did we get here, and is it a viable long term strategy for Ankara?

Less than two weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on 10 March last year, Turkey entered the stage to play a mediator role between the countries, but the meetings held at foreign minister level in Antalya left participants empty-handed.

As ties got closer, concern amongst opposition in Turkey grew. Questions have been asked repeatedly in the Turkish press: would this friendship open a path for Russian manipulation of the Turkish elections in favour of Erdogan?

"Turkey's trade relations with Moscow were already at a peak, against the backdrop of a series of sanctions imposed on Russia from the US and the EU," says Professor Bilgic.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), Turkey doubled its trade volume when imports from Russia rose to $58.85 billion (€55.44 billion) in 2022 - that's up from from $28.96 (€27.28 billion) billion the previous year.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

3/4/23

Turkey's weak strongman

The old idea that autocracies are better than raucous democracies at getting things done found new life during the coronavirus pandemic. Many Western commentators argued that while democracies dithered and debated, autocracies were quick to respond and mobilize their resources. Sometimes that might be true—but only if you are the right kind of autocracy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, it turned out, is not one of them.

Erdogan’s response to the country’s devastating earthquake on Feb. 6 was painfully slow and uncoordinated. But regimes in which power is centralized are supposed to be fast and organized. All Erdogan had to do was pick up the phone and order his commanders to dispatch NATO’s second-largest army to the badly hit cities, mobilize the bureaucracy to send much-needed aid, and deploy emergency response teams. He did not. Just minutes after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit 10 Turkish provinces, troops stood ready to step in and take part in search and rescue operations. Yet in the critical early hours, the order from the top never came. Nor did Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) rush to help the victims. Why?

Read more af: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/03/01/turkey-erdogan-earthquake-apk-strongman-authoritarianism-democracy-military-disaster-relief/

2/24/23

US -TURKEY RELATIONS: US revieuws relationship with Turkey and its membership in NATO

Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey and head of the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took the floor on December 19 to deliver a scathing inventory of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s domestic and foreign policy misdeeds.

“The United States must take the Turkish president’s actions seriously,” Menendez told the Senate. “We need to hold Erdogan accountable for his behaviour when he violates international laws, or challenges democratic norms, or allows his forces to commit human rights abuses,” the US senator continued before hitting the objective of his speech.

"Note EU-Digest : Polls show that Turkey's Predident Erdogan, following the recent devastating earthquake on the 6th of February, that a majority of the Turkish population is convinced, that the corrupt Erdogan and his government allowed a variety of building contractors, not to take building codes serious, resulting in 44.000 death.

Read more at: https://www.france24.com/en/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjX9d2V8K_9AhWtElkFHUG0CHEQFnoECAYQAg&usg=AOvVaw1ltATu2HmuF1fr3MVTiGzQ

2/9/23

Turkey: the earthquake which could have political consequences for the Erdogan government - by RM

There are 330 thousand contractors in Turkey. Compare this to 25 thousand in the whole of Europe.

Even though Turkey has 330 thousand contractors, it raises the question, why did the recent earthquake in Turkey, which resulted in more people killed and damage done than in any similar 7.8 earthquakes around the world ?

Could it be that Turkey's Erdogan government, which has given official operating permits to more contractors and inspectors, than any other country in the world, has made Turkey a gigantic construction site and money laundering operation, where safety is not the major component on the list.

It resulted that in one terrible moment South East Turkey became a huge cemetery.

May the souls of those who perished in this horrible disaster "Rest in Peace".

2/8/23

Turkey Earthquake: already more than 11.000 died

Search teams and aid poured into Turkey and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures and sometimes using their bare hands dug through the remains of buildings flattened by a powerful earthquake. The death toll soared above 7,200 and was still expected to rise.

12/14/22

Turkey: Istanbul Major convicted for "insulting" members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council

Ekrem İmamoğlu was convicted of "insulting" members of Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Counci l and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison.

The Turkish court also imposed a political ban that prevents him from standing for election over the same period.

Critics have slammed the trial as an attempt to eliminate a key opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the presidential and parliamentary elections in June 2023

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

11/20/22

Turkey Bombing; Bulgaria charges 5 persons in connection with Istanbul deadly bombing

Five suspects have been indicted in Bulgaria in connection with a deadly bomb blast in Istanbul on 13 November, which Turkish authorities blamed on Kurdish PKK fighters and their allies in Syria.

"Five people have been charged with helping one of the alleged perpetrators of the attack to flee," said Siyka Mileva, spokeswoman for the Sofia prosecutor general.

Their role was "logistical", she said, adding that the prosecutor's office had requested detention for four of them.

According to local TV stations, three were from Moldova and one from an unspecified Arab country.

10/14/22

Turkey: The Turkish Parltament passes disinformation law

Turkey's parliament on Thursday passed a law proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that would make it possible to jail journalists and social media users for up to three years for spreading "disinformation."

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

10/5/22

Turkey's economy is in deep trouble

Turkey’s economy is in tatters.

Runaway inflation and a collapsing lira are pushing millions of Turks to the brink of financial ruin and slamming factories, farmers and retailers across the country.

More than two-thirds of people in Turkey are struggling to pay for food and cover their rent, according to a survey by Yöneylem Social Research Centre, fuelling a surge in mental illness and debt.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

9/3/22

Turkey wildfires: Aid workers rescue tortoise from blaze

Amid scorching heat, low humidity and constantly shifting winds, the wildfires have swept through forests in Turkey's southern and southwestern coasts.

Eight people have died due to the blazes, along with countless animals — but one tortoise emerged unscathed.

8/28/22

Turkey hits back at Macron's 'unacceptable' criticism

Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic slammed what he described as the French leader’s “extremely unfortunate” comments.

“It is unacceptable that… Macron, who has difficulties in confronting his colonial past in Africa, especially Algeria, tries to get rid of his colonial past by accusing other countries, including our country,” he said in a
statement.

8/13/22

Grain Deal: Putin thanks Erdoğan for mediating Ukraine grain exports

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his efforts to mediate discussions on the export of grain from Ukraine. "With your mediation, we have moved forward," Putin told Erdoğan in Tehran on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin.

"All issues about Ukrainian grain exports out of Black Sea ports have not yet been resolved, but having progress is already a good sign," Putin said.

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8/28/22

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