By 2011, Turkey had emerged as a rising star in the international arena. Apart from China, Turkey was the only country that was growing by 10% a year. The advancement of its candidacy to join the European Union, the revival of its relations with the Middle Eastern countries and the increasing investments of Turkish businesspeople […]
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated in a live broadcast on TV that there is positive momentum in relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), “If it continues like this, relations will be on track,” he added. Çavuşoğlu’s statement may seem cautious. However, considering the level of tension between the two countries over the past decade, […]
Turkey has been enjoying good relations with three Gulf states – Qatar, Oman and Kuwait – for decades. However, Turkey’s relations with the other three members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia – worsened due to their conflicting perspectives toward the Arab insurgencies. After changes […]
According to the holy books of the Torah, the Bible and the Quran, the Prophet Noah tried to call people to believe in the one God for years, but few people responded positively. After receiving a revelation, he built a ship to house a pair of every living creature and those small few who believed […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed a “revolutionary United Nations reform” before the 76th U.N. General Assembly. With the book titled “A Fairer World is Possible: A Model Proposal for United Nations Reform” published by Turkuvaz Kitap, he embodied the discourse of “The world is bigger than five.” Erdoğan is a leader that has for years […]
One of the most important criteria of mobility in global trade is freight prices. The most well-known and most sought-after price index is the “Baltic Dry.” The fact that Turkey’s Baltic Dry Cargo Index exceeded 4,100 points indicates that, in addition to global trade, production, foreign trade and freight transportation in the geographical area around […]
There is no shortage of ultra-secularist concerns in Turkey. In recent days, the country’s ultra-secularists expressed concern that two developments could represent “the final nails” in secularism’s coffin: the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and certain practices by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Some commentators even see links between those two […]
Reading Antony Blinken’s tweets on the end of the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan and his praise of Turkey, I remembered an idiom I had learned ages ago: “mealy-mouthed.” Mr. Pickering, our peace-corps English instructor in high school, used to translate it as the equivalent of our Turkish expression of “Bir dediği bir dediğine uymuyor.” (Literally: […]
With less than 0.3% of foreign visitors testing positive for the coronavirus under Thailand’s strict “Sandbox” program on the island Phuket, according to local media, plans to reopen much of the country next month are seeming more likely to become reality. Adding to the pressure to reopen the country is less positive news, at least […]
For the last troublesome decade, Turkey was required to expand its regional influence via its hard power. After overcoming a series of challenges in the international arena, the Turkish government would like to perpetuate Turkey’s regional influence and to support regional peace and stability via the means of soft power. A new era Announced by […]
Now that the U.S. and other international forces have withdrawn, Afghanistan is left to the Taliban. But there is no official government yet. No official army, no official institutions in work and the country is waiting for its destiny. The streets in Kabul are calm. Empty city streets are filled with silence. People are waiting […]
The recent crisis in Afghanistan is a significant test case for the EU’s capabilities to formulate and implement consistent foreign policy and defense strategy without the considerable aid and direction of the U.S. Yet, in another major international humanitarian crisis, European leaders face pressure to take some serious decisions. European leaders are receiving pressure to […]
The resort town of Kuşadası welcomed Thursday its first cruise ship after a 16-month pause due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions that brought travel to a halt. The city in Turkey’s Aegean province of Aydın is known for hosting the highest number of cruisers annually. The Blue Sapphire docked at the Kuşadası Ege Port early in […]
Eastern Turkey’s ancient Arslantepe Mound – which is roughly 7,000 years old – is now attracting 10 times more visitors after it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July, an official said Thursday. Towering some 30 meters (over 90 feet), Arslantepe (meaning “Lion Hill” in Turkish) is known as the place where […]
There is currently heavy pressure for governments to make vaccines that were created just a few months ago mandatory. Some private businesses do not accept unvaccinated customers, while others explain that they will not work with unvaccinated employees. There are also universities that do not want unvaccinated students and teachers. Political pressure on public personnel […]
Turkey is working with Serbia on passport-free travel for citizens of both countries, the Turkish foreign minister announced Tuesday. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s remarks came after a joint news conference with his counterpart Nikola Selakovic in the Serbian capital Belgrade. “We mutually recognize COVID-19 vaccine certificates to enable easy travel for the citizens. Now, our citizens should […]
Employees of a hotel in southwestern Turkey were surprised to learn a British tourist whom they had served for years did not forget them before his death. Charles George Courtney, who used to stay at the hotel in the Kuşadası district in Aydın province every year while on vacation since 1997, established close friendships with […]
Those folks who put on their ideological glasses before looking at Turkey’s foreign policy cannot interpret new developments accurately. Sometimes, under the influence of the Western media’s opposition to Turkey’s use of hard power, they use labels such as “adventurism,” “Islamism” and “neo-Ottomanism.” Other times, intimidated by Turkey’s active steps in places like Libya and […]
The United States declared that it had withdrawn its last troops on Aug. 31 and thus brought an end to its 20-year invasion. As shared by most observers, the invasion of Afghanistan is one of the most dramatic failures and utter fiascos of U.S foreign policy. Some of the results that can be inferred from […]
With the strict COVID-19 travel restrictions still in place across Europe, one of the leading markets of the Ukrainian tourism market, travelers from the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia, now rank among the top visitors to the ex-Soviet state. Gulf tourists riding in horse-drawn carriages or posing for portraits by street artists and playing chess […]
Daesh-Khorasan Province, or Daesh-K, carried out a bloody attack near Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital as predicted by the intelligence community. That assessment was the reason evacuations had been surrounded by anxiety. That suicide bombing, which claimed the lives of American soldiers, members of the Taliban and civilians, suggests that the […]
When we look at the megatrends that will deeply affect global trade and the world’s economy over the next 10 years, “digitalization” undoubtedly stands out as a top priority. Digitalization, resource diversification in global supply chains, the rising new middle class and urbanization are undoubtedly the primary agenda items in the world’s leading economies and […]
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Washington tour, his talks with United States President Joe Biden nor his men have been able to secure a fresh start with the Democratic administration as some people on both sides of the Atlantic were hoping. The neoconservatives in Washington and new revisionists in Jerusalem predicted it would be a […]
Prolonging the long-awaited return, the United Kingdom dashed hopes of Turkey’s tourism sector and British holidaymakers as it Thursday kept Turkey on its COVID-19 travel red list of destinations. Industry representatives, as well as travelers, were hopeful the country – which has been red since May – would be moved to the amber list. Even […]
Nowadays, the international media is focused on the Taliban. Even though a regime change continues to take place in various countries with either peaceful or bloody means, everyone at present is talking mainly about the Taliban’s coming to political power. In comparison to the regime change in Afghanistan, even the last U.S. presidential elections and […]
Turkey decided to evacuate its troops from Afghanistan. There were a lot of unanswered questions about Turkey’s mission to protect the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Taliban’s quick return to Afghanistan’s capital. Spokespeople for the group had phrased their statements about Turkey carefully, encouraging investments and assistance for reconstruction. They insisted, however, that […]
Afghanistan has been transforming very rapidly. Nobody expected the Taliban to take control so quickly. In a matter of just days, Kabul was almost 100% under Taliban rule. Crowds at the airport are still worryingly waiting to escape and there are millions of Afghans dreaming of leaving their country out of fear of either being […]
The Taliban’s retaking of power has renewed the “Shariah debate.” The perception of Shariah in people’s minds rarely goes beyond a few slogans about “severed heads” and “oppressed women.” If Shariah were to be applied in a true sense, none of these could be said. The measure of “just” of each legal system is determined […]
Wikileaks, founded by Julian Assange, who is still in prison, recently reminded me of the CIA report he disclosed in 2010. According to the report, if the Netherlands withdraws its troops from Afghanistan, other NATO countries are likely to follow. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) appears to suggest using feminism to legitimize its invasion […]
According to a report by French weekly news magazine L’Express, foreign tourists in France have been visiting the locations that various Netflix shows like “Emily in Paris,” “Lupin” and “Marseille,” were shot in, giving a much-needed boost to the country’s tourism sector. Those who have had their fill of the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre […]
The Taliban, who took over Kabul and became the sole power in the country, have lost their former “comfort.” During the years of occupation, their only goal was to threaten the system in the country with fear and panic. Now, they have to fulfill the requirements of the power they have taken by force of […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been engaging in diplomacy on the situation in Afghanistan. Whereas governments elsewhere are still trying to get over the shock of the Taliban’s rapid Afghan migrants stand outside a tunnel under train tracks after crossing illegally into Turkey from Iran, as they hide from security forces near Tatvan in Bitlis […]
The number of foreigners arriving in Turkey hit a 21-month high in July in a major rebound for one of the country’s most critical industries, bolstered by the gradual easing of coronavirus-related travel restrictions around the world. Turkey hosted more than 4.36 million tourists last month, up by a whopping 367.5% from a year ago […]
The Taliban’s control of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Ashraf Ghani government in less than two weeks took many by surprise. Even though the withdrawal of the United States was projected by the agreement signed between the U.S. and the Taliban in February 2020, the swift fall of the whole country into the hands […]
The Taliban thinks the “Afghan government” lies before them like a promised land. But it does not. The last time they had the opportunity to run the Afghan government, they blew it. As the result of tribal infighting and the mismanagement of its elders, the Taliban alliance could not create a true coalition to run […]
Afghanistan is a Central Asian and Southeast Asian nation, yet it exerts more influence over the Middle East than most countries due to its ethnic and religious attributes as well as the instability it has experienced for more than four decades. The long and troubled story of the mujahideen, who resisted the Soviet invasion of […]
The priorities of working life are now digitalization, sustainability and mobility, trends that have been developing since the early 2000s and that became megatrends during the global pandemic. On a global scale, the entire business world, whether from the perspective of employers or employees, is now making a deep-rooted evaluation of remote work. Before COVID-19, […]
The number of tourists gazing at the Mona Lisa or wandering the streets of Paris this summer is low, dashing hopes that the top tourist destination would see brighter days after last year’s pandemic-linked desertion. The City of Light has seen between 3.6 million and 4.7 million visitors between June and August, down from 10 […]
Turks have a thousand-year history with the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan and Afghanistan. India in particular was ruled by Turks for hundreds of years. Until the British colonized India, Mamluks predominated in the country. The Urdu language, which contains many words from Arabic and Turkic origins, is known in India as the language of the army […]
There is an odd cacophony of rhetoric over the Taliban in Turkey. The United States, without a doubt, is to blame for the fiasco that was the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. The Afghans, who rushed to the airport or hit the road, are merely tragic victims of the Biden administration’s failure to manage […]
Considered to be an integral part of global tourism, the event industry in Turkey is rebounding from the turmoil of COVID-19, and the long-awaited mobility is set to add pace to the country’s accommodation and tourism sector. The pandemic had prompted massive cancellations or postponements of fairs, congresses, events and meetings since March last year, […]
An inclusive, pluralistic and flexible political system that would accommodate people from different tribes, ethnic groups and various segments of society, and produce effective political order, has never been a feature of political systems in Afghanistan in modern times. Afghanistan’s political structure was never successful in generating sufficient revenue and providing primary security, health, education […]
The European Union will accept Turkish COVID-19 certificates as of Friday, the European Commission announced Thursday. The EU executive body adopted equivalence decisions for the COVID-19 certificates issued by the authorities of Turkey, North Macedonia and Ukraine. With the decision, Turkey joins the bloc’s COVID-19 pass system ensuring easier travel to and within the bloc. […]
Images from Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport in the Afghan capital at the beginning of the week went down in history as the most dramatic ones in recent years. Thousands of people rushed to the airport with their families and hastily packed suitcases to get on a plane to leave the country. According to the […]
The German government has designated the United States, Turkey, and Israel as high-risk countries, triggering a minimum five-day quarantine requirement for those who are unvaccinated, the Funke media group reported Friday citing government sources. Montenegro and Vietnam are also affected by the upgrade, while Portugal has been downgraded and is no longer a high-risk area, […]
The Taliban regained control over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, with remarkable speed as the 300,000-strong Afghan army, which U.S. President Joe Biden urged to fight for their country, vanished into thin air and the nation’s president, Ashraf Ghani, ran away. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is thus expected to become the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan soon. […]
The Taliban have overthrown the government of President Ashraf Ghani and taken over Afghanistan after nine intensive days of incursion. In spite of huge, long-term huge military investments made by the United States, the regular Afghan army could not effectively engage the Taliban troops. Most cities, including Kabul, the capital, were taken over by the […]
The Taliban advanced toward Kabul more quickly than expected. By Sunday, the group has taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday that the Taliban had won, as the militants entered Kabul. Ghani left as the insurgents closed in on the capital, before ultimately entering the city and taking […]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the U.K. (by extension, the U.S.) can be “extremely proud” of its role in Afghanistan and insists the British forces’ sacrifices have not been in vain. With 24 years on the job, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, had said that arrogance and preaching are two prominent American […]
Provocations targeting illegal immigrants threaten to result in mass lynchings. The rage that locals unleashed on migrants in Altındağ, a lower-middle-class neighborhood in the capital Ankara, calls for a multidimensional assessment. Authorities must take the necessary precautions against similar acts that may be carried out in other parts of Turkey. The killers of Emirhan Yalçın, […]
The Taliban advanced toward Kabul more quickly than expected. By Sunday, the group has taken control of the presidential palace in Kabul. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday that the Taliban had won, as the militants entered Kabul. Ghani left as the insurgents closed in on the capital, before ultimately entering the city and taking […]
The fight against COVID-19 has shifted to confront the biases against vaccines as the coronavirus becomes a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The situation in Turkey is complex. Around 43 million people have received their first doses and 31 million are fully vaccinated. The intense vaccination campaign continues across the country but so do the conspiracy […]
I wrote an assertive article entitled “The second 20 years of the AK Party” for Kriter magazine, a periodical political publication of the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA). In the article, I claimed that even though the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has been in political power for the last two […]
The Libya Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) road map proposed guidelines to remain in place until the December 2021 elections, which it authorized the Government of National Unity (GNU) to hold. By July 1, the LPDF was supposed to reach a consensus on the constitutional basis of the elections and adopt a new election law. But […]
Direct flights from Russia arrived Monday at Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea for the first time since the October 2015 bombing of a Russian airliner. Moscow barred direct flights to Egypt after the bombing of the passenger plane shortly after it took off from the popular resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people […]
With the withdrawal of the United States military from Afghanistan, the Taliban forces are taking over cities. After the fall of the city of Faizabad, a ninth province is in Taliban hands. It is estimated that the radicals control 65% of the country. Emigration is not a new thing in Afghanistan, due to yearslong conflicts, […]
The withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan has intensified the chaos in the country as the Afghan government and the Taliban reinitiate fighting over control of the country. After the failure of negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban, the militant group has seized many villages, towns, cities and provincial centers from the […]
The opposition keeps looking for a presidential candidate for Turkey’s 2023 elections. Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who has signaled his intention to run, notably called on the mayors of Istanbul and Ankara to run for second terms. That statement was reportedly motivated by projections that the country’s ruling Justice and […]
As Turkey marks the 12th day of its fight against the wildfires raging across the country’s southern and western coastal provinces, most of which are leading tourist destinations, a question is being asked: how have the blazes impacted the region’s tourism? Tourism representatives previously called on vacationers not to cancel their reservations as the fires […]
The U.S. opposition to Moammar Gadhafi, the late Libyan dictator, had started even before the Libyan operatives planted a bomb on Pan American Flight 103 in 1988, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is still the deadliest terrorist attack […]
Cybersecurity is one of the most indispensable issues for individuals, companies and governments today. The recent exponential increase in cybercrime and cyberterrorism incidents requires extensive studies on their causes and consequences. One of the most striking common results of comprehensive research and studies in the area is that the most important reason for the success […]
Turkey said on Friday that it will stick to its tourist and revenue targets for this season, while tradespeople called on citizens to show support by not canceling their reservations amid wildfires that have been raging in the country’s southern coastal regions. The wildfires – described as the worst in decades – have swept through […]
This may be the first year that we are vividly experiencing the consequences of global climate change. Wildfires are occurring all over the world now. Italy is burning, so is Greece, Australia, Spain and many other countries. In Turkey, we experienced hell for nine days. With more than 21 planes in the skies and numerous […]
As the Western world emerged from the church-centered worldview of the medieval period, they relied on modern science as a way out of the centuries-old oppression of the Catholic church. In this period, which we call the Age of Enlightenment, they essentially replaced religion with science. Science was intended to be the religion of the […]
Europe’s southernmost islands are crowded with “corporate nomads,” as employees enjoy last chances of “workcationing” with the beautiful sun, sea and speedy Wi-Fi of these beautiful islands, and giving their battered tourism businesses a welcome boon. Olga Paul, 34, came to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria in May to work remotely for the first […]
Last month Virgin Galactic flew its founder Richard Branson from a base in New Mexico making him the first billionaire to leave Earth for space. Now the company is restarting ticket sales for space tours beginning at $450,000, the Virgin Galactic announced Thursday. The new price is about double the $200,000 to $250,000 paid by […]
The Turkish government and state have been challenged repeatedly since 2013. First, the Gezi Park protests, then the December 17 and 25 judicial coup attempts and lastly the July 15 military coup attempt targeted both the government and other state institutions. Many domestic, regional and global campaigns were initiated to weaken the capacity and capability […]
Under the umbrella of the United Nations, global climate change and its consequences are naturally discussed more intensely and are the subject of research. A study released earlier this year reveals that due to the climate change caused by the global greenhouse gas emissions that continue to increase, the tropical rain belt, although originating from […]
Let’s bust the myths. I am talking about the ideologically charged myths surrounding the question of asylum-seekers. Turkey cannot address a problem like irregular migration, which originates in its neighborhood, with a racist or populist approach. To develop a rational, long-term and comprehensive policy, we need to decouple the migration debate from ideological myths. The […]
We have to admit Turkish society was also one of those flawed societies that had been producing flawed constitutions since 1908. Despite the fact that the society has been gradually shedding its flaws, we still have a flawed constitution: an eclectic text, patched and pieced together since its adoption in 1982 by a large margin […]
Turkey has seen the number of foreign visitors rebound strongly in June from a year ago, while income from tourism has also surged, official data showed Friday, as pandemic-induced travel restrictions eased. More than 2 million tourists arrived last month, up by a whopping 853.4% year-on-year from just 214,768 in the same month a year […]
It is commonly said that Jerusalem is the womb of the universe. Being the homeland of the Abrahamic religions, Palestine is the land of the prophets, the spiritual center of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Therefore, religion has always been one of the main sources of conflict and reconciliation in the Middle East. After the disintegration […]
The irregular migration debate is becoming a permanent fixture in Turkish politics. In addition to the fate of 3.7 million Syrians, the opposition now criticizes the government over the risk of an influx of Afghan refugees. As a transit and destination country, Turkey must discuss what type of integration policy is needed to manage irregular […]
When the coup took place in Egypt, Western writers rushed to blame Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement. Morsi was uncompromising; the Brotherhood was backward. They had isolated themselves, and the army had no choice but to intervene. The poor soldiers were forced to heed the call […]
COVID-19 is on the rise again. The numbers are increasing by the day in Turkey due to the delta variant. Not only in Turkey, in most parts of the world cases are skyrocketing. But the good news is that we have the vaccine now, thus, humanity has the cure. However, millions seem unconvinced. The growing […]
Saudi Arabia is going one step further in an effort to contain the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic. Citizens who travel to countries on the kingdom’s “red list,” which includes Turkey, will be issued a three-year travel ban, state news agency SPA reported Tuesday. It cited an unnamed Interior Ministry official as saying some Saudi citizens, who […]
Tunisian President Kais Saied has removed the country’s prime minister, Hichem Mechichi, dismissed the government and suspended the parliament and immunity of its members. Then, he dismissed Defense Minister Brahim Bartagi and Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, and soldiers did not allow Rached Ghannouchi to enter the Parliament. Saied says he intervened on the basis of […]
Tunisian President Kais Saied has removed the country’s prime minister, dismissed the government and suspended the parliament and immunity of its members. This has occurred in a country that was thought to be the only successful case of the Arab revolutions and the only surviving democracy in the Arab world. Saied’s decision, which has been […]
Tunisia, the only post-Arab Spring democracy, faces a deep crisis. President Kais Saied on Sunday night announced parliament’s suspension for one month, stripped all parliamentarians of their immunity, sacked Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and declared that he would take over the executive branch by handpicking the next prime minister. Big challenge To be fair, the […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, together with the support of the Turkish Cypriot leadership, decided to take some concrete steps to challenge the existing status quo on the island. The current status quo and the stalemate is both costly and unfair for both the Turkish Cypriots and Turkey. The Greek Cypriots still deny Turkish identity, […]
The Greek tourism industry has finally begun seeing itself on a path toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that has been a nightmare for many, at least for two balmy weeks in July. Hotel manager George Tselios is one of many who now dare to hope the worst days were left behind. He was getting […]
Who would drive a harder bargain with the West? That question popped up in my mind in light of the main opposition leader’s pledge to “send back Syrians” and the fresh controversy surrounding online media outlets funded by a foundation in the United States. To find the answer, one must take a quick look at […]
Turkey’s Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya, dubbed the tourism capital of the country, has so far hosted 3.24 million tourists from the beginning of this year, despite the pandemic, according to a statement from the city’s governor on Monday. The released data show the confidence in Turkey’s tourism at a time when people are both […]
The global eco-political balances that have reshaped the Atlantic and Asia-Pacific have been a prominent discussion point for almost 10 years. The changes in balance include the increasing influence of the U.S., Russia and China as global power centers and the indispensable importance of Turkey and the Indo-Pacific region. Turkey’s importance Turkey is an indispensable […]
Irregular migration, a pressing global concern, is one of the top items on Turkey’s national agenda. The country’s opposition leaders frequently talk about the 3.7 million Syrian nationals who fled their country due to the raging civil war. In recent elections, the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Good Party (IP) in particular have resorted […]
As if 47 years had not passed; as if all those years have not witnessed murder on both sides … As if the passing time has not proven that the bi-zonal, bi-communal federation once called the Cyprus Republic was a simple hope for the impossible, a castle built in the sky, promising the moon. Now, […]
The dynamism seen in Turkey’s domestic tourism during the Islamic holiday Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha, gave hope to the industry that had a troubled season last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for the country’s touristic places was so high that the related figures surpassed that of 2019, which was […]
Arab visitors attracted by quarantine-free travel and affordable prices are helping bolster a rebound for Turkey’s tourism industry, as it looks to plug the gap left by Britons, for whom the country remains off-limits. Holidaying with his family in Istanbul, Jordanian Omar Zahra, 48, said flying there from Amman was a better choice than Gulf […]
Chaos and confusion over travel rules and measures to contain new virus outbreaks are contributing to another cruel summer for Europe’s battered tourism industry. Popular destination countries are grappling with surging COVID-19 variants, but the patchwork and last-minute nature of the efforts as the peak season gets underway threatens to derail another summer. In France, […]
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) with his ministers and partners in the People’s Alliance was watched with interest by the whole world. Erdoğan’s arrival on the island on the anniversary of the Peace Operation that took place on July 20 has a great symbolic significance. Cyprus, which […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Lefkoşa (Nicosia), the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), on the 47th anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation. Parliamentary Speaker Mustafa Şentop, eight cabinet ministers, 22 members of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)’s Central Decisionmaking and Executive Board, and five Cyprus veterans accompanied Erdoğan, […]
Turkey’s extremely dynamic domestic politics derives from the turbulent fall of its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire. Turkish historian Ilber Ortaylı famously described the 19th century as the longest century of the Ottoman Empire. Even though the fall of the Ottomans was a multidimensional question, state bureaucrats were fully aware of the gravity of the situation […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Diyarbakır on July 9 after two and a half years and tested out a new discourse – whose analysis I had to postpone due to the coup attempt’s fifth anniversary. Let me begin by saying that Erdoğan essentially said the same things that he told the people of Diyarbakır back […]
The leading actors of the international system and prominent global organizations have increasingly focused on three main “megatrends” over the last five years: Digitalization Mobility Sustainability The coronavirus outbreak has made these three fundamental megatrends even more indispensable. These fronts have transcended all parts of life, from the business world to our private life, and […]
They all call it the “Turkish invasion of Cyprus” in unison; we call it the “Cyprus peace operation” for a reason. I was working as foreign news editor in those days, and we were all sick and tired of cropping and resizing the terrible images of the murdered Cypriot Turks – killed by the invading […]
Turkey marked the fifth anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt and relived that night – the night when the Turkish people made history. That night, which instantly became a turning point in the history of our democracy, consisted of two significant parts. The first part was about the coup plotters, who were members of […]
July 15 is a turning point in Turkish history. On this day five years ago, millions of people took to the streets and risked their lives to protect Turkey’s democracy and freely elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This year Turkey is celebrating the fifth anniversary of the failed coup attempt perpetrated by the Gülenist Terror […]
Countries with an imperial legacy have an administrative culture of governing other states. The Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire succeeded in ruling over vast territories across continents thanks to their imperial culture. In particular, the British Empire literally became a global empire on which the sun never set due to its complicated colonial administration. […]
The July 15 failed coup attempt was one of the critical turning points of Turkish history and Turkish democracy. Indeed it was a significant day for many international actors who follow Turkey closely. Turkey’s democratic process and economic stabilization were a source of inspiration for many, especially from the Muslim world, who follow the country. […]
It was the spring of 2019. I was about to enter a small mosque on a side street near the immigration office in Ankara’s Çankaya district. I didn’t know that what I would encounter there would stick with me. The mosque was packed with immigrants from Central Asia. A place of worship had been converted […]
Currently, the streets in Cuba are shambolic. Footage from the country shows pro-change demonstrators turning over communist party members’ cars on the road. Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez, who assumed the seat after Raul Castro, who took over the presidency from his brother Fidel, called his supporters to the streets in response. Bermudez says the United […]
Nearly 200,000 guests have already visited the town of Maraş (Varosha), in the northern part of Cyprus, which was partially reopened to the public in 2020 after 47 years, the country’s president said Tuesday. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) President Ersin Tatar told reporters in Turkey’s Mersin province that the reopening of Varosha brought […]
Five years have passed since the inauspicious coup attempt in Turkey. That fateful night is when the Turkish people took charge of their future, too. Many events will take place this week to tell the epic story of a glorious nation, which stopped tanks with their bare hands. Talking about the night of July 15, […]
When U.S. President Joe Biden came to power he plainly proclaimed that former President Donald Trump’s “America First” isolationism is over and that Biden’s “America is Back, Diplomacy is Back.” In other words, Biden claimed that the U.S. would reengage with the world and lead the global system once again. The Biden administration has passed […]
Turkey’s picturesque Cappadocia region drew over 150,000 visitors this June, according to the latest official figures, thanks to COVID-19 safety measures. A total of 150,282 domestic and international tourists came to explore the charming touristic hub in the central Nevşehir province, famed for its distinctive fairy chimneys, underground cities, cave hotels, and hot-air balloon rides, […]
There is no election in sight, but Turkey is already talking about the polls. The opposition, which calls for early elections at every opportunity, is in search of a presidential candidate. There is an ongoing discussion about the first round – whether to settle on a joint candidate or let each party field their own […]
The 2023 election campaign in Turkey will go down in history as the longest campaign of its kind. Although the country’s transition to presidentialism ruled out early elections in practice, the opposition, with its incessant calls for an early election, manages to set the tone for political debate to some degree. All that talk about […]
Since coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) took up social problems with the meticulousness of a researcher. The AK Party government was determined to meet the people’s expectations by focusing its energy on the most urgent problems of the country, including the issue of poverty, the aloofness of the […]
In terms of the dynamics of world agriculture and the global food industry, the “Agriculture Outlook in 2021-2030” report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the U.N.’s Agriculture and Food Organization (FAO) predicts global demand for agricultural commodities and food will slow by 2030, compared to that seen in the decade […]
A Turkish Cypriot from the South, whose family fled to the North when he was 13 years old, is now 60 years old. He has forgotten the Greek he had begun learning as a child from his street mates. He barely remembers his last years in the South. Back in the day in the South, […]
Will Turkey run and guard Afghanistan’s Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport? The answer is not clear yet as Turkey and NATO have yet to make a decision on the matter, though NATO is willing to hand over the responsibility to Ankara, one of the strongest NATO allies. Turkey has also voiced its commitment to fulfilling […]
Russia has decided to boost the number of direct flights to Turkey, according to statements on Monday, which came just after the country resumed flight service to Turkey following a COVID-19 hiatus that began in April. Thirteen more cities were allowed to resume direct flights to Turkey starting on July 12 – with an additional […]
Recently, there was an article in the Economist explaining that Turkey gained the upper hand over Greece in the Aegean Sea with German-designed Reis class submarines. Noting that the Piri Reis submarine was first floated in March, the magazine described the development as “a victory for the Turkish navy and a headache for Greece.” In […]
Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu fuels his effort to unite the opposition ahead of the 2023 elections with negative campaigning. His brand of negative politics – rooted in lies, intimidation and severe accusations – attempts to cover up the major gaps in the fragmented opposition’s political goals and ideology. Kılıçdaroğlu’s […]
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, generally known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which was established in 1981, was one of the most successful international organizations and regional integration processes in the Middle East until the rupture of the Arab insurgencies and revolutions. The GCC, whose headquarters are based in […]
The Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Good Party (IP) have been saying for some time that a tank factory was sold to the State of Qatar on the cheap. Visiting that facility on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan explained that the factory remained the Treasury’s property. It was allocated to the Ministry of […]
The summer season has brought a wave of foreign tourists to Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, driven by the gradual lifting of travel restrictions. The southern province has welcomed nearly 1.5 million foreign visitors from January through June this year, data compiled from Fraport TAV Antalya Airport showed. More than 721,000 tourists came in […]
American singer-songwriter Toby Keith has a bombshell of a song for the Fourth of July. No, not an unpleasant one, if you ask me. If you haven’t already, you can listen to it and judge for yourself. He is a 59-year-old U.S. heartlander. Sure, he had better days; everybody was as good as their word […]
Donald Rumsfeld died last week in New Mexico at the age of 88. He was one of the most controversial characters of the last several decades when it comes to U.S. foreign and national security policymaking. Although he had a long public career, after his death what many people remembered him for were his decisions […]
The real sector confidence index data, the capacity utilization rate and the manufacturing production data for April have revealed that Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of 2021 will point to one of the highest rates of increase in the country’s modern history. I can already state that I expect this […]
Turkey’s rapid vaccination along with the decrease in the number of new COVID-19 cases have once again put the country among the most attractive and healthiest travel destinations. With the lifting of travel restrictions on Turkey by Germany, tourism professionals in the country are expecting around 3 million German vacationers to visit this year. They […]
After long months of lockdowns and curfews, Europeans are looking forward to jetting off for a bit of sun and sand – only to find that their dream vacation risks turning into a nightmare as no rental cars are available. In many areas popular with tourists, cars are simply not available or subcompacts are going […]
Nine southeastern Anatolia provinces – whose history, culture, gastronomy and nature are registered by UNESCO – are preparing to gain from tourism activity with “Mesopotamia,” promoted as Turkey’s first destination-oriented regional tourism brand. As part of the tourism-oriented promotion and branding project within the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) Region, which was launched to put the […]
Turkey’s opposition parties are locked in a competition with each other to generate the harshest political rhetoric possible as they attempt to block Kanal Istanbul, a megaproject set to create an artificial waterway between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who chairs the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), has led the […]
After two decades in power, the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has earned the title “dominant political party” by remaining in power for the longest period of time among the political parties who came to power via democratic elections. Therefore, it is time to ask whether the political lifetime of the AK Party will […]
The relationship between Turkey and the European Union has been strained for some time due to disagreements over Cyprus, Europe’s failure to support Turkey’s membership bid, its insufficient response against irregular migration and criticism of Turkey over the state of its democracy. The Turkish-Greek escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean was the cherry on top. Upon […]
While not a complete wash-out, the summer tourism season vital to southern Europe’s economies will be less than sizzling as the delta coronavirus spreads and travel hurdles keep British and other sun-seekers at home. A European Union COVID-19 travel certificate launched on Thursday may help some make trips but arrivals to tourist hot spots from […]
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has pursued two goals over the years. Primarily, it has underlined justice by taking on the guardianship regime and coup plotters, implementing reforms and promoting democratization. At the same time, the movement has subscribed to a policy of investment and public service to spur economic development. Indeed, its […]
The parties that make up the opposition Nation Alliance in Turkey are playing with fire by getting caught up in populism. The major partner of the alliance, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), is the founding political party of the republic. It ruled the country from 1923 to 1950 with a closed and statist one-party regime. […]
As the summer holiday season approaches in the shadow of the global COVID-19 pandemic, summer houses and villas are preferred by holidaymakers, rather than hotels. But, the very high amounts being asked by landlords, real estate agents and brokers in seasonal rentals is drawing the ire of vacationers. For instance, seasonal rents in holiday regions […]
Moscow’s lifting of a Turkish flight ban has prompted a wave of Russian tourists arriving in the country, particularly in the Mediterranean resort city Antalya. Planes that have been arriving in Antalya since last week, when Russia lifted its two-month suspension in flights over surge in coronavirus cases in April, have brought in more than […]
Thailand’s popular resort island of Phuket opened to to fully vaccinated foreigners from lower-risk countries Thursday as the country attempts to revive its tourism industry battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the first flight arrived, airport fire trucks blasted their water canons to form an arch over the Etihad jet from Abu Dhabi as it […]
South Korea, which has managed to bring the COVID-19 pandemic under control in a very short time, continues to work to revitalize tourism in the post-pandemic period. Accordingly, thanks to its Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) office in Istanbul, the country expects to host 60,000 Turkish tourists with the resuming of the sector. The KTO was […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan coined a new phrase to describe Turkey’s national security strategy. After his most recent trip to Azerbaijan, he told reporters that Ankara was creating a “security zone” to protect itself. Erdoğan added that Nagorno-Karabakh was one of the components of that zone. Here’s exactly what the president said: “In recent […]
At a time when anti-Islam activities and policies are resurging and Muslim voices are silenced, the last issue of Insight Turkey, one of the leading academic journals in Turkey, aims to present and provide the truth to its readers through a rich and extensive framing of ongoing anti-Islam practices worldwide. The journal issue includes articles […]
Turkey launched “Mesopotamia,” a brand created to promote the tourism potential of Turkey’s southeastern Anatolia, in an event with high-level participation Sunday. Speaking at the event, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said Turkey has the richest and most unique homeland in the world with its history, culture and geographical structure. “Step-by-step, we will […]
The crash in international tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic could deliver a loss of more than $4 trillion to the global economy for 2020 and 2021, far exceeding earlier expectations, a U.N. study said Wednesday. The joint report by the U.N.’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) found that […]
The NATO summit took place in Brussels last week. There were high expectations from the meeting and the number of agendas and issues that were brought up in the final communique demonstrated that the leaders tried to meet them. Compared to the summit in London in December 2019, there was a totally different atmosphere in […]
A meeting of the European Union’s leaders last week fell short of expectations. The summit, which focused on relations with Russia and Turkey, ultimately yielded a result that unsettled Moscow and did not satisfy Ankara. The German-French proposal to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was rejected. Furthermore, the leaders agreed on the […]
The leaders of the EU held another high-level meeting at the end of June. The meeting came after a busy diplomatic schedule for the month. With the G-7, NATO and U.S.-EU summits in June 2021, trans-Atlantic relations gained new momentum under Joe Biden’s presidency in the U.S. The destructive effects of former U.S. President Donald […]
In Tehran, a new president is moving in; His Eminence the Ayatollah Imam Sayyid Ali Khamenei is fine and dandy in his palace; the Democrats at the White House and Foggy Bottom are going to extend their dollar-full hands to Iran – not because Imam Ali changed his mind about wiping Israel off the map, […]
Turkey once again being put back onto this year’s Formula One calendar – after first initially replacing Canada, then having that race pulled, and now replacing Singapore – has given fresh hope to the country’s tourism and accommodation sector, as representatives now expect the event to bring some 100 million euros in revenue (TL 1.05 […]
Passengers from the United Kingdom will have to quarantine for 14 days after arriving in Portugal if they are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Portuguese government said in a statement late Sunday. The new rule, which is set to take effect as of Monday and will remain in place until at least July 11, […]
The number of foreign visitors arriving in Turkey rebounded strongly in May from a year ago due to the so-called base effect as coronavirus-related travel restrictions are gradually eased across the globe. Some 936,282 tourists arrived last month, jumping by a whopping 3,038% from 29,829 in May 2020, data by the Culture and Tourism Ministry […]
Turkey is breaking its own records in vaccination every day as there have already been 44 million doses completed during the inoculation campaign that started in January. Recently, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced all citizens above 18 will be able to be vaccinated. That means Turkey will be able to vaccinate all members of the […]
Since the last presidential election, there has been no visible difference in the voting rates of the political parties, and this situation leads opposition parties to use more radical dialogue and causes tension to build. This trend, which we will define as the dialogue of political violence, does not bring momentum for the opposition. Currently, […]
The Second Berlin Conference on Libya took place Wednesday, upon the invitation of the United Nations and Germany, to discuss the political transition process in the war-torn country. Representatives from 16 nations and four international organizations reiterated their commitments from the first conference on Jan. 19, 2020. The conference’s final communique, which stressed the importance […]
Turkey killed a senior operative of the PKK terrorist organization in northern Iraq, the media reported Tuesday. The target, Ulaş Doğan, who went by the code-name Ulaş Dersim, was on Turkey’s most-wanted list. According to those reports, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) obtained credible information that Doğan was plotting “a sensational attack” on Turkish citizens […]
Hotels in Turkey’s popular southern Mediterranean coastal city of Antalya are ready to reopen after Moscow announced it was lifting flight restrictions to Turkey. Tourism representatives are hoping that their sector – a key component of the Turkish economy – can now recover some of its losses. Optimism abounds, as many have stated that the […]
There is vaccine mobilization all around the world. People are being encouraged to get inoculated with vaccines that may include unknown side effects and are believed to only protect the person who has received them. In addition, the campaigns are often accompanied by slogans suggesting “civic duty.” Even scientific objections to the function of vaccines […]
Thousands of Russian tourists began arriving in Turkey on Tuesday, boosting hopes for its tourism sector after a two-month suspension in flights imposed by Moscow due to concerns about a surge in COVID-19 cases in April. Turkey’s tourism prospects have been revived by a sharp fall in daily coronavirus cases to around 5,000 from a […]
The city’s reputation is ruined and tourists give the city a wide berth: This is what the future of Venice could look like if UNESCO includes the romantic northern Italian lagoon city in its damning list of endangered world heritage sites. As a result of the city’s reluctance to give up its cruise liner industry, […]
Sporting a restaurant on the 120th floor and 24-hour personal butler service, the world’s highest luxury hotel is ready to serve in Shanghai to guests with deep pockets and a head for heights. Elevators whizz guests up the intimidating spiral-like skyscraper at ear-popping speeds of 18 metres per second to the J Hotel’s 165 opulent […]
Britain wants to allow people to have holidays abroad again but the government is wary of the risks, a minister said Thursday ahead of an announcement on whether a narrow list of quarantine-free travel destinations would be expanded. Anger is growing at Britain’s onerous restrictions on foreign travel: pilots, cabin crew, travel agents and other […]
Three key elections took place in Turkey’s neighborhood, while Turkish leadership was preoccupied with international summits and events. In Israel, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won an early election on March 23, yet Naftali Bennett managed to form a coalition government with eight parties. Consequently, the incumbent’s 12-year reign ended on June 14. In Iran, […]
A week later and it is still worth discussing. I am refering to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s bilateral meeting with his American counterpart Joe Biden. The meeting took place on the margins of last week’s NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. The two leaders took stock of the bilateral relationship over the course of more than […]
Many states have been trying to marginalize, isolate and contain Turkey since the eruption of the Arab insurgencies in 2011. Several regional states such as Greece, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia have initiated regional initiatives from which Turkey was excluded. Most Western countries, the United States in particular, have marginalized and […]
It is true that there are always high expectations from a summit between the leaders of Turkey and the U.S. The presence of significant problems and uncertainties in the relations make the summits defining moments for the relations. The diplomacy between the leaders of the two countries plays a critical role in bilateral relations and […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wrapped up an intense week of diplomacy at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum (ADF). The event, which paid homage to the world’s first parliament in the nearby ancient city of Patara, was designed to find a response to current challenges. The ADF, which annually brings together leaders, politicians, academics, diplomats and businesspeople, […]
Turkey’s Health Ministry will carry out random tests, known as a “sampling,” on a certain number of passengers arriving in the country’s airports from abroad, authorities announced. The tests will be done in addition to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test all passengers are required to take and have ready to show upon arrival. The […]
With the COVID-19 pandemic interest in domestic tourism caused a boom in Tibet. More and more Chinese travel within the land, posing risks to Tibet’s fragile environment and historical sites. The number of visitors is limited to 5,000 per day at the Potala Palace, the former home of the Dalai Lamas. Balancing tourist demand with […]
Years after modernization changed traditional lifestyles in Turkey, “arranged marriages” disappeared and young people started falling in love and getting married on their own accord. But some rudiments of the old ways of marriage still survive in the country, like asking for the girl’s hand for one’s son. The boy, with his mother, father and […]
Facing the prospect of a second summer in the doldrums due to international travel restrictions, Turkey’s crucial tourism industry received a late boost with the announcement that its biggest market, Russia, is set to resume flights. In a long-awaited move, Moscow on Friday announced it would resume flights to Turkey starting from Tuesday, thanks to […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a week full of summits and international trips. He attended the NATO summit, where he met U.S. President Joe Biden and other Western leaders, before flying to Azerbaijan, where he visited Baku and Shusha, that country’s cultural capital. Wrapping up the week, Erdoğan addressed the South-East European Cooperation Process Summit […]
Russia will resume flights to Turkey, a popular tourist destination, starting from June 22, thanks to a series of preventative COVID-19 measures in the country, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said Friday. She also said Russia has decided to resume flights to some other countries, including the United States and Belgium. Moscow had in […]
Tourist hot spot Bodrum on the “Turkish Riviera” is set to become home to a massive complex that will be built with the help of Russian technology, the head of the Russian-Turkish Business Council said Sunday. The Bodrum Arena project will begin in around five months and will be implemented using a more than 70 […]
When the Cold War ended and the leaders of the Warsaw Pact retired from the scene, the other members of the alliance had to take care of themselves. As Yugoslavia splintered violently, 15 sovereign states emerged from the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states set their course towards […]
This past week was historic in terms of meetings, visits and briefings. First, the NATO summit was held in Brussels on June 14 and, more important than the summit, the world’s leaders gathered at bilateral meetings. In this column, I will focus on the bilateral meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Joe […]
The Israeli Parliament’s (the Knesset) most recent session sealed the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year-long dominance of the Israeli political scene. After many years, his rule is now over. With intermittent heckling, continuous chaos and recurrent chants of “liar” and “shame” doing the rounds, this transition was anything but smooth. Naftali Bennett, leader […]
NATO held its 31st leaders’ summit in Brussels on June 14. This year’s summit had a specific significance due to the participation of United States President Joe Biden. Biden joined the NATO summit after the G-7 meeting, which took place in London. After the NATO summit, Biden also participated in the NATO-European Union meeting in […]
Germany is set to allow travelers from non-European Union countries who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter the country from June 25 which covers Turkish citizens who have received both shots of BioNTech jabs. The required vaccines, meanwhile, will be those approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), namely the BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and […]
As reaffirmed at the last NATO summit, Turkey is one of the most critical actors in the global economic-political system. It is a fact that many people, from academia to the media, from politics to the economy, agree that Turkey can create permanent solutions in the short, medium and long term to the constantly accumulating […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held his first face-to-face meeting with United States President Joe Biden. The fact that the meeting which was supposed to take 45 minutes lasted 1.5 hours, showed the breadth of the topics the two presidents had to discuss. The Brussels agenda Biden was in the United Kingdom for the G-7 meeting […]
A Russian delegation on Thursday who examined Turkey’s extensive safety measures to protect against COVID-19 hinted that Moscow’s current flight restriction will possibly be eased soon. The delegation will prepare a report that will affect Moscow’s decision on the resumption of flights between the two countries, said a statement by the Turkish Tourism Promotion and […]
Germans are booking holidays again at rates higher than in 2019 – before the coronavirus pandemic hit – according to TUI Group, the world’s biggest holiday group. “The summer holiday catch-up is in full swing right now and the consumer mood for travel seems to be increasing daily,” Marek Andryszak, Chairperson of TUI Germany’s Executive […]
The NATO Summit held in Brussels was the declaration of the new United States administration’s return to trans-Atlantic relations. After the summit, President Joe Biden said, “The United States is back,” and underlined that the Trump era, which followed a policy of isolation and questioned the function of NATO, is officially over. The strongest sign […]
The big picture would have remained blurred in my mind had it not been for Facebook’s curious decision. As you probably know, social media platforms have taken a series of steps to combat disinformation and misinformation regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Among other things, those corporations did not want the anti-vaccine movement to disseminate their messages […]
Turkey has been highly active in the international arena recently as all eyes were on the NATO summit and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s meeting with United States President Joe Biden. A high-level delegation, led by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, paid a surprise visit to Tripoli for a series of critically important meetings. It is no […]
India’s iconic Taj Mahal reopened to the public Wednesday as the country, still reeling from a disastrous second wave of the pandemic, rushes to lift restrictions in a bid to revitalize its economy. The 17th-century monument, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the northern city of Agra, was closed in early April as India […]
France removed Turkey from the red list of countries for which it had imposed travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ali Onaner, Turkey’s ambassador to Paris, said on Twitter that Turkey went from red to orange on France’s travel restrictions list. The mandatory 10-day quarantine process for passengers traveling from Turkey to France has been […]
Blue Origin’s first sightseeing trip into space will include ultra-billionaire Jeff Bezos, his brother and the winner of a live auction who bid $28 million on Saturday for a seat on the ship next month. Within four minutes of the open of Saturday’s live phone auction, bids reached beyond $20 million. The bidding closed seven […]
The European Union Wednesday recommended that member countries could start accepting tourists from the United States, who had been restricted entry as part of COVID-19 measures. The 27-membered bloc agreed upon the decision to add the U.S. to the list of countries for which they should gradually remove restrictions on nonessential travel. The move was […]
Turkish and American politicians, media and the public had been waiting for the meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Joe Biden on June 14, on the sidelines of the NATO Leaders Summit in Brussels. Onlookers closely watched to see whether the two leaders would continue the already tense positions or open a […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year reign in Israel has officially ended. The country will be governed by a coalition of eight political parties, led by Naftali Bennett. The coalition government also includes the United Arab List, Raam, which represents the Palestinian Arabs. Netanyahu’s aggressive policy, along with Turkey’s deep distrust of the former Israeli […]
Yesterday, one of the most significant summit meetings between Turkey and the U.S. took place in Brussels on the sidelines of the NATO summit. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time since his election as U.S. president. Given the state of U.S.-Turkish ties and the rather rocky start […]
United States President Joe Biden is back in Europe with a clear message: “America is back.” His weeklong trip will be devoted to reaching out to fellow Western leaders and discussing ways to strengthen the trans-Atlantic alliance. Biden will also engage in a broad range of negotiations regarding Russia and China, and propagate the idea […]
Some island countries that were seen as informal and low tax havens over the last 40-50 years and others defined as “tax havens” in the middle of Europe are now being scrutinized. According to reports by international institutions, the amount of the tax revenue that is thought to be stolen by companies via shell corporations […]
The White House needs better speechwriters; but then again if you don’t have sound policies to build speeches around, what is a poor speech writer supposed to do? In “Teach Yourself Speech Writing in Three Steps” courses, the first thing they teach you to ask is: What do you need to say? I have sat […]
Germany will lift its pandemic travel warning for most countries from July 1, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Friday, bringing back more normalcy as citizens are increasingly vaccinated against COVID-19. Countries recording infection rates of 50-200 cases per 100,000 people in seven days would no longer be deemed a “risk-zone.” Restrictions, however, remain in place […]
The world’s focus is on the June 14th NATO summit since it is going to draw a map for the foreign policy of the coming period. Actually, this summit is not only important for Turkey but also for the whole Middle East and Europe. For example, in Greece, the only topic is currently this summit. […]
Whenever a democratic country is confronted with national, regional and global crises, its government might temporarily lean toward taking extraordinary measures. As soon as such a period of crisis is overcome, however, rational state officials look forward to adopting policies of normalization. It is true that only a growing economy could maintain the achievements of […]
All eyes are on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s June 14 meeting with United States President Joe Biden in Brussels, Belgium. Multiple times since the Biden administration took over, I have noted that Washington has become aware of Turkey’s active involvement in several key issues. Hours before the two leaders’ meeting, I noticed the atmosphere growing […]
The World-famous Cappadocia region in central Turkey which is home to fabled fairy chimneys and stunning balloon rides welcomed over 60,000 tourists this May, local tourism officials said in a statement Thursday. According to authorities in the central Nevşehir province, 61,634 people visited 17 top tourist sites in Cappadocia. With 17,774 visitors, the famed Göreme […]
During the pandemic, there has been intense censorship applied to the scientific theses that the World Health Organization (WHO) did not “recognize.” Various scientific arguments about the function of isolation measurements or the safety of treatment methods were restricted on the internet. Social media platforms, which supposedly broke the property relations of conventional media and […]
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a leading Turkish travel and leisure agency, Jolly, are spearheading sustainable tourism routes in Turkey as the COVID-19 pandemic leads more vacationers to opt for alternatives such as caravanning and ecotourism. Speaking exclusively to Anadolu Agency (AA), Mustafa Ali Yurdupak, the inclusive and sustainable growth portfolio manager at […]
Turkey has been spearheading the implementation of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 since the very beginning of the outbreak. Undercover inspectors, dubbed “secret guests” by local media, are checking into hotels across Turkey to audit whether safety measures are up to standard. Staying at hotels just like any other guest, the auditors report […]
Good Party (IP) Chairperson Meral Akşener has finally stopped speculating about the timeline of early elections. She remains committed, however, to making proposals related to the ballot box. Having advocated an “augmented” and “strengthened” parliamentary system, Akşener most recently concentrated on the question of a joint presidential ticket. In a televised interview, the IP chairperson […]
“The First International Symposium on Common History and Culture Yemen: Political Dynamics and Humanitarian Assistance” was organized under the auspices of Turkey’s Parliament Speaker professor Dr. Mustafa Şentop in cooperation with Istanbul, Marmara and Kilis 7 Aralık universities. Turkish and Yemeni scholars and bureaucrats discussed different dimensions of the Yemeni crisis. The speeches were broadcasted […]
Since the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, there have been debates about the priorities of the new administration during its tenure. In January 2021, the U.S. experienced multiple crises including a global pandemic, emerging economic recession and deepening social and political polarization. Additionally, it was also in the midst of a period of turbulence […]
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavusoğlu paid an official visit to Greece last week. The visit was part of efforts to reduce tensions between the two neighboring countries. Turkey and Greece had a tense summer in 2020, mainly due to the disagreements in the Eastern Mediterranean. Close attention was paid to Çavuşoğlu’s Athens visit after a heated […]
Turkey is hopeful that Moscow will green light flights to its resort cities following a visit by a Russian delegation, a Turkish official said. “The Russian delegation will come to the tourist areas, probably Antalya. They will make on-site examinations of the measures we have taken,” Culture and Tourism Deputy Minister Nadir Alpaslan told Anadolu […]
Holidaymakers got a double shot in the arm Monday as those with proof of vaccination from outside the European Union can begin traveling to Spain, where they can join visitors from the bloc who have proven themselves COVID-19 safe. In addition, Spain’s ports reopened for cruise ships. The move opened borders for the first vacationers […]
June is going to be a busy month internationally. First, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is going to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on June 14. Biden will be on his first overseas trip for NATO and European Union meetings in the U.K. and Belgium. The Erdoğan-Biden meeting will take place on the sidelines […]
When we look at the “megatrends” that will mark the next 30 years, we see digitalization, energy transformation, a green future and gender equality in business, working life and the social environment on top. These main topics will be shaped together with top priority areas of struggle such as a pandemic, climate change, cyberattacks and […]
Both Russian holidaymakers and tourism industry representatives have been voicing their discomfort over Moscow’s decision to keep in place its temporary restrictions on flights to Turkey. Already battered by the fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, Turkey’s tourism industry was yet again caught on the wrong foot after Moscow last week said it will not allow […]
Germany on Friday removed Turkey from its list of high-risk COVID-19 countries with a new decision by the country’s top disease control agency as new virus cases in Turkey have been significantly dropping recently. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Turkey is now merely a normal risk country and as a result, there is […]
The first cruise ship since the start of the pandemic wended its way Saturday through the heart of Venice, escorted by triumphant water-spouting tugboats and elated port workers as it traveled down the Giudecca Canal. It was not all smiles, however, as the ship drew the ire of some local residents and was greeted by […]
Next week the members of NATO will gather in Brussels for the 31st formal meeting of the heads of states and heads of governments. Since the last meeting of the organization in London in December 2019, there have been significant changes around the globe. The 30th summit took place in London during the onset of […]
The wind has shifted. Storms and tsunamis seem to be over at least for now. The two neighbors, Turkey and Greece, came to a mutual ground for talks and cooperation. I think this is one reason to be hopeful about the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s visit to Greece this week […]
The path of the Turks began in the steppes of Central Asia and continued toward the West. It is a historical story that tells not only the immigration of the Turks but also the transfer of their culture and lifestyle, their music and literature from Transoxiana toward Anatolia and the Balkans. In the history of […]
A novelty has recently taken place in Israeli history. Naftali Bennett, the leader of Yamina, a fundamentalist Zionist party, and the Islamist United Arab List’s leader Mansour Abbas gathered under the same coalition roof in order to end Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year corrupt rule. Thus, the opposition leader and the chairperson of Yesh […]
Russia extended its flight ban to Turkey until June 21, a move that could cost the industry 274 million euros ($334 million) alone in June, according to the Russian Association of Tour Operators (ATOR), while Turkish tourism operators state the bill could reach upwards of $500 million. Ferit Turgut, chairperson of the Travel Agencies Union […]
With the start of summer, countries began to relax their isolation measures. The United Kingdom, where there were no deaths reported yesterday, plans to lift many restrictions on June 21. Turkey, on the other hand, where the number of cases is declining rapidly, entered the process of partially loosening its strict measures as of June […]
The Middle East continues to be one of the most dynamic regions of the world. On the one hand, it directly and indirectly influences not only the policies of regional countries but also those of the global powers. On the other hand, any change in the domestic political settings of global actors, such as the […]
June will be a particularly busy month for Turkey in the international arena. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is due to meet United States President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the NATO Summit on June 14. Later this month, the European Union’s leaders will discuss their “positive agenda” with Turkey. The Europeans are keeping an […]
Russia has decided to keep in place its temporary restrictions on flights to Turkey, the country’s coronavirus task force announced Monday. Moscow will not allow tourists to travel to Turkey until at least June 21 due to what the task force said was a “serious epidemiological situation” in Turkey. Yet, the daily coronavirus cases in […]
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said late Tuesday that he would discuss tourism with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the upcoming NATO summit, after the country imposed travel restrictions on Turkey last month. Turkey was put on Britain’s travel ‘red list,’ prompting the UEFA Champions League final to be moved to Porto and the Formula […]
Turkish health workers have vaccinated more than a million people in the southern Mediterranean resort city of Antalya against COVID-19. More than 1 million doses have been administered to some 73% of the target population, according to Ünal Hülür, the provincial health director for Antalya. “We used this lockdown period to our advantage by boosting […]
Another blessed opening ceremony took place on May 28, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a “150-year-old dream” come true by unveiling the Taksim Mosque. May this new mosque serve the Muslim world, the Turkish people and all Istanbulites well. Leaders engage in politics to pursue their dreams and to keep their promises to […]
Ankara and Athens on Monday agreed to mutually recognize each other’s coronavirus vaccination certificates to permit travel between the countries, in a move to help tourism battered by the coronavirus pandemic. “We agreed on the vaccine certificate. Citizens of the two countries who are negative will be able to travel. We have decided to mutually […]
On the morning of May 27, 1960, the Turkish people awoke to a military coup d’etat that had already taken place at 3 a.m. The military coup, which was carried out by junior officers against their own High Command, at that time, was the last of its kind to take place on Turkish lands and […]
Bret Stephens, in his New York Times article “Anti-Zionism Isn’t Anti-Semitism? Someone Didn’t Get the Memo,” said Turkey is an example of a country that should be subject to campus demonstrations and calls for boycotts and disinvestments because of its “47-year occupation of Northern Cyprus or its routine bombardment, using American-made jets, of Kurdish militants […]
The national conversation in Turkey remains focused on domestic politics as we get closer and closer to a critical meeting in the international arena where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to meet U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time, on the margins of the June 14 NATO summit. It is no secret that […]
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a joint project with Jolly, one of Turkey’s prominent travel and leisure agencies, to promote sustainable tourism in Turkey. As part of the Mirasım Türkiye (My Heritage Turkey) campaign launched two years ago, the project will focus on raising awareness about sustainable tourism, child-friendly tourism and the importance […]
With many discussions and uncertainties surrounding it, the coronavirus pandemic blindsided the whole world. All international organizations agree that “the future will always surprise us.” This statement is both unsettling and perhaps even threatening for countries; however, it encompasses several opportunities as well. According to international institutions, primarily the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development […]
The week after next, for the first time since his inauguration, United States President Joe Biden will attend diplomatic summits in Europe. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions in the first six months of his presidency, Biden only attended high-level summits remotely through videoconferencing. His most significant initiatives, including the Climate Summit and the Quadrilateral Security […]
When the Cold War ended, a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity began to prevail in the international arena. The disintegration of Soviet Union allowed the United States to gain unprecedented supremacy in the international system. Declaring a new world order, the U.S. began to play the role of the world’s sheriff. As supranational institutions lost […]
After at least 230 deaths, a fragile cease-fire has finally started in Gaza. There has been fierce fighting that lasted 11 days and ended on May 21. During that time, Israel used heavy weapons and bombarded civilians. For the first time, a strong opposing voice against Israel started to be heard even in the U.S. […]
A delegation led by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy arrived in Berlin Monday to discuss with their counterparts ways to promote safe and reliable travel during the coronavirus pandemic. Ersoy and Turkey’s Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin held a meeting with German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, Federal Government Commissioner for Tourism Thomas Bareiss […]
Even the flight restrictions seem ineffective in deterring Russian vacationers from choosing the Turkish Mediterranean coastline, known to be one of the No.1 destinations for Muscovites, for their holidays. Dmitriy Gorin, vice-chairperson of the Association of Russian Tour Operators (ATOR), during his speech at the Digital Aviation and Travel Forum held in Moscow on Tuesday, […]
On May 19, 2021, the European Parliament (EP) published its report on Turkey in which it recommended the suspension of Turkey’s European Union accession negotiations. It argued that “Turkey has distanced itself increasingly from EU values and standards. As a result, relations have been brought to a historic low point.” It is a one-sided assessment […]
Turkey’s 2023 election is two long years away, but there is heightened activity in the country’s political arena. Although the election is not on the horizon yet, there is already lots of chatter about potential candidates and alliances. Moving forward, we have every reason to expect an uptick in bickering and new movements regarding campaign-relevant […]
A curious development set off alarm bells across Europe last week, when Jurgen Conings, a Belgian soldier, stole heavy weapons from a military base before going off the radar. What made that incident all the more sensational was that it was not an ordinary case of theft. After all, Conings is no ordinary man. Conings, […]
The Palestinian people once again showed the Israeli government and the world that they will not surrender to Israeli occupation. In spite of the Israeli war machine, the strong support from global and regional powers and the convenient regional atmosphere, the Israeli government could not silence the Palestinian people. Arab peoples, Muslims and global public […]
Foreign tourist arrivals in Turkey surged sharply in April from a year ago due to the so-called base effect, in a turnaround from the trickle of travelers due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some 790,687 foreign visitors came in last month, skyrocketing 3,162% from the same month of last year, Culture and Tourism Ministry data showed […]
Turkey’s 2023 elections, which will take place on the republic’s centennial, will be the most critical election in the history of Turkish democracy. You may disagree with that statement, recalling that past elections have been described the same way. You may add that commentators have talked about “historic” elections countless times since 2013. For the […]