Turkey's Internal Political Tensions Again Play Out in Washington
The annual Washington conference of the American-Turkish Council (ATC), perhaps the best-known group lobbying on behalf of Turkish interests in the United States, is usually an occasion for both sides...
View ArticleTurkey: Amnesty Researcher Discusses New Gezi Report
Last October Amnesty International released a report looking at the summer's Gezi Park protests, concluding the government's harsh response resulted in "gross human rights violations." Today, the...
View ArticleTurkey: The Opposition's Intriguing Presidential Candidate Choice
On August 10 Turks will for the first time have the opportunity to directly elect their president, a mostly ceremonial position (though one that has some notable hidden powers) that was previously...
View ArticleTurkey: Erdogan Unveils Preordained Presidential Candidacy
As he had long suggested he would do, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday announced his candidacy for the presidency in a splashy ceremony in Ankara. Expected by most observers to win...
View ArticleTurkey: Syrian Refugees Facing Growing Backlash?
In a blog post in May, I described the "urbanization" of Turkey's Syrian refugee population -- which now numbers over one million -- and the potential problems this development poses for Ankara,...
View ArticleTurkey: What Sunday's Presidential Election Means for Turkish Democracy
Late last month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan took part in the opening ceremony of a new soccer stadium in Istanbul. Rather than simply cut a ribbon, Erdogan -- a standout amateur soccer...
View ArticleTurkey: After Presidential Win, How Will Erdogan Reshape the Political Order?
It says something about Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political audacity and his Justice and Development Party's (AKP) marketing chutzpah that despite the Turkish leader having served as prime minister for...
View ArticleTurkey: Concerns Over Sharp Decline in Internet Freedom
As part of the effort to boost its image and role on the world stage, Turkey has over the last decade made a push to host a bigger number of international meetings and conferences, especially in...
View ArticleTurkey: ISIS Recruiting in Turkish Cities?
By now, it's a well-established fact that foreign fighters looking to join extremist groups -- most worryingly the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), or simply the Islamic State (IS), as it now...
View ArticleHuman Rights Watch Warns About Turkey's "Authoritarian Drift"
Critics of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government have for years been warning that the country, under the leadership of now President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has taken an authoritarian...
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