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Turkey

Turkey Greenlights Sweden’s NATO Membership – After Giving Members a Near Heart Attack

Tuesday, July 11, 2023 at 6:17 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan straddles Western democracies and Eastern autocracies, much as Turkey straddles Europe and Asia. His politics are as ambidextrous as Turkey’s geography is strategic. And Erdogan has used Sweden’s application for NATO membership to display his ambidexterity. Turkey greenlights Sweden’s NATO membership Russia’s genocidal invasion of Ukraine scared Finland and Sweden straight. It moved both to… Read more.

Erdogan Wins Turkish Election. Despite Polls, There Was Never Any Doubt.

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 at 6:02 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Turkey’s presidential election on Sunday. And he did so in a relative landslide with 52.2%. Kemal Kilicdaroglu was the unified opposition candidate. He led in all the polls. But he fell short with 47.8%. Erdogan wins Turkish election There was never any doubt about the outcome. Yes, polls and media reports… Read more.

Turkey Earthquake Diplomacy – West Delivering Aid So Turkey Will Help Ukraine

Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 6:16 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Countries are making a show today of delivering aid to earthquake-ravaged Turkey. They made a show in 2010 of pledging aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti too. But many of these compassionate poseurs failed to deliver on their pledges. Turkey earthquake diplomacy But Turkey is being spared such unconscionable acts of stolen charity. The list of countries already delivering aid is… Read more.

US Commemorating (and Finally Recognizing) the Armenian Genocide

Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 6:23 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Yesterday was Armenian Remembrance Day. It commemorates the killing of as many as 1.5 million people in Turkey, by Young Turks, from 1915-23, marking the first genocide of the twentieth century. 106 Years of Denial and Counting… Despite Turkey’s impassioned insistence that there was no genocide, instead labeling the Armenians as casualties of warfare and traitors… Read more.

Trump Makes Way in Syria for Erdogan to Displace (or Massacre) the Kurds. Maybe…

Tuesday, October 8, 2019 at 7:49 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

The Middle East is a perennially fractious region. And the combatants are as familiar with each other’s motivations and capabilities as, well, Cain was with Abel’s. This is why the maneuvers afoot in Syria are only playing out according to script. This includes Russia proving itself a far more reliable ally than the United States.… Read more.

In Killing Khashoggi…

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 7:47 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) exposed his perfidy and Trump’s cupidity. The prevailing feature of President Trump’s foreign policy is the way he courts world leaders with whom he has, or is scheming to establish, personal financial ties. Nothing betrayed this quite like the way he salivated at the prospect of striking deals… Read more.

Thanks to EU, Turkey Ratifies Erdogan’s Dictatorial Rule

Thursday, June 28, 2018 at 4:52 PM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

No doubt there was more media hype this time about a potential upset. But Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s reelection was as guaranteed on Sunday as Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s was on Sunday, March 18. Turkey’s long-standing leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won a new five-year term after securing outright victory in the first round… Read more.

Hail, Erdogan! Latter-Day Sultan of Turkey.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7:12 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

If you harbored any doubts about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s dictatorial predilection, the referendum he orchestrated on Sunday should disabuse you of them. A defiant Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced the West’s ‘crusader mentality’ on Monday after European monitors criticized a referendum to grant him sweeping new powers, won with a narrow victory laying bare… Read more.

President Erdogan unleashing his inner Dr. Frankenstein to excise ‘cancer’ of Turkey’s coup plotters

Saturday, July 23, 2016 at 5:41 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Prognosis? Be afraid. Be very afraid. Turkey’s parliament backed emergency measures Thursday giving authorities broad powers to pursue alleged supporters of a failed coup, even as the government said it has rounded up nearly 10,000 people since the attempted military takeover… The strengthened hand for authorities — with tens of thousands of others under scrutiny or… Read more.

Turkey: Bungled Coup Fails. Grave Purge Begins

Saturday, July 16, 2016 at 10:14 AM
Written by Anthony L. Hall

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport Saturday morning and declared the attempted coup against his government to be a failure, but also a ‘gift from God…’ He vowed to ‘clean up’ the armed forces and ‘eradicate’ those who had operated aerial forces against his government. As of Saturday morning, nearly 3,000… Read more.