Atilla's Musings

Islamophobia and the new clash of civilisations

Source:Financial Times Date:20Feb2019

Martin Wolf argues, quite correctly in my view, that a Clash of Civilizations is underway It is now getting on for 20 years since the attacks on New York and Washington of September 11 2001, and

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Turkey’s Erdogan Is Due for Another Rebuke

Source:Foreign Policy in Focus Date:16Feb2019

I can’t tell you how municipal elections will turn out, because there are very few polls. It seems to me, AKP is censoring them. But, this article explains very succintly my theory of how

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Mysterious Turkish Firm Helped Maduro Move $900 Million in Gold

Source:Bloomberg Date:09Feb2019

While the article does solid investigative workto uncover the Turkey-Venezuela gold trade, it is actually about the trobuled Turkey-US relationship and whether it cna be improved.    

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Turkey’s ruling party turns to economic ‘tricks’ as polls loom

Source:Financial Times Date:08Feb2019

“Traditional means of doling out the pork are out,” said Atilla Yesilada, an Istanbul-based analyst at the consultancy GlobalSource partners. “Instead we see tricks.” Those tricks have ranged

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Challenges for AK Party to overcome in March elections

Source:Daily Sabah Date:02Feb2019

We can say that three groups need to be “persuaded” for the upcoming local elections. The first is young voters voting for the first time who have grown up seeing no other party but

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Putin’s Firewall Around Russia-Turkey Partnership

Source:Newsclick Date:29Jan2019

The author is probably on fan of the West, but this is the best explanation of the Adana Accord, which has move to the center-stage of Turkey-Damascus relations in the recent days.  Putin is

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Assad Is Close to Victory But New Conflicts Are Bubbling Up in Syria

Source:Bloomberg Date:28Jan2019

The text belies the title. The Syrian War is not over. Assad is not winning.  This is what I wrote in my Weekly Report:   Turkey has not lost the war. It is now seen as a coveted asset by

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Buffer zone in North-East Syria: What does it exactly mean?

Source:Ahval News Date:22Jan2019

An Erdogan-Trump phone exchange heralded the agreement on the establishment of a buffer zone at the Turkish border. This has helped markets and raised hopes in Turkey that economic relations,

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Perspectives | Turkey and Russia: The paradox of family resemblance

Source:Eurasianet Date:18Jan2019

At its core, Erdogan’s vision is built on the notion that the world is divided into distinct civilizations. And upon that foundation rise three pillars: 1) a just world order can only be a

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REVEALED: How Gulf states hatched plan with Israel to rehabilitate Assad

Source:Middle East Eye Date:13Jan2019

I consider MEE a reliable source, but this analysis is highly controversial. On the other hand, perusing through the commentary in Turkey’s pro-AKP press, I do see several references to

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