Atilla's Musings
Controversial judicial decisions cause Turkey’s biggest problem to resurface
Source:Hurriyet Daily News Date:23Feb2019
No justice, no development! Last week Turkey witnessed two important judicial decisions. The first one was about an appeals court’s rule that upheld the convictions of journalists and
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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,
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