The accusations from exiled Turkish mobster Sedat Peker that allege connections between Turkey’s ruling elite and organized crime reveal a steady decay in the credibility of the state to many Turks. Peker, who released an eighth video on Sunday that accused the government of organising arms deliveries to extremists in Syria, has drawn the ire of high-ranking officials. This includes Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, former prime minister Binali Yildirim and more recently President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself. After the release of his seventh video where Peker alleged a state connection t ..read more

Turkey’s ruling coalition has embarked on a campaign against the country’s LGBTQ community in a bid to fracture its political opposition. Tünay Altay, a researcher and doctoral candidate at Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, believes that by embracing “political homophobia” , the so-called People’s Alliance is betting they are picking a fight they are confident they can win. Altay explained to Ahval News in a recent podcast that the decision to target Turkey’s LGBTQ community, or other groups that are stigmatised by the current government, is a common tactic chosen when faced with conce ..read more

The United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan may have shifted geopolitical calculations in the Middle Eat, enhancing uncertainty and a power vacuum across the region. But the U.S. pullout could have the unexpected side effect of helping to get two regional foes to reconsider their differences - Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Caroline Rose, a program head at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington D.C ..read more

United States President Joe Biden arrived at his first NATO summit on Monday to make the case for the alliance to reinvigorate the democratic values of its member states. Rachel Ellehuus, who is the deputy director and senior fellow with the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C, said Turkey is among the NATO members now who present a challenge to protecting these core values and it has company. “Turkey is not alone” within NATO as a member who has steadily retreated from the democratic values that underpin the allian ..read more

Azerbaijan and Iran have become locked in a war of words after they held competing military drills next to their common border. Any sharp military escalation risks drawing in Turkey, Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), said in comments during the latest episode of Ahval’s Turkey Abroad podcast ..read more

Now that the United States has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Turkey has been among the regional players scrambling to understand the new geopolitical landscape. For whatever concerns Ankara has about instability in a post-U.S. Afghanistan, it also sees room to maneuver as part of a long game with strategic benefits waiting to be reaped. Dr. Kamran Bokhari, the director of analytical development at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in Washington D.C, told Ahval News in a recent podcast that the current vacuum has Washington still looking for a means to maintain some a ..read more

Turkey has been selected to serve as the host for this year’s meeting of the International Criminal Police Organisation, popularly known as Interpol, a move that surprises many because of its troubled track-record with the agency. On June 3, it was announced that Interpol’s 89th General Assembly meeting would be held in Istanbul from Nov. 20 to 25. Turkish officials praised the selection for what they say is an opportunity to develop a more constructive relationship with the agency. Yuriy Nemets, an attorney in Washington D.C and an expert on Interpol, however considers Interpol’s choice of Tu ..read more

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An anti-Syrian rampage by angry residents in the Ankara suburb of Altındağ on Wednesday is a latest sign that Turkey may be approaching a dangerous social tipping point. The incident reflects poor policy decisions worsened by hyperpolarised politics and a struggling economy, Cevdet Acu, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Exeter and an expert on migration in Turkey, said in a podcast ..read more

A new system of alliances may be shaking shape that stretches from India to Greece that threatens to leave Turkey out in the diplomatic cold. Mohammed Soliman, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI) in Washington D.C. contends that Turkey’s own aggression in recent years has pushed these countries into a closer alignment. “Erdogan’s Turkey in terms of foreign policy moved from a zero enemies foreign policy to a zero friends over the last few years,” Soliman explained to Ahval News in a recent podcast ..read more