Analysis

Sinjar becomes latest flashpoint for Iran-Turkey tensions in Iraq  

New Pentagon IG report says that the Turkey-PKK conflict and Iranian militias are contributing to instability in Iraq.  

By Week in Review

Culture

Turkish soccer in dire straits due to economic crisis, power struggles 

Turkey’s soccer sector has hit rock bottom as power struggles as well as financial and structural difficulties set in. 

Turkey

Turkish inflation jumps from 20% to 70% in just six months

Even if monthly price increases ease to an average of 5% in the coming months, Turkey would face an annual consumer inflation of over 100% in the fall and finish the year with a rate of some 90%.

Turkey

More niceties, zero progress in third round of Turkey-Armenia peace talks

Turkey and Armenia's third round of rapprochement talks have produced little of substance as Armenians protested by in the thousands and called for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign.

Turkey

Bulgaria looks to Turkey for help with gas shortage

Russia has cut gas exports to Bulgaria, leaving Sofia looking to Ankara, which has some tough decisions to make.

Turkey

Erdogan unveils plans to send 1 million Syrians back as anti-refugee sentiment escalates 

As anti-refugee sentiment rises higher in Turkey during the Eid, Erdogan pledges a build-and-return project enabling more than a million Syrians to return “voluntarily” to northern Syria. 

Turkey

Yazidi militia says Iraqi army attacks linked to Turkey’s anti-PKK campaign

The Iraqi army is seeking to dislodge Yazidi fighters from Sinjar who Turkey says are members of the PKK. Thousands of Yazidi civilians are fleeing the area as clashes escalate.

Iraq

Istanbul mayor challenges AKP government on visit to Erdogan’s home province

Ekrem Imamoglu of the Republican People’s Party took his campaign to Rize on the Black Sea coast during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Turkey

Is Turkey behind border wall, Iraqi deployment in Sinjar?

Baghdad’s military moves in Sinjar, coinciding with a Turkish military operation in northern Iraq, and the construction of a wall along the border with Syria have rekindled fears among the local Yazidi population.

Iraqi-Kurdistan

Has Ukraine war given Erdogan free hand at home?

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might be aiming to tighten his grip on the domestic front, taking advantage of Ankara’s rising profile amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Turkey

Prisoner swap, assassination plot bolster Turkey's image as intrigue hotspot

Newly revealed spy rings are reinforcing Istanbul’s long reputation as playground of intelligence agents.

Turkey

Turkish opposition leader loses electricity as he protests high prices

Turkey’s main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s one-family resistance to protest exorbitant electricity price hikes has garnered large support from the public.

Turkey