Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently made a speech where he has outlined how to gradually exit the Covid-19 lockdown for Turkey. After outlining the ‘normalisation plan’, Erdoğan has also talked about Turkey’s fight against ‘terrorists’ inside and outside Turkey. While describing these ‘terrorists’, he used the term “kılıç artığı”. This term can be […]

As the saying goes, “even a broken clock is right twice a day.” While the broken clock of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was right when he proposed recognizing the genocide of Native Americans at the hands of the United States, his words did not stem from a deep-seated desire for justice: in fact, quite […]

A Middle East that has been the political and military hotbed of world superpowers for hundreds of years, this time in a new world and with the new policy will be influenced by the seemingly peaceful policy of the West. Due to the unveiling of the Century Deal plan that included only the Israeli side […]

Turkish aerial and ground operations inside the territories of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq have noticeably increased in recent weeks, accompanied with wide Kurdish reactions of resistance and solidarity accompanied with an increasing sense of imminent danger. The attacks face wide local reactions from people and various Kurdish sides with shy condemnation of Kurdish and […]

Let me introduce three bullet points and briefly comment on them. This piece is not about human rights, democracy and the presidents of Turkey and Russia. What interests me is the situation in the Middle East. The hope and the argument for the near future is this: Sooner or later, President Erdoğan and his successors will adapt […]

Let’s face it: There is no justice and no peace between Israel and Palestinians. There is absence of war, yes, but otherwise it’s a total stalemate. The demands of the Israeli are not acceptable for the Palestinians, and the demands of the Palestinians are not acceptable for the Israeli. Simple and fatal. The Arabs are […]

On February 14, police in Ankara raided the homes of university students and found one of them reading Leylan, the first novel by Selahattin Demirtas, former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), published a month prior on January 22. The newspaper BirGün reported that, while in custody, the police asked the student if they were […]

Politics. Not easy … not easy to understand what’s behind President Erdoğan’s decisions. I do not pretend that I have the answer to this riddle. It’s safe to assume that Erdoğan somehow has a plan, and that he somehow knows what he is doing. The question is, what could such a “plan” be? Personal gain and securing power, that’s the […]

No matter what anybody’s personal feelings or beliefs are about the Covid-19 pandemic, one truth we should all embrace is that we are awash in a sea of lies. Whether from mainstream, alternative, or my personal favorite “official” sources, the generally accepted narrative just doesn’t seem to match reality. And with more and more credible […]

The historical partnership between Germany and Turkey withstood many adverse tides, namely the EU membership question, human rights issues, and others. But there was always mutual respect. Berlin shows respect and restraint, as it does toward Russia. Likewise, Ankara doesn’t want to trick the Germans into anything. The “friendly conflict” or “conflictual friendship” of Turkey […]

Dear Respected and Honorable Hodja Effendi, As-salaam Alaikum I hope my letter finds you in the best of health and spirits. I had the pleasure of visiting you twice. Both visits remain cherished memories in my life. The compassion and honesty with which you answered my questions have remained seared in my memory. For that […]

It was a very widespread approach among the Ottoman era intellectuals that Jihad should be accompanied by ideas and opinions.  In that period, a lot of philosophers accounted for a conceptual jihad; they introduced that the conflicts between the civilizations are not carried out with weapons but with science and opinion. Said Nursi adverted the […]