Strange bedfellows: The Russian-Turkish-Iranian axis
Sixty years have lapsed since the Baghdad Pact which grouped together Turkey, Iran, Iraq and the West in an alliance against the Soviet Union and the concomitant Communist danger. Nowadays this Middle Eastern architecture has shifted 180 degrees to where Russia, Turkey and Iran are in an ad hoc alliance against Islamic State but which […]
Press Conference After Syrian Peace Talks in Astana
An international meeting on the Syrian settlement began in the capital of Kazakhstan on January 23 with the participation of a number of delegations, including armed opposition, Damascus, Russia, Iran and Turkey. Russia, Iran and Turkey reiterated that there is no military solution to the Syrian war and that only a political process can resolve the crisis. The states reaffirmed their committment to independence […]
Turkey to continue operation in Syria
Turkey will continue with its military operation in Syria despite the deadly attack on an Istanbul nightclub that was a “message” against the campaign, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. “This was a message for our cross-border operations, above all the Euphrates Shield,” he said, using the mission name of Turkey’s campaign inside […]
Erdogan says he has evidence US-led coalition has given support to Isis
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he has uncovered evidence that US-led coalition forces have helped support terrorists in Syria – including Isis. American-led forces have been working alongside Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad but have attempted to avoid helping Isis and other Islamist militant groups. However, speaking on Tuesday in the Turkish […]
Russia holds memorial service for ambassador shot dead in Turkey
Russia has staged a sombre memorial ceremony for Andrei Karlov, the ambassador to Turkey shot dead in Ankara by a man shouting “Don’t forget Aleppo” and “Allahu Akbar”. Despite the killing of Moscow’s ambassador to Ankara, the two nations stand together in their joint peace plan for Syria Read more Russia and Turkey described the […]
How the assassination of Russia’s Turkish ambassador could derail Turkey’s hopes for Syria
The latest victim of Turkey’s climate of insecurity is Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey. Karlov was assassinated Dec. 19 by a 22-year-old police officer. Disguised as a security guard in a black suit, the gunman stood behind Karlov as the ambassador was speaking in an art gallery just yards from the U.S. embassy. “Don’t forget […]
Erdogan Says Follower of Gulen, His Rival, Killed Russian Envoy
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said on Wednesday that he had no doubt the assassin of Russia’s ambassador had belonged to the outlawed Turkish organization of Mr. Erdogan’s rival, Fethullah Gulen. The president’s assertion, 48 hours after the ambassador was gunned down by an off-duty police officer at an Ankara art gallery, essentially doubled […]
John Kerry Denies U.S. Linked to Killing of Russian Ambassador to Turkey
American officials are pushing back against suggestions the U.S. is connected to a political movement the Turkish president blames for the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday claimed loyalists of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who lives in Pennsylvania, are responsible for Monday’s slaying of Ambassador Andrey Karlov at […]
Israel has returned to Turkey in all its glory, says new envoy
The muezzin’s call echoes across Ankara. Five days a week, “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) calls emerge through the loudspeakers in the Turkish capital’s mosques. They are well heard in the Israeli Embassy and in the new ambassador’s home as well. For the Muslim country’s 80 million residents, it’s an inseparable part of life and […]
Russia, Turkey and an Assassination
For the moment, the most important thing to say about Monday’s dramatic assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey by a lone gunman is that it has not ruptured relations between the two countries. It might have, given past tensions and Turkey’s dismay at Vladimir Putin’s role in the devastating civil war in Syria. Fortunately, the […]