Monthly Archives: December 2015

Although there is a history of anti-British rhetoric and sentiment in Turkey lingering from the days of the Ottomans, when Britain played a destabilizing role as a wartime adversary, there has been a noticeable spike in hostility towards the UK in the last several years, mainly stemming from political Islamist elites stirring up anti-British sentiment within the civil service as well as among the general populace. Continue reading →

Lady Justice, when it comes to the prosecution of journalists in Turkey, is no longer blindfolded. Rather, her eyes are wide open in the relentless pursuit of critics and opponents to placate Islamist rulers who have seized the judiciary, suspended the rule of law and done away with due process and fair trial protections. Continue reading →

The unwarranted arrest of former legislator and well-respected businessman İlhan İşbilen on farcical charges indicates a new peak in the persecution and intimidation campaign against critics and opponents in Turkey by the Islamist ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) with lawsuits lacking any legal basis. Continue reading →

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, in power for 13 years, has been notoriously lax and often late when it comes to implementing stringent rules controlling money in order to ensure better transparency in financial movements, halt tax evasion, prevent illicit funding and disrupt money laundering activities. Continue reading →

The barrage of expansionist rhetoric, with implied territorial claims in Syria and Iraq, among pro-government analysts who were apparently provided with inside scoop by senior Turkish officials, echoes a dangerous venture in the orientation of Turkish foreign policy, one that may very well boomerang on Turkey. Continue reading →

The much-anticipated political reforms in Turkey as part of recently rejuvenated talks with the European Union in the post-election period that followed a serious backslide on rights and freedoms will be rendered irrelevant and meaningless as long as the current Islamist rulers maintain the nomenklatura system that is based on the ideology of the personality cult of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Continue reading →

Turkey’s foreign policy failures while responding external challenges in recent years have been attributed in great deal to the breakdown of the standard operating procedures in the decision-making process in the formulation of policy in a given issue. Continue reading →

The evil coalition formed among the corrupt political Islamist rulers and their xenophobic neo-nationalist partners has set its sights on rooting out the culture of individual philanthropic behavior in order to thwart the development of a more robust, vibrant and independent civil society in Turkey. Continue reading →