... Islamic State in the Turkish city of Gaziantep
on August 20, 2016 and the
shelling of the border town of Karkamış
by militants, Turkey
has announced the launch of
Shield of the Euphrates
operation, the aim of which is to destroy the militants’ bases ... ... Turkey’s intervention in Syria.
The Turkish offensive was made possible by the fact that the country patched things up with Russia and carried out mass culls of the armed forces against the backdrop of the military successes of the Kurdish troops.
...
... under previous minister Davutoglu there was a reinvented honey moon between Turkey and EU regarding migrant readmission and visa free deals. However, this policy did not produce desired results either. Under such conditions and after 7 months of crisis, Turkey and Russia have finally started rapprochement with Erdogan’s apology stemming from objective geopolitical necessities.
REUTERS/Alexander Nemenov
Viktor Katona:
The Birth of the “Caspian Three”?
Syria is a top priority for Turkey, just as Ukraine is of central interest to Russia.
The ...
... governments balk at attempts to coordinate regional refugee and economic policies. In France, a rising far-right party funded by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government may possibly come to control France in the coming years. Poland seems to be ... ... Israeli-Palestinian conflict stifles Israel’s left and drives its people further to the right. The assault on democratic norms in Turkey by its government is far worse. Still worse in that region, the Arab Spring has, in general, become a massive tragedy.
...
In the wake of Turkey’s downing of a Russian military jet that violated its airspace and Russia’s resulting casualties, tensions are certainly on the rise. Despite the fact that these tensions should not be overblown, important questions about Putin’s aims need to be addressed....
... in shaping the current nature of bilateral relations, it seems that “continuity” will be the main theme of the upcoming period when it comes to the Ankara-Moscow line. It was only in the 2000s that the zero-sum mentality which determined Turkey-Russia relations for decades finally made an about-turn. Thanks to Erdogan’s government and Putin’s administration, both sides set out to redefine the nature of bilateral relations. Booming energy trade and increasing economic relations have also helped to shine the spot light on the gains of cooperation,...
