In what may be one of its most critical annual reports on Turkey to date, the EU warns the candidate country to beware of democratic backsliding, citing its worrying track record with regard to rule of law and rights and freedoms. It also highlights heated foreign policy disagreements.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is the big winner of the country’s 2021 federal elections. Many in Turkey and in Germany’s Turkish diaspora are pinning their hopes on Olaf Scholz, the SPD’s candidate for chancellor.
Relations between Turkey and the West have been eroded by years of crises, and Turkish President Erdogan’s recent attempts at rapprochement have their limits. Still, while Turkey may be drifting further away from the US, European-Turkish relations have remained remarkably resilient.
Erdogan posits that only by admitting Turkey can the EU save itself from uncertainty. But by focusing only on what power the EU might gain by doing so, he fails to recognize the multidimensional nature of the EU’s ontological identity and Turkey’s own shortcomings.
The much-anticipated meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to address even the most pressing issues. For all we know, which isn’t a lot, the leaders will enter into more substantive discussions later. But on what? They didn’t even announce what was spoken about.
Despite his announcements to the contrary, Erdogan knows perfectly well that US-Turkey relations cannot be started anew during his tenure. Therefore, the Turkish president’s goal for this meeting will be to push the breaks on the US’s torment of Ankara.
The identity of the Turkish state has been transformed under the rule of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the central role that religion has come to play in its foreign policy is best exemplified in its relations with the Balkans.
The secular identity, not subscribing to exclusionary secularism but a much more sensitive approach to religious claims, would be more inclusive and pluralist.
The MHP is not necessarily pulling the AKP towards any particular policy position. The AKP would have taken all these steps in Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean even if the MHP weren’t in the picture.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been giving expensive gifts to Balkan leaders only to see them betray him when it comes to issues of great significance for Turkish foreign policy