YPG/PYD are being used to divide Syria Once the ostensible reasons of the war that caused the death and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Syria are set aside we need to look 200 years back in order to understand what has actually happened. The main target of the “Big Game” that had…
As the diplomatic squabble between Turkey and the Netherlands continues to fester, concerns are raised about whether — and to what extent — the tensions will harm bilateral relations, particularly in economics where the two countries have robust trade and investment connections. For Turkey, the Netherlands offers a large and expanding export market. Trade between…
The troubled relations between Turkey and the European Union clearly demonstrate the futility of Brussels’ attempts to build a working model of multiculturalism in Europe. The main thing here is the objective impossibility of combining two mutually exclusive aims: getting the refugee crisis under control, including by working with Muslims, chiefly the many Turkish communities…
Turkey is reported to have stopped the issuance of licenses for the duty-free import of Russian wheat, corn, and other agricultural goods, thus introducing a 130% tariff for wheat in one of Russia’s largest export markets. Experts say Russia’s ban on Turkish tomatoes, and clumsy diplomacy on Ankara’s part, may be the culprits for the…
Not long ago, a democratizing Turkey, with the second-largest army in NATO, appeared on track to join the European Union. That’s not likely now, or perhaps ever. Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Angela Merkel’s Germany to Hitler’s, said the Netherlands was full of “Nazi remnants” and “fascists,” and suggested the Dutch ambassador go…
The extraordinary war of words erupting between Turkey and the European Union is pushing already strained relations to breaking point. Ankara has banned all Dutch diplomats from its territory after the Netherlands banished Turkish ministers from holding political rallies, while deploying heavy-handed policing to break up the rallies. Now with the rest of the EU expressing solidarity…
