The United States and one of its key allies in the Middle East, Turkey, remain at odds over an array of contentious issues. The rift between Washington and Ankara may widen during the presidency of Joe Biden, who has yet to make a much-awaited phone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he previously […]
Much to the probable detriment of Jews and Christians in Turkey, Turkish school textbooks have been increasingly influenced and shaped by political Islam during the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Islamization of the curriculum goes against the grain of Turkish secular practices brought in by the great reformer Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the first […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a major policy speech on October 1 that confirmed yet again that Turkey under his administration is pursuing a neo-Ottoman foreign policy that blends Islamic consciousness with Turkish nationalism. Harkening back to the era when the Ottoman Empire was a global hegemon and Palestine was one of its far-flung […]
Turkey’s reaction to Israel’s landmark peace treaty with the United Arab Emirates is a telling commentary on the misguided policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On August 14, a day after the historic agreement was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, Erdogan disclosed he had instructed his foreign minister to either suspend […]
Two major Middle East leaders addressed the United Nations General Assembly this week and spouted a litany of lies. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey suggested that Israel has been deliberately grabbing land from the Palestinians and likened Israel’s policy on the Gaza Strip to the Nazi mistreatment of Jews during the Holocaust. President Hassan […]
Once again, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is shooting from the hip, creating a diplomatic crisis with one of Turkey’s most important neighbors. The volatile and authoritarian Turkish president did it again this week when he denounced Israel as a “terror state,” reiterated his allegiance to the Palestinian cause and downgraded Turkey’s loveless relationship with Israel, at […]
Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan conferred at the White House on May 16 to discuss what is surely the most contentious irritant in the prickly U.S.-Turkish bilateral relationship — the arming of Syrian Kurdish rebels by the United States. Turkey, a key U.S. ally and a member of NATO that shares a volatile border […]
Israel’s important but mercurial relationship with Turkey has entered a promising era after years of mutual acrimony, yet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a harsh critic of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and a supporter of Hamas, continues to criticize Israel, sometimes quite stridently. Israel and Turkey — the only Muslim member of the NATO […]