Erdogan’s rivalry with Israel has a new front: Africa
The answer becomes clearer once the South African relationship is placed inside Turkey’s broader African buildup, which has been running for two decades and has little to do with Israel at all.
Ankara
US Treasury sanctions Turkish Hamas financiers as Erdogan presses for F-35s
On July 23, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a Turkey-based Hamas money exchange alongside a senior Muslim Brotherhood official. Treasury said...
Op-eds
Turkey’s Cautious Bid for Regional Power
The difference in how Turkey treats Greece and Israel illustrates its diplomatic and military strategy.
Op-eds
China Is Helping Erdogan Build a Surveillance State
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no stranger to the machinery of repression. He has throttled internet providers, monitored political opponents, and folded once-independent media into a loyalist...
Op-eds
Ankara’s Charm Offensive Should Not Buy Back the F-35
The choreography in Ankara last week was impressive, even by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s standards. Cannons fired, mounted honor guards paraded, and jets flew overhead trailing red, white, and blue smoke...
Op-eds
The Illusion of Representation in Syria’s New Parliament
Outside Syria’s parliament building in Damascus, lawmakers filed past the stone façade for the chamber’s first session since Bashar al-Assad’s fall. Inside, the freshly minted lawmakers stood to...
Op-eds
Lebanon Seeks Turkey’s Help To Avoid Acting Against Hezbollah
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted a strong interest in his neighbors’ affairs last month, declaring that, “Turkey’s security does not begin in Hatay [in southern Turkey], but rather...
Policy Briefs
Syria opens new parliament, hosts Turkish Navy
Syria convened its new parliament on July 12, the first to meet since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in December 2024. The new parliament, called the People’s Assembly, met after Syrian...
Op-eds
Europe is stepping up to fortify NATO 3.0 — and we must do the same
The consequences of the NATO summit that concluded Wednesday in Ankara will be determined primarily by two questions: Will Europeans step up to honor their defense-spending commitments and carry more of...
Op-eds
Selling the S-400 to Qatar or the UAE Solves Turkey’s Problem, Not Washington’s
Turkey’s decade-long standoff with Washington over the S-400 may finally be nearing an inflection point, though not in the tidy way Ankara once imagined, and not without a fresh dose of frustration...
Insights
Turkey’s Cooperation with Russia and China Is a Major Reason It Shouldn’t Receive the F-35 Jet
President Trump departed the NATO Summit in Ankara without announcing Turkey’s reinstatement in the F-35 program, a major disappointment to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This omission...
Op-eds
US moves to rescind Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism
US President Donald Trump “informed Congress of his administration’s intent to rescind Syria’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST),” the US State Department announced on...
Op-eds
Ahead of NATO Summit, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Calls Israel an ‘Unbearable Burden’
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan declared on July 3 that Israel has become a “burden that humanity can no longer bear” and called for international sanctions against the Jewish state. Israeli Foreign...
Policy Briefs
Don’t Launder Erdogan’s Record at the NATO Summit
The NATO summit convening in Ankara next week will offer Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan an opportunity to present himself as a vital ally: one with a military capable of blunting Russian aggression,...
Insights
7 Fault Lines NATO Must Address in Ankara
As NATO leaders gather on July 7 to 8 in Ankara, the summit’s true test lies in unresolved faultlines over U.S. force posture cuts in Europe, host nation Turkey’s disruptive role within the alliance,...
Insights
Doling out tough love to European countries should top Trump’s NATO summit agenda
This week’s NATO summit in Ankara arrives at a fraught moment: Even as America and its allies face growing threats from authoritarian powers, differences over Ukraine, Iran, Greenland and US military...
Op-eds
Don’t Decimate U.S. Military Posture in Europe
As NATO leaders gather in Ankara next week, there is much to celebrate. Ukraine is gaining the upper hand on the battlefield against Russia. European defense spending is way up. Many European...
Op-eds
Why NATO Should Pivot Toward Economic Security
In the coming decades, military burden-sharing won’t be enough to ensure Transatlantic security.