July 6, 2026
Starting tomorrow, Ankara will host a two-day NATO Summit. Looking broadly at Türkiye’s relations with its allies, the problems are the country’s steep democratic decline and the AKP government’s Islamist agenda, including its relations with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. Nevertheless, for the West, these are no longer an issue but a “given” that can be ignored in a strictly transactional relationship.
Continue readingJune 30, 2026
NATO’s 19th Summit was held in Istanbul, Türkiye, on June 28–29, 2004. Twenty-two years later, the 36th NATO Summit will be held on July 7–8, 2026, in Ankara. Even a brief look at the 19th Summit Communiqué and the one to be published next Wednesday will unmistakably demonstrate how much has changed since then in Europe, transatlantic relations, the Middle East, and Türkiye.
Continue readingJune 2, 2026
The Iran-US “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU) was signed last Thursday by Presidents Trump and Pezeshkian in Paris and Tehran, respectively. Thus, the 60-day negotiation period started. The preceding days saw endless speculation about its contents. US Vice President Vance said the MoU is “a very general document,” with specifics to be worked out in further negotiations. Although not disclosed, the MoU may have understandings that go beyond those 14 paragraphs.
Continue readingEurope and Russia Have to Resume Dialogue
June 15, 2026
Since the beginning of the year, there have been references to the resumption of dialogue between Europe and Russia. European Council President Costa said he believed there was “potential” for the EU to discuss the future of Europe’s security architecture with Russia. President Macron said there is a need to structure the renewal of Europe’s dialogue with Russia so it does not depend on third parties. President Putin also said Russia would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. So far, however, there are no concrete steps in that direction.
Continue readingJune 8, 2026
Today marks the 100th day of the Israeli-US war with Iran, which President Trump had said would last “four to six weeks”. Despite the ceasefire, both sides remain engaged not only in exchange of fire but also in a battle of words. Nonetheless, the Iran-US talks are continuing, and the main challenge for the US negotiators is to reach a deal that can be presented to US public opinion as a better one than President Obama’s. In other words, they are after “JCPOA plus”. The difference is that the problem is no longer just Iran’s nuclear program. Linked to that are the questions of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for the world’s oil and fertilizer trade, and the war in Lebanon.
Continue readingJune 1, 2026
The “darkest hour” captures a moment when things are at their worst. Türkiye’s 1950 general election, which brought the Democratic Party (DP) to power, was a major step toward democracy. During the twenty-seven years, a very short span of time, from the founding of the Republic to the 1950 election, Türkiye struggled to move beyond centuries of decadent Ottoman rule, realized fundamental reforms under Atatürk’s leadership, which charted a new path for our country, and successfully dealt with the challenges of the Second World War under President İnönü.
Continue readingMay 21, 2026
Beijing has become an increasingly popular destination for world leaders. Over the past ten months, 18 heads of state and government visited China. Among them were President Trump, King Felipe VI of Spain, President Halla Tómasdóttir, Prime Minister Micheál Martin, President Macron, Prime Minister Sánchez, Chancellor Merz, Prime Minister Starmer, Prime Minister Carney, and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. Trump’s visit was the first time a US President visited China in almost nine years, the last one being Trump’s visit in 2017.
Trump’s state visit was originally planned for the first week of April, but the meeting was postponed to 14-15 May due to the war in Iran. Thus, his visit was immediately followed by Putin’s visit, boosting China’s global image.
Continue readingMay 18, 2026
On April 10, 1971, the US table tennis team arrived in China. Later that year, in July 1971, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to China, paving the way for President Nixon’s visit. On February 27, 1972, the US President and his Chinese hosts agreed to the joint “Shanghai Communique,” in which both nations pledged to work toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations. As part of this effort, on May 1, 1973, the US opened a liaison office in Beijing to handle all matters in the US-China relationship “except the strictly formal diplomatic aspects of the relationship.” China created a counterpart office in Washington the same year. Finally, on January 1, 1979, the US recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China and established diplomatic relations with it.
Continue readingMay 11, 2026
In his election night victory speech on November 6, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump said, “I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” Yet, he twice joined Prime Minister Netanyahu’s war against Iran. And, in his Address to the Nation, on April 1, 2026, one month after the Israeli-US attack on Iran, he said:
“Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks. Our enemies are losing and America, as it has been for five years under my presidency, is winning, and now winning bigger than ever before.”[i]
Continue readingApril 30, 2026
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. The West condemned the invasion and began to support Ukraine. Four months later, at their summit in Madrid on June 29, NATO allies adopted the “NATO 2022 Strategic Concept.”[i]
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Diplomatic Opinion - Ali Tuygan 