Tag Archives: Turkey-EU

Days of Gloom in Türkiye

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Ali Tuygan

May 12, 2025 The world is going through a period of conflict and uncertainty. Where does Türkiye stand? What is Ankara’s relationship with its allies, traditional partners, regional countries, and neighbors?

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A Brief Overview of Türkiye’s Foreign Relations

Posted on September 19, 2022 by Ali Tuygan

September 19, 2022 The Middle East: In December 2009, the communique issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to a “strategic partnership”, at the time a fashionable label for Türkiye’s relationships … Continue reading →

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Turkey at a Dead End

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Ali Tuygan

October 26, 2021 On October 19, the European Commission published its “Turkey 2021 Report”. For a first impression I took look at the “Key findings of the 2021 Report on Turkey”. The word used to characterize our democracy, civil society … Continue reading →

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Sleepwalking Towards a Change of Axis

Posted on February 10, 2021 by Ali Tuygan

February 10, 2021 In December 2009, the communique[i] issued at the end of the Damascus meeting of the “Turkish-Syrian High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council” referred to a “strategic partnership”, at the time a fashionable label for Turkey’s close external relationships. It … Continue reading →

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The Last Exit

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Ali Tuygan

February 4, 2021 The EU summit held in Brussels on December 17, 2004 decided that accession negotiations with Turkey would start on October 3, 2005. The process was accordingly launched at the Luxembourg Intergovernmental Conference. This was two years after … Continue reading →

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Time to Get a Grip

Posted on August 20, 2018 by Ali Tuygan

August 20, 2018 When President Obama’s visited Turkey in April 2009 he underlined Turkey’s “strong, vibrant, secular democracy”. Turkish-American relations appeared to have reached their peak. As Turkey started to move away from the democratic path relations started to sour … Continue reading →

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A World in Disarray and Turkey

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Ali Tuygan

March 28, 2018 It has been two roller coaster weeks. On March 15, 2018 the US imposed new sanctions on 24 Russian entities and individuals for interfering in the 2016 election and conducting a series of damaging cyberattacks. On March … Continue reading →

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Diplomacy Is Only Part of the Solution

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Ali Tuygan

October 16, 2017 In earlier posts, I have often referred to President Obama’s visit to Turkey in early April, 2009. This is what I said: “The President arrived in Turkey after attending a G20 summit in London, a NATO summit … Continue reading →

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On Turkey and the Middle East

Posted on June 24, 2017 by Ali Tuygan

June 24, 2017 In the fall of 1966, I took a series of exams to join the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Among other things, we were asked to comment on a widely used metaphor, “Turkey is a bridge between East and … Continue reading →

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Turkey Needs a Serious Foreign Policy Review

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Ali Tuygan

May 31, 2017 Turkey’s traditional foreign policy stood on pillars. Our relations with the United States and the European Union constituted the first two. A third one was our relations with our neighbors and the region. Prominently among those was … Continue reading →

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