President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a sui generis leader: on the one hand, he is recognized as a brilliant strategist; on the other, he manages to intimidate states, infuriate statesmen and stateswomen, and hence alienate himself and Turkey from numerous capitals and international organizations. His recent passionate statements, histrionically performed, are bellicose, offensive, and often …
Erdogan’s policies are effectively closing the doors to that transformation, as money and the creative classes alike are fleeing the country.
At the same time, Erdogan can no longer rely on an inflow of international money or talent as substitutes. Nobody wants to live or do business in a country where YouTube and Twitter are periodically banned.
If Erdogan gets what he wants, he might be able to retain a Putin-like grip on power and win the June elections in a landslide. If that happens, he will have also stripped Turkey of its best and brightest. Then, his country will sadly mimic Russia in more ways than one.
A German artist complained Friday after a gallery took down his depiction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a banana in his buttocks.
Thomas Baumgaertel’s provocative painting, Turkish dictator, sparked noisy complaints and protests at an art fair in Karlsruhe, 38 miles (60km) northwest of Stuttgart.
Amid the row, the fair’s organisers tweeted that it was not them, but the owner of the exhibiting galley that had “decided to take down the caricature”.
Editor’s Note: This is the second installment in “Ministry of Truth,” a special series on state-sponsored influence operations. Read the first installment here. China introduced the concepts of public opinion warfare, psychological warfare, and legal warfare when it revised the “Political Work Guidelines of the People’s Liberation Army” in 2003. Knowledge of these “Three Warfares” …
China’s ‘Three Warfares’ in Perspective – War on the Rocks Read More »
The European Union held a series of meetings between Oct. 17 and 19 designed to set the tone for a radical shift in relations, as recommended by a growing number of politicians in EU Member States as well as the EU institutions. The Commission is tasked with presenting the Council with a roadmap aiming to …
The EU and Turkey – What comes after the end of the road? – Ahval Read More »
ATHENS, GREECE — Greece is a country that is famously known for its strong tradition in the maritime sector, and for its many wealthy shipowners. Names such as Onassis and Latsis have become globally known and are synonymous with great wealth and with a playboy lifestyle of mingling with the rich and famous. Greece is …
How To Become A Greek Oligarch In Seven Easy Steps Read More »
the murky political career of Sen. Menendez and his alleged dealings, as well as his close ties with the Armenian and Greek lobbies, which allocate significant resources to their obsessive lobbying activities against Turkey, should provide an answer for those who seek to propagate that parliamentary resolutions on “Armenian genocide” in the U.S. and elsewhere are the confirmations of historical truth by impartial people for their moral and humanitarian concerns.