MUST-READS

• Turkey is the headache NATO needs

  Turkey, they note, brings the second-largest NATO army to the table. It actively contributes to alliance missions and operations — not a sure thing for all members. And critically, it sits on prime geopolitical real estate between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, controlling who passes through. Turkey’s Russian links could even make it a useful interlocutor in potential peace talks with Ukraine. “Türkiye is an important NATO ally — and for many reasons,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told POLITICO in an interview, ticking through a laundry list: geographic location, fighting the Islamic State, supporting Ukraine, keeping the world’s grain flowing.

• Opinion: Erdoğan’s authoritarian bargain collapses in Turkey

  Turkey’s presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14 will pose a key question of our time: is it possible to slow authoritarian backsliding and renew democratic progress? At a time of autocratic surge, it has become fashionable to make bleak predictions about the fate of liberal democracies. Less scrutinised is the future of autocracies. Will countries such as Turkey that descended into one-man rule remain autocratic? Is it possible to depose entrenched strongmen like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan through elections? Turkey’s opposition parties have never been more optimistic about that prospect, and for good reason. Just like democracies, autocracies die in poverty. Strongmen mobilise popular support behind their autocratic agendas but they must deliver economic growth. Erdoğan came to power in 2003 after the worst economic crisis in three decades. He took the reins of power in the name of the forgotten people, pledging prosperity. He followed through on that promise in his first decade in charge thanks to an economic rebound and a pro-western foreign policy.

• Turkey Earthquake: Erdogan pledges to build 300,000 homes within a year in Elazig

  Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has pledged to rebuild the country’s southern region that was struck by powerful earthquakes on 6 February 2023, claiming the lives of more than 50,000 people. “Our aim is to restore our cities in the earthquake zone by handing over 319,000 residences and village houses to owners within a year,” Erdogan said at a ground-breaking ceremony in quake-hit Elazig province.

• Turkey is the headache NATO needs

  Turkey may have finally let Finland into NATO, but it’s not budging — yet — on Sweden. And NATO just has to live with that. The unyielding blockade is the latest in a string of Turkish actions that have left the military alliance’s allies grumbling and eye rolling. In 2017, Turkey controversially decided to buy a Russian missile system. It has repeatedly attacked the very same Kurdish militia the U.S. had supported in Syria. And to this day, Turkey’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, still chats regularly with Vladimir Putin.

• Turkey approves Finland’s NATO application, clearing the last hurdle. Sweden is still waiting.

  Turkey has finally approved Finland’s application to join NATO, putting an end to months of delays while also continuing to block Sweden from joining the military alliance. The Turkish Parliament voted unanimously in favor of Finland’s membership on Thursday, clearing the last hurdle in the accession process. The vote fulfills Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “promise” to allow Finland in the defense alliance. Turkey was the last NATO member to approve Finland’s accession, although Hungary only did so on Monday.

• Turkey Epitomizes the West’s Russia Sanctions Dilemma

  But the case of Turkey is particularly confounding. Turkey is a NATO ally, has supplied Ukraine with drones that made a crucial difference early in the war and helped broker the pact with Russia that keeps Ukrainian grain flowing to the world. But it has also emerged as a key transit point for semiconductors and other potentially dual-use electrical equipment into Russia, a destination for Russian tourists and for Russian airlines flying U. S-made airplanes to transit. Turkey is also a key buyer of Russian energy—all while holding up Sweden and Finland’s accession to the military alliance.

• Deep Dive: Iraq, Turkey to boost economic ties, freeze political differences | Amwaj.media

  Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia’ Al-Sudani has paid his first official visit to Turkey since taking office last October, holding important talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Mar. 21-22 trip to Ankara saw focus on boosting economic cooperation, including a push to advance a new major transit project. But no permanent solution on issues such as transboundary waters emerged. The flows of the Euphrates and the Tigris have historically been among the most problematic contentions between the two neighbors.

• Saudi deposit lifts Turkey’s net FX reserves to $25 bln -bankers

  The Turkish central bank's net international reserves rose by $6 billion last week to $25 billion, three bankers' calculations showed on Tuesday, after a $5 billion deposit from Saudi Arabia entered its accounts. The central bank's gross reserves rose $6.5 billion to $126.5 billion in the same period, they showed.

• How Turkey may turn Iranian-Saudi normalization into win-win

  Friendship and rivalry with Iran are like two oxen yoked together, pushing each other left and right but balancing for both. If, in line with Saudi demands, Iran ends its war for influence in the region—which is not a realistic expectation—then Turkey will be one of the main beneficiaries.

• Opinion – Erdogan’s earthquake response has boosted Turkey’s opposition

  The devastating Feb. 6 earthquake that hit Turkey could have united the country. Instead, the catastrophe — which has taken the lives of at least 46,000 people inside the country — is widening the political divide between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponents. With a general election just nine weeks away, Erdogan is confronting a wave of public anger over poor governance and misguided centralization.

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