This week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered two passionate speeches, strongly criticizing the Israeli government. This is not his first critique of Israel since the recent outbreak of the Israel-Palestine crisis, which began on October 7.

In this current crisis, Turkey has pursued a diplomatic approach aimed at de-escalation, facilitating humanitarian aid access for Palestinian civilians. Nevertheless, the mounting tension, especially if Israel were to launch a ground operation in Gaza, could once again imperil the ongoing normalization efforts between the two countries.

The typical pattern for the Turkish government, whenever there is a high-profile terrorist attack on its soil, is as follows: issuing a firm condemnation of terrorism, conducting numerous arrests of individuals allegedly linked to the organization blamed for the attack, and launching airstrikes against facilities of terrorist organizations in Syria or Iraq.

Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 has mostly received a welcoming reaction in Turkey. While President Erdogan has called on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to exercise restraint, other Turkish political leaders have mostly supported the Palestinians. They deliberately avoided criticizing Hamas militants for violence against Israeli civilians.

Azerbaycan’ın Dağlık Karabağ’daki son askeri operasyonu sonrasında bölgedeki Ermeniler neredeyse kayıtsız şartsız denebilecek şekilde teslim olmuştu. 28 Eylül günü açıklama yapan Dağlık Karabağ’ın Başkanı Samvel Şahramanyan da 1 Ocak 2024 itibariyle bölge yönetiminin tamamen feshedileceğini açıkladı. Azerbaycan’ın Karabağ’ı devralmasından önce Ermeniler kitlesel olarak bölgeyi terk ediyor.

I am writing this article because reading "The Lonely Century" made me better understand the persecution that I and millions of others have been suffering in Turkey after the failed, or as many argue, staged or controlled, 15 July coup attempt in 2016.

In the past year, through our various publications, analyses and podcasts, instituDE has strived to shed light on Turkey; its domestic politics, economy, foreign policy and human rights situation. We have worked to provide valuable information and comments on Turkey for the foreign observers as well as the Turkish public. We put effort into raising awareness on the human rights violations and authoritarian practices in Turkey.