Nowadays, Turkish citizens loudly complain about the EU refusing their Schengen visa applications. Social media is replete with posts on their own experience of how EU consulates in Turkey rejected their applications. Several media outlets are increasingly covering the issue, sharing the stories of Turkish citizens who missed a job opportunity, a festival, or a summer vacation.

The issue of Syrian refugees is one of the leading problems in Turkey, according to supporters of every major political party in the country. The Turkish government, which faces a tight election prospect within a year, has been making statements to show that they are aware of the problem and are handling the issue of refugees. To this end, the negotiations between Turkey and Syria that have been underway for quite some time have apparently reached a certain point of development.

On his way back from Russia to Turkey on August 5, Erdogan announced that Russian President Putin personally invited him to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which will be held in Uzbekistan in September. He said he was planning to attend the summit to meet the leaders. Although Erdoğan expressed on several occasions his intentions to use the SCO as an important counterbalance against the West in the past, Turkey never actually took part in any SCO meeting before.

It was a busy week in Ankara in terms of high-level diplomatic visits. President Erdoğan received Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Turkey on Wednesday. This was for the first time in years when a high-level Saudi leader paid a visit to Turkey. US Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo also arrived on Wednesday in Ankara to meet Turkish officials in order to warn them about the dire consequences of helping Russia to get around the Western sanctions. On Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, who is about to become Israel's Prime Minister in the upcoming days with the collapse of the Israeli government.

Onlarca ülkede İsrail diplomatik misyonu bulunmasına ve İsraillilerin turist olarak dünyanın birçok ülkesine gidiyor olmasına rağmen, İran’ın bu suikastlere misilleme yapmak için Türkiye’yi tercih etmesinin çeşitli nedenleri bulunuyor.

The military operations carried out by the Turkish armed forces in Syria and Iraq play an important role in securing not only the country’s borders but also shaping Turkey’s domestic politics. On the one hand, Turkish generals want to extend the buffer zone between Turkey and YPG, an entity with a close relationship with the PKK, whenever an opportunity arises.

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.