President Trump held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday with the president of Syria, Ahmed al-Shara, a day after announcing that the United States would lift sanctions on his country — a move that would ease the economic stranglehold on a…
Tag: Recep Tayyip
Kurdish P.K.K. Says It Will End Conflict with Turkish State
A Kurdish group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades said on Monday that it would lay down its arms and end the conflict, a decision that could reverberate across neighboring countries. The announcement…
When Elected Leaders Pursue Risky Policies, What Can Stop Them?
It has been a chaotic few weeks in geopolitics. At the beginning of the month, President Trump announced tariffs that threw the global economy into turmoil. Investors panicked, stock markets plunged, and analysts predicted an imminent recession. Mr. Trump insisted…
Turkey’s Opposition Is Energized: ‘The Fire Is Already Lit’
Turkey’s largest opposition party is organizing rallies, urging boycotts of pro-government businesses and standing by its presidential candidate — even if he will have to campaign from jail. At universities, students have formed councils to direct protests and spread the…
For Some Autocrats, Even Rigged Elections Can Be Too Much of a Threat
Over the last two decades, countries like Turkey, Hungary, Venezuela and India gave the world a lesson on how democracy can erode into “competitive authoritarianism” — a system in which elections are still meaningful, but leaders manipulate the rules to…
Turkey Deports BBC Reporter Who Covered Mass Protests
The BBC said on Thursday that Turkey had deported a correspondent who was covering the antigovernment protests in the country, after he was detained and labeled “a threat to public order.” The broadcaster said in a statement that Mark Lowen,…
Protests in Turkey Over Istanbul Mayor’s Detention: What to Know About the Turmoil
Turkey has been plunged into a political crisis after the authorities arrested Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and the top rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on accusations of corruption and supporting terrorism. The biggest protests in more than…
Turkey Jails Istanbul Mayor Who Was Expected to Run for President
A Turkish court on Sunday jailed the mayor of Istanbul pending his trial on corruption charges, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency, hobbling a potential contender in Turkey’s next presidential election and the top rival of President Recep Tayyip…
In Turkey, Critics of Erdogan See Democracy Eroding After Istanbul Mayor’s Detention
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan entered this year facing a knot of political problems with little precedent in his two decades at the summit of power in Turkey. Voters were angry about persistently high inflation. His political party’s popularity had sunk.…
‘This Is Worse’: Trump’s Judicial Defiance Veers Beyond the Autocrat Playbook
President Trump’s intensifying conflict with the federal courts is unusually aggressive compared with similar disputes in other countries, according to scholars. Unlike leaders who subverted or restructured the courts, Mr. Trump is acting as if judges were already too weak…