Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared today that renewed Turkish-Iranian ties will “become the backbone of regional stability” in the Middle East. “In my point of view, when Turkey and Iran join hands, this will not only benefit both countries, but also become the backbone of regional stability,” Davutoğlu said, pointing to...

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Turkey is looking to finalize its purchase of Chinese anti-missile systems within a matter of months, according to statements made Thursday by the head of Ankara’s under secretariat for defense industries: “The immediate goal for us is in about six months to come to a reasonable level in our contract negotiations and...

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Analysts are focusing on deepening concerns that Turkey may be moving away from the West and pivoting both toward geopolitical rivals such as China and regional antagonists such as Iran. Newsweek describes Ankara’s moves as a shift toward an Islamist model: But recent dramatic shifts in policy may also be part of...

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The recent revelation that Turkey’s intelligence chief Hakan Fidan burned ten Iranians working with Israel’s Mossad inside Iran had quickly generated predictions that Western intelligence agencies would begin limiting their cooperation with Ankara. The ten had been working with Jerusalem to discover details of Iran’s nuclear program – widely considered...

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The IAF had for years trained with Turkey’s air force, until Turkey cut off relations with Israel and began making concentrated efforts to prevent the Jewish state from participating in security forums and multilateral military exercises. Ankara was criticized for seeking to isolate Israel at the expense of Israeli-European interoperability,...

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Analysts had already begun worrying months ago that political authoritarianism was damaging Turkey’s already battered economy, putting the country at risk of what The Tower described in September as “a downward spiral where political authoritarianism fuels economic instability, and economic instability fuels more political protests that are put down through...

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UPDATE (7:58pm ET): The media outlet linked below is a Kuwaiti outlet citing Egyptian sources originally quoted by an Egyptian outlet, not the original Egyptian outlet itself. It also appears to be a partial reprint of a similar English-language article published in the World Tribune. Thanks to David Kenner, Foreign...

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The West amid a spike in terrorism in the West Bank that has seen five attacks leaving three Israelis killed and a young girl shot in front of her parents’ home. The upsurge is in part the result of concentrated efforts by Hamas to rebuild its West Bank terror infrastructure, a campaign reportedly...

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday lashed out against NATO in response to criticism regarding a $3.4 billion deal for Chinese missiles, the integration of which would according to Western officials functionally introduce a “virus” into NATO’s command and control infrastructure. The deal would see Turkey purchase missile...

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Turkish media outlets are reporting that Washington canceled the delivery of 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Turkey after Ankara deliberately burned 10 Iranian spies operating inside Iran on behalf of the Israeli Mossad. The Predators are important for Turkey to maintain its fight against terrorism. In previous years the US press...

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