Tag Archives: Tayyip Erdogan

The New York Times reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey stepped back on Monday from a threat to expel 10 Western ambassadors, averting a diplomatic storm that analysts and diplomats were warning would bring economic disaster upon Turkey and a lasting rupture in the NATO alliance. In what seemed to be a calculated move, the 10 embassies involved issued …

Euronews reports: A Turkish law banning insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court said the law against attacks on the “image” of the head of state was “not in keeping with the spirit of the European Convention”. The ruling followed a case against a young Turkish man who …

The Hill reports: Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Saturday that he had called on his foreign minister to banish 10 ambassadors from Western countries, including the United States, after they called for the “urgent release” of a Turkish philanthropist. “I gave the necessary order to our foreign minister and said what must be done: These 10 ambassadors must be …

Law & Crime reports: The Turkish government is not immune from a lawsuit brought by protesters suing strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s security detail for allegedly assaulting them on the streets of Washington, a federal appeals court has ruled. Issued on Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit’s ruling reanimates one of the most highly publicized scandals in U.S.-Turkish relations during the Donald Trump …

Axios reports: In a new clip from an interview with Bob Woodward, President Trump said that his relationships with world leaders are better “the tougher and meaner they are,” naming Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an example. Trump has often faced criticism for his warm relations and praise for authoritarian leaders like Erdoğan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi …

Via press release from the State Department: The United States strongly objects to Turkish President Erdogan hosting two Hamas leaders in Istanbul on August 22. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S and EU and both officials hosted by President Erdogan are Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The U.S. Rewards for Justice Program is seeking information about one …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump ignited a tempest online for clarifying that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been “very good” to him, while talking to a Christian pastor who had been imprisoned by Erdogan, during the first night of the Republican National Convention. That Trump would take time out of a hostage’s story to actually praise the man who …

NBC News reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threw his weight behind Turkey’s top Muslim cleric, who caused a storm by claiming homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay.” In his first sermon during the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, Ali Erbas also maintained that hundreds of thousands of people every year are exposed to HIV …

The New York Times reports: Expanding his footprint in a volatile region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey received overwhelming approval from Parliament on Thursday for a new military intervention abroad, this time to dispatch troops to Libya. Coming just months after mounting a third military incursion into Syria, the Libya gambit is the latest example of Turkey’s growing self-confidence …

The Associated Press reports: A Turkish court on Friday convicted six journalists and one other employee of an independent newspaper of aiding the network of a U.S.-based cleric who is accused of masterminding the failed coup in 2016, the state-run news agency reported. The seven were accused of supporting the coup through their work for the newspaper Sozcu, which has …

France 24 reports: President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday it does not consider the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 to be genocide, seeking to placate Turkey which was angered that the US Congress recognized it as such. “The position of the administration has not changed” after the votes by Congress, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a terse …

The Independent reports: Turkey will block NATO’s plan for the defence of Baltic countries unless the alliance recognises a Kurdish group as “terrorists”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned. A NATO meeting on Tuesday, marking the alliance’s 70th anniversary, was set to be a tense affair with Turkey at odds with other members over its purchase of Russian missiles and …

Axios reports: An Oval Office meeting yesterday with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a dark turn when Erdoğan pulled out his iPad and made the group watch a propaganda video that depicted Kurds as terrorists, according to three sources familiar with the meeting. Why it matters: The meeting hosted by President Trump included five Republican U.S. senators who’ve been …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Mitt Romney delivered perhaps the most thorough Republican rebuke of President Trump’s Syria withdrawal Thursday, calling Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds there “a bloodstain on the annals of American history.” But while that line will get a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He also floated a theory about …

The New Yorker reports: After President Trump gave Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the green light to invade northern Syria last weekend, thus unleashing chaos in the region, Trump wrote him a very strange letter, obtained by Fox Business’s Trish Regan. The message’s theme – that Erdogan should show military restraint – was straightforward, but the prose style and phrasing, …

Axios reports: Senators Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) have publicly suggested that President Trump revoke his invitation to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next month after Turkey’s offensive into Syria. The big picture: Domestic pressure is mounting against Trump following his decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, which gave Erdogan space to invade …

The Washington Post reports: Rudolph W. Giuliani privately urged President Trump in 2017 to extradite a Turkish cleric living in exile in the United States, a top priority of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to multiple former administration officials familiar with the discussions. Giuliani, a Trump ally who later became the president’s personal attorney, repeatedly argued to Trump that …

NBC News reports: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will refuse to meet with Vice President Mike Pence, who is due to travel to Turkey to argue for a ceasefire in the ongoing Syria conflict. “I’m not going to talk to them. They will be talking to their counterparts. When Trump comes here, I’ll be talking,” he said …

Reuters reports: The president of Turkey has threatened to “open the doors” and send three million refugees to Europe if the European Union condemns his invasion of Syria as an occupation. The military operation has been condemned by governments around the world. Responding to the condemnation from Europe on Thursday, Erdogan said in a speech: “We will open the gates …

The Middle East Eye reports: When Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended his call with Donald Trump on Sunday, there was a sense of frustration in the Turkish capital and a feeling that Ankara’s concerns had not been properly considered. Just hours later those sentiments were reversed, as the White House released an explosive readout declaring its support for a Turkish assault …