This week:
Foreign Policy
- EP slams Turkey over rights, graft probe in report
- MEPs request EU election observers to Turkey
- Turkey refuses to recognize ‘unacceptable’ Crimea referendum
Domestic Politics
- Brookings Institution releases report “Turkey Goes to the Ballot Box: 2014 Municipal Elections and Beyond”
- Bipartisan Policy Center release report “Turkey’s Local Elections: Actors, Factors, and Implications”
- Across Turkey, New Unrest as Teenage Boy Is Buried
- Turkish Leader Deplores Unrest, Calling Demonstrators ‘Fakers’
- Collapse of coup trial unnerves Turks as Erdogan switches tack
Economy & Energy
- Fragility and Turkey
- Electricity consumption in Turkey soars 78 pct over decade
Foreign Policy
EP slams Turkey over rights, graft probe in report
The European Parliament (EP) approved on Wednesday a report criticizing Turkey for setbacks in freedom of speech, separation of powers and the rule of law as well as the government’s response to a massive corruption investigation implicating Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and members of his inner circle.
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Today’s Zaman, 12 March 2014, EP slams Turkey over rights, graft probe in report
MEPs request EU election observers to Turkey
18 members of the European Parliament, led by liberal Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake, have sent a letter to EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle to request them set up an EU election observation mission for the monitoring of municipal elections in Turkey, scheduled for March 30.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 15 March 2014, MEPs request EU election observers to Turkey
Turkey refuses to recognize ‘unacceptable’ Crimea referendum
Turkey said on Monday that it does not recognize the result of the referendum in Crimea in which voters chose to join Russia, amid fears for the future of Turkish-speaking Tatars in the region.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 17 March 2014, Turkey refuses to recognize ‘unacceptable’ Crimea referendum
Domestic Politics
Brookings Institution releases report “Turkey Goes to the Ballot Box: 2014 Municipal Elections and Beyond”
With municipal elections taking place on March 30, Turkey is entering into an eight-month long election cycle at a time when the country is undergoing considerable domestic turmoil, writes Ali Çarkoğlu of the Brookings Institution.
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Brookings Institution, 13 March 2014, Turkey Goes to the Ballot Box: 2014 Municipal Elections and Beyond
Bipartisan Policy Center release report “Turkey’s Local Elections: Actors, Factors, and Implications”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is becoming a liability to his supporters at home, and the US-Turkish alliance faces the risk of being completely eroded as Turkey grows more authoritarian and Islamist under Erdoğan, a US bipartisan think tank has concluded in a report.
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Bipartisan Policy Center, 14 March 2014, Turkey’s Local Elections: Actors, Factors, and Implications
Across Turkey, New Unrest as Teenage Boy Is Buried
An enormous outpouring of grief and antigovernment rage during the funeral procession for a teenage boy felled by a police tear-gas canister turned into another mass confrontation with the Turkish authorities on Wednesday as mourners clashed with antiriot squads in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. At least one person was killed.
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New York Times, 13 March 2014, Across Turkey, New Unrest as Teenage Boy Is Buried
Turkish Leader Deplores Unrest, Calling Demonstrators ‘Fakers’
Breaking his silence, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday condemned as “fakers” protesters who have been demonstrating across Turkey since Tuesday night, when a 15-year-old boy who had become a symbol of civilian resistance died after months in a coma.
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New York Times, 13 March 2014, Turkish Leader Deplores Unrest, Calling Demonstrators ‘Fakers’
Collapse of coup trial unnerves Turks as Erdogan switches tack
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan welcomed the jailing of army officers, academics and journalists on coup plot charges last year as a key moment in his drive to tame Turkey’s army. Now as the case unravels, his camp suggests some should never have been put behind bars.
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Reuters, 12 March 2014, Collapse of coup trial unnerves Turks as Erdogan switches tack
Economy & Energy
Fragility and Turkey
As the Fed prepares to meet for the first time under new chair Janet Yellen, how will emerging economies fare? Developing countries such as Turkey have held emergency meetings and raised key interest rates to retain and attract money as the US central bank continues to cut back its cash injections.
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BBC, 17 March 2014, Fragility and Turkey
Electricity consumption in Turkey soars 78 pct over decade
Turkey has seen its electricity consumption rise by 78 percent over the past 10 years, recently announced data has shown, confirming the country’s desperate search for new energy sources is paramount to reduce its staggering energy bill.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 17 March 2014,