THIS WEEK:
FOREIGN POLICY
- Turkey welcomes nuke deal, repeats its readiness to endorse it
- Turkey, its allies struggling, tempers ambitions to lead region
- Turkey and US almost in consensus on Syria and Iraq, Arınç says after meeting with Biden
- Islamists take root on Turkey-Syria border as battle blurs lines
DOMESTIC POLITICS
- Turkey’s draft constitution appears dead
Economy/Energy
- Turkey, Iraqi Kurds make progress on oil deal
- Turkey’s Central Bank dips deeper into tool kit
Foreign Policy
Turkey welcomes nuke deal, repeats its readiness to endorse it
Turkey has welcomed the deal reached between P5+1 countries and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program and reiterated its endorsement of the process, recalling its earlier efforts for a diplomatic solution to the question.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 24 November 2013, Turkey welcomes nuke deal, repeats its readiness to endorse it
Turkey, its allies struggling, tempers ambitions to lead region
Turkey is rethinking its effort to reshape the region, and is instead reaching out to the Middle East’s two Shiite Muslim powers, Iraq and Iran.
The idealism of leading a new Sunni alliance has given way to a more pragmatic approach centered on securing access to oil and gas for its economy, improving conditions for Turkish businesses and finding a way out of the intractable conflict in Syria. Many analysts describe the shift as a return to the mantra of “zero problems” with neighbors, a slogan that had previously guided Turkey’s foreign policy under the governing party.
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New York Times, 21 November 2013, Turkey, its allies struggling, tempers ambitions to lead region
Turkey and US almost in consensus on Syria and Iraq, Arınç says after meeting with Biden
Ankara and Washington are in agreement regarding Syria and Iraq, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has said following a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the White House on Nov. 22.
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Hurriyet Daily News, 23 November 2013, Turkey and US almost in consensus on Syria and Iraq, Arınç says after meeting with Biden
Islamists take root on Turkey-Syria border as battle blurs lines
The Syrian rebel groups that Turkey has allowed to proliferate near its border include many who say they have no problem fighting alongside al-Qaeda against Bashar al-Assad.
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Bloomberg, 24 November 2013, Islamists take root on Turkey-Syria border as battle blurs lines
Domestic Politics
Turkey’s draft constitution appears dead
After more than two years of intense work, Turkey’s hopes for a civilian constitution have been declared dead, ready to be buried.
The announcement, coming from various parts of the so-called Conciliation Commission, brings new doubts to the fore about the future of the country’s dragging, slow-motion democratization process, for it raises new questions on whether or not there are any options left for a badly needed social contract.
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Al-Monitor, 20 November 2013, Turkey’s draft constitution appears dead
Economy/Energy
Turkey, Iraqi Kurds make progress on oil deal
Turkey and the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq are quickly forging ahead with a series of deals that would let the semiautonomous region start piping oil to world markets as soon as early next year. But the central government in Baghdad remains a major obstacle.
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Wall Street Journal, 21 November 2013, Turkey, Iraqi Kurds make progress on oil deal
Turkey’s Central Bank dips deeper into tool kit
Turkey’s central bank is doing everything short of raising interest rates to keep a lid on rising inflation, and for the first time in many months it might just be hawkish enough to support the lira.
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Wall Street Journal, 19 November 2013, Turkey’s Central Bank dips deeper into tool kit
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