Erdogan has been systematically jailing his enemies, especially those secularists who have remained loyal to the ideals of Ataturk. It is unsurprising that this supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists would not be concerned about ISIS members finding refuge in Turkey, or using the country as a way-station between Europe and continuing campaigns […]
Turkey Drives a Hard Bargain in Libya (Part 2)
The Turkish entry into Libya’s civil war on the side of the GNA has provoked other foreign powers to either threaten to join in, or actually to do so, on the side of Haftar’s LNA. Now the Libyan side of the story can be told in more details. We know that since Turkey has escalated […]
Turkey Drives a Hard Bargain in Libya (Part 1)
Turkish President Erdogan has come to the rescue in Libya of the GNA (Government of National Accord). Just as the forces of the LNA (Libyan National Army) under General Haftar were besieging – as they had been doing for 14 months – the GNA in Tripoli, and on the point of success, the Turkish troops […]
Turkey’s Erdogan declares agreement between Egypt and Greece null and void
What authority does Turkey have to declare void an agreement to which it was not a party? None, of course. Erdogan is asserting authority as if he were the Ottoman caliph. “Erdogan: Egyptian-Greek agreement is null and void,” Libya Observer, August 8, 2020: …Erdogan stressed, in a speech on Friday, that the agreement signed by […]
Muslim prof: ‘Conversion of Hagia Sophia has handed right-wingers an excuse and impetus to demonise Islam’
Shahid A Abbasi is Emeritus Professor at Pondicherry University in India. In this article, he hits on the real why Erdogan should not have converted Hagia Sophia to a mosque. Not out of respect for the Christians of Turkey and for the country’s Christian heritage. Not to demonstrate his commitment to Kemalist secularism. Not because […]
How a Turkish Journalist Sees the Transformation of Hagia Sophia
Memri.org has published here the summary of a debate between Syrian political analyst and a Turkish journalist, on the turning of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, followed by a transcript of excerpts from their debate. Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) aired a debate about Turkey’s recent decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Syrian political analyst […]
“A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of Turkish expansionism, set in motion by Erdoğan’s Islamist government”
The Lausanne Treaty defined the borders of the secular Turkish republic. Throwing it out would herald a new Turkish expansionism. In February 2018, Erdoğan declared his desire to reconquer the lands the Ottoman caliphate once ruled: “Those who think that we have erased from our hearts the lands from which we withdrew in tears a […]
Turkey: Pro-Sharia party pushes legislation to force social media companies to hand over intelligence
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become increasingly oppressive as he continues to strive to revive the Ottoman Empire. He deems Europe to be a “sick man” and “collapsing.” Now Erdogan is now more emboldened than ever after he has seized his latest conquest: Hagia Sophia. Erdogan is now tightening his grip. His Islamist party […]
Hagia Sophia turned to mosque: majority of Greeks want EU financial sanctions against Turkey
As the U.S. Catholic bishops joined the Greek Orthodox Church in proclaiming July 24 a day of “mourning and manifest grief” over Turkey’s decision to convert the Hagia Sophia cathedral to a mosque, the majority of Greeks want action. “Greeks have expressed dissatisfaction with the international response to the Turkish regime,” and the strength of […]
Erdogan invites Pope Francis to opening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque
Will his Islamic “friends” allow him to decline? Will he even wish to decline? More comments from me on this below. “Hagia Sophia: Pope’s Interfaith Time Bomb,” by Jules Gomes, ChurchMilitant.com, July 22, 2020: ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) – Greece’s president is urging Pope Francis to condemn the Islamic takeover of Hagia Sophia a day after Turkey’s radical […]