Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

My colleague Adam Garrie has spoken of the subdued tone of the joint press conference held during the summit meeting between US President Trump and Turkish President Erdogan.

US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have held a joint press conference which can only be described as cold and overly scripted.
In the awkward exchange Donald Trump spoke of Turkey’s role on America’s side in the Korean War and subsequent Cold War.
Trump then pledged to support Turkey against terrorist groups such as ISIS as well as the Kurdish PKK.
Erdogan spoke for a lengthier period than Donald Trump. He reiterated his stance against the PKK as well as the Kurdish YPG militias currently fighting in Syria.

Donald Trump’s emotional shortcomings and lack of knowledge about the world have forced nations to adopt new strategies for maneuvering around the increasingly erratic U.S. superpower, writes Michael Brenner. By Michael Brenner The Trump presidency presents a unique challenge to…Read more →

In the aftermath of the Astana Memorandum and its subsequent implementation, Turkey finds itself in a precarious position. This awkward position is entirely of Turkey’s own making. Rather than staying fully out of the Syrian conflict, let alone choosing one side and sticking to it, Turkey has managed to be on several sides simultaneously.
–Militarily, Turkey is fighting the Syrian government using both its own troops and its terrorist proxy FSA
–Militarily, Turkey is also fighting the Kurds who in turn are fighting jihadists, including the Turkish backed FSA

Several Turkish courts have rejected Wikipedia’s attempts to get the online encyclopedic back on the web in Turkey. Turkey has used a special emergency order to block all-language versions of Wikipedia. The site has been inaccessible in Turkey since the 29th of April.
READ MORE: Wikipedia Shut Down in Turkey 
 

Publication of the Memorandum setting up the ‘de-escalation areas’ signed by the representatives of Russia, Turkey and Iran at the Astana conference, together with certain comments about them by representatives of the Russian and Syrian governments, have clarified their intended purpose.

The joint Russian-Iranian-Turkish delegation at the Astana Peace Talks agreed to form four ‘safe zones’ also known as de-escalation zones in Syria in order to help stabilise the fragile Russian authored Syrian ceasefire agreement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rounded off three days of non-stop diplomacy with a telephone conversation with US President Trump and a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan.  This came directly after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  Putin obviously discussed the Syrian conflict with all three.  Moreover it is known that over the course of the same discussions Putin mooted with all three of them – but especially with Trump and Erdogan – a new Russian proposal for something the Russians are calling ‘de-escalation zones’.

Ilnur Cevik, the chief adviser to Turkish President Erdogan has made a sensational claim during an interview on the Turkish radio station CRI-FM.
Due to recent Turkish attacks on Kurdish led SDF fighters in Syria, America which is a strong ally of the Kurds, has positioned US forces in Syria between Kurdish and Turkish forces to act as a buffer zone between the two opposing parties.

Turkish President Erdogan has held a joint press conference with President Putin in Sochi where the often difficult but important relations between the two countries was minimised in a generally positive meeting.
Putin restricted his opening remarks to generally non-confrontational matters including trade and tourism.