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Turkey’s President Erdogan recently secured his reelection, but he now has to find a way to avoid what appears to be an imminent financial crisis. Erdogan’s unorthodox economic policies and his recent effort to juice up the economy ahead of the May elections have effectively pushed Turkey’s finances to a breaking point, and the country is on the edge of running out of usable foreign exchange...

11 λεπτά

Based on the results from the May election, New Democracy is once again set to win a comfortable majority later this month - something the latest polls confirm as well. As we approach the June 25th elections, the questions then are whether this will be enough for New Democracy to form a single-party government, and what the opposition will look like as PASOK and SYRIZA battle for dominance of...

12 λεπτά

After years of bickering and gridlock, EU countries have finally agreed on a major migration deal that could overhaul the EU’s asylum system. Migration has been one of the bloc’s longest-running political issues, and some have described the breakthrough this week in Brussels as “historic”. The EU will now try to finalize the whole package ahead of the European elections next June. Efi...

11 λεπτά

With Turkey’s President Erdogan securing reelection, and Greece’s Mitsotakis on the path toward a win this month that will secure his party a majority, there seems to be an effort afoot to bring both leaders to the negotiating table. Constanitnos Filis, the Director of the Institute of Global Affairs and an Associate Professor at the American College of Greece, joins Thanos Davelis to look at...

10 λεπτά

Turkey’s economy is at the top of the agenda as recently re-elected President Erdogan announced his new cabinet. This was clear from the appointment of former economic czar Mehmet Şimşek - an advocate for a return to orthodox economic policy - as Treasury and Finance minister. Despite this move, and the message of reform and normalization that Erdogan hopes to convey with this new cabinet,...

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This week the UN celebrated World Environment Day, placing an emphasis on plastic pollution in the world’s seas. This has put the focus on the Mediterranean Sea as well, one of the most impacted seas when it comes to plastic pollution. As the UN looks to convene a global treaty conference to cut plastic pollution and recycle, a group of Greek fishermen have found an innovative way to remove and...

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Now that President Erdogan has secured reelection, the Biden administration is stepping up its efforts to pressure the Turkish President to lift his veto over Sweden’s accession to NATO. While Secretary of State Antony Blinken has publicly denied any link between Sweden’s NATO accession and the delivery of F-16s, President Biden has suggested a quid pro quo. Expert Michael Rubin, a Senior...

10 λεπτά

Cyprus is making a new push to cement energy ties with Israel, and there have been recent reports about a pipeline that would link Israel with Cyprus where gas will be liquefied and exported abroad to Europe. The idea comes as Eastern Mediterranean gas has seen renewed interest with Europe looking to wean itself off Russian energy. Both Israel and Egypt have emerged as net energy exporters, and...

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There are some who hope that with the election behind him, Erdogan will change, leaving the door open for a reset in relations with the West and the US. This is nonsense, as Endy Zemenides, HALC’s Executive Director, argues in Kathimerini, warning that Erdogan will only change if he is forced to. Endy Zemenides joins Thanos Davelis to discuss why if there is to be an opportunity for a reset in...

16 λεπτά

Efforts to defuse a crisis in Kosovo intensified on Wednesday as ethnic Serbs continued their protests over the installation of ethnic Albanian mayors in a northern town where recent clashes with NATO-led peacekeepers sparked fears of renewed conflict. This unrest has caught the attention of the international community, with the US and the EU both criticizing Pristina for destabilizing the...

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Erdogan officially won re-election this past Sunday, defeating his opponent Kemal Kilicdaroglu by four percentage points in a runoff election that international observers noted was conducted on an unlevel playing field that “contributed to an unjustified advantage” for Erdogan. Expert Alan Makovsky joins Thanos Davelis to explore what we should now expect from a newly emboldened Erdogan on both...

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Rep. McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Politico this week that he is generally open to selling F-16s to Turkey, even if President Erdogan is reelected on Sunday. Rep. McCaul is one of four Congressional leaders who must all green-light the $20 billion transaction for it to go through. McCaul hastened to add that all four of the lawmakers currently agree on...

10 λεπτά

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ landslide victory on Sunday night in Greece’s elections had many talking about a political earthquake. The markets seemed to take note as well, with Greek stocks and government bonds rallying sharply following New Democracy’ win as Mitsotakis is keen to implement a pro-investment and pro-reform agenda. Wolfango Piccoli, co-founder of risk analysis company...

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This week Sinan Oğan, the nationalist “kingmaker” who came third in Turkey’s elections, endorsed President Erdogan. Having won just over 5% of the vote in the first round, his voters could hold the key to victory on Sunday in Turkey’s runoff for the presidency. In the meantime, Turkey’s opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu is in the fight of his life, and the question remains whether he has a...

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While Sunday was a resounding success for Prime Minister Mitsotakis, the election result has raised very real questions around the political future of Alexis Tsipras and the main opposition, Syriza. As Syriza and Tsipras look to figure out what went wrong and plan out their next moves, PASOK, which dominated Greece’s center-left up until the financial crisis, looks like it’s ready for a...

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Greece’s ruling party New Democracy achieved a huge victory in Sunday’s election, managing to gain a double-digit lead over its main rival, the left-wing Syriza, which saw its support melt away. The margin far outstripped pollsters' forecasts, and raises questions about the future of Syriza and Alexis Tsipras. Prime Minister Mitsotakis described the victory as a “political earthquake” that...

14 λεπτά

Just two days before a critical local election last Sunday, Albanian authorities decided to arrest the ethnic Greek mayoral candidate for Himare, Fredi Beleri. This dictatorial decision has raised tensions between Greece and Albania, and has caught the attention of both the US and the EU, with Senator Menendez raising the issue during a Senate hearing this week. It also raises broader questions...

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On May 19 we commemorate the genocide of the Greeks of Pontus, a chapter of the genocide perpetrated by the Turkish state in the early 20th century against its Christian inhabitants that resulted in the deaths of more than 2.5 million Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians. Dror Ze’evi, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the co-author of the book “The...

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With Turkish President Erdogan’s re-election essentially in the bag as the presidential election heads to a runoff, what should the West expect as Erdogan prepares for another term? Expert Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and former Pentagon official, joins Thanos Davelis to look into this question, arguing that it is time for the US and the EU to prepare for...

12 λεπτά

From the depths of the financial crisis last decade, Greece’s economy is now one of the fastest-growing ones in Europe’s common-currency zone. While the country still has work to do to fully recover from the deepest economic slump suffered by any developed economy since the 1930s, there is optimism in the air as the Greek economy grew by nearly 6% last year. Maintaining this economic success...

11 λεπτά