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In a month we’ll be commemorating the 50th anniversary of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus. For five decades, Turkish troops have occupied the northern part of the island. With this dark anniversary on the horizon, Michael Rubin, the director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Thanos Davelis to look at how Turkey’s continued...

12 λεπτά

Following decades of worry, have US policymakers finally overcome their fear of “losing Turkey”, coming to terms with a Turkey that is neither friend nor foe? Nicholas Danforth, an editor at War on the Rocks and the author of The Remaking of Republican Turkey: Memory and Modernity since the Fall of the Ottoman Empire, joins Thanos Davelis to answer this question and break down his latest piece...

13 λεπτά

The European elections this past weekend saw far right parties gain ground in a number of countries. Greece was not an exception, with the party Greek Solution more than doubling its support since the last elections. Beyond the far right’s gains, the ruling New Democracy did not hit its target, describing the results as a “pyrrhic victory”, while the battle for second place between SYRIZA and...

14 λεπτά

Sunday’s European elections saw not only a strengthened far right emerge, but also saw French President Macron call for snap parliamentary elections in response to the victory for the far-right National Rally led by Marine Le Pen. Center-right and far-right parties are now set to take the largest number of seats in the most populous nations. Max Bergmann, the director of the Europe, Russia, and...

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diaNEOsis, which has been monitoring the attitudes and perceptions of Greek society for a decade, just published an all-encompassing three part survey looking at what Greeks believe on a variety of issues - from climate change to politics, trust, and the economy. Fay Makantasi, the director of research at diaNEOsis, joins Thanos Davelis to break down the key findings from this survey and its...

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Turkey is set to join the nuclear energy club, with the Akkuyu plant expected to go online at the end of the year. It has plans for two more nuclear energy sites. Given the strong link between nuclear energy programs and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, many are asking whether there is a risk here as well. Eleni Ekmektsioglou, a postdoctoral fellow in Technology and International Security...

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The fight for the return and reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures is back in the spotlight after a Turkish official said that no "firman" - an Ottoman legal document - exists that legitimizes Lord Elgin’s actions to break up the sculptures and take them to Britain. Greece’s culture minister said the comments strengthen Greece’s argument that the sculptures were illegally removed. Dr. Irene...

11 λεπτά

The end of May saw Greek sports teams reach the peak of Europe, with Panathinaikos kicking off the celebrations by winning a seventh EuroLeague basketball title, and Olympiakos following up and becoming the first Greek soccer team to win a European trophy. This high point comes after a year where Greek sports was in the headlines for the wrong reasons, as fan violence was in the spotlight....

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Over 52 years ago Turkey shut down Halki Seminary. Since then, its doors have remained shut. According to a recent report in Karar daily, a Turkish media outlet, Ankara is considering taking steps to reopen the seminary. This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard promises from Turkey that it is going to reopen Halki - including Turkish President Erdogan’s broken promise to President Obama in...

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This week Greece hosted members of the East Med Gas Forum in Athens, where the focus was on existing and future gas projects in the region, the East Med’s importance when addressing concerns over energy security in the broader region, decarbonization, and the green transition. Kostis Geropoulos, the co-founder and director of Energy and Climate Policy and Security at NE Global Media, joins...

12 λεπτά

In recent years Greece’s general government debt has exceeded 350 billion euros and its debt-to-GDP ratio reached 160 per cent of GDP in 2023. Despite this, Greece has managed to fully repair its IMF loans and its economic performance has been a bright spot over the past years for the country, outperforming its Eurozone peers. Yiannis Mouzakis, the co-founder and editor of Macropolis.gr, a...

11 λεπτά

This month Ankara moved to include the Blue Homeland doctrine, which expresses Ankara’s controversial maritime claims in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean, in Turkish school curriculums. In the meantime, Turkish President Erdogan once again took the opportunity on May 29th, 571 years after the fall of Constantinople, to make reference to conquests of the past, tying them to his vision...

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Over the last year, a number of regional crises - from Ukraine to the Middle East - have taken the international spotlight off Turkey and President Erdogan. Combined with a number of sharp divergences with Western partners over Ankara’s contradictory foreign policy ambitions and rule-of-law deficiencies, it looks like Turkey’s overall standing on the international scene has diminished. That’s...

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Late last week Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was in the ethnic Greek town of Himare, where he announced the restitution of some 400 titles to homes in the area to residents who have been suing the Albanian state for more than 30 years. Rama’s attempt to reconcile with the Greeks of Himare comes as the town’s mayor elect, Fredi Beleri, remains imprisoned, and for many this gesture does not go...

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With New Democracy set to cement its political dominance in the upcoming European elections, the battle for second place is heating up as SYRIZA and PASOK’s leaders turn up the heat to see who will take on the leading role on Greece’s center-left after the elections. The fight for second place is also viewed by many as a battle of survival for SYRIZA’s Stefanos Kasselakis and PASOK’s Nikos...

14 λεπτά

After decades of negotiations and acrimony, Athens and Skopje signed the Prespa Agreement in 2018 that effectively put an end to the Macedonia name dispute and opened the way for North Macedonia to join NATO and start the process toward EU membership. Since the election win of the VMRO-DPMNE in early May, however, its leadership has taken a nationalist turn that could put this deal at risk. Tom...

12 λεπτά

Since an economic overhaul in June last year, Turkey’s central bank has increased its main interest rate to 50 per cent from 8.5 per cent in an effort to tame rampant inflation. Despite this, and other steps, Turks continue to face nearly 70 per cent inflation rates, high borrowing costs and cuts in measures that in recent years helped soften the impact of rising prices. Almost a year since...

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Earlier this year Turkey completed the maiden test flight of its prototype Kaan fighter, a development celebrated in Ankara. Is this the groundbreaking achievement Turkish media is claiming, and what does it mean for Turkey’s defense industry? Rebecca Lucas, a senior analyst in defense and security with RAND Europe, and Stuart Dee, a research leader in the defense and security research group at...

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Last week the EU gave the final green light to a landmark overhaul of its migration and asylum policies, ending more than eight years of efforts to rewrite the rulebook. This was followed up by 15 EU states - including frontline states like Greece, Italy, and Cyprus - demanding further measures to tighten the bloc’s asylum policy, including sending asylum seekers to third countries. These moves...

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This week kicked off with Turkish President Erdogan stating that 1000 Hamas members were being treated in Turkey, a comment that Turkish officials tried to walk back, saw The Times report that Hamas may have been planning to establish a base in Turkey, and culminated with the Turkish leader suggesting that Israel would “set its sights” on Turkey if it defeated Hamas in Gaza. Expert Sinan Ciddi...

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