What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Turkey’s High Election Board (YSK) declared on Monday that the country would be heading to a runoff election in late May, after incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to secure over 50% of the vote in Sunday’s election. Read more

Was Erdoğan’s meeting with rabbinic leaders a ‘spectacle of tolerance’?

When the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS) gathered its members for the first time under one roof in a multiday conference last week in Istanbul, the event became more than a garden-variety gathering when, to the rabbis’ surprise, they found themselves invited to dinner at the presidential palace in Ankara by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Read more

What’s behind Erdoğan’s sudden warming towards Israel?

Israel’s long-term adversary, Islamist Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, came out calling for better ties with Israel in what experts say is part of a larger attempt to improve relations with a new U.S. government led by President-elect Joe Biden and break out of its regional isolation. Read more

Turkey’s bid to return to Ottoman-era glory endangers Israel and the region

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has high ambitions. He wants to take his country back to what he perceives as the glory days of the Ottoman Empire, but the leader, who has been described as “pugnacious” and has been at the pinnacle of power since 2002, appears to be leading the country down the wrong path as he quashes secularism, supports radical Islamism, suppresses democratic reforms and adopts a forceful foreign-policy approach that aims to assert Turkish hegemony in the region. Read more

Erdoğan’s loss is Israel’s gain

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared, during the lead-up to the country’s March 31 municipal elections, that “whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey,” he couldn’t have imagined that the catchy campaign slogan was going to energize his rivals and bode ill for his own continued reign of terror. Read more

Turkish president says he will ‘confront’ Israel, teach Jews a lesson

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned a group of Turkish youth on Saturday that “Jews in Israel” beat Palestinian women and children, and that Turkey will confront them. Read more

Turkey takes pragmatic steps towards repairing damaged relations with Israel

Amid shared concerns over Iran’s regional aggression among other interests, Israel and Turkey have been attempting to mend relations with one another despite their subtle differences, according to an Israeli media report on Monday. Read more

Turkey, terror, and tirades: what the Paris attacks reveal about Erdogan’s regime

On Monday, the European Union (EU) announced it is partnering on counter-terrorism projects with Middle East countries—including Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, and the Gulf states—in the wake of the Islamist terror attacks in Paris at the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket. But is Turkey a suitable partner for that initiative? Read more

Turkey’s Erdogan – an Autocratic Islamist Bigot…writes Isi Leibler

After over 50 years of Israeli-Turkish intelligence co-operation and sharing, the Turkish disclosure to Iran of the identities of Mossad operatives – apparently subsequently executed, illustrates the depths to which Israel-Turkey relations have descended under Islamist autocrat, Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan. Read more