Turkey’s Nuclear Ambitions in the Post-Iran War Environment
Turkish ambitions to develop nuclear weapons are not new, but the changing security environment is strengthening Ankara’s motivations and rationale for moving away from its longstanding role as a champion of nonproliferation and toward a strategy of preserving the option to build nuclear weapons without actually pursuing them. The challenge for Washington is to manage the nuclear trajectory of regional powers such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia rather than preventing them from acquiring greater nuclear capabilities altogether.
A Turkish court has taken a dramatic step that could reshape the country’s political landscape. It annulled the results of the CHP’s 2023 party congress, effectively overturning the election of Özgür Özel as leader of Turkey’s main opposition party and potentially paving the way for former chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to return.
Media and politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are hyping the idea that President Trump’s attempt to gain sovereign control of Greenland has caused unprecedented and irreparable damage to the over 75 year-old Transatlantic Alliance. This “analysis” stems from multiple sources. On both sides of the ocean, there are those who pounce on any deviation from the norm by Trump as evidence the world as we know it is ending. And in Europe, there is the human but unattractive reaction of weak, dependent states against their one powerful ally when it rejects Europe’s preferred script. Much of the US media criticism is summarized by the concept that our other NATO allies can never again “trust” the US.
Ankara’s double win: Kurds, Israel, and the new Syria
Whether the truce between Damascus and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces holds or collapses will have major implications for neighboring Turkey, which has long-standing interests in Syria, but recent developments already point to a win for Ankara.
What Ankara sees in Riyadh — and why it still needs Abu Dhabi
As the rivalry between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi sharpens in Yemen and beyond, Turkey has begun edging closer to Saudi Arabia, sparking claims that a new regional order is taking shape: a Turkey-Saudi axis backed by a NATO-like defense architecture, implicitly aligned against Israel and the United Arab Emirates. This reading overstates the case.
Balancing on a Fault Line: Turkey Between Russia, Ukraine, and the US
This webinar discussed the following looming questions: Can Turkey sustain a three-way balancing act between Russia, Ukraine, and the US? Where does Ankara stand on Trump’s peace plan, which would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia? How does Moscow view Turkey’s S-400 dilemma? And what would the continuation of the Russia-Ukraine war mean for Turkey’s security—and for its already strained relations with the West?
The Trump administration has released its new National Security Strategy—and analysts say it signals a decisive break from America’s role as the leader of the free world. Instead, the document advances an openly illiberal, strongman-centered vision of power. One former U.S. official goes further, arguing the strategy doesn’t merely abandon democracy promotion—it puts Washington in the business of promoting autocracy.
In this episode of Middle East Focus, hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Senior Fellow Gönül Tol to discuss democratic backsliding in Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In September, just days after tens of thousands of Turks had poured into the streets to protest President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest crackdown on his political opponents and a fal
Markets, Mayors, and Crackdowns: Erdoğan’s High-Stakes Gamble
Turkey’s main opposition, the CHP, is facing its toughest test yet: mass arrests, sham court rulings, and the ouster of key leaders—including Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s chief rival. With trials looming that could replace CHP leadership with government loyalists, the party warns of a legal ‘coup.’ What does this crackdown mean for Turkey’s fragile economy, its 2028 elections, and the future of democracy itself?
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
