Last month, a massive corruption scandal rocked Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s political legitimacy. Believed to have been initiated by the Fethullah Gulen, a politically active cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania, a police operation arrested over 50 police chiefs, prominent politicians’ relatives, and other supporters of the Erdogan administration.
Yesterday, according to the New York Times, the Turkish government, in apparent retaliation, removed or reassigned approximately 350 police officers yesterday and removed a further 15 police chiefs and the deputy head of the country’s police force today. The move is believed to be intended to stifle the still ongoing corruption investigation.
This latest offensive in the growing hostilities between Erdogan and Gulen, once close allies with a common religiously inspired political ideology, speaks to the tremendous changes that have taken place in Turkey’s political landscape in the past decade. The political struggle no longer appears to be primarily between Islamists and secularists, but rather between different Islamist political factions. Citizens have also expressed concern over the Erdogan’s incessantly authoritarian tendencies. In addition to a reshuffling of the police force, Erdogan’s government has also drafted legislation to extend government control over the judiciary. None of these developments bode well for Turkey’s E.U. Integration processes, which appears to have taken a backseat to the more immediate domestic power struggle.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
