Buscador avanzado

Nota: la búsqueda puede tardar más de 30 segundos.

El pasado 26 de septiembre, el Servicio Geológico de Dinamarca leyó picos sísmicos en el detector de Bornholm. Casi inmediatamente, el centro de control del gasoducto Nord Stream registra una bajada de presión en el conducto de una lectura normal (alrededor de 10 megapascales) a prácticamente 0. Poco después, un F-16 de la fuerza aérea noruega confirmaba una fuga de gas en el mar Báltico, justo encima del gasoducto.

Dos días más tarde, Radek Sikorski, exministro de Asuntos Exteriores polaco y actual europarlamentario, cuelga un tuit con una foto de la fuga y en la que pone "Gracias EEUU" ("Thank you, USA").…  Seguir leyendo »

On Friday, the United Nations secretary general announced that Russia and Ukraine agreed to restart shipments of blockaded grain, a move intended to ease a crisis that has exposed tens of millions of people, especially in Africa and the Middle East, to the threat of famine. The deal, signed in Istanbul, was a diplomatic victory for Turkey.

Earlier in the week in Iran, we saw Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin smile for the cameras in what was Putin’s first major overseas summit since the start of the Ukraine war. “I want to thank you for your mediation efforts”, Putin told Erdogan, according to the Kremlin.…  Seguir leyendo »

At this week’s NATO summit, President Biden met for the first time in a year with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, setting aside his long-standing issues with the Turkish leader. But Turkey continues to play both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. If the United States is now willing to deal with Ankara, the next deal should center on persuading Erdogan to side with the West on Ukraine.

There’s no love lost between Biden and Erdogan. As a senator, Biden was a regular critic of Turkey, owing in part to the strong Greek American constituency in his home state of Delaware. As vice president, Biden clashed with Erdogan over the Turkish leader’s backsliding on democracy and human rights.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Turkish TB2 Bayraktar drone at a Ukrainian military parade, Kyiv, August 2021. Gleb Garanich / Reuters

On April 14, Ukrainian forces stunned the world when they sank the Moskva, the heavily armed cruiser that was the flagship of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet. As widely noted in the international press, the Ukrainians succeeded in hitting the ship with their homegrown Neptune missiles, despite the ship’s significant defenses. What has been somewhat less noted, however, were the foreign-made drones that enabled this remarkable attack: according to Ukrainian officials, the strike was coordinated by a pair of Turkish Bayraktar TB2 unmanned drones, which were able to evade the ship’s radar and which provided precise targeting information for the missiles.…  Seguir leyendo »

Even in old age, my grandmother’s eyes would light up when she spoke about Maksim, Istanbul’s legendary club now gone, where she had heard some of Turkey’s top singers in the 1960s.

Maksim was founded by a Black man from Mississippi, Frederick Bruce Thomas, who — after years of running one of Moscow’s most popular nightclubs — made his escape from Odessa right before the Bolsheviks closed in, sailing to “Not-Constantinople” in 1919 along with thousands of other exiles from Russia.

These days there is a different type of Russian influx to the Bosporus. Thousands of fleeing Russians have made it to Istanbul, in the hopes of escaping an economy crumbling under sanctions and a country mesmerized by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s neo-Orwellian spell.…  Seguir leyendo »

El presidente ucraniano Zelensky recibió al presidente turco Erdogan en Kiev (Ucrania) en febrero de 2020. Shutterstock / Siarhei Liudkevich

La guerra de Ucrania ha ofrecido imágenes inéditas como las de un dron turco Bayraktar TB2 destruyendo tanques rusos BMD-3. Turquía es un actor internacional que no ha atraído tanto la atención en los últimos años como el Estado Islámico, EE. UU., Rusia o China. Ese país ha cambiado en la última década en el ámbito interno y, sobre todo, en su juego de alianzas con otros países. ¿Cómo se compatibiliza ser Estado miembro de la OTAN, candidato a la UE y amigo de Putin? ¿Se le puede considerar un actor neutral? ¿Qué oportunidades para la paz puede ofrecer?

En el antiguo Oriente era práctica habitual que los gobernantes anunciaran desde la puerta principal de sus palacios las decisiones que tomaban, dando así publicidad a los edictos que se fraguaban en el interior.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Russian navy's diesel-electric Kilo class submarine Rostov-on-Don sails with an naval ensign of the Russian Federation through the Bosphorus Strait past Istanbul on the way to the Black Sea. Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images.

Turkey’s traditional policy on Ukraine – a mix of deterrence with dialogue towards Russia – is now in need of revision with the failure of the first part. But although deterrence has failed, Turkey is still pursuing the dialogue aspect by trying to mediate between the two sides. As expected, Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers’ meeting in Turkey has not produced a result, but it was a boost for Turkey’s international stature.

What has followed since the invasion is not a new policy – yet – but is a new discourse set to induce revisions to the existing policy. Crucial in this new language is that Turkey has started to use the word ‘war’ to define the invasion, which requires Ankara to then restrict the passage of Russian warships through its straits as outlined in the Montreux Convention of 1936 – as it then did a few days into the invasion.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ucrania, Rusia, Conflicto armado, Conflicto territorial,

Over the weekend, following a request from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Ankara would implement the Montreux Convention. The decision made headlines around the world — but what does this mean, exactly?

The most important implications of Turkey’s decision have more to do with Turkey’s own diplomatic strategy rather than any particular effect in shifting the tide of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The military impact is probably limited

This 1936 international agreement allows Turkey, during times of war, to regulate transit of warships through the Turkish Straits, the heavily traveled waterway connecting the Black Sea and the Aegean.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a ceremony in Istanbul for the inauguration of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline in January 2020. (Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)

Having a Turkish passport is no fun. You need a visa to travel to most countries in Western Europe, and this can be obtained only after a laborious and expensive application process.

But with Ukraine, forget the need for a visa — or even a passport! Turks can travel there simply with an ID card.

That says a lot about the friendship Ankara has recently developed with Ukraine, which is now facing the possibility of Russian military intervention. Whether Vladimir Putin’s next steps lead to a limited incursion or a full-fledged invasion, the result would no doubt deliver a devastating blow to Ukraine as well as widen rifts within NATO.…  Seguir leyendo »

En los últimos 18 años se ha reducido el número de democracias en el mundo. En el 2013 Freedom House logró contabilizar sólo 88 países democráticos y la mayoría no ocupaban el más alto rango en derechos políticos y civiles. El deterioro más notable se ha dado en Rusia, Turquía, Egipto y China. Pero las últimas imágenes de Moscú y Ankara dejan 2013 en muy buena posición si se compara con lo que está ocurriendo a principios del presente año.

Mucho se ha escrito sobre la anexión de la península de Crimea, y lo que realmente exaspera más allá de la política de Putin son las personas que se manifiestan en las plazas: los hablantes rusos en Crimea, los que expresan su apoyo a la anexión en la plaza Roja y, en definitiva, el gran aumento de popularidad de un líder frío y nada conciliador.…  Seguir leyendo »

Hoy el edificio del proyecto europeo está tambaleándose. Por supuesto, estoy seguro de que la eurozona superará la actual crisis de deuda soberana y que de ella saldrá una Europa más integrada y eficaz. Pero, para llegar a esa mejor Europa, no solo debe resolverse la crisis de la deuda soberana; será necesario sentar bases más sólidas en las relaciones con tres importantes países que se encuentran al este: Turquía, Rusia y Ucrania.

En mi país, fui parte de la generación que vivió la transición de la dictadura a la democracia hace cuatro décadas. Para nosotros, la Unión Europea era un sueño.…  Seguir leyendo »