Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ersin Tatar unveiled his plan to reopen the infamous abandoned Varosha beach, just days before the 2020 Northern Cypriot presidential election, reports Al Jazeera. The plan was criticized by Tatar’s opponents, calling it an interference by Turkey to sustain his nationalist base in the Turkish-occupied zone of Cyprus.
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On September 27, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh reached its highest level of violence since 2016. Reuters reports that the clashes have reignited concerns over stability in the South Caucasus, a popular corridor for oil and gas pipelines that supply the world market. The pipeline runs from the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey.
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President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has stated intentions to expand business ties with Russia in response to new, crippling U.S. sanctions under the Caesar Act, according to Reuters. The Syrian economy has suffered enormously under these sanctions, as its economy was already struggling prior to implementation of the Caesar Act. According to Reuters, this has resulted in the Syrian lira losing 80 percent of its value. Most citizens are experiencing extreme poverty.
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Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 8 that Moscow is ready to help ease rising tensions over Turkey’s search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, and rejected any actions that could lead to further escalation, The Associate Press reports. The Associated Press cites Larov, stating “we would be ready to contribute to building good neighborly relations in the event this is requested of us by those involved,” and later adding that Moscow has repeatedly called on leaders in the region to “resolve these differences through dialogue and within a legal framework.”
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Tensions between Greece and Turkey are once again on the rise. CNBC reports that Turkish F-16 jets prevented Greek planes from entering the area where Turkey has recently been engaging in natural gas drilling operations. Sanctions from the European Union on Turkey appear to be on the way as a result.
Read moreOn April 5, warplanes attacked Idlib, a rebel-held region in North-West Syria, killing ten people. 24 people were wounded from the bombing, and several others died while attempting to flee.
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As renegade general Khalifa Hafter and his Libyan National Army (LNA) continue their military offense on the capital city of Tripoli, thousands of Libyan civilians continue to flee for their lives.
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Andrew Brunson and his wife arrived back in the United States after 15 years of living in Turkey on October 13 and attended a press conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office
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In January, Turkish military forces and Free Syrian Army fighters launched a new operation to dislodge the Kurdish YPG from the northern Kurdish-controlled region of Afrin.
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As a NATO member nation, Turkey has supported U.S. global security measures in the past, such as hosting U.S. military capabilities during the Cold War. While the Turkish policy with the Kurds has been long standing, the U.S. decision to use them as a security device is relatively recent.
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