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Yasar Yakis

Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party.

Twitter: @yakis_yasar

Latest published

EU hesitant in taking bold steps on Turkiye’s accession process

The European Parliament this month published its yearly report on Turkiye and its accession process. As expected, very few positive remarks were made about it.

September 24, 2023

Cooperation resolves Cyprus’ storm in a teacup

Tensions rose in Cyprus last month in the village of Pyla, on the border between the Turkish and Greek parts of the island. Pyla is inhabited by about 500 Turkish Cypriots and 850 Greek Cypriots.

September 10, 2023

Turkiye-Syria detente becoming an uphill task

There were high hopes not so long ago that Turkish-Syrian relations might be revived. This hope will not vanish for good, but an early recovery is not in sight.

September 03, 2023

Netanyahu’s judicial reforms risk the future of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced legislation restricting civil rights because some members of the ruling coalition have been pushing to amend the law to restrict the powers of the Israeli Supreme Court with a simple majority of 61 votes out of 120.

August 27, 2023

De-escalation moving too slowly in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

According to the terms of the ceasefire agreement brokered in November 2020 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Lachin Corridor in Nagorno-Karabakh had to be transferred to Azerbaijan in August 2022. The corridor links Armenia to Azerbaijan’s autonomous region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

August 20, 2023

Turkiye again tilting toward the EU

The EU has given its first positive signal regarding the softening of its relations with Turkiye. This signal came last week from EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni, who said that the Turkiye-EU Customs Union might be updated by the autumn.

August 06, 2023

Turkiye hopes to negotiate a new Black Sea grain deal

Russia last month announced that it had brought an end to the Black Sea Grain Initiative and that vessels leaving Ukrainian harbors would be considered a military target. This deal was an agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkiye, with the participation of the UN.

August 02, 2023