Columnist

Yasar Yakis
Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party.
Twitter: @yakis_yasar
Latest published
Election result boosts Turkey’s two-state plan for Cyprus
Incumbent Prime Minister Ersin Tatar was elected as the new president of Turkish Cyprus in a run-off election held last week. Tatar’s National Unity Party favors Turkish nationalism on the island.
Greece, Turkey cannot rely on EU to resolve crisis
The respite in tensions between Greece and Turkey as a result of Ankara’s withdrawal of its seismic survey ship Oruc Reis from contested areas in the eastern Mediterranean for “maintenance purposes” has proved to be short-lived.
EU continues to slam Turkey over Mediterranean conflict
The European Council this month held a special summit to discuss a number of issues. Among them was the EU’s approach to Turkey-Greece relations.
Conflicting interests difficult to balance in Azeri-Armenian conflict
The Azeri-Armenian military confrontation that broke out last week contains the risks of further escalation because Azerbaijan seems to be militarily better prepared than in previous rounds.
Isolated Turkey aware that pressure is growing
At an informal meeting in Berlin late last month, EU foreign ministers debated the Turkish-Greek tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. At the heart of the issue is Turkey’s initiative to drill for oil and gas in a disputed maritime jurisdiction area that it considers to be its own.