AKP’s criminal coalition by Emre Uslu

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power by forming a “democracy coalition.” But it now appears that the ruling party is intent on carrying through its third term riding on the shoulders of a criminal coalition. Back in the days of the democracy coalition, the ruling party directed its supporters towards democracy, pushing them to embrace democracy more tightly. But now that the AKP has turned into a criminal coalition, the party's supporters have suppressed their own feelings of guilt, gathered around the party and thus turning into dirty supporters of the party.

Is TİKA funding radical Islamists?

By Emre Uslu - The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) likes to take special pride in the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TİKA). This agency is implementing various projects in different places around the world. It restores historic monuments and lends support to civil society organizations (CSOs). TİKA projects even make Turkey the third-largest assistance-providing country after the US and UK. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recently spoke of this fact as a source of pride during his visit to the US.

The TİKA projects were generally advertised as efforts to revive historic monuments that were legacies of the Ottoman Empire. For instance, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque, Kosovo's largest mosque, in Pristina, was renovated thanks to a TİKA project. In Kosovo, there are dozens of mosques that have been repaired by TİKA. They are financing these projects with our taxes, but this expenditure is sufficiently justified.

Whom does TİKA really help? The answer to this question can be found in the recent crackdown on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the al-Nusra Front in Kosovo. A few days ago, the Kosovo police launched an operation against radical Islamic groups in the country. Thirty imams were taken into custody on charges of sending jihadists to Syria and Iraq. Many of them were arrested. Sixteen foundations and associations were shut down on charges of aiding and abetting members of ISIL, the al-Nusra Front and other al-Qaeda-linked organizations.

Why did ISIL agree to give up the hostages?

By Emre Uslu - The “hostage crisis” between Turkey and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is one of the most mysterious and bizarre “crises” that any nation could face. When the Turkish Consulate General in Mosul was seized and 49 people -- including Turkish diplomats and security personal -- were taken by ISIL, many people asked why the consulate hadn't been evacuated.

Conflicting statements were released; after that, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confidently stated that Turkey would take the hostages with ease, as if they were not in the hand of the most brutal terrorists. Many people believed that it was a political saga that both the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and ISIL had agreed upon rather than a real hostage-taking.

Turkey's blind spot: al-Qaeda and ISIS

by EMRE USLU - Pro-government figures have been traveling around the world to convince the international community that Turkey did not help the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) or al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria and Iraq.

In September Etyen Mahçupyan, a columnist for the pro-government Akşam daily, Mesut Yeğen a professor at the government-affiliated Sehir University, and Gönul Tol, the founding director of the Center for Turkish Studies at the Middle East Institute (MEI), which is funded by pro-government circles, will talk at the Wilson Center on the following issues.

It was announced that the three will discuss the Kurdish question, domestic political developments and Turkey's foreign policy and its critical role in transforming regional conflicts.

When it comes to discussing Turkey's critical role in these conflicts, I am sure many Americans would want to know whether Turkey helped al-Qaeda-affiliated terror organizations.

A typical answer that pro-government circles give to this question is that Turkey has never helped al-Qaeda-affiliated organizations during the war in Syria.

Witch hunt in Europe

by Emre Uslu - Political madness in Turkey is at its peak. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan does not even refrain from using the term “witch hunt” against the Gülen followers. When Erdoğan and his circle don't find any evidence, they allegedly try to produce evidence. Bureaucrats who don't want to be part of Erdoğan's witch hunt have sent letters to the media and prosecutors confessing what they are doing. Unfortunately, what they said in those letters has been confirmed by later developments.