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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putins first interview with a Western journalist in two years, addressed events concerning Ukraine under Turkeys mediation. Erdogan echoed Putins claim that former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Ukraine, resulting in the failure of peace talks.

Last Friday Putin, in an interview with fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson, claimed that Johnson impeded peace negotiations. Putin alleged that Johnson, whom he described as possessing a pure heart but lacking a great mind, intervened during discussions in Istanbul in March 2022. According to Putin, Johnson allegedly persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to sign a deal, suggesting that its better to fight Russia.

To be honest, in President Putins statements, there is a noteworthy sense of sincerity. Throughout what we can refer to as the Istanbul process, we took every sincere step possible. We worked with a focused determination for results, but unfortunately, peace could not be achieved, Erdogan told pro-government journalists onboard the plane returning from Egypt on Wednesday.

Erdogan highlighted their commitment to sustaining efforts towards peace, stating, Before former UK prime minister Boris Johnson withdrew his support from the peace efforts , we collaborated and persisted in our efforts, albeit without success.

Asserting that they have facilitated concrete results in advancing peace amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict thus far, Erdogan underscored the developments, ranging from prisoner exchanges to establishing a grain corridor.

Emphasizing their facilitation of meetings between the parties in Turkey on multiple occasions, Erdogan called for renewed efforts, stating, We can convene again and unlock the door to peace through a solution-oriented process, devoid of external influences.

Recently, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron paid us a visit, and we discussed these matters with him. Should President Putin engage directly in dialogue with us during this process, or should Russias relevant ministers intervene, we will engage with them to navigate this process and achieve outcomes, Erdogan added.

It was previously announced that Putin would visit Ankara on February 12, but Russian authorities said the visit was postponed until after the Russian presidential election in March. Following Ankaras approval of Swedens joining NATO, the visit would be critical due to its timing. It was expected to cover various topics including renewal of the grain corridor, a natural gas hub project, Syria and the Caucasus.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA) in the Kazakh capital of Astana in October 2022, Putin informed Erdogan that Turkey had become the most dependable route for gas supplies to Europe. He also proposedestablishing a European gas hub in Turkey.

Ankara had been trying to convince Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, facilitated by Turkey and the UN. This initiative ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grain over the Black Sea during the war. However, Russiawithdrewfrom the agreement in July 2023 and declared its lack of interest in reviving the deal.

NATO member Turkey previously announced that it would not participate in the sanctions imposed on Moscow by the United States and European Union due to its dependence on Russia for natural gas and also because its a favorite destination of millions of Russian tourists.

Previously defining the war between Russia and Ukraine as a process, Erdogan never said Russia invaded Ukraine. He also said he told his NATO counterparts that the West had provoked and underestimated Russian President Putin.

In 2022 during a Balkan tour, Erdogan criticized Europes underestimation of Russia, pointing out the consequences of Russia cutting off natural gas to Europe, resulting in sudden price hikes. He remarked that now there was widespread concern about how to manage the winter, implying a failure to consider these ramifications earlier.

Additionally, Erdogan accused European leaders of lacking foresight, saying, Of course, Europes attitude towards Putin, the imposition of sanctions, has inevitably brought Putin to the point of saying If you are doing this, I will do that, and Mr. Putin uses all the means and weapons at his disposal.

Nordic Monitor previously reported that there has been a noteworthy surge in the creation of startup companies in Turkey by Russian and Iranian nationals, according to official statistics. This suggests strategic moves by Moscow and Tehran, viewing the Turkish market as a viable avenue to navigating and alleviating constraints imposed by Western sanctions.

Data from the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) reveal that Russians led in establishing 592 new companies in Turkey from January to August 2023. Predominantly structured as limited liability companies, these ventures position Russians at the forefront of foreign investors creating enterprises in the Turkish market. The majority of foreign-owned companies were classified under the category of non-specialized wholesale trade, indicating their establishment to engage in wholesale trade across a diverse range of products.

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Erdogan alleges Boris Johnson's role in unsuccessful peace talks, reiterating Putin's 'sincerity' - Nordic Research and Monitoring Network

The Turkish AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdoan will run in the European Elections in Germany, according to media reports, with high-ranking German politicians noting it will expand Turkish influence in the EU.

The AKP affiliate in Germany, the Democratic Alliance for Diversity and Awakening (Dava), consists of four candidates who have all previously campaigned for Erdoans AKP or its support organisations, Bild reported on Sunday.

High-ranking German politicians were quick to denounce the move as further contributing to the deterioration of the political climate within the country.

An Erdoan offshoot running for elections here is the last thing we need, Green agriculture minister Cem zdemir, who has a Turkish migration background, wrote on X.

The CDU, the largest opposition party, also criticised the move. An Erdogan-AKP offshoot in Germany would be another extreme party in the country, Deputy Leader Jens Spahn of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said on X.

There are currently 1.3 million German citizens who have a Turkish migration background, according to the German Federal Statistical Office, around 1.6% of the German population.

Since the 5% electoral threshold, which usually keeps smaller parties out of parliament in the German federal election, will not apply to the EU election, political newcomers have more chance of winning a place in the European Parliament.

During the last European Election in 2019, six small parties that did not have any representatives at the national or regional level made it into the European Parliament, with some of them not getting more than 0.7% of the votes.

There is, thus, a plethora of new parties running for the election, increasing the fragmentation of the German political landscape.

We are currently seeing parties springing up everywhere, and their sole purpose and exercise is to ultimately tear Europe apart from within, German liberal lead candidate Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said when asked about Dava.

And we have to realise that Europe has never been under so much pressure, in terms of foreign policy and domestic policy, as it is now, the FDP politician told die Welt.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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Erdogan's party to run in EU-election, expand Turkey's influence - EURACTIV

An F-16 fighter jet takes off during a media day of NATOs Air Defender 23 military exercise at Spangdahlem US Air Base near the German-Belgian border in Spangdahlem, Germany, June 14, 2023. [Jana Rodenbusch, Reuters]

Main opposition party SYRIZA released a statement on Sunday demanding that the government address what it termed as aggressive statements by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the US State Departments approval of Turkeys request for F-16s.The statement highlighted Erdogans comments who said that the struggle does not end by throwing the enemy into the sea.

SYRIZA claimed this was evidence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis diplomatic error in relying on the non-legally binding Athens Declaration signed in December for improved Greek-Turkish relations.

The opposition party emphasized its prior warnings that without a comprehensive national strategy engaging Turkey in a dialogue based on international law and respect for good neighborly relations, Turkey would revert to provocations once it secured its demands.

SYRIZA further sought government confirmation regarding alleged US terms imposed on Turkey within the F-16 sale and modernization program, citing recent statements by US congressional leaders refuting any conditions restricting aircraft use against Greece and Cyprus.

US President Joe Bidens administration on Friday formally informed Congress of its intention to proceed with a $8.6-billion deal to sell 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets to Greece.

At the same time, it announced the $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, a deal that Washington advanced as it tries to strike a balance between two alliance members with a history of tense relations.

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SYRIZA condemns Erdogans provocative statements following F-16 approval - Kathimerini English Edition

If the first Turk in space, Alper Gezeravci, has been looking up viral videos during some of the quieter moments on the International Space Station (ISS), he might have been slightly unsettled by the re-emergence of 2021 footage in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticises the spending of hundreds of millions of dollars for a few minutes of touristic space travel while people on Earth starve to death.

Erdogan, as you might expect, was last week praising the four-man mission that has put figher pilot Gezeravci into orbit, despite critics complaining that Turkey has paid Texas startup Axiom Space tens of millions of dollars for the privilege of including its astronaut on the commercial space journey.

However, on October 27, 2021, addressing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 8th Ministerial Conference Responsible for Food Security and Agricultural Development, held in Istanbul, Erdogan said: On the one hand, 810 million people do not have access to the most basic foodstuffs, while on the other hand, large capital owners can spend hundreds of millions of dollars for a few minutes of touristic space travel.

Opposition Future Party deputy Selcuk Ozdag shared Erdogans 2021 video, saying: This man is always tested with his claims.

Gezeravci is in fact due to stay in space for two weeks and he and the rest of the crew will conduct more than 30 scientific experiments in microgravity, with many focused on human health and tackling disease.

Nevertheless, Sinan Ciddi, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan research institute, with a reference to Turkeys upcoming end-of-March local elections, described the mission as not science and a cheap election stunt.

Erdogan, in a message on X, stressed the missions alignment with Turkeys National Space Program, announced in 2021. He pointed to its potential contributions to science across various fields, including astronomy, medicine, genetics and materials science.

The missions Crew Dragon vessel, as well as the Falcon 9 rocket that carried the vessel into to orbit, were supplied, launched and operated by Elon Musks SpaceX under contract with Axiom.

Back on Earth, meanwhile, the world of online video was also last week focused on manipulated AI-generated footage that showed Istanbuls popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu praising Erdogan's party.

In the national elections of May last year, misinformation on social networks was even spread by Erdogan, who at a rally showed an election video made by the opposition alliance that had been manipulated to include leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, thus portraying alleged terrorist leaders as supporting the opposition.

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Old video of Erdogan slamming costly space travel goes viral as president applauds first Turk in orbit - bne IntelliNews

Courts are necessary to wage culture wars and create a climate of fear among dissidents the sine quo non for a dictatorship. But to move from a proto-dictator to a real one, Trump would need full loyalty from the judiciary. Thats easier said than done in America, where the judicial system is designed to put limits on the executive and judges have long tenures. Trump may have shifted the balance of power on the Supreme Court and appointed more than 200 federal judges to reshape the federal judiciary, including an impressive number of appointments to the powerful appeals court and district courts. That means by the end of his term, over a quarter of active judges were Trump appointees.

But thats not so unusual. The courts have long been an ideological battleground in U.S. politics and the highest number of judicial appointments in modern times came during Ronald Reagans presidency though it still wasnt enough to create a permanent right-wing governance structure. Moreover, not all Trump appointees have ruled in ways Donald Trump wanted, even though many emerged from some type of a Republican vetting process through an alliance with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Based on examples from Hungary, Poland and Turkey, we can safely say that Trumps real problem will not be the loyalty or the conservative credentials of his judicial appointees but the presence of others the non-Trumpians. Out of 800-something federal judges (numbers vary depending on vacancies), only a quarter have been appointed by Trump, leaving hundreds of others within the system. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been in a race to shape the courts by filling vacancies and pushing ahead with confirmations of their own, non-Trumpy judges.

In a country that prides itself on checks and balances, cleaning up the hundreds of active judges and prosecutors who are not loyal to him would present a challenge for any burgeoning autocrat, since judges have long tenures and plenty of independence. The U.S. Constitution says federal judges may hold their position during good behavior meaning, lifelong. This makes it harder to push around or penalize unruly justices even when their verdicts go against the wishes of the White House.

What Trump would really need to bring the judiciary to heel is a centralized administrative structure, as in Turkey, Hungary and elsewhere, where he could easily reassign uncooperative judges to different courts, take punitive action, or relocate them to different cities all common practices in Turkey. Instead, the U.S. has overlapping judicial systems and once an appointment is made, it is harder to fully control a judge. U.S. judges also are well compensated, and, in some states, directly elected, further increasing their independence.

All this makes the full control of the U.S. judiciary a long-term, even a multi-generational challenge for an aspiring autocrat. Trump could try to do what populists elsewhere have tried, namely, changing the rules of the game. Since 2010, Orban and his Fidesz Party have incrementally dismantled the independence of the judiciary by forcing judges into retirement, creating an alternative court system and expanding the powers of the Minister of Justice over the judges. Law and Justice in Poland tried to reshape the courts through similar methods after it regained power in 2015, including lowering the retirement age and expanding the powers of a national body that appoints judges. It used government-controlled media to target judges and made courts a core element of its culture wars. But at each step of the way, Law and Justice met significant pushback and eventually lost power last October.

The judiciary was a big headache for Erdogan as well. In 2006, the Turkish governments attempts to reshape the justice system and break the monopoly of secularists met with enormous social pushback, forcing the government to hold referendums on judiciary reforms in 2007 and 2010. But what finally gave Erdogan the control he wanted was his declaration of emergency presidential powers after a failed coup attempt in 2016 that allowed the president or Turkish Justice Department the right to dismiss or move judges at will.

Can Trump claim similar emergency powers? Not without first gaining institutional and social consensus. Even in Turkey, it took a bloody military coup attempt for Erdogan to assume the type of powers he wanted. Trump would need a dramatic event of similar nature that would serve as a force-majeure and convince U.S. society that it would be OK for the president to take control of the judiciary.

Of course, Trump has other options that are legally available but politically difficult. Surprisingly, the U.S. Constitution does not stipulate the number of judges at the Supreme and District courts. If he has the support of Congress, Trump could pack the courts by expanding the number of judges on federal benches and the Supreme Court. But such a move would be too alarming and unlikely to be fully backed by Congress or the Republican establishment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the courts but failed. It is hard to imagine Trumps Justice Department being able to build in four more years the social and institutional consensus to achieve what FDR failed to do after the New Deal.

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Trump Can't Be Dictator on 'Day One' Or in a Second Term. Here's Why. - POLITICO