Insights into Turkish Domestic and International Politics during April 1-15th 2013
By John VanPool, EGF Turkey and Black Sea Regional Analyst

Key Points:

• Turkey and Israel take small steps in resuming normalized relations. Both are to formalize financial compensation for the Mavi Marmara incident, while Turkey is leaning on the victims’ families to drop their court cases against Israeli military personnel.
• NATO is set to benefit from the reset which allows Israel’s participation in alliance activities as a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue.
• Energy cooperation brings Turkey and the KRG of Iraq closer in spite of Baghdad’s objections. Turkish-Anglo firm Genel is set to profit from its early investments into the oil fields in the Kurdish north of Iraq.
• A cease fire continues to hold between the government and PKK, though Kurdish fighters are reluctant to give up their arms until a formal peace deal is agreed to. AKP leadership on the issue is causing splits in the main opposition CHP, with a nationalist camp opposed to the talks causing a pronounced rift to emerge in the party.
• A Turkish pianist is charged with hate speech for incendiary remarks against Muslims on his Twitter account. His conviction and other cases of free speech prosecutions are a dark stain on the AKP’s otherwise impressive governing record.

• April 27, 2013

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says it will restart talks with Iran in May over its disputed nuclear program.

• April 25, 2013

Romania is closely cooperating with the Government of Azerbaijan to ensure the success of the Nabucco gas pipeline project, Prime Minister of Romania Victor Ponta said during a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on Thursday, in response to a question of Azerbaijani Parliamentarian Ganira Pashayeva

• April 25, 2013

Regional security was on the agenda when Bulgarian and Georgian defence ministers met in Sofia. The Georgian Defence Ministry said today that the topic has become one of the most important issues during the meeting between Irakli Alasania and his Bulgarian counterpart Todor Tagarev.

• April 25, 2013

ISSUE # 14
04/22/2013
On 18 April 2013, the European Parliament decided to extend the monitoring mission headed by former European Parliament President Pat Cox and former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski. READ MORE

• April 25, 2013

Russia is studying changes to the US missile defence programme, but still wants guarantees that the system would not be used against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday.

• April 24, 2013

Syria hopes to clinch more financial aid from its allies Russia and Iran soon, but still has enough foreign reserves to pursue its war on rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad, the central bank governor said.

• April 24, 2013

China said on Wednesday that "provocative actions" would not sway it from defending its territory, after Japan confirmed it would conduct military drills with the United States amid tension between Beijing and Tokyo over disputed islands.

• April 24, 2013