The Taliban’s entrance and taking control of Kabul happened smoother and quicker than many thought, including the intelligence of the United States. Yesterday marked the beginning of a new era in Afghanistan with the Taliban coming to power after 20 years. The transition will be peaceful, and the Taliban will not attack Kabul and allow the continued operation of the international airport, Afghan officials have said.
Unfortunately, Turkey’s problem in handling millions of refugees on its soil has reached a new alarming level. The past 10 days have shown how different political approaches and rhetoric over refugees were reflected most negatively first on social media and then on the streets.
Amid sound and fury over the two-week-long destructive forest fires, a statement by the main opposition leader over the upcoming presidential elections went almost unnoticed. Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), signaled his opposition to the potential nominations of Ekrem İmamoğlu and Mansur Yavaş, mayors of Istanbul and Ankara respectively, as the oppositional bloc’s presidential candidate.
Although still cautious, Turkey can breathe a sigh of relief for now as almost all forest fires in Antalya and Muğla provinces have been put out. Rain brought relief to Antalya over the weekend while authorities are doing everything to extinguish the remaining fires in the province of Muğla’s Milas district and the province of Aydın’s Çine district.
Turkey registered nearly 25,000 new coronavirus cases on Aug. 3, with a weekly average of 22,500 cases. Following a decline in the number of new cases in the aftermath of the three-week lockdown in May, the figures started to surge again in early July as the domestic and international tourism season began.
Global climate change is an evident crisis, no longer a scientific discussion. Many countries in the Mediterranean basin are combatting spreading forest fires with thermometers registering record high heat waves.
Turkey is the country that hosts most refugees in the world. According to the official figures, some 3.7 million Syrians are being sheltered in Turkey due to the continued civil war in the neighboring southern country. Plus, Afghans and Iraqis, including immigrants from various African countries, make the refugee toll nearly 5 million. As a country with limited economic resources, Turkey is trying to tackle this growing issue without major global support.
Almost all the diplomatic missions in Turkey have been curious for weeks about President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s planned trip to Turkish Cyprus on July 19 and 20. What worries them is not Erdoğan’s visit but what he will say during the trip and whether his messages might ratchet up the tension on the island and between Turkey and the European Union.
Turkey and the United States are continuing talks for the former’s continued stay in Afghanistan for safely running the international airport in Kabul. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 9 that these talks were aimed at drawing the scope of the Turkish mission in Kabul, while Defense Minister Hulusi Akar stressed that Turkey was in talks with other countries that are willing to join Turkey in this mission.
