Marta Ottaviani

The humanitarian emergency has become an opportunity to relaunch partnership. Ankara is ready to build thousands of housing units for affected Pakistani families. Armaments, construction and agriculture are the sectors of greatest interest. In the background a sahred ideology marked by nationalism and a vision of Islam as well as the (possible) tensions with Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The past few days have seen the first direct contact between the Turkish president and the Armenian prime minister. A phone call in a complex attempt to normalise diplomatic, and commercial, relations between the two countries. Baku and Moscow are interested spectators of the evolution of the framework. The resistance of the Armenian diaspora, which primarily wants recognition of the genocide.

Ankara lifts its veto on the entry of Sweden and Finland into the Atlantic Alliance. In return it gets maximum cooperation in the fight against Kurdish groups, from the PKK to the Ypg. The domestic press celebrates the West's surrender to the president's demands as he continues to negotiate with the Kremlin to operate in Syria. For the sultan, a diplomatic victory ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

The Turkish president has announced the construction of 200 thousand houses in northern Syria for those who choose voluntary return. This would alter the demographic balance in a Kurdish-majority area. But Ankara is in a hurry: the 4 million asylum seekers in the country today weigh heavily on the campaign for next year's elections.

The philanthropist and activist is to serve a life sentence for "attempting to overthrow" the government with the 2013 Gezi Parki protest. Analyst Gultekin to AsiaNews: there is no "legal logic" in the trials against him. From the president and the ruling party the project of "creating enemies" to maintain power and hide the economic meltdown.

In the new scenario opened by the war in Ukraine, Erdogan is trying to put aside tensions with the United States. This week he will hold his first meeting at the level of deputy foreign ministers. A resumption of relations fundamental to relaunch the Turkish economy. Analyst Cagaptay: "A good relationship with the United States would also serve as a lever for more serene relations with the European Union.

Azerbaijan also began the holy month differently from Iran. Aliyev is using the war in Ukraine to boost relations with Turkey’s Erdoğan, questioning Russia’s military presence in his country after the war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. For Turkey, this is an opportunity to fill any vacuum left by a weaker Russia in the Caucasus.

The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine are set to meet in Antalya. After 20 years, an Israeli president is travelling to Ankara on a state visit. In an economically vital region of ​​the world, Erdoğan is trying to reposition Turkey internationally. Russia knows that it will have to pay a price in the regions where the two countries are de facto allies.

Turkey has chosen to apply the Montreaux Treaty, but when it speaks of Ukraine's "territorial integrity" it is also thinking of the Kurdish question. The conflict between Moscow and Kiev is a major internal economic problem for Ankara, which had offered itself as a venue for negotiations. Putin has instead preferred Belarus to avoid having to pay a price to Erdogan.

The US operation that took out al-Baghdadi's successor relied on local intelligence, Turkish assistance, as well as the support of other jihadi groups who had an interest in his elimination. For Syrian journalist, a Salafi group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, might be behind it but will never admit it. Civilians are paying the price for the violence.

After 12 years, the Joint Economic Committee met in the Hellenic capital: a memorandum on strategic sectors was signed, while trade already tripling since 2005. But the historic divisions between the Turks and the Greeks over Cyprus and the deposits in the Mediterranean remain, as does the issue of migrants.

The first round of talks took place in Moscow, and a second will probably be held in Turkey. Peace would help Armenia break the economic isolation that made it the poorest former Soviet republic in the Caucasus. Erdogan needs a success to counter the collapse of the Turkish lira. The Kremlin would boost its diplomatic standing. The Armenian Genocide remains the main stumbling block.