When Prime Minister Erdogan recently underlined that Iraq, rather than what the Brussels mandarins keep cooking up behind the curtains to slow down Turkey's march towards EU accession, tops our national agenda, it was by no means meant to downgrade the importance of this historic vocation. Read more

If the data are anything to go by, Turkey has indeed become a major power in the world economy in terms of both total trade volume and inward foreign direct investment (FDI). In 2007, it boasted an impressive foreign trade volume of $277 bn (though with a huge trade deficit of $62.8bn) and FDI inflows of $22bn (from a meagre $1.1bn in 1995). Read more

Some consider economic diplomacy to be a fairly recent addition to the work of professional diplomats, who previously tended to concentrate almost exclusively on political tasks. Economic diplomacy employs economic resources, either as rewards or sanctions, in pursuit of a particular foreign policy objective. Read more

Relations between Turkey and Iran will likely come under the limelight soon as the speculations intensify about an imminent US attack against Iran and possible role Turkey could be forced to play in it. Read more

Kazakhstan is gradually becoming one of the pillars of energy security in Asia and Europe, as it plans to produce 3.5 million barrels of oil a day (mbd) and 60-80 billion cubic meters (bcm) of associated gas by 2015, in the words of its President Nursultan Nazarbaev1. Read more