By Ali Rıza Taşdelen Over the past five years, France has seen no major mass movements or widespread protests in response to social and economic crises. The last significant wave of popular mobilization was the Yellow Vests movement, which began in October 2018 and peaked in 2019 with mass demonstrations against pension reform. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020–2021, followed by ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer As China and Vietnam celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties, their bilateral relationship is quietly but fundamentally transforming. What was previously dominated by ideological closeness and geographical neighborhood is evolving into a pragmatic and vision-driven relationship founded on mutual strategic interests. In the context of a shattered post-COVID international order, rising geopolitical rivalries, and waning ...

We don’t know the impact the Trump administration’s imposition of 10% tariffs on their exports will have on the inhabitants of Heard Island and McDonald Islands. We’ll likely never know, because the population of those territories consists solely of penguins, seals, turtles, and seabirds. It’s been more than ten years since a human last set foot on these 412-square-kilometer rocky ...

By Feyyaz Erkin Eşli Amid the escalating regional instability in the Sahel and the French military withdrawal, Chad faced the need to find a new strategic partner. As recent events show, Türkiye is quickly stepping into this role. According to numerous reports from authoritative media, in January 2025, former French military bases in N’Djamena, Faya-Largeau, and Abéché were handed over ...

The arrest of Istanbul Mayor and Republican People’s Party (CHP) presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu has further deepened political polarization in Türkiye. CHP leader Özgür Özel’s statements targeting President Erdoğan topped the national agenda. Prior to İmamoğlu’s arrest, Özel claimed that Erdoğan had sought approval from Trump and accused him of “junta”. Another key topic was the one-day consumer boycott organized ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer The Solomon Islands, a Pacific island country, has long suffered a myriad of socio-economic and political issues. The country is at a critical juncture today under new leadership, where emerging challenges have to be overcome by comprehensive and masterminded solutions. The current paper expounds the key challenges for the Solomon Islands and avenues towards long-term development ...

By Adnan Akfirat, Chairman of the Turkish-Chinese Business Development and Friendship Association On April 9, US President Trump imposed new tariffs on US imports under the name of “reciprocal tariffs”. Trump had announced that on April 2, 2025, which he called “Independence Day”, he would impose self-justified tariffs on almost every country in the world. China, declaring that it would ...

By Adem Kılıç, Political Scientist / Author After a long period of threatening rhetoric and new arms transfers to Israel, Donald Trump surprisingly announced last week that the United States and Iran would begin direct talks. Given Trump’s Iran policies during his first term and the first three months of his second term, some might think that this was a ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer China’s gaming sector has finally come of age. From a one-time fractured universe of PC cafés and pirated software to a globally competitive industry home to corporate titans Tencent and NetEase, China’s digital gaming revolution is at the same time eye-opening and instructive. It is the largest gaming market in the world by population and one ...

By Ali Mercan, Frankfurt / Germany The coalition talks between the Christian Union (CDU-CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) entered an intense phase during the second week of April. The fluctuations in public support reflected in the latest polls have increased pressure on both sides. It is said that the results of the coalition negotiations would be announced during ...

By Orçun Göktürk, Beijing / China “The best thing to do now is to declare war on Taiwan. Because Trump once said he would impose a 100% tariff on China if we did so. But the current rates are way higher than that. At least this way, we would reunify with Taiwan and also reduce tariffs…” The above comment was ...

By Mehmet Enes Beşer The green transformation in the car industry is no longer a vision of the future but a here-and-now necessity. Transport emissions account for almost a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, and the decarbonization of mobility is at the heart of both European and Asian climate policy. Rhetorical sustainability talk is now part of industrial ...