![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana on July 3, 2024.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GRkCjEgWYAA93q3.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0jO2dLvo)
![Ezgi Akin headshot (new)](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-04/IMG_0153.jpg?h=502e75fa&itok=I9IFt0g8)
In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO
Ezgi Akin is Al-Monitor’s correspondent in Anakara and associate editor of the Turkey Pulse. Prior to joining Al-Monitor, she covered the foreign policy beat in the country for over a decade, working for various Turkish media outlets as well as international media. Akin is a Fulbright alumna.
![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana on July 3, 2024.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GRkCjEgWYAA93q3.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=0jO2dLvo)
![ALTAN GOCHER/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2150872260.jpg?h=1d34674f&itok=G8gvny7W)
![Armed men drive in the back of a pick up truck during protests against Turkey in al-Bab, in the northern Syrian opposition held region of Aleppo on July 1, 2024. A man was killed after and Turkish forces clashed in Syria's Ankara-controlled northwest, a war monitor said, in demonstrations sparked by violence against Syrians in Turkey a day earlier. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP) (Photo by BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2159613813.jpg?h=58c8a5e7&itok=aZxNj7aD)
![A protester stands in front a burning Turkish truck during protests against Turkey in al-Bab, in the northern Syrian opposition held region of Aleppo on July 1, 2024. A man was killed after and Turkish forces clashed in Syria's Ankara-controlled northwest , a war monitor said, in demonstrations sparked by violence against Syrians in Turkey a day earlier. (Photo by Bakr ALKASEM / AFP) (Photo by BAKR ALKASEM/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2159610523.jpg?h=6389a5b2&itok=4VCVX2IZ)
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![Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets with his counterpart, Taye Atske Selassie of Ethiopia, in Ankara, on May 9, 2024.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/taye.jpg?h=d3b262fd&itok=TPbdn4Qr)
![A man rides a motorcycle near a burning Turkish truck during protests against Turkey in al-Bab, in the northern Syrian opposition held region of Aleppo on July 1, 2024.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-07/GettyImages-2159614056%20copy.jpeg?h=a5ae579a&itok=sdLIXa0c)
![A large sign put up by private citizens bearing the portrait of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, with text in Arabic below reading "total allegiance", is displayed along Abo Romaneh street in the capital Damascus on May 10, 2021 ahead of the country's presidential elections. - A Syrian former minister and a member of the Damascus-tolerated opposition will face Assad in the May 26 presidential election, according to the constitutional court in Syria. The election will be the second since the start of a dec](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-1232804340.jpg?h=20800c36&itok=6kqfx5C9)
![An exchange office worker counts Turkish lira banknotes in Istanbul, June 8, 2015.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-476363212.jpg?h=c2859ddd&itok=zhr2y8OC)
![ISTANBUL, TURKEY - MARCH 29: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to supporters at his party’s Istanbul mayoral candidate Murat Kurum's campaign rally on March 29, 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey. Turkey will hold municipal elections on Sunday March 31, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party aiming to reclaim cities lost in 2019, including the country's largest city of Istanbul and the capital Ankara. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2122739185.jpg?h=fcf25457&itok=AAC15pA9)
![View taken on April 15, 2009 shows Turkey's Dogu Kapi border gate to Armenia, in Kars, Akyaka province on April 15, 2009. Dogu Kapi border gate closed by Turkey during the Azerbaijan and Armenia war in 1993. AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-85987859.jpg?h=265e640d&itok=RW4HFpdt)
![Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan.](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/2024-06/GettyImages-2157108656.jpg?h=2cc45489&itok=T22YVrVh)