A civilian minibus driver has died after he was shot by Kurdish separatists in northeastern Turkey on Monday, local officials said. He was killed after suspected PKK militants stopped another bus on the Erzurum to Ardahan highway and set it on fire. Source Anadolu Agency
Turkey’s central bank demoted at least nine high-ranking officials including chief economist Hakan Kara, two officials said. The bank’s heads of research, banking, risk management and institutional transformation are among those who are getting new roles. This comes after Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired the governor last month for not cutting rates fast enough. Source: Reuters, Bloomberg
Turkey’s counter-terrorism operations will move forward to a “different phase” in northern Syria soon, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Aug. 6. “We wiII move the process which we started with the Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations [in northern Syria] forward to a different phase very soon,” Erdoğan said at the 11th Ambassadors’ Conference. Source Hurriyet daily news
Cyprus has strongly protested at the UN over Turkey’s violations of the island’s national airspace, the infringements of international air traffic regulations and the illegal use of closed ports and airports. Source: Ekathimerini
Gefira tracks the global players in Europe, the USA, Russia and China and anticipates the consequences of their policies
Gefira No. 9 is now available at a discount. 160 euros for 10 issues a year plus access to our archives.
Europe's geopolitical situation resembles that of 1913.
The enlargement of the European Union to the east, Germany's Ostpolitik, economic power and its reluctance to align its policy with France's and Italy's make the break-up of the Union unavoidable. While Germany is gaining a status of a financial superstar, German society is starting to disintegrate.
Nobody dares to ask, but the ECB board is bracing itself for the upcoming break-up of the euro. The Gefira team explains why France or Italy will leave the euro and we investigate how the ECB is preparing for the looming euro collapse.
