Welcome to CFR’s Daily News Brief. Today we’re covering the jailing of a top Turkish opposition politician, as well as... Shuttle diplomacy over a Ukraine cease-fire Canada’s snap election Trilateral talks between China, Japan, and South Korea
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Turkey has seen its largest protests in a decade and stock market volatility after the jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. He is a top political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and was detained last week on charges that he called politically motivated, kicking off days of demonstrations. Yesterday, İmamoğlu’s party voted to make him their 2028 presidential candidate in a nationwide primary—the same day that a court ruled he must remain jailed until trial on corruption charges.
The latest from Turkey. The events underscored both the widespread public support for İmamoğlu and the hurdles to his holding higher office. -
In yesterday’s primary for İmamoğlu’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), he invited even non-party members to vote in order to “declare their struggle for democracy.” More than thirteen million people who were not party members expressed their backing for İmamoğlu, the vote’s organizers said.
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İmamoğlu supporters have protested across the country for days, despite bans on demonstrations in major cities and the detention of more than seven hundred people. These mark some of Turkey’s biggest demonstrations in over a decade.
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Prosecutors have accused İmamoğlu of participating in an alleged corruption scheme and supporting a terrorist organization. He denied the allegations, calling them “unimaginable accusations and slanders,” while Erdoğan on Saturday said that Turkey is a democracy with rule of law.
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Last week, Istanbul University stripped İmamoğlu of his degree, a requirement for running for president. On Sunday, Turkey’s interior ministry announced he was temporarily suspended from his mayoral role.
Global reactions. Some foreign officials have voiced alarm over İmamoğlu’s arrest, while Turkey’s stock market and currency have both slid. -
French, German, and European Union (EU) officials issued statements of concern. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, called İmamoğlu’s detention “deeply concerning” last Wednesday. Turkey “must uphold the democratic values, especially the rights of elected officials,” she said. İmamoğlu’s detention comes as European powers weigh potential Turkish support for a force to secure a possible cease-fire in Ukraine.
- A U.S. State Department spokesperson said after İmamoğlu’s detention that “we would encourage Turkey to respect human rights” but “we’re not going to comment on…the internal decision-making of another country.”
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Within the three days following the detention, Turkey’s main stock index dropped over 16 percent. The Turkish lira fell to a record low, and Turkey’s central bank is estimated to have spent billions propping it up in the subsequent days. Turkey’s financial regulator banned certain stock sales late yesterday in an effort to stabilize markets.
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“Mr. Erdoğan is taking an enormous risk by imprisoning his main opposition leader. The risks are the following. One, he will galvanize the opposition and make Mr. İmamoğlu far, far, far more popular than he is now. It will make him, essentially, a martyr. Number two, this is going to have a serious impact on the Turkish economy that was just at the beginning of a recovery… If Mr. Erdoğan is willing to risk this much, it is because he is confident that the [Donald] Trump administration is not going to criticize him. Whereas in the past, Republican or Democratic administrations would have taken a very dim view of this type of repression and arrest, the Trump administration has made it clear that it doesn’t really care what strongmen do in their own countries,” CFR expert Henri J. Barkey says in this YouTube Short. |
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There was once a broad consensus in Washington that trade was a force for good. But today, trade has become a powerful tool to rewrite the rules of foreign policy. CFR expert Edward Alden explores this change on the Why It Matters podcast. |
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Talks on Ukraine truce. Russian negotiators began meeting with a U.S. delegation today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after the U.S. delegation met with Ukrainian negotiators yesterday. Envoys are discussing the technical details of a partial cease-fire. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that attempts to halt further escalation of the war were “somewhat under control.” Over the weekend, Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least seven people, while Ukrainian strikes in Russia killed at least two, officials on both sides said.
Canada sets election date. Prime Minister Mark Carney called an election for April 28. Polls suggest that his Liberal Party is closing the gap with the Conservatives, which enjoyed high popularity before Trump took office and made trade threats against Canada. Earlier this month, Carney halted a consumer carbon tax that had been a primary point of criticism from Conservatives.
China-Japan-South Korea diplomacy. Foreign ministers from the three countries met on Saturday in Tokyo, with Japan’s foreign minister saying that they hoped to host a trilateral leaders’ summit by the end of the year. The countries pledged to work together to address issues such as declining birth rates and aging populations. Later in the day, Japan and China held their first high-level economic dialogue since 2019.
Trump ally meets Chinese premier. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) said that his Sunday meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing was “the first step” toward a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Daines said he voiced U.S. concern about China’s role in global fentanyl supply chains during the meeting, which also covered trade. He did not specify when a Trump-Xi meeting might occur. Daines, who worked for Procter & Gamble in China in the past, traveled to Beijing with executives from U.S. companies attending a business forum.
Venezuela accepts U.S. deportees. For the first time in weeks, Venezuela accepted a U.S. deportation flight on Sunday. Caracas had previously stopped receiving such flights after Washington announced new restrictions on its oil sector. Venezuela’s return to accepting deportees came after the United States transferred Venezuelan migrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. The United States has limited diplomatic relations with Venezuela.
South Korean PM’s impeachment reversed. The country’s Constitutional Court overturned the legislature’s impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo today, restoring his position as the country’s acting president. Han took the post of acting president following the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol for a short-lived declaration of martial law. But lawmakers also impeached Han over his blockage of new Constitutional Court judges.
U.S. visits to Greenland. U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz are expected to visit Greenland as part of separate delegations this week. Vance is due to visit a dogsled race and Waltz, a military base. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte B. Egede called the visits “highly aggressive” in an interview with a Greenlandic newspaper. Trump has proposed annexing Greenland. The prime minister of Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory, said the country takes the visits “seriously” and aims to cooperate with the United States based “on the fundamental rules of sovereignty.”
Pakistani envoy in Kabul. Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan carried out a three-day visit to Kabul, where both sides pledged to increase high-level dialogue. The thaw in ties comes after the recent reopening of the countries’ main border crossing. The delegations discussed the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan—which is carrying out a deportation drive—and the status of the Pakistani Taliban. During the visit, Pakistan’s army said it thwarted an “attempt to infiltrate” its troops on the Afghan border and killed sixteen militants.
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The island recently voted in favor of a party that seeks gradual independence from Denmark. But Trump sees Greenland’s considerable mineral wealth and location in the Arctic as necessary for U.S. national security, CFR’s Diana Roy writes in this article. |
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The Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada and threats of annexation have strained the bilateral partnership, fueling Canadian nationalism and causing steep retaliatory measures, CFR President Michael Froman writes in this article. |
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