Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was sworn in yesterday and officially completed his re-election run on a historic day as Turkey steered into a new era with the executive presidential system. "Nothing will ever be the same in Turkey anymore," Erdoğan said in 2001 during the inauguration ceremony of his beloved Justice and Development Party (AK Party). Seventeen years after his remarks in the capital city of Ankara, Erdoğan became the first ever executive president of the Republic of Turkey as the new system is set to take the country to a whole new level in the international arena. Upon taking the oath of office, Erdoğan wished for the very best in the new term with the help of God. "Everything will be better now," he said in remarks to the press. As part of the inauguration program, the president first took an oath in Parliament at around 4 p.m. Following the oath-taking ceremony in Parliament, Erdoğan departed for Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Atatürk. On the way there, Erdoğan's convoy was greeted by crowds of citizens standing on the sides of the road. As part of the ceremony in Anıtkabir, Erdoğan laid a wreath at the mausoleum of Atatürk and signed the official Anıtkabir memorial book.

In his written message to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Erdoğan wrote: "Mighty Atatürk, Turkey successfully completed two crucial elections on June 24, 2018. Our people deemed me worthy of becoming the first president under the new executive system and elected the deputies for the 27th term of Parliament."Erdoğan pledged to strengthen the brotherhood of Turkish citizens and continue to bring greater dignity to the country. He said he is determined to realize Turkey's 2023 goals.Having survived a bloody military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and having waged a struggle against foes both at home and abroad, especially in the 2010s, Erdoğan has once again claimed triumph at the ballot boxes and been rewarded by the people as the first executive president of the country by the will of the people of Turkey.

At 6 p.m., the inauguration ceremony was held at the Beştepe Presidential Complex in the Turkish capital.

"Our people never left us alone," Erdoğan said during his speech at the ceremony, and added that the he will work to win the hearts of not just the AK Party voters, but the whole nation."Today, we have a new beginning," the president said. He underlined that the new era will be one of a "strong parliament, strong state and strong Turkey." Erdoğan vowed to elevate Turkey to higher levels of development and said, "this is the time for walking determinedly toward reaching [Turkey's] goals."

"Turkey is leaving behind a system which cost the country politically, socially and economically," he added.Presidents of Bulgaria, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, Guinea, Zambia, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Somalia, Mauritania, Gabon, Chad, Djibouti, Venezuela and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as well as the Emir of Qatar attended the historic ceremony. A total of 28 foreign dignitaries – including prime ministers, vice presidents, parliament speakers and ministers – were also expected to attend the ceremony. Secretary Generals of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and D-8, and the European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs were among the attendees.

The Presidential Symphony Orchestra, Presidential State Classical Turkish Music Choir, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) Ottoman Mehter military musical band were also scheduled to be present at the ceremony. During the ceremony, a special dinner on the occasion of the night was on the menu for the guests. Approximately 10,000 people were invited to participate in the ceremony, including citizens from various sectors such as teachers, firefighters, village headmen, artisans, miners, dentists and others. The ceremony included political and religious representatives from the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as related communities. Each guest were presented with a commemorative TL 1 coin, exclusively minted for the inauguration ceremony of Erdoğan. In addition, a special stamp will be printed on the day of the ceremony.

FIRST CABINET OF NEW SYSTEM ANNOUNCED

During a ceremony at the Beştepe Presidential Complex yesterday evening, Erdoğan was expected to introduce the new Cabinet. The new executive presidential system envisages a Cabinet that will not be voted for confidence in Parliament. Since the people directly voted for the president as the head of the state, the president's Cabinet will start working effective immediately. The previous system required the Cabinet formed by the prime minister to have a vote of confidence from parliamentarians. Vice presidents were also expected to be announced yesterday evening. The new ministers and vice presidents will take oath today at 3 p.m. local time.In the June 24 parliamentary elections, held the same day as the presidential elections, the ruling AK Party was short of five deputies to win the parliamentary majority. However, the AK Party's alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), known as the People's Alliance, garnered 344 seats in Parliament. The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has 146 seats in parliament, while the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has 67 seats and the Good Party (İP) has 43 seats.

In the first presidential decree of the new system, the number of ministers in the Cabinet was reduced from 25 to 16. The new ministries will be the following: the Ministry of Justice, Interior Ministry, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of National Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Ministry of Treasury and Finance, Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Labor, Social Services and Family, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Industry and Technology and Ministry of Trade.

Presidential offices and agencies, newly established under the presidential system, will also be introduced. For example, the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) or the Office of the Chief of General Staff, both of which used to be an undersecretary, will now be categorized as agencies. The new agencies will also include the Presidency of Defense Industry, the National Security Council, the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the State Inspection Council and the Presidency of Communications.Four new offices are also being established to introduce a faster process in governance. Offices on human resources, finance, investment and digital transformation will be established to supervise the state's human resources and institute the state's digital transformation to adapt to the digital age and fight cyber terrorism. Nine separate councils will develop, supervise and coordinate relevant policy suggestions. The main priority will be a more effectively run government by delegating responsibility with authority.

SHIFT TO NEW SYSTEM SECURED IN LAST YEAR'S REFERENDUM

The shift to the new system was sealed last year in a popular vote. A variety of constitutional changes were approved on April 16, 2017 in a referendum. 51.4 percent of the people voted in favor of the changes while 48.6 percent opposed them. The most important features of the new system are expected to be efficient state institutions and quicker decision-making bodies within state institutions. Erdoğan believes that the new system will speed up Turkey's pace in reaching higher levels.

"The new system will enable the reduction of the bureaucracy. We will take decisions faster; all services will be results-oriented," Erdoğan said prior to the June 24 elections.

Furthermore, checks and balances will be crucial in the new executive presidential system. A vital difference from the previous system is that the executive branch, which consisted of the Cabinet, the prime minister and the president in the parliamentary system, cannot be checked by the legislative branch, the Parliament, anymore. The reason behind this is that there will be no longer be a prime minister post and since the president is elected directly by the people, the executive branch will be able to maintain its legitimacy through the people directly, and not via the Parliament. Since Cabinet members will also be appointed by the president, their legitimacy will also be assured by the people as well.

Moreover, research committees will be decisive in checking those responsible. One of the main qualities of research committees that make them effective is the fact that they are entitled to check the executive branch as committees that are independent from the executive branch. This was not achievable in the parliamentary system since both the executive and legislative were existed within the parliament and thus it was not possible to have an independent checking system.</s>President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has arrived in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey to swear in as the country's first president under the new executive presidency system.

Erdoğan will take the presidential oath in Parliament and step inside the Beştepe Presidential Complex in Ankara to serve the nation for the next five years.

The oath will also initiate the new presidential executive system, transitioning from the parliamentary system, which was approved in a referendum on constitutional amendments on April 16 of last year. Erdoğan will now become both the head of state and government, with the prime minister's post abolished.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, Erdoğan will visit Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The man accustomed to winning every election since establishing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in 2001, Erdoğan also claimed victory in the June 24 elections with 52.59 percent, surpassing his closest rival, the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate Muharrem İnce, by more than 20 percentage points.

The momentous ceremony in the history of Turkish politics is expected to be attended by 22 presidents, 17 prime ministers and other high-level state officials from countries invited, in addition to many significant figures from the business, arts and sports worlds.

The presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Pakistan, Somalia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zambia are among those expected to be present. Families of fallen soldiers and veterans are also expected to attend the ceremony, where 3,000 individuals have been invited.</s>On June 24, Turkish citizens voted in presidential and parliamentary snap elections, with a huge turnout. As expected, was elected president while his Islamo-nationalist bloc allies – the Justice and Development Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) – obtained a parliamentary majority.

While both victories were won by narrow margins, Erdoğan took 52.5 per cent of the vote, coming out well ahead of his opponents. The main opposition candidate, Muharrem İnce, obtained 31 per cent, followed by the leader of new centrist party, Meral Akşener, with 7.3 per cent, and pro-Kurdish leftist leader Selahattin Demirtaş, who received 8.4 per cent. Erdoğan thus consolidated his rule further and now stands a better chance to implement his vision of a conservative Turkish state and society. In this regard one might argue that the Turkish state and society will be more nationalistic and Islamist. Erdoğan: from appraisal to criticism

Enjoying the Western support for his first two terms, Erdoğan has been criticised by western scholars for its frequent use of less-than-democratic socio-political practices since 2011 and especially after the Gezi Protests. The state of emergency declared after the aborted coup attempt of July 2016 has been particularly under the spotlight.

Last year’s referendum also moved from a parliamentary to presidential system, marking Erdoğan’s determination to concentrate the various spheres of power around him. Another frequent criticism concerns the country’s long retreat from civic rights and basic freedom.

The election process also reflected such tendencies.

Even if voters had a genuine choice in Turkey’s most recent elections, the preliminary report from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) indicated that they weren’t entirely fair:

Indeed, an overwhelming 90 per cent of media, including state-run agencies, supported Erdoğan and allocated extremely limited time and space to opposition candidates.

Interestingly, Muharrem İnce, the main opponent of Erdoğan, was given relatively more opportunities while Meral Akşener was deprived of media visibility. Perhaps, it had to do with İnce’s being a more fitting opponent for the leadership style of President Erdoğan who likes to play into social fault lines.

The leaders of the opposition parties declared no significant objection about the freedom of election. However, OCSE observers remarked that the incumbent president and the AKP members used

One candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, campaigned from prison, where he has been held for almost 20 months for alleged terrorist activities.

Some OSCE observers indicated that they were concerned about their personal well-being and felt threatened from time to time. Furthermore, a delegation from the French Communist Party, including a senator, was arrested while trying to observe parliamentary and presidential polls on Sunday. While they were released shortly after, the incident is reflective of the AKP’s deep scepticism about western organisations.

Erdoğan has persuaded half of that it needs him

While such incidents have marked the elections, Erdoğan had also done his homework. His discourse spoke to the conservative-nationalist feelings of his support base and convinced more than 25 million voters that faces existential threats without his leadership.

One such threat is the country’s economic deterioration, which was the opposition’s biggest political card.

Yet Erdoğan convinced his electoral base that the looming economic crisis had nothing to do with the performance of the government and it was plotted by global (Western) powers.

The limited presence of free media or opportunities to opposition parties to contradict Erdoğan on these points helped him built and sustain such narrative throughout his campaign. He also made substantial populist promises, including opening “gardens of the nation” in the country and state-run “cafes of the nation”, with free cake and tea and they sold well.

A new order for the “new Turkey”

Turkey’s new political regime centres around a strong president who can pick his vice-president and cabinet members from outside the Parliament. He will be able to decide on major issues such as the budgets of state institutions, foreign policy and security matters, all without having to consult with the Parliament.

However, the current configuration of seats in the Parliament indicates that Erdoğan will enjoy this new authority only as long as he remains within the political framework set by his major ally, the (MHP), since Erdoğan’s own (AKP) failed to obtain a parliamentary majority on its own. This alliance turns Erdoğan into a political giant that needs a cane to walk.

So is Erdoğan really the winner here? The surprising success of the (MHP), which took home 11 per cent of the votes tells another story. Led by Devlet Bahçeli, the MHP will have a huge leverage on major decisions and force the AKP to lean toward a less Islamist and more nationalist direction.

On the other side of the political spectrum, 30 per cent of the Turkish votes trusted the populist social-democrat Muharrem İnce. The nominee of the main opposition party (CHP), İnce succeeded in bringing millions together in three major cities; İstanbul, İzmir and

İnce ran his campaign as the “people’s candidate” and managed to get 5 per cent more vote than the established base of CHP. He has now inspired the opposition with hope and the party could attract new supporters.

Meral Akşener, leader of Good Party (İP) and the only woman candidate, obtained 43 seats in the Parliament with 10 per cent of the votes, establishing herself in a good position. Akşener picked up a significant number of her supporters from Erdoğan’s AKP, indicating the possibility further success. Finally, Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned leader of pro-Kurdish and leftist Peoples’ Democracy Party, maintained a moderate discourse and won 67 seats in the Parliament. This increase of seats marked a threshold not only for Kurds but also for left-leaning liberals.

Overall, this election indicated that democracy in its procedural sense is established in Turkey with all its deficits. How it plays out in terms of basic rights and freedoms in the coming period has yet to be seen. The Achilles’ heel for Erdoğan, however, is going to be the economy.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is applauded by lawmakers at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is applauded by lawmakers at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018 when taking the oath of office for his second term as president.

Former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim attends the swearing-in ceremony of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018. Former Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim attends the swearing-in ceremony of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the parliament in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, July 9, 2018.</s>The current Turkish president on Monday was sworn-in as the nation's new Head of State which Turkey's new presidential system grants full executive powers and also eliminates the nation's Prime Minister's office.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 64, Turkey's new president who governs Turkey since 2002 and leads the Islamist, conservative Justice, and Development Party (AKP) was sworn-in during a ceremony at the Turkish parliament, broadcast live on Turkish mainstream media.</s>Erdogan sworn in as Turkey’s first executive President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken the presidential oath of office to become the Republic of Turkey's first president under its new governmental system.

Erdogan took the oath on Monday in the capital Ankara, at the Grand National Assembly, chaired by Acting Parliament Speaker Durmus Yilmaz.

Erdogan's re-election at the June 24 polls marked Turkey's transition to an executive presidential system of government, doing away with the prime minister's post, among other changes.

Erdogan won an absolute majority in the presidential election with 52.5 percent of the vote, according to Turkey’s Supreme Election Council (YSK).

Speaking to journalists after the ceremony, Erdogan said: "Everything was good in front of the nation, I hope it will be better in the future."

Lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) stood up, as is customary, during Erdogan’s swearing-in, while opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and Good (IYI) Party lawmakers did not.

Also, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu did not attend the ceremony.

Erdogan is due to announce his new Cabinet under Turkey's presidential system at 9.30 p.m. (GMT1830).</s>Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been sworn in for another term as president of Turkey, inaugurating a new political system that grants the leader vast powers.

Erdoğan, who has ruled Turkey as prime minister and then as president for 15 years, won a snap election last month with 52% of the vote.

“We make a promise once more to strengthen our nation’s unity and brotherhood and to continue making our country great and glorifying our state,” Erdoğan said after visiting the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Turkish republic’s founder, in the capital, Ankara.

Erdoğan took the oath of office in a ceremony in the Grand National Assembly, the culmination of nearly a decade of political activism to transform the country’s parliamentary democracy into a presidential system.

His Justice and Development (AK) party and its ally the Nationalist Action party (MHP) hold a majority in the legislature. Their electoral victory paves the way for unrivalled control of the levers of the state by Erdoğan, whose critics have accused him of authoritarianism as he has moved with his party over the last few years to crush dissidents and intimidate critical media outlets.

The new system abolishes the post of prime minister, granting the president the power to appoint the cabinet – which he was expected to announce later on Monday – and unelected vice-presidents. Erdoğan will also have the power to appoint senior members of the judiciary and to issue decrees with the force of law.

Next Sunday is the second anniversary of a failed coup attempt in which 250 people were killed and 1,400 wounded. The coup was followed by a crackdown on members of the bureaucracy, judiciary, armed forces, police, media and academia, with more than 130,000 people dismissed from their jobs or arrested.

The crackdown has gone beyond the alleged perpetrators of the coup – followers of the US-based exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen – to encompass dissidents of all stripes. Turkey has become the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, and prosecutions of media personnel and civil society members have continued in recent months.

Observers had speculated that the purge might ease after the elections, but on Sunday the government issued a decree dismissing 18,000 state employees including teachers, police and military officers over alleged links to terrorist groups. A state of emergency in place since the coup attempt is scheduled to expire next week.

Turkey is expected to adopt an increasingly nationalistic line in its foreign policy with the conservative and Islamic-leaning AKP and the nationalist MHP in parliament. Erdoĝan has repeatedly clashed with strategic allies such as the US and the European Union in recent years over the war in Syria, Turkey’s accession to the EU, human rights abuses by Ankara, Europe’s failure to support Turkey during the coup attempt, and rising Islamophobia in Europe.

In a signal of those differences, 22 heads of state were scheduled to attend the inauguration, but none from western powers such as the US, Germany, France or the UK.

Empowered by a popular mandate on the back of a convincing electoral victory, Erdoğan will have to address urgent questions in Turkey such as the fate of more than 3 million Syrian refugees living in the country, the progress of the war across the border, a faltering economy and a weakening currency.</s>Under new system he will have full executive powers

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is being sworn in as president of Turkey after his election victory last month which allowed him to keep his post with increased powers.

The inauguration ceremony on Monday was scheduled to be attended by dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The event in the capital, Ankara, concludes the transition from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency, in line with the constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.

Under the new system, 64-year-old Erdogan will lead the state’s executive branch and have the right to appoint and remove vice-presidents, a newly introduced position, as well as ministers, high-level officials and senior judges – without parliamentary approval.

The president will also have the power to dissolve parliament, issue executive decrees and impose a state of emergency. The prime ministry will not exist in the new system.</s>Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to be sworn in as president of Turkey after his election victory last month which allowed him to keep his post with increased powers.

The inauguration ceremony on Monday will be attended by dozens of foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

The event in the capital, Ankara, will conclude the transition from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency, in line with the constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.

Under the new system, 64-year-old Erdogan will lead the state's executive branch and have the right to appoint and remove vice-presidents, a newly introduced position, as well as ministers, high-level officials and senior judges - without parliamentary approval.

The president will also have the power to dissolve parliament, issue executive decrees and impose a state of emergency. The prime ministry will not exist in the new system.

Later on Monday, Erdogan, who secured another five-year term by winning 52.5 percent of the votes in the June 24 presidential election, will announce his new cabinet.

Erdogan previously said that there will not be any members or parliamentarians of his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the new cabinet, hinting that it will be made up of ex-politicians and bureaucrats.

The AK Party took 42.5 percent in the parliamentary polls, also conducted on June 24, while its ally, the far-right National Movement Party (MHP), got 11.1 percent, enabling the two parties' bloc to secure a majority in parliament.

Erdogan, who has been in power for more than 15 years as prime minister and president, has repeatedly stressed that a powerful executive presidency will create a stable environment that will allow the country to take "steps for the future in a stronger manner".

Opposition parties, Turkey's Western allies and other critics, however, say that the system grants the president major new powers without the necessary checks and balances, calling it a "one-man rule".

Erdogan begins his new term facing a range of economic challenges, including rising interest rates and inflation as well as a sharply devalued lira against the US dollar.

Taner Berksoy, an economics professor and a columnist, said the lowering of the interest rates would be an obvious priority for the new government.

"Currently, the real interest rates are not enough to keep the inflation down and we are yet to see what the economists in the cabinet will do about it," he told Al Jazeera from Turkey's largest city, Istanbul.

"However, the interest rates will show some drop in any case, because the perceived [economic] risk of Turkey will gradually fall after the inauguration."

But Berksoy added that a drop in interest rates "will also depend on how much the new government intervenes in the Central Bank's policies".

During his election campaign, Erdogan explicitly stated that he would be more active in the economic front if re-elected, and would push for a decrease in interest rates, a move some analysts say is likely to raise investors' concerns about the independence of the country's central bank.

Another key promise by Erdogan in the lead-up to the elections was the lifting of the state of emergency, which has been in place since a July 2016 coup attempt.

The government has since arrested or sacked over 100,000 people, including more than 18,500 civil servants on Sunday.

Ankara says the purges and detentions are aimed at removing supporters of Fethullah Gulen - a religious leader blamed for the failed putsch - from state institutions and other parts of society.

Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied any involvement in the coup bid in which hundreds were killed.

The US and many members of the European Union, as well as international rights groups, have repeatedly condemned the detentions and purges, claiming that Ankara is using the state of emergency as a pretext to punish dissidents.

Turkey's EU membership talks with Brussels have been stalled over the past few years, while ties with the US have also been strained recently over the fate of the Kurdish fighters in northern Syria as well as Gulen's extradition to Turkey.

In advance of Erdogan's inauguration, Galip Dalay, a Brookings Institution fellow and Turkey analyst, said he did not anticipate any major changes in Turkey's foreign policy approach going forward.

"I expect a more moderate rhetoric between the EU and Ankara in the times ahead, particularly as a result of the lifting of the state of emergency and economic worries in Turkey," Dalay told Al Jazeera.

He added, however, that he could not foresee "any major developments" over the two sides' disagreements "since the roots of those problems between Ankara and the EU existed far before the state of emergency".

Earlier this year, the Turkish army and Free Syrian Army fighters launched a military operation into northern Syria's Afrin region with the goal of removing a US-backed Kurdish militia - known as the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Ankara considers the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in Syria and its armed wing, the YPG, to be terrorist groups with ties to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party.

The operation against the YPG angered the US, but Turkey was also upset with its NATO ally over Washington's backing for the armed group.

Meanwhile, Ankara has also been working closely with Tehran and Moscow to end the Syrian war. At the same time, Turkey's cooperation with Russia has expanded in multiple areas, ranging from energy to defence.

"I expect the US and Ankara to talk more over Syria in the times ahead," said Dalay, the Brookings Institution fellow.

He added that the cooperation between Russia, Iran and Turkey will "be less busy, given that Washington is the main respondent to Turkey's goals in northern Syria."
Turkey purges more than 18,500 government workers a day before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is sworn in as executive president.