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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Worth pointing out that the "associate member" label reportedly came not from the Canadian side, but the EU side. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

A pleasant surprise at a recent visit to Atomium/Mini Europe

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Great investigation into how media outlets in Brussels hold sponsored events that are essentially lobbying platforms. "some newsroom staff expressed vocal discomfort at seeing oil companies sponsor sustainability-related debates."

euractiv.com

Pay-to-play in Brussels: How media events became the new lobbying frontier | Euractiv

Dinners, roundtables and conferences have long been a feature of lobbying culture. What is changing is who organises them

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

About to be hit with the fourth heatwave so far. Tomorrow will be 34 degrees, which is gonna suck for the 96% of Bruxellois who don't have AC. Why do only 4% of people here have AC? Because before this summer, most years had 4-6 days/year above 30 degrees. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/w...

nytimes.com

Europe Is Heating Up Again This Week. Here’s What to Know.

A new heat wave is forecast to hit the continent, piling the pressure on countries that are already fighting deadly wildfires that have forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 15/07/2026

These images of First Nations community members evacuating Collins, Ontario on motorboats are absolutely surreal www.facebook.com/reel/1548244...

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

EU's population trajectory with and without migrants.

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genna @genna.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

iPhone doesn’t do justice to the rust-coloured haze over Toronto, or the stench. I was fine in an N95. Birds were having a bona fide party in an utterly deserted Home Smith Park. Thinking about my impassioned speech in elementary school arguing for the swift implementation of the Kyoto accords.

N95 wearing genna with yellow haze over the river

Cormorants in the river with sickly yellow tinge reflected

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Someone on X wrote that you can't trust that Levent is innocent, you can't conclude he's guilty based on what the judiciary says, and you can't believe what journalists write about it, which about sums it up.

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Dave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 10/07/2026

I really think one day historians will study this Wall Street Journal article the way today's historians study texts from the last days of Rome.

wsj.com

European Soccer Fans Marvel at the Splendor of America’s Suburbs

Dutch fans in Missouri see a nation that is risky and expensive, but vast and bountiful.

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Aaron Stein @aaronstein1.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

It’s just a reminder: no Turkish pilot finished the F-35 B course so even if there is a breakthrough on the orphaned six jets, no one is around to fly them home. They’ll be staying put. When this began TuRAF had begun the B course at Luke and maintainers were at Eglin. They got sent home.

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Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

It's strange.... I'm actually meeting more random people who personally know someone who has been prosecuted... not just dissidents and journalists I don't think it's just raw numbers. I think it is also an expanding set of *classes* of people the government is willing to prosecute

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Aaron Stein @aaronstein1.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

The language about Turkey and F-35 is often muddled. Precision is important: 1) a Turkey was a tier 3 partner in the JSF consortium, meaning it had $12 billion in contracts for part production and could sell weapons that were built for integration (SOM-J). It paid $125 million for this & then

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Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

But my favorite part was when Cavusoglu claimed that the Russia-Ukraine talks in 2022 were close to a ceasefire, but that "some NATO allies" wanted to keep the war going and sabotaged them. He specifically blamed Biden for trying to bleed Russia.

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Howard Eissenstat @heissenstat.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Same event: Europeans, U.S. were talking up the danger of Russia. Cavusoglu never mentioned Russia as a security threat. That said a lot.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

It was on at 2:00 am here so didn't watch (sure heard cheering through the open windows though), but what wonderful news to wake up to. Sorry American friends, but you can't imagine how much the world needed you to lose hard.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Topics I don't touch with a ten foot pole while in Turkey...

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

This one shouldn't be too awful, but it'll be the *third* heatwave of the season, and it's barely July.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

At some point, Europe is just going to have to acknowledge that it's already at war with Russia. They set the UK PM's house on fire. They tried to kill the head of the most important arms company. They tried to blow up civilian flights. They burned down a huge mall in Poland.

apnews.com

Russia likely used shadow ships to wage a drone campaign in Europe, report says

According to the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank, Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe, surveilling military sites and repeatedly disrupted civilian avi...

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06jank.bsky.social @06jank.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Turkey quietly makes a huge move towards integrating its Syrian population via @turkeyrecap.bsky.social

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

"A decade ago, Erdoğan invited Nato to hold its 2018 gathering in Istanbul, a proposal that it was widely assumed would be accepted. But those plans were blocked by a dozen European allies over concerns about Turkish democratic backsliding."

ft.com

Turkey’s defence industry is booming. Europe is in its sights

EU countries are uneasy about Erdoğan’s growing authoritarianism. But they want his country’s hard power

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I had an interesting conversation with friends in Dersim a couple years ago where they explained in detail why they hate Kılıçdaroğlu.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Popular Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş taken into custody after he poked fun at Erdoğan in his latest special, joking that Erdoğan discovered self development coaches online that gave him the confidence to transition from a "shy dictator" to one at peace with who he is (it's very funny).

t24.com.tr

Yurt dışından dönen komedyen Deniz Göktaş, havaalanında gözaltına alındı! | T24

Yurt dışından dönen komedyen Deniz Göktaş, havaalanında gözaltına alındı!

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

After journalists from @eurcorrespond.bsky.social tried to ask the US ambassador a question, the Americans told the Brussels police to remove the journalists because they were an "active threat" and the ambassador said "both of you are losers."

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I wrote a follow-up post with some reflections here, talking about Turkey's egalitarian/communitarian 'kolay gelsin' culture, in stark contrast to the inequality and elitism I wrote about in the first essay. open.substack.com/pub/nickashd...

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

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bianet English @bianet-eng.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

An Ankara court formally arrested 103 people, including an academic, a journalist, lawyers, environmentalists and students ahead of the NATO summit next month. Prosecutors claimed they could "carry out attacks to portray Turkey as a country associated with terrorism." bianet.org/haber/ankara...

bianet.org

Ankara court remands over 100 including academic, journalist ahead of NATO summit

Prosecutors claimed the detained individuals could "carry out attacks in an effort to portray Turkey as a country associated with terrorism."

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Absolute shit storm right now about NATO denying press accreditations to non-regime supporting Turkish journalists, but you're not gonna see it on this platform...

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Just came across this typical sentence: "...an award-winning social purpose media organization that equips changemakers with the insights they need to drive impact." I doubt it was even written by AI; this is how NGO (but also corporate & gov) people have written for decades.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

It's time. "On a sunny summer day at noon, only about 10% of Spain’s electricity comes from fossil fuels; around half comes from solar. Portugal does just as well, and France better still."

economist.com

Europeans should learn to love the air-conditioner

Green electricity means never having to say sorry for lowering the thermostat

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Recent post from a Turkish leftist newspaper:

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I wrote a guest post for @selimkoru.bsky.social's great Kültürkampf Substack, inspired by the lively discussion around my viral thread on X from a few months ago. I'm most interested not in the anecdote in the thread, but the huge response to it. It's a slippery subject, but I hope I did it justice.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Another heartfelt, deeply personal piece from my brilliant wife Özgecan about anxiety, burnout, motherhood, and looking back over a life of activism. I didn't know this story of the famous burnout that introduced many Turks to the concept:

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

I would say this is comparable to bombing St. Basil's in Red Square, except the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is far more religiously and historically important (if less recognizable).

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JamesInTurkey.com @jamesinturkey.com · 15/06/2026

"President Erdoğan has no need to become president again, but Turkey does need President Erdoğan to become a candidate one more time." The biggest indication yet from major aide Mehmet Uçum that Erdoğan's team is preparing the ground for a fourth term www.aa.com.tr/tr/analiz/bi...

aa.com.tr

Bir kez daha erken seçim tartışması üzerine

Genel olarak içinde bulunduğumuz dönemde dünyada ve bölgedeki tüm gelişmelere rağmen Türkiye, siyasal sistemin işleyişi açısından olağanüstü bir durum içinde değildir. | Anadolu Ajansı

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Every time I talk to someone about their jobs, it sounds like Game of Thrones with an HR department. Factions, back-stabbing, never-ending petty conflicts taken directly to HR. Massive generational clashes. Is it like that everywhere now? Surely it wasn't always like this?

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Commentators are pointing out that there's no real "internal division" with CHP, and I think that's largely true of *supporters* (who almost universally oppose KK), but more than a few CHP *politicians* have already sided with KK (or switched to AKP). Never underestimate politicians' opportunism!

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

"When Genç Yeşiller heard [the Kemalist chants], they responded “Ölmeyeceğiz, öldürmeyeceğiz, kimsenin askeri olmayacağız!” (“We won’t die, we won’t kill, we’re not anyone’s soldiers”), and I thought, these are my people."

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

My brilliant wife @ozgevon.bsky.social wrote a great essay about feeling disillusioned with the Brussels Bubble NGO world, ending up on burnout, & missing the excitement of when she first became an activist with the Young Greens during the Gezi protests burnedoutbrussels.substack.com/p/the-first-...

burnedoutbrussels.substack.com

The First Burst of the Bubble

Before the EU bubble, there was Gezi Park: the protest that changed the course of my life.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

burnedoutbrussels.substack.com

The First Burst of the Bubble

Before the EU bubble, there was Gezi Park: the protest that changed the course of my life.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Excellent piece that translates easily to English. I think the outlined internal dynamics with DEM Parti & KK are at least as important as international dynamics (Trump's zero fucks for democracy and EU's greater need for Turkish defense cooperation) at explaining Turkey's further democratic decline

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Just as Turkey watchers were obliged to learn the anodyne term "competitive authoritarianism" a decade ago, they now have to learn another one: "hegemonic authoritarianism," the next painful step on the long path to dictatorship.

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I wrote about democratic backsliding's endless tail "Erdoğan’s increasingly vicious suppression of the opposition comes not from strength & confidence, but weakness and fear. He’s out of touch, out of energy, and has no fresh ideas beyond further repression" nickashdown.substack.com/p/turkeys-ne...

nickashdown.substack.com

Turkey's never-ending tail

Yet another Rubicon crossed in Turkey's endless democratic backsliding

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Nick Ashdown @nickashdown.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

The Guardian's editorial on recent developments in Turkey. "Mr Erdoğan has presented himself as the solution to problems he created...Democracy does not disappear overnight; it is chipped away over months, years and decades." theguardian.com/commentisfre...?

theguardian.com

The Guardian view on Erdoğan’s tightening grip on Turkey: the next election is already being decided | Editorial

Editorial: The removal of an opposition party leader and closure of a liberal university show an authoritarian democracy moving closer to one-man rule

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